Fancy CTAs Won't Work Unless You First Create Compelling Content
I read an an interesting white paper about writing compelling Calls-To-Action (CTAs). You know, those little blurbs that say "you'll lose this offer forever if you don't click now". A good CTA is critical. You want and need people to click on your content.It sounds simple, right? All you need to do is infuse your social media with captivating CTAs and you're golden. Well, as with everything in marketing .. it's not that simple.
The "challenge" with marketing is, for it to work, you have to create an "ecosystem" of various moving parts. Good CTAs are just one of the many, many moving parts.
So let's take a closer look:
So let's take a closer look:
The likelihood of someone clicking, for example to request content, is directly relevant to the likelihood that they will engage in that category of content. Bear in mind, if someone doesn't engage, it doesn't necessarily mean they aren't interested, there are other reasons why engagement may be low. Take financial and investment information, a type of information that - according to research - has very low engagement. In reality it may not be that people have little interest in learning about financials and investments online, but more that they are afraid and overwhelmed by financial investment information.
On the flip side, the top topics that people engage in are food, fashion and pets. EASY topics to grasp. No one is afraid of buying a can of soup online. But, the bottom topics that people engage in are finance, real estate and marketing. These are HARD topics, i.e., people often feel clueless about understanding them. They may be "interested" but they fear believing or trusting information from an unknown source. There is more risk involved.
On the flip side, the top topics that people engage in are food, fashion and pets. EASY topics to grasp. No one is afraid of buying a can of soup online. But, the bottom topics that people engage in are finance, real estate and marketing. These are HARD topics, i.e., people often feel clueless about understanding them. They may be "interested" but they fear believing or trusting information from an unknown source. There is more risk involved.
So it's absolutely correct that CTAs are important in getting conversions. BUT, that oversimplifies it. You can't even have a CTA if you don't first have compelling content that you can write a CTA about -- and THAT's the hard part.
Look at the CTA in this example. This gives the impression that coming up with the CTA is fairly simple ...
... but the hard part is everything that goes behind the CTA:
Look at the CTA in this example. This gives the impression that coming up with the CTA is fairly simple ...
... but the hard part is everything that goes behind the CTA:
- The creation of a 5-second test
- The creation of a live broadcast (who will speak, what will they say, who will followup, etc.)
- The creation of the forms so people can sign up
- The creation of the graphic used in the social media
- The promotion of this graphic in social media, email, etc.
Wow, there's a lot more than meets the eye when you read a CTA!
So - as an artist - here are your challenges:
- What content can you produce that will resonate with your audience? Keep in mind that people like STORIES. Don't just throw information at your constituents. Think about what "stories" they want to hear.
- What kinds of information do people want? What will make them click the "get this" or "go here" button? People like checklists ... how about "10 Things to Ask Before you Buy a [insert your type of work]". You can also think about promotional CTAs such as "Buy today and get a discount". These are easy things that people CAN grasp and just may be the motivation they need to click that all important CTA button!
Lastly, don't forget, before you start writing CTAs, the first step in your marketing ecosystem is building the infrastructure: website, social media, email lists, content, etc. After that's built, you can get into the strategic stuff on how to get more folks to come to your website and convert using CTAs.
Written by Katharine Coles 010920
