What is a CTA, or a Call to Action? Click here to find out!

A CTA, or Call to Action, is the gift that keeps on giving in Content Marketing. No campaign is complete without a strong CTA that captures the motivations of your audience, inspiring them to click, engage, and otherwise support your mission.

One of the most important aspects of your Content Marketing Strategy is your CTA. In fact, your Content Marketing Strategy lives or dies based on the success of your Call to Action.

So many small business websites are failing to deliver any kind of content marketing strategy, and even more are missing a CTA.

In fact, a whopping 70% of small business websites have no CTA! (Top Digital)

Unfortunately, so many websites aren’t built with any strategy, nor are they activating their visitors in any way that will provide them with useful metrics about their website. Then they wonder why their website isn’t generating the sales or engagement that they had expected!

Unfortunately, those businesses are actually losing customers, and losing money. 

Without a Content Marketing Strategy, most websites fall victim to extremely high bounce rates, which means those customers are seeking out the competition instead of theirs.

Why? There isn't a strong CTA.

What is a Call to Action?

A Call-to-Action is an umbrella term for words or phrases that activate a website visitor into a customer lead. A CTA tells visitors to do something that further invests their time into your website or business.

For example, you could be telling them to visit a new page, check out a product, submit their email, contact your company, or share your content. 

A strong CTA motivates people to take action in the way you want them to, and is made up of three important parts:

Verb + Urgency + Exclusivity

Remember your literacy class?

• A verb is used to describe an action, state, or occurrence. This is the word that you’re activating your visitors to do, whether that’s to Subscribe, to Click, to Download, to Swipe, etc.

• Urgency refers to your timeline… you want them to act immediately! Losing the attention of your website visitor— giving them even one moment to pause and click off your site and to consider your competitor instead, is, of course, going to lose you business. Even if it seems obvious and redundant, giving a sense of urgency to your CTA sparks your visitor’s FOMO that if they don’t act immediately, they will in fact be missing out on the life-changing thing you are offering them.

• Exclusivity indicates that there is a finite supply of what you’re offering, and that’s its really, really special! You want them to want the thing so badly that they’ll click their way to happiness on your website. However, creating an illusion of exclusivity for a product that will live on your site for eternity is poor salesmanship. If you’re going to offer an exclusive product for those who participate on your CTA, it better be exclusive! Give them something actually valuable and special for following through on your CTA.

Why Do I Need a Call to Action?

In short, data and sales. 

A CTA can provide you with valuable information (i.e.: data) on what motivates or interests your customer, how they interact with your site, and how deeply they find value in what you’re offering.

That’s information that goes much further than just a product-buy! And it certainly gives you better insight into your Ideal and Potential Clients than a website without a CTA.

Remember, mentioned above: 70% of small businesses fail to have a CTA on their website? That means 70% of small business websites have opted out of their opportunity to collect vital information on their visitors, like their email addresses, their online interests or behaviors, or their money.

Without this information, you can’t qualify your online customers. 

Nor can you expect to build a successful sales funnel without having at least some of these metrics in your back pocket (your sales funnel will provide even more useful data!). A well-written CTA is your gateway to accessing this important data about your website visitors, and thus determines the outcome of your online business success.

Support Your CTA with Good Sales Copy

Imagine if your customer visits your landing page, and is immediately hit with only the words “Get a Free Quote Now!”

• What are they getting a quote for?

• What does your business do?

• What is your niche, or mission statement?

Sadly, this kind of marketing strategy exists. You’ll visit a poorly designed website to see a Call to Action floating on a picture with zero supporting copy. Those businesses assume that their customers were referred to their website and already know everything about the company.

You should never assume your website visitor already knows who you are. You need to explain who you are and your value.

Even those who are successful in organic search can’t win with a CTA lacking supportive copy! 

Good Sales Copy will enhance and serve your CTA, and should come before your CTA equation, and throughout your website.

So actually, your equation should now look like this:

Good Sales Copy + Verb + Urgency + Exclusivity

Good Sales Copy provides your customers with the qualities of your brand, and your product. It gives them a sense of who you are, the services you provide, and the quality of your product. Good Sales Copy will qualify you, as a brand, to your customers. 

Good Sales Copy will speak directly to your target audience, encouraging camaraderie to your brand.

Examples of a Strong Call To Action

Ready to take action on your Call to Action? Play around with these words and phrases to find the most impactful CTA for your company!

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You'll be amazed at how such a simple grouping of words over a button or link can transform your website from a digital business card to a digital business!