4 call-to-action ideas every marketer should use

Calls-to-action tend to be just a few words, maybe a sentence long, so why are they so hard to craft?! It feels like the weight of the world is on my shoulders when I need to write a call-to-action. It is 2015, there has to be an easier way to do this, right? Well, kind of.

We will never be able to eliminate the stress of crafting effective calls-to-action, but there are a few simple CTAs you can start using today.

4 call-to-action ideas

1. Email signature

How many emails do you send each day? If you are not using a CTA in your email signature, every one of those emails is a missed opportunity.

At the very least, have links to your website and social media channels in your signature. Go the extra mile by including a link to your latest white paper or a coupon code for your service. Just keep it clean. Keep the words minimal and format your signature to be easy to read.

2. Blog posts

Blog posts should be informational and not sales-y, but it is OK to include a CTA at the end of a post. You have your reader’s attention and if they’ve made it to the end of your post, they’re interested in what you have to say.

My favorite blog posts to include a CTA in are the ones that are about complicated topics. I want the readers to understand the topic so they can take action on their own, but then I include a CTA that says “I can help you with this;” that way, they know they don’t have to deal with that complicated work themselves – they can find support!

3. Twitter lead generation cards

The best calls-to-action are the ones with an easy action. Twitter understands this and created Twitter lead generation cards for marketers.

Lead generation cards are a form of Twitter advertising that allow you to collect user information with just a few clicks. For example, your card can have a CTA to sign up for your newsletter; all the user has to do is click “sign up” and the email associated with their Twitter account is sent to you. Easy for everyone. Win-win.

4. Pop-ups

This one is a little controversial. Some people are firm believers in pop-ups, while others despise them. My advice? You just need to do pop-ups right.

Pop-up CTAs need to follow a few rules to be successful:

• Size – Do not have your pop-up take up the entire page. Those are terrifying.
• Design – Keep it simple. No flashing elements.
• Timing –Save pop-ups for people who are exploring your site. Don’t have a pop-up before users have even had a chance to look around.

I am a little biased, but I like the pop-up feature on our Allee website. We only use pop-ups on select blog posts and they appear only after a reader has started scrolling. That way, we know the reader is engaged, likes our content and might actually be interested in our pop-up CTA. To see an example on our site, visit our blog post “15 Facebook content ideas for nonprofits” and scroll down.

Go ahead. Incorporate utilize these call-to-action ideas into your marketing plan and then give yourself a pat on the back; you  dramatically improved your marketing efforts with just a few easy steps.