Content marketing has proven to be one of the most successful and cost-effective online marketing strategies that you can adopt. The reasons behind this are simple - content marketing has the ability to impact your marketing efforts in a number of ways, 

from increasing brand exposure to improving conversions. However, few of these outcomes are possible without the proper use of calls-to-action (CTAs).

What is a Call-to-Action?

A call-to-action is a brief statement that guides readers into performing the desired action, whether it's to opt-in to an email newsletter, share the blog post on social media, leave a comment in the comment section or to download something (like an ebook or whitepaper), just to name a few possibilities.

Without a CTA, your readers aren't going to know what they should do next, even if they're interested in your brand. In a way, including a CTA at the end of your content is like giving your readers a slight push into the direction you want them to go. However, you do need to provide an incentive in order to follow your directive. For example, if you want them to contact you, the CTA should include a reason for doing so, whether it's to get more information or to schedule an appointment.

Related Post: Should you have a blog on your website?

Although CTAs are generally placed at the end of content, they can be used more than once and can appear at different points in the content. For example, some websites will use pop-up CTAs. While you ensure that readers will see your CTA this way, you may risk annoying them since you are disrupting their ability to read your content.

Another option is to use slide-in CTAs. These CTAs slide in when readers scroll down to specific points in your content. These can be very effective if the CTA's position is relevant to the content it's next to. Not to mention that readers can easily ignore it to continue reading if they want to since it won't obfuscate your content.

Crafting a Compelling Call-to-Action

The presence of a call-to-action won't be enough to convert your readers. You'll need to put some effort into crafting CTAs that are compelling and convincing. The following are some tips that you should use to create a strong call-to-action:

• Keep your CTAs short and focused - Your CTA shouldn't be more than a sentence or two long. It should recommend that readers take a certain action and provide a clear reason for doing so. If you try to include anything else, you'll confuse or distract your readers from what you want them to do.
• Make your CTAs easy to see - Even if you're using an in-text CTA at the end of your content, you should also use a button CTA below it. Button CTAs are much easier to spot when scanning content, not to mention easier for mobile users to click on. Additionally, use contrasting colors so that the CTA sticks out from the rest of your content.
• Use specific language - Use simple and direct words that incite action, such as "download" or "contact" as well as words that incite urgency, such as "now" or "today" to help boost your CTA click-through rates.
• Use corresponding landing pages - Make sure each unique CTA has a corresponding landing page. Readers will get confused if the offers or language used isn't the same, which will hurt your conversion rate.

Crafting strong calls-to-action is an important part of creating a successful content marketing campaign. For more advice on how to implement a successful content marketing strategy into your online marketing campaign, contact us at Envision IT Solutions today.