When you’re writing marketing or sales copy, your call to action is right up there amongst the most important things you need to think about. It is the purpose of your writing – what do you want people to do as a result of having read your piece?
- Buy something?
- Download something?
- Sign up for something?
- Sponsor you for something?
- Call you?
- Email you?
- Make an appointment with you?
- Book a place at an event?
- You get the idea…
Some tips about calls to action:
You need to know your call to action before you start writing so you can keep focused on it throughout and lessen the risk of deviating from the subject in hand.
You certainly need to include your call to action at the end of your piece, but you can also include it as many times as you feel it’s necessary throughout the copy. This makes it easy for people to stop reading when they’ve read enough to be convinced about what you’re saying.
Your call to action needs to be an imperative – an order. Say ‘Make your appointment by calling 01234 567890’ rather than ‘If you’d like to make an appointment, call 01234 567890.’
You can give it even more strength by saying ‘Make your appointment today by calling 01234 567890’ or ‘Make your appointment now by calling 01234 567890.’
But most important of all, make sure you have one!
