A “call to action” that actually drives ACTION

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aware-demand-covert-graphicYou have seen them time and time again.  You have probably clicked on a few of them.  Maybe downloaded a white paper or two.  I’m referring to a “call to action” – what we marketers use to make our audience do something.  Any call to action needs to be considered in the context of your marketing strategy and objectives.  What are you trying to accomplish?  Are you trying to establish awareness?  Generate demand?  Convert leads?  See my post on this topic. In this context there are three basic types of “calls to action” (CTA).

  1. Asking Permission:  getting the customer to give us permission to communicate with them.
  2. Addressing Objections:  helping the customer overcome their immediate objections to your solution.
  3. Building Relationships:  supporting the customer’s decision making process until the sale is made.

These three CTAs correspond to the different phases of marketing:  During the awareness phase, you ask for permission to communicate with your prospective customer;  When trying to generate demand you need to overcome the objections your audience has – address what is keeping them from doing business with you at this time;  Once you are trying to convert a lead to a sale, the key is the relationship you have built with your prospective customer, do they trust you.   At each stage of the process it is critical to keep in mind what our customer is looking for.

Asking Permission: At the permission stage, the customer has just learned that you exist.  You need to be focused on awareness and making a good first impression.  You only have 1 chance to get their permission to communicate with them again.  That permission can come in the form of an opt-in email subscription, newsletter, blog or whatever you have going on.  The point is…you need their permission.  Otherwise, you’re spamming them and that is bad (enough said about that.)  Why should they opt-in to your newsletter or email list?  What’s in it for them?  It is up to you to build the case for yourself.  You could offer a trial subscription, provide samples of your newsletters on your website so they can see what type of information to expect, include testimonials from happy subscribers.  Make it easy for them, and put as few barriers to registration as possible.  Don’t ask for more information that you need.  For an opt-in email list (newsletter or the like) all you really need is a name and email address, that’s it.  You can get more info later on when you have built some level of rapport.

CTA = Register for our newsletter.  Opt-In to our email list.  Subscribe to our blog (Twitter, Fan Page, etc.)

Addressing Objections: Someone will always have a reason for not subscribing to your newsletter, or not purchasing your e-book, or not hiring you at all for that matter.  Your job at this phase is to address the most common objections you hear from prospective customers.  Is it budget?  Do they think they can do it themselves?  Did they have a bad experience previously that has colored their perspective?   Take these issues head on.  Write a “position paper” explaining why they can’t do it themselves.  Create a video of previous clients who wish they had done it sooner.  You will never move a prospect forward in the sales cycle without addressing their objections honestly and directly.  Use this opportunity to reinforce your messages and benefits.  What can they expect from you?  Offer opportunities to learn more, read more, to download relevant information. Make sure the information you provide is not only about you and your company.  It needs to help them get to know you, and the best way to do that is give them valuable information that will help them solve a problem.

CTA = Read our White Paper. Download our video.  Visit our discussion forum.

Building Relationships: Making decisions can be scary.  You’re always thinking…did I make the right one?  It is so easy to second guess.  It’s up to you to help your prospective customers through this process in such a way that the only logical conclusino is to do business with you.  The best way to do that is to not “sell” them on you or your stuff. Rather build a relationship based on trust and value.  Then when they are ready to make their decision you are top of mind because you have always been there with valuable information when they needed it. You have addressed all their objections in a way that helped them understand their options better.  You acknowledged their needs and provided information accordingly.  Now you need to give them the tools to make their decision.  Case studies, testimonials or success stories from other clients reinforce that other peole have made the same decision and that it worked out well for them.  Make these visible.  Also, make yourself available for discussions, consultations, one-on-one time.  People feel better about saying “yes” to someone they have at least spoken to.  Make it easy for them to say yes!

CTA:  Case studies.  Testimonials.  Success Stories.

Use your signature line

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Non SignatureUpdate your signature line in your business and personal email. This is another one that sounds so simple, but I get hundreds of emails every day and so many of them don’t include helpful information in the signature lines.  Think about how many emails you send every day.  Your signature line is a valuable piece of email real estate that most people simply overlook.  Yep, it’s simple.  It takes less than a minute to create, but it can promote new products, highlight new businesses and start conversations.

Your custom email signature should provide information and be interesting.  I steer clear of graphics as they can be a pain in most email programs. In some they come across as attachments and can’t be seen without opening the attachment, which most people never do so the signatures end being rather useless. I recommend that your email signature contain your name (duh), title and/or company name, phone number and 2-3 weblinks.

Include things that make you different.  If you’ve written a book, include that in your title.  If you have won awards, include that too.  Are a featured speaker, contributing writer, blogger, etc…make sure to get it in there.  As a guideline, try to keep your signature under 5 lines.  Make the font the same size as your email text.  Use color and bold to highlight things. And, please make sure that all URLs and active links.  Otherwise, what’s the point, right?

Build the best email campaign

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Creating a successful email marketing campaign depends upon a few key things.  The first key is to keep it simple.  If your email contains a flashy attention-grabbing window of opportunity, but no real content, you’re not going to get the results most businesses desire.  People steer clear of the gimmicks, so if your current campaign is gimmicky you may want to consider revamping.  If you make the decision to revamp consider the following.  emailIcon

Try a simple email newsletter. The reason for this is a recent report by Nielson Norman Group, the average e-mail user only reviews and Internet newsletter for an average of 50 seconds.  Whereas, marketing campaigns boarded by e-mail only hold the reader’s attention for around four seconds. As you can see the newsletter format will hold your average readers attention 10 times more than the normal email. Which in turn brings us to the actual design of the newsletter or the e-mail.

It’s important to create a simple email newsletter design that both captures the attention but also keeps the attention.  The simple truth is that most consumers and e-mail users only read a fraction of the e-mails they receive.  The rest of the e-mails that they actually open are merely scanned for content.  Aside from simplicity, an effective email marketing campaign will utilize ASIC principles of design. Don’t panic – all this means is that you use contrasting colors to draw the eye to certain elements of the email – your call-to-action.  Most designers agree that a design element should not contain more than 200 to 300 pixels.  This means that your e-mail design should not be disproportionate.  Try to ensure that you’re marketing design has a smooth flow and is distributed evenly  throughout the email, so it doesn’t feel bouncy or heavy.

There have been countless studies on how most Internet users read e-mail and various documents throughout the web. Your goal is to gain reader attention – and you have about 5 seconds to do this.  As 5 seconds is about as long as most readers will look at any page.  That means any information put on your page should be readable/scannable within five seconds.

It’s a good idea to use your knowledge. When it comes to marketing and media, to ensure that your message takes up less real estate than standard e-mail advertisements.  If your e-mail  takes up too much space (because it has too many graphics) or comes across too spammy, most ISPs will automatically filter it out as junk.  The imagery you placed inside your e-mail should convey a rapid message, don’t make the mistake of using photos and logos for mere beautification.  To make the most of your marketing campaign ensure that your pictures says something besides “I’m pretty”.

E-mail marketing is a rapid response industry.  This means you must be certain to give your potential clients every opportunity to make contact with you.  You can be easily contacted via contact information placed within your messages.  Be sure to include links to your site, your address information, your phone numbers, your fax number and any other information that can be used to contact you on a daily basis, in every e-mail that you send to potential clients.

Let’s face it…without the proper email design your email camapaign may well be predestined to fail. Use what you have learned here and  your email campaign will stand a much better chance of adding profit to your bottom line.