Call to action messages in marketing is a lot like fishing. You need the proper bait, you need to get your audience to bite, and then you have to reel them in. You can’t just yank and pull, either, because that can make them fight, and if they fight hard enough they’ll get away. But when you’ve sunk the hook, and reeled someone in, you need that last push to get them into the boat. That last push is a call to action, and you want to make it as direct and simple as possible.
We produce custom printed cups and it stuns me at times how few companies use any call to action messages as part of their promotions. They threw out the line but didn’t bait the hook?
The entire purpose of marketing is to get your audience’s interest, and then make them do something. The call to action message is you spelling out what you want your audience to do. Whether you want them to adopt a pet, buy your cola, vote for a certain candidate, or just go take your survey, your call to action message acts as their marching orders. You take the pertinent information, put it in front of your audience, and give them an encouraging slap on the rear so they move in the direction you want them to.
It sounds easy, but anyone in marketing can tell you just how difficult it actually is.
A call to action message has to do a lot of things in a brief period of time. It has to lay out a specific action for your audience, it has to give them all the information they need to accomplish that action, and it has to motivate them to do it. Not only that, but it needs to accomplish these tasks in an amount of space a little less than your average Twitter post. Brevity is the soul of wit, and in this case how hard you can hit your audience’s buttons in less than a sentence can be the difference between victory and defeat.
The Answer Is In Your Hand
A call to action can be delivered on a TV commercial, or in an online ad, but more subtle delivery systems are often the ones that work best. When someone gets a call to action in an unexpected place, that is when it catches them off guard, and they are vulnerable to the message you’re sending them.
Take, for example, the humble paper coffee cup. It’s a simple item, and it serves a simple function; hold this delicious beverage so I can enjoy it at my leisure. However, that paper cup can also be prime real estate when it comes to putting your message in front of your potential audience. They take the cup because it has the drink they want, but on the cup is an eye-catching design, and a simple call to action. Whether it’s “check out our website,” or “join our social media network,” you have a tiny billboard right in their hand. Best of all, though, it’s hard to ignore, because the cup is right in front of them for the 10-15mins they spend drinking their coffee.
Keep It Short, Simple, And To The Point
The most important thing to remember when it comes to your call to action is that you don’t have a lot of time or space to work with. So give your audience a single directive, and make following that directive easy. After all, if someone has their coffee in one hand, chances are good their smartphone is in the other. Taking an online survey, or following your company on Facebook, would be the simplest thing in the world to do. However, asking for more complicated things, or asking for your audience to jump through multiple hoops, dilutes your message’s power.
To get more information about how we can help you get a call to action messages printed on some custom paper cups, simply contact us today!