Want to know how to make the ideal call to action for your business’s video marketing strategy? Read on to find out!
Call to action is a term used in marketing to describe any prompt designed to ignite an immediate and voluntary response from a potential customer, increasing the likelihood that they will interact with or purchase from your brand. Our introductory line above demonstrates what a CTA may sound like.
CTAs typically include imperative verbs (commanding words or phrases) that are subtly, or not so subtly incorporated into advertising messages and are especially effective when used in video marketing.
But what are CTAs actually for and why are they so useful? In this article, we will provide all the answers you need to get started on creating the most impactful CTAs for your business video marketing campaign.
What is a Call to Action?
A CTA encompasses any instruction that you give to a potential customer so they perform a specific action immediately, the name is fairly self-explanatory, it really is a call to action!
CTAs are needed to inform potential consumers what their next actions should be, in most cases directing them further into your sales funnel.
They should be clear and concise, leaving no ambiguity for the customer.
They are effective in all forms of marketing (social media, email, video, influence, mobile, radio, billboards) with the aim to sell your product or increase knowledge of your brand.
The effectiveness of your CTA will likely determine the success of the marketing campaign.
For this reason, it is worth spending time and energy developing CTA that works for your business.
Generating leads through CTAs
A call to action can be used in several different ways, all of which contribute to moving potential customers through the sales funnel.
Final action CTA:
A call for the final action, a persuasion to your ideal end goal. For instance, a link straight to purchase or to claim a free trial.
Information CTA:
Refer the viewer to explore your brand or product further. This can be a link to reviews or an FAQ section. Although this type of CTA does not result directly in a purchase, it leads potential customers further into the sales funnel, making a future purchase much more likely.
Examples of CTA
- Book a call!
- Book a meeting!
- Call us!
- Click here to subscribe to our Youtube Channel
- Click here to see a demo
- Shop here
- Reserve your seat
- Download our app
Some CTAs contain incentives designed to increase urgency in the potential customer. These will often include encouraging phrases such as ‘book now!’ or incentives such as promo codes that are employed to stimulate potential customers to engage even more. Here are some examples:
- Book now for an extra 20% off!
- Sign up now for a free gift!
- Subscribe to our emails, we won’t spam!
- Buy now, stocks running low!
Why use a Call to Action?
There’s not really any point in having expertly produced video marketing content if potential customers have no idea how to access more key information about your product/ service or cannot navigate quickly where to purchase it.
The collective attention span of the public is dropping rapidly with the increased usage of apps such as TikTok. People will not spend their precious time trying to work out how to navigate your site to access a product or service.
For this reason, it is essential to include a CTA in your content to ensure wider brand engagement and custom.
Regardless of the stage of consumption that your customer is at, they need a call to action to direct them to their next step. This can also improve your KPIs.
Marketing as Communication
Communication involves conversation. Productive conversations always have a sender of information and someone who receives it. The sender and receiver have their own goals and desires within the discussion, and these roles will frequently switch.
The essential role of marketing is communicating products, services, or brand image to target audiences. Marketing is a conversation between businesses (in most cases the sender) and customers (the receiver). Both have aims and objectives. Businesses want to increase custom and brand engagement, whereas consumers are open to purchasing products and services. For this communication to be successful, both parties must find something beneficial in undertaking conversation. Customers especially are under no obligation to indulge in your marketing so you must draw them in and allow them to operate inside the marketing web with ease. CTAs can ensure marketing communications are smooth and worthwhile for both sides of the conversation.
Think of it this way…
You are out with a friend, all day long they have been talking about the amazing holiday they have just come back from. It was perfect! sunny, warm, safe, friendly, and great value for money. You desperately want to find out about this wondrous holiday, where it was and how it was booked, but your friend has just walked away without telling you any information and you are not going to see them again for a long time. All you are left with is the knowledge of how perfect the holiday was and how great it would have been for you. You can’t do anything with this information apart from become frustrated at the thought of how lovely it would have been.
This is clearly an exaggerated example and rarely would this happen in the real world because we understand how to communicate with each other, but it happens all the time in marketing! This is why incorporating a strong CTA is of paramount importance when aiming for a successful marketing campaign.
You could have the most amazing product ever with flawless advertising but without an effective CTA message, few people would be able to successfully communicate with the business.
The importance of CTA in videos
Video is quickly becoming one of the most successful and popular ways for businesses to share information with or advertise to consumers. Commercial videos include live action or animated content intended for marketing, sales, education and training. They provide consumers with a more engaging way to comprehensively absorb information about your brand.
The public retains 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it through text.
Well-made videos can grab and hold the attention of its audience, but to be profitable for your business, they must contain audio or visual cues to drive the actions of consumers. This is why CTAs are one of the most important components of business-minded video content.
Forms of CTAs to be used in business video
Textual CTA
- Animated text
- More convenient when wanting to insert lengthier CTAs such as wesites, promos, disclaimers or dates, as it is easier to read them rather than audibly take in
- More accessible to a wider range of consumers
Verbal CTA
- A recorded person or voice over presenting details combined with a CTA at the end
- Can be more engaging, tone can be used to display how enticing the CTA is.
CTA Button
- Possible now on sites like Youtube to have interactive video
- A convenient way for customers to subscribe to a channel or take them to a website at the click of a button
- Not possible for certain forms of video (TV adverts)
How to make your CTA effective
Timing
- General media overload means that it is highly unlikely that every viewer will watch your entire video.
- Unreliable completion rates mean it is most impactful to have your CTA at the beginning of the video. (it is, however, still useful to have them placed throughout and at the end)
- This way, even if viewers do not watch your entire video, they will have received the CTA and have had the opportunity to act on it.
- Some consumers may even already know that they want to engage with your company, placing the CTA earlier makes it easier for them to do this.
Variety
- Video format welcomes experiments.
- All forms of CTA (as mentioned above) could be used in a single video.
- This helps engagement and increases accessibility.
- Just be sure to not overload the audience with aggressive CTAs as this is offputting and may deter potential consumers and reduce the integrity of the business. To prevent this, put some CTAs into the description box of the video.
Urgency
- Give incentives to drum up the urgency of potential consumers.
- Encourages audiences to make quick decisions and take interest as they feel there is competition for your product.
- This can be, for instance, saying ‘whilst stocks last; or ‘subscribe for 20% off’.
Simplicity
- Wordy or illiterate CTAs can be confusing for your consumer and much less memorable.
- Make your CTA simple, use minimal but punchy wording.
- Ensure links lead to the right places, its annoying and unproffesisonal when they don’t.
- Make the CTA align with the goals of the video.
Specificity
- Make CTAs as personal and proactive as possible, if you are marketing to a sustainably conscious group of people, for instance Generation Z, have a CTA encouraging them to look at your CSR (corporate social responsibility) commitments.
- Anticipate the information potential consumers are likely to need and lead them straight to it – be as specific as possible, if your product is expensive, it is better to say ‘learn more about our finance options here’ rather than ‘click here for more information’.
- People are more likely to be enticed by an action that seems relevant to them.
Mobile Friendly
- Video consumption through mobile phones has grown much faster than PC or tablet video in recent years,
- In 2019, over 70% of watch time on Youtube came from mobile devices, this number has likely grown since.
- Most commuters use their mobiles when travelling to engage with marketing content, if your largest target market is this group, mobile configuration of CTAs is essential.
- An example of mobile-friendly CTA: using text when people cannot play videos loudly in public or a navigation path that is touch-screen enabled.
To summarise….
A call to action, whether it be referring potential customers to more information about your brand or sending them straight to purchase is one of the most essential, yet easily looked over areas of a successful business marketing video.
Here are a few points to round up the most important aspects of using CTAs:
- A CTA encompasses any instruction that you give to a potential customer so they perform a specific action immediately.
- They are effective for your company to use in all forms of marketing, especially video as it has become one of the most productive ways for businesses to share information and advertise to consumers.
- Make sure to follow our tips on how to ensure success. Take into account timing, variety, urgency, simplicity, specificity, and mobile-friendly navigation.
- Marketing is communication, ensure that brand-to-consumer conversation flows smoothly by utilising CTAs.
- Most importantly, remember, there is no point constructing an expertly produced video if potential customers have no idea how to access more key information about your product/ service or cannot navigate quickly where to purchase it.
Creating a video that perfectly makes use of CTAs can be a complicated process, don’t fancy the stress? Why not use a video production company. Contact us if you have any questions about the use of CTAs or would like to get our creative partnership started.
