Call to action or call to action (CTA) in marketing is a technique that consists of putting a word or phrase for the user to perform an immediate action.
This action could be: leave a comment, share the article on social networks, register on our website, fill in a form, make a phone call, make a purchase, etc.
What we want the user to do depends, of course, on our advertising objectives.
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Formats to insert a Call to Action
Now that we know what a CTA is in marketing and its function, the next question is what elements or formats we can use to implement them in practice
The answer is simple: a call to action can appear inside a pop up, a banner, a button, at the end of a blog post, on the side of a web page, etc. A typical example is the call to action to Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, which can appear at the end of an article or anywhere else on the page.
The formats for implementing a call to action or CTA in digital marketing are varied and, in theory, there is no element of our website that we cannot use for it.
why use a CTA?
The average user does not usually have a lot of initiative. He goes from one page to another hoping that, suddenly, what he was looking for will jump out at him. So, if we don’t encourage them a little, we run the risk of them abandoning our website without having made a conversion.
Let’s suppose you have a blog to promote your business on the Internet. The articles are interesting and well written. In addition, you have made sure to optimize them using relevant keywords. However, you don’t include a call to action in any of them.
what will happen?
With some exceptions, most users will leave the page as soon as they finish reading. Both feedback and your visibility on social networks will be almost nil, thus wasting many opportunities for positioning and conversions.
This is even more true if you want the user to perform more sales-oriented actions, such as subscribing to a newsletter, visiting a product in your online store or answering a questionnaire.
Understanding call to action by example
To really understand what CTAs are and what their benefits are, there is no better way than to see a call to action in examples. So, let’s look at some of the most successful ones.
“Be original” (Netflix)
what does CTA mean in marketing, an explicit invitation to convert? The answer is: not always. For example, Netflix appealed to the yearning to be special that every human being has, and with a simple “Be original” complemented the irresistible offer of “Enjoy free for a month” placed, no less, on a red button.
“Next” (Instagram)
Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best. Such was the philosophy that Instagram followed. With a simple button that says “Next”, it invites you to sign up for this well-known social network. An example that we don’t always have to rack our brains looking for a call to action.
“Say hello to the future” (Apple)
There is no better way to stand out than doing something surprising. And that’s what Apple’s experts took into account when designing that famous call to action that said “Say hello to the future”, showing an iPhone with an empty screen. Undoubtedly, an excellent example of how to implement a good CTA in marketing.
