What Is a CTA in Marketing Jargon

You may have heard people talking about CTA or call to action in the context of content or copywriting. It’s time for some marketing jargon busting and today we’ll talk all about CTAs and how to use them in your coaching business.

What Is a Call to Action?

A call to action (CTA) is simply a line or two of copy that prompts the reader to take action on what they have read. Let’s say you’ve written an article about how meditation can help CEOs keep their minds focused and calm during high-stress situations. At the end of the article, you could use a CTA to point them towards your lead magnet with 10 guided meditations. The call to action could be something as simple as “Download 10 guided focused mind meditations for CEOs for free. Even 10 minutes of daily meditation can bring the benefits we discussed in this article.

Simply put, a call to action shows the reader what action they can take next. It stops them from simply moving on by prompting them to download the guide, fill out your contact form, or whatever else action they should take.

How to Write a CTA

The best way to approach a CTA is to think about the most beneficial action a reader can take (for them, not for you.) Many social media posts or pieces of blog content will use a vague CTA to ask the reader to follow, subscribe, or check out the website. Instead, think about how the reader can get more value on the topic. In the above example of the benefits of meditation article, it makes sense that someone may read the article and want to start looking into meditation. The logical next step is pointing them towards a resource like an article telling them how to meditate or guided meditation videos. The call to action doesn’t even need to be free content, you could point them towards a meditation workshop or video series that they need to pay for.

Once you know where you are pointing them, it’s time to write the call to action. A call to action needs to answer the following questions:

• Where are you sending me?
• What’s in it for me?

The reader needs to know where the link will take them and why they should click on the link. The first one is easy. You don’t need to be super specific about what webpage they’ll be taken to, they just need to know what’s on the other end of the link. (Your coaching services page, a free resource, your book, etc.)

In the marketing industry, there’s a golden rule, every piece of copy needs to answer the implied reader question, “what’s in it for me?” Drill down into the benefit that will be most important to your dream coaching clients and what it will look like in practice. In the above example, we didn’t really do that because the CTA comes at the end of a whole article talking about the benefits of meditation. The reader is primed to click on the link after reading the call to action. If you didn’t have a whole article of benefits to rely on, it might look a little something like this:

• Healthy food doesn’t have to taste like cardboard, right this way for delicious and filling recipes.
• Hard conversations don’t need to bring on nervous sweats. We wrote a whole book talking you through how to win over your clients while having hard conversations.
• Grab my cheat sheets so you can support your AP-calculus teens even if you can’t do math without reaching for a calculator.
• Ready to get a phone call from your dream job offering you a heart-stopping salary and benefits package? It’s time to hire us to write a CV that makes you stand out from the hundreds of applicants.

Where Should I Put the CTA?

The best place to put a CTA is at the end of a piece of content. You can talk about the lead magnet, course, or service that you are sending them to throughout the article, but a strong CTA should be at the end of the article. Think about it this way, if you are reading an interesting article, you want to read to the end, right? You’re unlikely to abandon it halfway through to download a lead magnet or buy a product. When you have a call to action at the end of the article, it allows the reader to take the next step immediately. They don’t need to scroll up and look for the link again. They don’t have a chance to get distracted before they take action. No matter what, have a CTA at the end. Once you have that in place, you can put as many calls to action throughout the piece of content as you want.

Copy is a little bit different; it can vary a lot depending on the type of copy and the function it has in your business.

Should I Be Writing CTAs?

Yes, every piece of content should have a call to action. That’s why YouTubers will tell you to like and subscribe (and turn on the notification bell) in every video; that’s their CTA. Tell your followers and potential coaching clients how to access even more value. Every piece of content should nudge them towards the next step.

Your copy should also have a CTA. On your website, this is the button that points readers to the contact page to get in touch or the checkout page to buy your course. In emails, this could be a call to action to read a relevant article, purchase a relevant product, or even sign up for your waiting list.

Just don’t confuse matters by having too many CTAs. One is sufficient for a piece of content.

---

Want content that establishes you as an industry thought leader but don’t want to take the time to learn the secrets to content writing? Check out our content packages for coaching. We can write weekly content that inspires and entertains your followers and most importantly, starts them thinking about working with you.