86. The painless way to write calls-to-action

This is one of the simplest changes you can make to upgrade your sales game.

Add better calls-to-action (CTAs).

Adding CTAs to your copy can feel awkward when you think of it as getting someone to do something for you. 

Here's a better way to think about it.

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I’m Simone Grace Seol. Let me help you build community care, social responsibility, and spirituality into every part of your business.

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Transcript

Hey, friends. You're listening to Liberatory Business. I'm your host, Simone Seol, and thank you so much for listening.

I am reviving some episodes from my archived podcast that I think very much stand the test of time — just as powerful and useful now as they were back when they were first published. This one in particular is so mega practical and useful for upgrading your sales game starting today. So have a listen and enjoy.

What a CTA is, and why it matters

I get lots of questions from my students about how to add a CTA to their posts, emails, whatever — while not having it be awkward, while having it feel natural.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, if you're new to marketing jargon, which is in no way a bad thing — a CTA stands for a call to action. It's the kind of thing where, on websites and emails, it's like, "Click here. Buy now. Reply to this email. Comment below. Send a direct message." These things that tell you what to do. It's pretty self-explanatory, right? Call to action. You call somebody to take action.

I obviously teach all of my students and clients to market themselves on social media, to talk about what they do, who they are, and how they can help people. And it's really important to make the offers, to call people to take action. So it's not just, "Oh, here's a super inspirational story," but also, "Here's how I can help. Here's how to take me up on my offer. Here's how you can buy this product. Here's how you can schedule a consultation call. Here's how you can receive a sample in the mail. Here's how you can sign up to my email list," et cetera.

If you don't tell people what to do, if you don't call people to action, they will never take it. People are not mind readers. We should be as clear in asking people to take action as possible, so that it doesn't leave them guessing. It's the kindest thing to do, to be very clear about the next steps.

It's like leaving someone stranded after a great date

Think about it like this. You go on a great date, and you're like, ooh — you had so many great conversations over a candlelit dinner, or whatever your preferred first date is, and then you gaze into each other's eyes. It's all romantic. There's all these sparks flying. And then they kiss you good night, and they're like, "Okay, bye." And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on. What just happened? Are you gonna call me? Do we have another date? What is going on?"

So imagine when you give your people all of this wonderful stuff — all this wonderful content, stories, tips, you show them the beauty of your product and all these things — without a call to action. It's kind of like leaving them after an amazing date, just stranded. "Okay, bye. See you later."

Imagine that versus you have a great date, and then you're like, "I'll call you tomorrow at three," or, "Meet me on Friday at the blah blah cafe at six o'clock, and I'll take you to dinner." It's like — thank you. Now I know what to expect. Now I know what to do to keep this relationship going, because I wanna find out more. It's not like I'm trying to marry you. It's just I wanna know what the next step is and how I can show up for it, right?

It's terrible to leave somebody stranded. Don't leave your people stranded. I don't know how this already turned into a rant, but this is the importance of calls to action.

Why CTAs feel hard

The fact that I get so many questions about how to weave in CTAs to posts and emails lets me know that people are thinking about it in a way that leaves them kind of confused.

So my guess is that if you're thinking that including a CTA is somehow hard or complicated, it's probably because you're having the thought that a CTA is about getting someone else to do something for you. "Oh, I gotta get them to sign up for my email list. I gotta get them to buy this. I gotta get them to buy into this." And you think that means you have to convince or cajole. You have to awkwardly present something they're not interested in, intrude into their space, shove something in their face, and hopefully talk them into being interested in it. Ugh. No thank you. None of that sounds simple or fun, right?

So I think of CTAs as the opposite of that. What if all that's happening is that you're just giving people a way to connect to what they already want to say yes to?

What if you called it inviting people to your party?

What if we stopped calling it a CTA? Because I think the jargoniness of the word CTA might be part of what's freaking a lot of people out. Call to action, like — okay, what action?

So think of it more like this. One of the foundational principles that I teach in social media marketing is that everything you do — all your social media presence, your email list, whatever you have — is a party. So what if, instead of a CTA, you called it inviting people to your party?

The acronym would be IPYP. Inviting... That's really hilarious when I say it out loud. IPYP, Inviting People to Your Party. And I think that's funny because I have the sense of humor of a seven-year-old.

So whether it's working one-on-one with you, buying your product, joining an email list, or inviting people to follow you on Instagram — it's all a party, right? I think of one-on-one coaching as a party of two people. There are amazing parties that could be had with just two people. Trust me, I know. And I think of sending emails as its own kind of intimate party, where I'm inviting people into the beautiful experience of reading my emails. Or my Facebook group, which is most definitely one of those parties with a really sexy beat thumping, and people are mingling and having drinks and enjoying each other's company and playing games. It's super fun.

So what if every call to action is just you inviting somebody to a party? Like your Instagram — what kind of party is your Instagram presence? Why would somebody want to follow you there? They'd want to follow you for the same reasons they'd wanna go to any party: because there's something fun there. There's something there for them.

And right now, if you're thinking, "Uh, my Instagram presence does not feel like a party," or, "My social media presence does not feel like a party" — well, guess what? It's never too late to start turning it into a party. To infuse more of the positive, vivacious, fun qualities that you want into your social media presence, into your orbit. Because if you're not having fun, if you're not feeling like your space is set up in a way that's inviting to people, of course you don't wanna invite people. So turn your presence into a party, and then any time you invite somebody else to come, it's just a no-brainer. Anybody would want to come to your party. The right people, anyway.

You don't need to beg. Just — hey, just remind them why they might want to join in. There's great music. There's one-of-a-kind appetizers, party favors that they're actually gonna wanna keep. Whatever the reason, just remind them. And they'll be like, "Oh, yeah, of course I would want to do that."

From call to action to inspire to action

And instead of calling it a CTA, calling to action — what if you thought of it as inspiring someone to take action? When I say inspire, there's a quality of being pulled towards something, right? Like, I'm inspired to go out into the garden. I'm inspired to sing this song. I'm inspired to kiss this person. There is a pull. So you are creating that natural pull for somebody.

And remember, every single offer of yours helps people to have more of what they already want. If you're a health coach, for example — people want healthy, vibrant relationships with their bodies, and they wanna feel great. And you making them an offer helps them get closer to what they want: that version of themselves, that version of their lives they want. Any call to action from you that they feel inspired towards — when they take that one step towards your business, towards your offering, they go one step closer towards what they desire, what they choose to include in their future, what they wish to invoke into their future.

So when you think about your offer, whatever it is, as connecting people to what they want in their future — and all you have to do is remind them how that's true, and what they're saying yes to, and why they want to say yes — you're just reminding them. You're not convincing. Then a call to action is easy. It's simple. Provided that you know why your offer is something that people want.

The one question: what's in it for them?

Here's one question to ask that will really, really help with this. Ask yourself: if they do what you ask them to do, what's in it for them?

If you find it difficult to answer this question, that's probably exactly why it's hard for you to write a clear and compelling CTA that feels good to you — when you think you have to convince them to do something because it's not even clear to you how this benefits them.

I would take out a pen and a piece of paper, or type it on your phone or your computer, whatever — exactly what's in it for them when they, for example, join your email list, or when they schedule a call with you.

So first of all, if your answer to that is, "Oh, I don't know what's in it for them" — then okay, great. Don't worry. That's an okay place to be. It just means you haven't taken the time to think about it deliberately. You just haven't taken the time to really be concrete about the value your offer provides. And there is value, I know it. So just take time to think about it.

Get specific

And if you find that your answer is vague — like, "Oh, you'll get some helpful tips," or, "I'll help you think about your problems in a new way," or, "You're going to get some useful things" — if you find your own answer is vague, then that's a great opportunity to practice thinking in more specific, concrete ways about how the benefits would manifest in the person's life, in specific everyday scenarios.

So maybe if somebody signs up for your email list, they'll find something in their inbox that makes them laugh every Sunday. That's something somebody could get out of it. We all like laughing. Or maybe if they sign up, they get exclusive discount coupons. That's something they get out of it that they would want.

If they get on a call with you — again, just think about what's in it for them. If you feel like there's nothing in it for them and it's just for you, you'll get all twisted thinking about how to talk them into getting on this call with you. But if you're clear about how it serves them — like, "You're gonna solve this very specific problem you've been stuck on for a long time, and I will help you solve it in one hour" — and when you're actually writing your CTA, I invite you to be more specific than "a problem." Like, what exactly, what kind of problem? Or, "I'll help you put together a meal plan that you can execute easily and affordably in an hour." I just made that up. But the more specific you can be, the more concrete you can be answering the question of what's in it for them, the more of a no-brainer it'll be for you to write the call to action.

Like, if they click on this link, what's in it for them? "You will download this wonderful freebie, which will enable you to blah, blah, blah, which will give you all the great tips on blah, blah, blah." One of the most useful questions you could have for marketing is: what's in it for them? If they come to my website, what's in it for them? If they listen to my podcast, what's in it for them? If they follow me on Instagram, what's in it for them?

If you force yourself to answer this question often, then it'll become easier and easier to pitch yourself as a business — because it'll become clearer to your brain that your business exists to benefit people, exists to serve others in a way that's greater than just pursuing your self-interest. And that is a beautiful place to be selling from.

How could I make it even more valuable?

So I hope you spend some time with this question of what's in it for them. And taking it one step even further — if you spend even more energy trying to answer the question of how can I make it even higher value for them? How can I make it so that what's in it for them is even more valuable, even more enticing, even more groundbreaking, and just exactly what they want — life-changing, transformative, beautiful, unique, right? Constantly trying to upgrade whatever's in it for them.

You're gonna have such an easier time selling. I think this is the best way to grow a business, the best way to strategize about how to market a business: to constantly ask what's in it for them, and how could I make it so there's even more in it for them, so they can create more of the lives they want.

Mm, so good. All right, my friends, hope that helped. I'll be back with more next time.