What is a call to action and why do you need one?

Every piece of marketing collateral you produce should have a strong call to action (CTA). When creating collateral, many people gloss over the call to action or tack it on as an afterthought. The right call to action at the right time is crucial to converting your audience into leads. Here are three pitfalls I see with CTAs and how to avoid them.

Mistake #1 Too many CTA’s

The most common mistake is littering a piece of collateral with too many CTA’s. A call to action should focus your audience’s attention on the next and most important step, not overwhelm them with options. At most, your collateral should have two calls to action, each with a different role. The first is the “direct” call to action. Whatever your conversion metric is for the campaign, the direct call to action should encourage families toward that step. The second is an “indirect” call to action. This allows your audience to continue a relationship with your school without having to commit. Here is an example of a mailer that uses a direct and indirect call to action.

When possible, match your direct call to action with the marketing platform. If you are sending an SMS message, ask people to reply by text. If you are running a digital ad, ask people to click or signup online. If you are sending a mailer, ask people to call. This makes the action as simple as possible for your prospective families to take. 

Mistake #2 Timing

The second mistake we make is asking for the wrong action at the wrong time. Usually, we are asking for too much commitment too soon. Your school’s relationship with families follows the same arch as normal human relationships. Asking a parent to apply moments after hearing about you is analogous to asking someone to marry you on a first date. It will take time for your school to build trust with families. I have generalized the stages of your marketing relationship below and paired them with an example CTA.

Interest ⮕ Learn More

Educate ⮕ Sign Up

Commit ⮕ Apply Now

Mistake #3 Strong CTA with No Plan to Back it Up

The third mistake is providing the right CTA at the right time with a poor follow-up. It takes careful planning to ensure your team has the capacity to follow through with leads. Early in my career, I remember sending out a mailer asking parents to call to learn more about our school. I forgot to let the front desk know that this mailer went out, and they got bombarded with calls. I had no plan in place to track callers or follow-up. Many of those prospective parents fell through the cracks. Don’t make the same mistake I did! You not only lose the lead, but you send a message to families that their time and effort don’t matter. 

Whenever possible, automate your follow-ups. There are useful and inexpensive tools at your disposal. I have found software like Zapier, Mailchimp, ManyChat, Google Forms, Google Sheets, and countless more to be helpful in automating a follow-up process. When you take care of families after they have called, signed up, or applied, you are communicating that you are the type of school that has a plan. You are the type of school that can be trusted.

In Conclusion

In order to strengthen your marketing collateral, you must choose one direct call to action, ask for the right action at the appropriate time, and make sure you have a follow-up plan in place for leads. Make sure your collateral checks these three boxes before you launch your next ad!

Sawyer Schafbuch is a StoryBrand Certified Guide and founder of Everydesk, helping quality schools recruit students. He recently moved to Des Moines, IA with his wife and daughter.