Content marketing and CTA terms are all important in digital marketing, whether your business is developing a lead generation campaign or simply adapting engagement boosting elements to your social media content. CTA copy can drive forward conversions and user engagement with simple, yet effective, language.
The great thing about content marketing is you can play around with words to discover what works best for your business. Whether you want to use personal language, play on negative words, or use a verb or action word to peak interest, your creativity can win over customers when allied with great web design.
Whilst you can be creative, there are also tried and tested terms which have been used in marketing for decades. The following CTA terms have been used by us, world famous brands, and a lot of other companies across the world. They are indeed tried and tested, so shift them between campaigns to determine which works best for your business.
1. Free
The power of free in marketing is a well-known tactic. If your customers try something for free and like it, they’re more likely to then purchase the full product and spread by word of mouth.
It’s such an effective CTA term even internationally successful brands such as Microsoft have used it across a range of their software. It’s often part of developing trust between the brand and consumer, and doing this with a free demonstration or download is a terrific way to develop engagement.
2. Try it for free
Whether you’re an internationally renowned computing firm or a small business with a small but loyal customer base, Try it for free is an enticing CTA. This term isn’t forward in any way, it simply implies the service is free.
Facebook uses free several times on its homepage: “Create an account. It’s free and always will be” and this CTA is reinforced further down the page with a large “Create an account” icon. This, allied with the company’s reputation, is particularly enticing.
3. Sign Up for a Free [Service or Product]
The third example of how to make free work in CTA copy, this time merged with the promise of a free product or service. Depending on what your brand is giving away, this can be a highly effective term to employ.
4. Subscribe
Simplicity is an effective technique on the internet, and if you have an audience who engages regularly with your content then a simple Subscribe could be all that’s needed. Direct and to the point, if your products or service are enticing enough, this is possibly all it could take.
5. Request Invite
Pinterest used to use this technique to great effect. It helps users to feel like they’re entering some sort of exclusive club, as opposed to easily signing up to something.
Compare this to other popular social media formats and Pinterest did stand out, although the service now uses the more familiar Sign up, arguably as the service is now a mainstream success.
6. Learn More
Apple uses this term across its website, as does Microsoft, and it’s clear to see why – it’s short and direct. It’s also enticing, and to gain more information can lead to customers to clicking the CTA icon, which allows your business to supply more content to capture a conversion.
7. Get Started Now
Often supplied following on from more detailed compelling copy, this brief term is action orientated and offers the impetus to act on the compelling copy developed prior to this short but effective CTA.
8. See How it Works
A friendly term which offers an enticing promise – if you click on the term the consumers knows they’ll be updated with key information. This can in the form of more compelling copy, or something more dramatic and appealing such as a bespoke animation or infographic. The sense of discovery provided by the term is what makes it so effective.
9. Talk to Us
Friendly and offbeat, the talk to us CTA is far more appealing than the generic contact us. Shaking up the standard routine with interesting new ideas is what marketing is all about, and doing so in an informal way can result in great engagement.
10. Create [Account, Service, or Website]
WordPress has a medium sized icon on its homepage with Create website emblazoned in the centre. Simple but effective, and language which places the customer in control. In this case, the end result is a fantastic new website. WordPress has thrived on its brilliantly simplistic approach, and here is another fine example of their work.
