How can you include a call-to-action in your brand story?
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— The LinkedIn Team
A call-to-action (CTA) is a phrase or a button that invites your audience to take a specific action, such as signing up for your newsletter, downloading your ebook, or buying your product. A CTA is a crucial element of your brand story, as it helps you connect with your potential customers, build trust, and generate leads. But how can you include a CTA in your brand story without sounding too salesy or pushy? Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling CTA that aligns with your brand story and values.
Before you write your CTA, you need to understand who your audience is, what their needs and pain points are, and how your brand can help them solve their problems or achieve their goals. You can use tools like surveys, interviews, or analytics to gather insights about your target market and create buyer personas. This will help you tailor your CTA to match their interests, motivations, and preferences.
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Nimish Dwivedi
Chief Business Officer
Add a promotion offer aligned with the brand's core values. Also add timebound value adds . Finally keep refreshing these offers based on actuals
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Sharad V K
Marketing Director at Century Financial I Communications Strategist I Branding I Integrated Marketing communications
In my experience, the role of CTA is defined by the objective of the communication. It can be either Pure Brand communication or Brand communication with a promotional/lead generation objective. Pure Brand communications should have a very subtle CTA, as it's more about sharing your brand story/narrative. Here just a sign-off with your logo, tagline, and website can do the job. In case the objective is lead generation inviting/ interactive kinds of CTAs like 'Learn more', 'Know more', and 'Talk to us' can do the trick.
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Simon Bowden
International 🌎Master Business Coach & Mentor🔺28 year Marketing Strategist🔺Published Author & Mindset Coach🔺 Coached 1000+ Business Executives, Directors & Start-ups from zero to success $$$🔺 Let me help you succeed
To be successful in today’s fast paced world, it’s a must to have a well crafted ‘call to action’ in your brand story. It’s an effective way to engage your audience and prompt them to take a desired action. Here’s my two tips in what to include: 1. Understand Your Audience: It's important to understand your target audience and their needs. Your call to action must resonate with their desires and motivations. 2. Make it Clear and Compelling: Your call to action should be concise and compelling. Use strong action-oriented words that clearly communicates what you want your audience to do. Remember, a well-crafted call to action should not only inspire action but also align with your brand story and provide value to your audience.
Next, you need to define what you want your audience to do after reading your brand story. Do you want them to subscribe to your email list, follow you on social media, request a demo, or make a purchase? Your goal should be clear, specific, and measurable, and it should align with your brand story and value proposition. For example, if your brand story is about empowering women entrepreneurs, your goal could be to get them to join your online community or enroll in your course.
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Chiamaka Joyce Nzeako
Founder of Scriptjobs - Helping you get SEEN, HEARD and HIRED |Driving SALES for Founders through Content and Branding || Brand and Content Strategist ||Recruitment Consultant
Humans are most likely to do nothing unless told to do something. You got to make them know and understand clearly what to do. Want them to subscribe say it Want them to follow say it Want them to buy say it Say it and watch them do it
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Denise Soto Conde
Marketing & Strategy | Proceso de decisión de compra | Buyer´s Journey
The purpose of defining your goal is that it should be one and it should be according to your strategy and the maturity of your brand.
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Nathan Green
CEO & Co Founder New Level Radio, Public Speaker, Rolling Stone Culture Council Author, and Certified Music Guru!
If you do not have a next step for your audience, how can you measure or expect a CTA outcome. Get your audience to be the champion of your brand story and they will create calls to action for you.
Now that you know your audience and your goal, you can write your CTA using clear, concise, and persuasive language. Your CTA should tell your audience what action to take, why they should take it, and how to take it. You can use words like "start", "join", "learn", or "get" to create a sense of urgency and excitement. You can also use emotional triggers like "fear", "curiosity", "greed", or "pride" to appeal to your audience's feelings and desires. For example, if your brand story is about helping people travel the world on a budget, your CTA could be "Start your adventure today and get 50% off your first booking".
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Rena Ling (陈俐霖)
CMO | Martech Adopter | Innovation Catalyst | AI Advocate | Driving transformation and growth through tech, ideas and people | Social Selling Course Creator & Trainer | Warlock in World of Warcraft
Some of the best CTAs are engaging and compelling - as opposed to the typical "click here". According to Hubspot, a good CTA is simple, uses action verbs, is creative and creates a sense of urgency. For eg.: To register for an event - "Sign me up" To download a report - "Send me a copy" To visit a link - "Take me there" To commit to something - "Take the leap" Get a demo - "Try for Free" Find out more - "How do we do that?" Experiment and run A/B tests to see which CTAs garner the highest conversions.
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Carla Stiles
CEO @Designedbycarla Innovative Marketing Strategist
Writing a CTA should be natural and actionable, using keywords that define the client. It's simple, but the return on value should be defined by the client rather than the marketing team. Whether it's leading them to a website, increasing impressions, likes, shares, or comments. Social media does not perform the same way it did years ago.
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Jackson Murphy
Creative Director | Copywriter | Digital & Content Strategy | User Experience | Marketer | Partner at Digital Agency Pound & Grain | Nerd.
Writing CTAs is the best. Here's 2 thoughts and two examples: 1. Be actionable I like to avoid things like "Learn more" or other generic ones like it at all costs - and you'll end up with dozens of them on your site. And before you come at me, I know right now Apple balances "Buy" and "Learn more" CTAs. But the primary should always be your buy, shop, or add to bag or cart. → I remember years ago working a gambling client and we switched from generic learn mores to "Bet Now" and watched the sign ups and bets fly in. 2. Make it fun → An example I wish I thought of from this week is for DiGiorno's Thanksgiving Pizza. To order that limited edition culinary delight, the CTA was simply: "Get Gobbling." Genius! It was sold out too.
The design of your CTA is also important, as it can affect how your audience perceives and responds to it. You should use colors, fonts, shapes, and sizes that contrast with the rest of your brand story and attract attention. You should also make sure that your CTA is visible, accessible, and easy to click or tap on any device. You can use tools like Canva, Photoshop, or Figma to create eye-catching and user-friendly CTAs.
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Nathan Green
CEO & Co Founder New Level Radio, Public Speaker, Rolling Stone Culture Council Author, and Certified Music Guru!
Your design must stand out and not be the typical mode of CTA. This is where knowing your audience is key. That way you can design a thoughtful CTA that will give your audience a feeling that makes them want to act.
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Pattie McNab
Brand Development | Marketing Communicator | Graphic Designer | Brand Identity Designer I Narrative Brand Creator | Storyteller | Visual Graphic Designer I Problem Solver I Critical Thinker I Branding I Strategic Vision
When creating a design, the CTA plays a key role in guiding users towards a specific action or goal. Selecting a color that contrasts with the rest of the design ensures that the CTA stands out, and prompting them to take action. The contrast principle is rooted in the psychology of perception. When an element, like a CTA button, differs significantly in color from its surroundings, it naturally draws the eye. This visual distinction helps users quickly identify where they need to focus their attention. It serves as a visual cue, guiding users to the most important elements and prompting them to take the desired actions, ultimately enhancing the overall user experience.
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Shauna Collister
It is always temping to try put more information into a CTA. Don't make it too long or confusing. Use a 'more information' button for those that want it, but so it doesnt clutter your visual.
Finally, you should test and optimize your CTA to see how it performs and what improvements you can make. You can use tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Mailchimp to track and measure the click-through rate, conversion rate, and bounce rate of your CTA. You can also use tools like Optimizely, Unbounce, or VWO to run A/B tests and compare different versions of your CTA. You can experiment with different words, colors, shapes, and placements to see what works best for your audience and your brand story.
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Alaa Almasri
LinkedIn Trainer • LinkedIn Consultant ≦Ask me how to get the MOST from LinkedIn, EMPOWER you to own your greatness to Shine through LinkedIn≧ LinkedIn Training • LinkedIn Marketing
Incorporating a call-to-action (CTA) into your brand story on LinkedIn involves crafting a compelling narrative, identifying a specific action you want your audience to take, seamlessly integrating the CTA into the content, using engaging visuals, and clearly highlighting the benefits. Make sure your CTA is actionable, add direct links if necessary, and regularly test and optimize its performance. Encourage engagement and feedback from your audience and maintain consistency in your approach. A well-placed CTA can guide your LinkedIn connections to take actions that align with your professional or personal goals.
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Mash B.
Brand Strategist 🔸 Creative Director 🔸 Early-Stage Funding Consultant
Testing your CTA is the most important thing you can do. Most people set up a CTA and then never look at it. You need to look at your CTA every single day to see how effective it is and then test alternatives.
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Srinivasan Gopalakrishnan
New Initiatives Enthusiast | Transforming Ideas into Impact
Our approach should be centering around the customer's interests and it should be designed to resonate more with the "What's in it for me" mindset. For example : "Unlock incredible adventures while keeping your wallet happy! By booking now, you'll instantly save 50% on your first journey, giving you the chance to make unforgettable memories without the financial stress." In this approach, we first highlight what the customer will gain: "Unlock incredible adventures" and "keeping your wallet happy." Then, we explain why they should act: "By booking now, you'll instantly save 50% on your first journey," and finally, we emphasize the personal benefit: "giving you the chance to make unforgettable memories without the financial stress."
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Teslimat Ishaq
Content Marketer- Empowering founders to attract, nurture and convert their target audience using content. DM "Lift" for info.
Make sure your audience is clear on the benefit or value your brand offer and what they would get when they answer your call to action. You also want to personalize your CTA to them, make it about them and let it speak their mind. Say in your brand story you mention a strategy you are using to transform people, you want your CTA to be something like "Give me that strategy now" Why Because if you've done a great job educating them and making the offer irresistible then they would definitely be like "Come on, give me that now", right?
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Amandine Aman
CMO, Ex-Uber, Brand Fractional leader
While we all appreciate CTAs, especially the performance marketing team, in brand campaigns, you need to be cautious about their impact on the overall message. Imagine a powerful emotional commercial concluding with 'BUY NOW -50%' and 'T&C.' It could easily come across as insincere. Great brand storytelling campaigns are often best wrapped up with a logo or a tagline, leaving the audience with a strong brand recall and improved brand sentiment. Your performance campaign will probably work even better next time.
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Deborah Katz
Brand, Lifecycle and Performance Marketing Strategist | Ecommerce and Digital Transformation Leader | Operational & Media-Efficiency Champion | Cross-Functional Consensus Builder
An awareness play shouldn't include a call to action in the "performance" sense of the word, so much as a call to engagement or a call to emotion. A variation of "Learn more" for extended brand storytelling in an environment where you can capture data or "Tell us" where you invite the consumer to disclose their alignment or curiosity with your narrative.