The Crucial Element Your Marketing Might Be Missing

You know what's really annoying? When you spend hours researching, writing, photographing, formatting, and proofreading your work to create something you're actually proud of… and then nothing.

You know people are reading your blog or opening your email or following you on social media – but you're not seeing the sales or engagement that you want. Bummer.

The crucial element your marketing might be missing

It kills me to see people spend so much time creating and promoting their products and services and not seeing results. But the good news is, there may be an easy fix! I recently did a content audit for a client who was was struggling with getting clients from Instagram (despite having over 1,000 followers), but after making 1 little change – she booked 3 new clients within 1 week. 

She added a clear call to action.

From my experience, it's much easier to market and sell your products and services if you remember 1) most people are egocentric and 2) most people like to be told what to do. That sounds a little harsh (and I even tried to soften it with “most”), but I'm just putting that out there…

In the example I mentioned above, my client was using Instagram to promote her photography business. She had gorgeous images, was using relevant hashtags, and even had over a thousand followers… but she wasn't getting clients. Despite the fact that her feed was gorgeous – no one had any idea she was actively looking for clients! She mentioned in her bio that she was a photographer, but had no link to her website or no specific call to action to get in touch. It's such a simple thing, but the shift from “hey, I provide a service” to – “hey, I provide a service and this is how you can hire me” is crucial.

Make it easy for people to know what to do by giving them a clear call to action. 

Going back to the egocentric part, I think it's also important to acknowledge that people want to know what's in it for them. Most email sign up requests say something like, “sign up for my newsletter where you'll occasionally get tips on stuff” – sorry no one really wants to sign up for that. Setting expectations by telling (or showing!) people what they are actually getting (and when they are getting it) can make a huge difference in opt-in rates. #trust

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Setting expectations by telling (or showing!) people what they are actually getting (and when they are getting it) can make a huge difference in opt-in rates. #trust” quote=”Setting expectations by telling (or showing!) people what they are actually getting (and when they are getting it) can make a huge difference in opt-in rates. #trust”]

Using benefit-oriented CTAs makes it easy to tell someone what to do + what's in it for them when they do it.

• Click the link in my bio to read the post + learn how to plan your blog content (so you always know exactly what to write about)! 
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These are all CTAs that I've used on my blog or on social media to encourage my audience to take action. Notice none of them just say “link in bio” or “submit” or “contact me” – because that would be kind of lame. Positioning your CTAs as something that results in actual VALUE makes them so much stronger. 

If it sounds like I'm a little too excited about CTAs its because I kinda am – strategically using CTAs was a game-changer for my own business and it could be for yours as well!