Are you a business marketing wimp? There are many ways to be a business wimp, but today, we are going to talk about the call to action. If you are advertising without a call to action, then you are what Zig Ziglar calls “professional visitors.” Unless you are asking for the order, you are just visiting someone’s mailbox, inbox, telephone, or TV. And if you are just visiting, then you qualify as a business marketing wimp.
Let’s think about an ad that wimps out. Here is an example:
UPTOWN LIVING, SMALL-TOWN PRICE. Nestled in the growing community of XXX, The Maples is close to grocery stores, shopping areas, and major highways. We also have fully furnished corporate apartments which include water, cable, and electricity. As far as community amenities, you’ll find everything you are looking for at The Maples. Feel free to call our office for pricing at 123-456-7890. Our office is open from 8am to 5pm M-F and 9 to 3 on Saturday.
This ad does a great job telling us about the apartment, but the call to action isn’t not a true call to action. In order to write a good call to action, you must do three things:
- Give specific instructions
- Tell them what will happen when they do what you’ve asked them to do
- Provide something to the prospect for following the instructions.So, how would we write the call to action in the above ad? What do you want the prospect to do? Seeing the property is really the only way to get them to rent it, so the call to action is going to have to be to get them to the property. A sure-fire way to do this is to offer a reward to those that do what you have asked them to do. The Maples should know how many visits it takes to convert someone into tenant, so they will base their rewards on this number. To tour our complex and an apartment, call Georgette at 123-456-7890. If you stop in for a tour by Thursday May 11th, you will receive a $10 gift card to either Olive Garden or Ruby Tuesdays. THE FIRST 5 CALLERS to reserve a tour will also get a FREE PAIR OF MOVIE PASSES. Find out if we are right for you in just 30 minutes!NOT SURE IF YOU ARE READY TO TOUR? Call The Maple’s free recorded message to learn more about our apartment complex and hear actual comments from current residents. Call 24/7 to learn more about the Maples at 1-800-123-4567.
- No matter what business you are in, your marketing needs to show that you are not merely a visitor, but an actual salesperson. Look at your materials to determine if they are wimpy. If so, do something about it!!
- For some people, this call to action may be too much. They are still not sure if they actually want to see the apartment, but they do have questions. Here is a way to get these people into the loop:
- So, rather than say, Feel free to call our office, The Maples could say something like this:
- Why don’t marketers do these things? Often, it is not a clear understanding of what a call to action is. The other reason is that they don’t want to be held responsible for the results! If the call to action is sloppy, then tracking the ad will also be sloppy.