Direct mail and print marketing are still effective ways for you to engage your target audience. However, the challenge is getting them to read it and then taking some form of action. This is the ‘call-to-action‘ or CTA.
With print, there are five popular calls-to-action. Knowing all of them is important when developing your content to ensure that you are using the right one depending on your marketing objectives. Here they are:
1. Send to URL to Purchase
The first type of call-to-action in today’s business setting is sending prospects to go to a specific URL to purchase your service or product. You can use the full URL of the landing page, or a shorter, more convenient version to type in. You can even use a QR code which will eliminate the need to type at all.
With this call-to-action, your printed material needs to take into account your entire sales cycle. When you ask someone to purchase, you’re assuming, or you know for sure that they are ready to purchase. Either you’ve been in contact with them before, or your printed material has enough information to answer questions and take the prospect through the entire sales process.
People have a lot of access to information today and will often conduct research very thoroughly before they purchase. So, if you want to sell quickly, ensure you are providing a good amount of information, either with your printed material, on your website, or on the phone before asking for the sale.
2. Visit the Website to Learn More
Perhaps the most common call-to-action for printed material, especially in the B2B world, is to direct prospects to a landing page where they can learn more about the offer.
We just went over how important the sales cycle is in business. The potential customer that receives your direct mail piece likely has questions. You might pique their interest with the mailer and answer the first few questions, but after that, they likely want more information.
Today, it’s common for people to visit websites to get information. Direct your prospects to specific landing pages where they go through the sales process. This allows you to better track the success of your mailing campaign.
3. Call Now for More Information
Some prospects, especially in B2B, prefer to make a phone call to learn more information. They don’t want to take the time to visit your website, where they may or may not be able to find the information they’re looking for. They’ll have questions and sometimes it’s best if they call your company to talk to a person that can help them.
If this describes your business, then include a unique phone number on the printed piece. For each different mailer, use a different number so you can track the success of each one. You can route calls to your call center, or to you, where you can speak with people that are interested in your product or service.
4. Complete a Web Form
We’ve mentioned the idea of landing pages a few times already and we’ll bring it up again here. You can use landing pages in different ways for online and offline marketing. One way that works with both is the landing page web form.
You can enhance the enticement for the prospect by offering a discount. You can require the person to fill out some information in the form in return for a discount.
Forms are also used for content pieces like guides, white papers, etc. There may be situations where you send a direct mail piece that promotes a piece of content and you can capture information like email addresses, business info, etc. by directing people to a web form.
5. Visit for a New or Unique Offer
Finally, a good call-to-action for print is to promote a new or unique offer. It might be something you’ve been working on and you’re using print as one way to promote it. A new service, a new product, a new add-on item – whatever you’re promoting that’s new you can direct people to your website or to a specific landing page where they can get more information.
This is similar to #2 above, but it’s important, especially for new services and products or new offers. The idea of something “new” is a strong call-to-action. Catalog companies have done a good job with promoting new items for a long time and the strategy works for most print marketing campaigns.
Conclusion
There are several ways to entice your prospects to take action once they’ve received your direct mail and print marketing materials. The important thing is that you develop a call-to-action that is compelling enough to lead them to take action by offering something valuable to them.
Give us your feedback:
- What calls-to-action do you use with your print marketing?
- What kind of success have you had?