How to Make Your Call to Action Actually Work

How to Make Your Call to Action Actually Work

Traci DeForge: [00:00:00] Normally, some people might say, “Oh, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m on Instagram. Go to my website, um, w- if you wanna book a call with me.” Like, all these kind of things that are just like, first of all, I just gave you like five different opportunities, and they were all very generic. Or even worse, you use one call to action, but it’s like, “Sign up for my newsletter.”

Okay. Well, you know, thank you, but really, what are you gonna do for me to, for me to give up my email address to you, right?

Voice Over: This is the Growth Accelerator Podcast. Now your host, Tracy Deforge.

Traci DeForge: One of the biggest missed opportunities in business, and especially in podcasting, is the weak or confusing call to action, or in some cases, it doesn’t exist at all.

You can have the most engaging content in the world, but if you don’t clearly guide your audience on what to do next after they have experienced listening or watching your podcast, you are really leaving connections on the table Take a [00:01:00] listen to this recent interview that I did with Your Brand Amplified, hosted by Onycha Jackson.

She asked me very specifically about this. I think you’ll want to hear the answer

Anika Jackson: What advice would you have to somebody on how to position their call to action to make it effective and something people will actually take action on?

Voice Over: Yes. Thank

Traci DeForge: you for asking this question, ’cause everyone needs to know the answer to this.

There are a couple things that y- as you’re… And think about this through any piece of content that you’re putting out there. This does not have to be related to just a podcast. But when you are considering, and a call to action essentially is translating into inviting someone to do business with you. If you can think about a call to action, a lot of times people think about call to action, and it freaks them out, or the, “I can’t do that.

That’s too salesy. That’s not my style.” Okay. So if you own a business, you’re a salesperson, and if you have an issue with that, then you should probably- … not be a business owner so let’s just start there. Sales is, no matter how you classify [00:02:00] it, you’re going to have to sell yourself and sell your products in order to be able to generate revenues, in order to stay in business.

A call to action doesn’t have to be intimidating or threatening. It just needs to be an invitation to continue the conversation. So when we are talking s- specifically in podcast terms, I use the term warm invite call to action as a teaching mechanism, because I want people to hear the difference. So literally, I will show you the difference.

So in this situation, you might say, “Okay, Tracy, how can people get in touch with you?” Which you probably would ask me. We’re gonna go ahead and- … skip that and do… And so normally, some people might say, “Oh, you can connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m on Instagram. Go to my website, um, w- if you want to book a call with me.”

Like, all these kind of things that are just, like, first of all, I just gave you, like, five different opportunities, and they were all very generic. Or even worse, you use one call to action, but it’s like, “Sign up for my newsletter.” Okay. Well, you know, thank you, but [00:03:00] really, what are you gonna do for me to, for me to give up my email address to you, right?

So most people think of a call to action as something that they either don’t give a lot of consideration to, and it’s like, “Yeah, sign up for my newsletter,” or they give five different choices. And you gotta think about yourself being in a food court, and you’re, like, looking around, and there’s so many different choices.

You’re like, “I don’t want anything to eat. I can’t even make a decision,” right? So when you are doing a call to action, you just want to pick one action So in our case, it would be, “I would really love it if you want to learn more about any of the things that I’ve been saying or talking about today for you to go to produceyourpodcast.com.”

And then I’ll tell you why. Because there are resources, there are blogs, there’s, um, opportunities to connect. There, you can sample some of our work. You can see how people have integrated their sponsorships if you sample some of the shows. Like, all of these things live on produceyourpodcast.com. If you do something that’s just like, “I want you,” thinking about, like, talking to one person, one human, one connection [00:04:00] And you invite them, then that’s so personal.

And it also provi- And then make sure you’re saying, like, like, the value. Like, what’s in it for that person to continue the conversation with you? And it’s like when I met you in person in Los Angeles at Evolutions, if I just walked up to you and said- … “Sign up for my newsletter.” Like,

what? Who are you? Right? We have to think about our call to action the exact same way. It’s like invite someone to be a part of your world.

Anika Jackson: Don’t just, like, punch it on them and, and not show them any value for why. Yeah. It’s a big… This is a big passion point for me. You can tell.

Traci DeForge: Let’s break down the three most common mistakes that we see at Produce Your Podcast when it comes to a call to action.

One, it’s too broad. What does that mean? That means that you’re saying something like, “Go to my website,” or, “Sign up for my newsletter,” or, “Connect with me on LinkedIn.” [00:05:00] Those are all calls to action, but they’re not specific enough. You need to say what’s in it for them. If your newsletter is packed with information and gives them the opportunity to learn more about how you work in your business, make sure you let them know that there’s a value to them for signing up for your newsletter.

If you have a library of resources, and blogs, and opportunities on your website that they can utilize to help them, let them know why you want them to go to the website and what to do when they get there. Number two, it’s too complicated. So too complicated is also synonymous with too many choices. The confused mind says no.

So with your call to action, you don’t wanna do all of the things. You don’t wanna say, “Head over to my website. Sign up for my newsletter. Connect with me on LinkedIn. Follow me on Instagram.” It’s just too much. Pick one solid [00:06:00] directive of a next step that you want your audience to take, and invite them to do it as if you were standing in front of them at a cocktail party or on the ball field and you wanted to say, “Hey, it would be great to connect with you on LinkedIn.

Make sure you send me that message, and let’s see how we can continue this conversation.” Make it very personal, and make it an invitation to go to that next level with you. And third, it’s either infrequent inconsistent or it just doesn’t exist. Sometimes people underestimate the value of having a call to action in their podcast.

They absolutely just dismiss the fact that it’s important, or they don’t feel comfortable asking to continue the conversation. If you do not have a specific call to action in your podcast, then your audience doesn’t know what to do. So make sure you’re physically giving them [00:07:00] a step-by-step invitation to connect with you in a very specific way that is easy and also has less friction.

One bonus tip for that is to use the same URL for the name of your podcast as the website URL that you want to direct them to. So for example, instead of produceyourpodcast.com, I’m asking you to go to thegrowthacceleratorpodcast.com.

Voice Over: Congratulations. You’re on your way to turning your business or company’s podcast into a thriving lead generation and marketing force.

Connect with us and schedule a meeting with our team at produceyourpodcast.com. Launch or grow your podcast and start generating more visibility, leads, and sales for your business today.

Traci DeForge: Let’s get started