I’m not too proud to recognize when I’m wrong. Especially when it’s my boss who points it out.

Lately I’ve been so caught up with making sure all my inbound pieces were in place that I forgot to actually look at the pieces. I have calls-to-action, landing pages and forms to direct people to informative ebooks and videos. I follow inbound best practices as well as I can. But, as my boss pointed out, do my calls-to-action actually create a call to action? When someone reads it, are they compelled to download my offer, or do they just pass by without as much as a glance?

The first round of CTA’s I created had the right elements—clear, concise copy, something of valuable for free, and easy to find download buttons. But they were boring. Nothing compelled the reader to act on them. It didn’t speak to their pain points, their needs.

For example, here’s a CTA for a Direct Mail guide I had previously placed on our website:

Now the CTA says:

See the difference? We know from speaking with our clients that a common problem they had with their direct mail campaigns before working with us is low response rates while spending a lot of money on printing and mailing. This CTA addresses that problem and gives a peek into the solution that can be found in the ebook.

The key is always keeping your personas in mind; what can you provide that will solve their problem and then make it easy for them to get it.

If you would like to learn more about the basics of inbound marketing, check out our ebook, “Introduction to Inbound Marketing”, visit our website, or give us a call at 800-660-0108.