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Lesson Info

Writing Calls-to-Action

Let's get into the calls to action. Yay, so we're at the end and have you ever read a piece of content that was actually, probably pretty good and you were digging it, and then all of a sudden it's like buy this now, time running out, your business will implode. You're gonna save $4,577 if you buy it today and it's only $75 but somehow it's also worth $5,000. So, doesn't that just sound awful and also just feel really icky, particularly if you've like read a whole piece of content or I hear this a lot with webinars, like, people are like I was on this webinar, it was actually really good. And then at the end it was so like they assaulted me. And people don't really, don't really mind being sold to, like, if they've engaged in your content like, they're happy to hear, like what you have to offer or how you can serve them or help them next. But not when it sounds like that! Like not when you're assaulting them (laughing) with these messages, right? It should feel natural like you had a g...

reat time in this experience, want more? You know what I mean, like, wanna hang out more, want more of my help? Like, I'm here, here's how to do it. It can be that simple, it should just be more relaxed and not so like, assaulty. So, also realize not every piece of content needs an invitation to buy something. In fact, I like to vary it. I don't always like to have a sales pitch or ask people to buy a service, even when you have something that's always available. So, like, I imagine you probably always do photography. (laughing) Like, you never say, like no! I'm closed for business, right? Probably not, like, you're always available even if you have a waiting list where they can't get in for a couple of months. But at the end of the day, you don't shut down your business for a certain period of time. I think a lot of us are in that position. So, with that said, I still wouldn't always say like, book a session here. I think you can vary it, right? So if you're sending out weekly content, I mean, maybe you have one thing that doesn't ask them for anything and then the other three do. Or maybe two do and two don't. I can't give you an exact ratio of what's going to work for your audience, but you don't always have to ask for something. The times when you don't ask for something is when you build trust with your audience, so when you do ask for something they're happy to hand over their money, right? They're like, thank you, cause you're giving me a lot of value. In my business, and this doesn't work for everybody, I only open enrollment for a class that I have once a year, so I have all year to give them something without ever asking them for anything, ever. So by the end of that year, what do you think happens? Everyody's like, they're coming to me. They're like, when is your class open? Hello, when is it coming? And it makes my launch or promotional period very easy because I'm not actively selling anything. I have people that are excited and ready, right? They've been waiting all year and they're soaking in content and at that point they look at it like I'm supporting. So, I love that word, they just feel like they're supporting the business and they're excited to work with me as opposed to like making that decision like, I'm not sure, do I really need another class, you know. And that's not the energy that any of us want when someone works with us. So, here's a couple other things you can ask people to do besides buy something. So you can say to them, give this a whirl. This is really fun when you have a content upgrade, right. Cause it's obvious that you can say give this a whirl. And then you're basically giving them the steps where they can give this a whirl. So whether it's downloading a template, downloading a resource sheet, or tool kit of some sort, so that's really fun or even just the content that you actually gave them. It could just be like next time you feel this way use this quote, just like I did in the example earlier. You could ask them to share it. So you might say something specific like, share this with a friend this might help. Or you might want them to share it on a specific social network so you would say like, share this on Instagram and you tell them how to do that, share it on Facebook, whatever. Emaiil this around to your colleagues. Whatever is appropriate for you but you can certainly ask people to share. Now, you're not asking them to buy but it's nice if they love it and they're happy to share it then great, that's more people for you that are exposed to your content. You could say experiment on your own. So if this is something where it's a piece of content with an action step in it, you want to encourage them to take that action step. If they don't, your content falls kinda flat, right? Cause if they like, leave and there's like no action, then they just forget about it. But if they've tried it, and you tried one of my tips yesterday right? (giggling) So she tried it and then she comes up and tells me, right. So that makes everybody feel good because she tried it now I'm like, yay, like that made my whole day, right. Makes everything work it because she experimented. Alright, you could say bring this up at brunch. This is a fun one because usually when people ask to share content it's online, and I'm not opposed to that, right, but it is kind of fun when you surprise people and this would, you know, most likely be appropriate if you are, it's not like B to B, maybe if they're having brunch with like their colleagues. But like, something like you know your work photography, your work Lauren, like anyone. Like your work Nicki, like where it's more a consumer based audience, right. So if Nicki says - here are some stretches and then she says hey bring this up at brunch next time, like, when your friends are complaining about being in or they can't lift a pot, you know, like that's fun, and so, instead of saying share this on Instagram or do this, that's different. And actually, they'd be more likely to do that cause they'd be like, that's interesting that person asked me to share that it at brunch. I've never heard that before. (laughing) So it makes it kind of fun. And also, now you try, so that's like an action item. Sometimes when I do that, I also tell people and you don't all have to do this cause we all have different audiences and you don't want to be assaulted with emails but a lot of times I will say if I've given them an action step, I'll say, let me know when you do. So, I can't always respond to every email but I like getting them and I'll say that. I'll be like I can't always respond to every email but I'm like, you know, I would love to just hear like drop me a note and let me know how it worked for you. And I love that cause I get so many emails. They're people like, I tried it and I loved it, you know. It's really fun to just get that feedback from your audience, so, you could also take a spin on that where it's like try this, whatever you've told them in the article, or a piece of content, and then just say, and tell me how it went, that's it. Email me back and tell me how it went. And that's a really fun one. And also dig into this exercise, just another way to phrase basically if you've given them something specific like an exercise, you can definitely tell them to dig in too. So again, just simple, other calls to action that will give you guys some inspiration and ideas other than, what to buy, okay. Now, I'm assuming that some people might be thinking this right now (laughing) that are watching. So you're not asking people to buy, how are you going to make any money. I get this a lot where there's a lot of fear around like, but wait, if I'm not making that call to action, like, oh no, people are not gonna know I'm selling anything. That's not true, we're businesses, everybody knows that we're selling something, so, they already know. But if you create content without strings then it builds trust and good will with your audience right, it makes them excited. They're like wow, you're not asking me for anything, how cool. And it gives you that opportunity. And then people are also more likely to buy when you do ask if you've been dishing out valuable free content on the regular, and that is absolutely true, and you'll see that when you start to vary the ratio of when you ask people to buy, verse just sending them something without strings, you'll start to see the pattern and how much easier it is for you when you actually do have something to sell or when you do promote what you always have for sale, then you'll see that people are much more likely to buy. So here's a couple of ways to say buy now. That are not buy now, so you might say something like Sign up and be on your way too. So this is a benefit driven way to ask people to buy, right. So sign up and be on your way to no pain in your body. Sign-up to be on your way to achieving your dream, right. Whatever works for your business but including a little benefit there can be really fun rather than just saying sign up alone, or buy now alone. If this sounds like a miracle, get it now. I use this one a lot in my business where I painted a picture, right, of some world that they want to be part of. And then I'll say yeah, if this sounds like a miracle then you can sign up for my class or whatever I may be offering at that time. It's really only one class but I'll use it around promotion periods. Do something nice for yourself and grab this. So, I like this one because it really applies to anyone and its just all about reframing the sales conversation. So, instead of making about, like, about you. Like, buy my stuff, buy me, buy this. You're instead making it about them. So, do something nice for you, right, by grabbing this. And I love that reframe because it gets them thinking about how this is going to benefit them as opposed to oh no, now I have to spend money on something. Right, it just reframes that which is exciting. Or you could do something really fun, like I can't take it anymore, I gotta have it. I use things like that as a swap if there are if you have on your website, like buy now buttons or sign up buttons or something like that. I like to use alternate phrases so that it doesn't just look like the same old sign-up, buy now kind of thing that we're all used to. So I like to have a little, if it doesn't fit in the button, I'll just put it above the button that works too, but just something fun that it's like it evokes an emotion in them right, were there like and hopefully by that point they're feeling it. If it's a particularly great piece of content, right where they're like, yeah, I can get into this. And I do this every year when I saw my class I always use things like this in that content. So in that content I'm making an ask, right. It's the one time a year I have something that I'm selling so in that case they are excited. I'm using very exciting content and I can use this as the ending instead of just saying, hey I have this class, buy it (laughing). Class is finally open, right, like that's boring. So of course I want it to be like evoke the excitement and emotion that like, yeah, yeah, yeah! We're so ready for this class. Alright, so you've soaked in a ton of information right. We've learned so much today and the most important thing at the end of all of it is just to create. So, I've taught you many, many things, but just also realize, that I know how that can feel sometimes. It can feel very overwhelming like you've assaulted me with a lot of learning and information and then you're not sure how to like import it all and incorporate it all and I get it and I don't expect any of you to. So just realize that creating is the most important thing. And then hey, pick one thing that you've learned today and start with that, just one. That's all you need to do, then you can start to add on top. But I just want you guys to come away empowered and actually take action, (giggling) so learning verse doing, so I want the do to happen verse the learn. And you only learn to be a better writer by actually writing. There is no skip around this. I've done my best to share my best writing tips with you guys and content creation tips but at the end of the day none of that is gonna matter unless you're actually writing and creating content. The more you do it the better you get. So, there's no skip, there's no hack to that. You really just have to sit down and do it. And once you do it will become so much easier. Alright, so with that said, if you'd like to come hang out with me or tell me how everything is working after you try some of these tips, you can find me on Instagram, I'm hanging out there most Melissa.Cassera I'm not really on Facebook as much but you can hit me up there if you'd like, just my name and then Casseracomm is my Twitter and my website is just my name, Melissacassera.com