The best calls to action are clear, direct and simple. You know that if someone sees your ad or reads your brochure, you want them to do something, but you don’t have much space to convey that message.
If a CTA is confusing or unclear, the recipient may not know what they’re supposed to do next! In this article, we’ll cover how to write compelling CTA copy for print materials in a few different situations.
Define Your Target Audience
Defining your target audience is an important part of any writing project, and it’s especially critical when it comes to print materials. Your target audience will inform the tone and content of your CTA.
For example, if you’re writing a piece for a professional audience (e.g., doctors), you’ll want your CTA to be more formal and use industry-specific language. If you’re writing a piece for consumers (e.g., patients), then your CTAs should be written in more accessible language that can appeal to their needs at the moment they read it.
The first step in defining your target audience is asking yourself: who are these people? What do they care about? Where do they live? How old are they? What kinds of jobs or interests do they have? Once you’ve answered these questions, try putting together lists of words that describe those characteristics as well as anything else that stands out about them
These words can serve as fodder for future CTAs for similar audiences—or even help inform writing styles on other topics where style may be as relevant.
Understand How Much Space You Need to Create your CTA Visually
When creating your CTA, it’s important to consider the space you have available. This means that if you don’t have enough room for a big, bold call to action, then you might have to cut something else out of the design—like an image that could be crucial for showing off what makes your product or service unique.
For example, if I were designing a brochure for a new restaurant and wanted people who saw this brochure to visit my restaurant as soon as possible after seeing it (to increase business), I would make sure there was plenty of space on my page dedicated specifically to my CTA so I could get across exactly why they should visit right away without having any other distractions take away from its importance.
So, before deciding on a specific CTA, it’s a good idea to check out standard brochure or banner sizes at websites such as Printroom Banners Ireland.
Don’t Clutter Your CTA with Other Information
Don’t add too many elements to your CTA. The more information you add to a call-to-action, the less effective it will be. In other words, if you’re trying to get someone’s attention with an ad or poster, don’t clutter up your CTA with so much text that they can’t even read it.
This is true for all types of CTAs: print, online ads and even in-person marketing materials such as direct mailers and brochures.
You’ll want to keep things simple when designing CTAs; adding too many elements will make it difficult for people to see what they’re supposed to do next (i.e., click on something). Your goal should always be clarity — don’t let your copywriting get in the way of people understanding what they need from you!
Don’t use multiple colours for one call-to-action button, especially if those colours are contrasting ones like red versus green or blue versus yellow—these combinations tend not only to distract viewers but also send conflicting messages about your brand itself because each colour represents different things depending on context (red = warmth/excitement whereas blue = coolness/reliability).
Instead opt instead for just one colour scheme throughout all print materials because consistency reinforces trustworthiness by signalling reliability through repetition–and this plays into our next rule…
Be Clear About What You Want the Recipient of Your Materials to Do
When writing CTAs, it’s important to be clear about what you want the recipient to do. Be specific, and use the active voice.
A good CTA should give the reader both a reason to act now and a deadline for doing so: “Get started today!” or “Don’t miss out on this limited-time offer!”
You can also set some kind of limit on how many people will have access—this makes it seem like there’s something special about this offer being made available now: “Only 10 spots left! Get yours before they’re gone.”
Conclusion
In the end, creating compelling calls to action that can be used in print materials is not just a matter of finding the right words. It’s also about understanding how your audience will read and react to what they see on the page.
You want them to take action—and you want them to do it as soon as possible! But if you’ve followed these tips and still feel like something isn’t right with your CTAs, don’t worry: there’s always room for improvement!