Call to Action [Wrap Up]

No matter what your topic or type of email, you will have a call to action for your readers. It can be a secondary point to your main message, such as signing up for your newsletter. It can be the main point to the whole message, such as register for this workshop. Chances are, each email you send will even have more than one call to action.

Calls to action are everywhere for the readers, each one beckoning louder than the last. So when you craft yours, you want to make your message clear as to what you want the reader to do. Once it is clear to you, you need to make sure it is clear to them. Here are few past posts that will help you create your call to action.

3 Keys to Creating a Call-to-Action - 3 characteristics of any effective call to action
So Many Choices - helps you define the importance of your various calls to action
Up Your Readership - helps you increase your subscribers through calls to action
Ask For Action - helps you craft your message

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

List Building Questions Answered

Image
Back in June, I had the honour and pleasure of being a guest on Mary Jane Copps' monthly webinar . The topic was "How to Continually Grow Your List... and Why It's Important". We had a wonderful chat and answered common questions about list building. You can watch now on YouTube. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

What I Learned from Susan Sweeney

Image
I was surprised and delighted to hear that my website had been used recently as an example in a webinar that Susan Sweeney facilitated for the Centre for Women in Business. You see, without knowing it, Susan has had a huge impact on my website. The first workshop I attended of Susan's was in Regina in 2002. It was long before I actually had a website. Among the many takeaways that day, one has always stuck with me: the importance of fresh content and quality control for your website. When I started my business, I knew the only way I was going to have fresh content was if I took control and managed my own website. By constantly working on it, I’m inspired about what changes to make. Keeping content fresh creates another challenge – it means a lot of changes. And a lot of changes mean opportunity for mistakes. I’m a stickler for details and I know how I react when I click on a link and it doesn’t work. When I asked Danielle to be our official Daley Progress website au...
Keep reading »

Design Colour Trends for Spring 2015

Image
Often the colours of logos, websites, newsletters and other branded marketing materials follow the current fashion colour trends, like many other things. Here are the Pantone Spring 2015 colours - I've added the HTML# for each: source:  PANTONE® FASHION COLOR REPORT SPRING 2015 "This season there is a move toward the cooler and softer side of the color spectrum. An eclectic, ethereal mix of understated brights, pale pastels and nature-like neutrals take center stage as designers draw from daydreams of simpler times." My first project will use Strawberry Ice, Scuba Blue and Lucite Green on pale grey. Can't wait to start! Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Using Lists to Embrace Change

Image
Many small business owners didn't start their careers as small business owners. And the road each of us took to get here is quite different. But one thing is fairly common - we're finding ways to earn a living doing work we love. Often that means evolving and growing and changing. My 'one word' for 2019 is EMBRACE. Admittedly, it hasn't been in my awareness much but two recent events brought it to the forefront. First, a Twitter friend asked if I'm succeeding. It gave me pause and moment to pat myself on the back - because I've been living it, even if subconsciously. A couple of days later I met with colleagues for some business development advice. Driving home afterward, I realized going through that process is also about embracing. Oh, do I have lists! Creating them has been about embracing all the pieces of my business. Here are some of the lists that have helped me work through this business development process. You may find this list of lis...
Keep reading »

If Efficiency is Your Goal, You'll Want These Tools

Image
“You’re assuming efficiency is my goal,” my good friend replied one day when I suggested a better way (to me) of doing something. Oddly, I might be inclined to say that about some parts of my own work (just not whatever it was we were discussing at the time). This is not a story about the dangers of assuming (although that could be another article). This time I want to dish out some advice about how to be more efficient (since Danielle doesn’t want to hear it). I’ve written before about my essential small business tools ( Part 1 and Part 2 ) but these ones below are especially important to my productivity . FreshBooks (aff) Immediately upon implementing FreshBooks, I saw an improvement in outstanding accounts receivable. Reminders are automated and I rarely have to follow up with anyone myself. No more wondering, "Did I already remind that client?" Canva I've been using graphics applications for over 20 years - for fun and work. Nothing beats Canva's ...
Keep reading »

Do You Want 1,000,000 Subscribers?

Image
Tasting Table ( www.tastingtable.com ) grew its contact list to 1,000,000 subscribers in just 3 years. That’s pretty amazing on its own but here’s the kicker - it’s a daily newsletter. (I only have to get 998,000 more subscribers to catch up.) Would I want a mailing list of 1,000,000 subscribers? Most definitely ... if I owned a marketing company that sells advertising. I don’t, and most of you don’t either. (If you do, you know this stuff better than I do.) If Daley Progress had 1,000,000 subscribers, we’d never keep up with all the work generated. Because our capacity is limited, the time and effort spent to get that many subscribers would be wasted. We try to match our efforts to our desired results. As small business owners, our email marketing goals can be quite different and distinct. Not all of us want 1,000,000 subscribers. But we do need to continually get new subscribers because, over time, our lists can drop by as much as 30% over a year through attriti...
Keep reading »

5 New Strategies to Supercharge your eMail Marketing

Image
If you've been publishing a regular monthly newsletter, you already know the benefits of reaching out to your contacts. You've invested time and money to build your readership and your reputation. You've provided value consistently and people have come to look forward to your newsletters. It’s time to crank it up a notch and send more emails. You've earned it. The 5 strategies listed below weren't invented by me but some of them may be new to you. Or perhaps you've rejected them in the past and it’s time to think again.  The goal of implementing these ideas is to ‘touch’ your contacts more frequently than you are now. There are other advantages built into each one as well. 1. Create and promote a new free resource. Make it amazing. Make it better than any other resource you've ever created. Make it something people would pay for. Give it away with no strings attached. Am I suggesting you give it away without getting an email address in return? Y...
Keep reading »

A Season of Shedding

Image
I’ve started off the year by getting rid of things. Jane, my organizer friend, would say that’s a good thing. But I’m not talking about emptying closets and trips to the curb. I’ve been shedding bits and pieces of my business. It feels like a weight off my shoulders; casting off the old to make room for the new, a fresh start… and many more clichés. This year I am focused and oh boy, am I getting in control. Some decisions have been difficult ones – like finally putting my training career to rest. Some have been much easier – like getting rid of my Yellow Pages ad after 7 years of no payoff. (Can you believe this? The rep actually said, “Well, what’s $16 a month?”) All have been the result of the Plan I developed at bootcamp last month. I have never understood the terms ‘niche’ and ‘specialize’ like I do now. What a pleasant surprise: decision-making has now become so much easier and straight-forward. No waffling. Does it fit with the Plan? No? Then, out the door with it, ...
Keep reading »

When Perfect is the Goal

Image
Perfect is an impossible goal. Some would say that if you strive for perfection, you are setting yourself up for failure. I agree. To the point that I don't think you should beat yourself up when you miss the mark. Because you will. We all do. But if perfection is not the goal, what is? I don't think there is anything wrong in shooting for perfection. What else do you shoot for? A little less than perfect? I think ignoring perfection is a worse trap to fall into. We see it all the time in error filled newsletters. Spelling mistakes, broken links, old or incorrect information can be avoided for the most part. Nothing will lose readers faster than links that take them nowhere, or that take another 10 clicks to get somewhere, or worse - a map that takes them nowhere! We harp on proof reading all the time. A second, fresh set of eyes is what we talk about. Even then, the odd mistake will slip through. The odd mistake can be forgiven. But if your newsletter is mistake-ridde...
Keep reading »

Join Me!

This is a no charge online meeting service that allows you to gather people and allows them to see your computer screen as you demonstrate, teach or collaborate. The applications for your business are endless:  https://join.me/ Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »