Avoid These 5 Common Speaker Call to Action Mistakes

However, many speakers I work with have misunderstood their purpose or executed their CTAs very poorly. So, with that in mind, I’ve put together a quick guide to help you avoid the most common mistakes I see speakers make with their CTAs. 

1. Sending Prospects Straight to a Sales or Booking Page 

Perhaps the worst mistake is attaching a CTA to a piece of marketing media that invites prospects to book you or purchase your services. Remember, these are, at best, lukewarm leads that may have only watched a video of you in action, and that’s it. In other words, they are far from ready to pull the trigger. 

On average, it takes a customer seven to eleven interactions (or touchpoints) with a person or company before doing business with them. So why would you try and sell to someone clearly not ready? Instead, remind yourself that this is the first touchpoint in a journey. A much better CTA for a speaker video (given in the example above) would be to ask them to watch another (different) video to get more of a feel of who you are and what you do. 

You can even think about sales until you are seven touchpoints in, so focus on the journey first, not the end destination. 

2. Thinking CTAs are the Same as Opt-Ins 

Don’t get me wrong, getting people to sign up to your mailing list is essential (see mistake three below). However, it’s not the same as a CTA. Opt-ins are usually made up of phrases such as “sign up for my challenge, course, or free training.” Again this is further down the line in terms of your client journey. 

They aren’t going to sign up for these courses without feeling like they can trust you or want to learn more about your specific area of expertise. Someone landing on your homepage for the first time is greeted by “Hi, I’m Nicky! I’m an expert in X, and you should sign up for my free email course,” isn’t going to have enough information about you to make that decision. 

Opt-ins are brilliant and totally necessary, but they should be preceded by CTAs that take the customer on a journey first, a process that will dramatically increase opt-in conversions.

3. Not Capturing Information of Your Leads Generated via CTAs

This mistake is almost the opposite of mistake number two. Some speakers go so far out of their way to create touchpoints and inbound marketing channels for their customer journey that they neglect to capture their information along the way. 

Capturing at least an email address is vital. Otherwise, that potentially huge lead is just a number in your Google Analytics or Facebook Ads dashboard. You NEED to know who these people are in case they don’t complete the journey you intended they take. 

Life gets busy. Phone calls come in, we get distracted, and we don’t pick up where we left off. However, by capturing contact information, you can check in with these people to see where they’re at, ask if they want to learn more about you, and keep your name occupying the front of their minds. 

4. Only Having CTAs in One Place 

Another common mistake I encounter is speakers only placing a CTA in one specific place. For instance, they create an incredible speaker video complete with an excellent CTA. However, their website, social media profiles, and planner page don’t have a single CTA between them.

You need a well-crafted CTA on each of your respective inbound marketing channels, preferably linked to that specific channel your potential discovered you on. For instance, invite the viewers to watch more videos of you in action for a speaker video CTA. For your Facebook profile, why not invite your followers to take a look at your LinkedIn profile where you use the platform to post thought leadership articles?

Each CTA should be designed to take your prospect on a multi-step journey, so make sure it’s as relevant to the original location of your CTA as possible to increase the likelihood of them taking those crucial first steps. 

5. Not Testing and Measuring Your CTAs

This is the most common mistake I see speakers of all experience and expertise make. They set up CTAs in all the right places, sending customers to the best places for the next step of the journey, but then that’s it. Years go by, and the text of the CTA is the exact same, never altering to remain relevant or tested to see if they can improve conversions. 

To that point, how do you know if you’re using the right words and locations if you never test or measure them? Without testing your CTAs and comparing them against each other, you are stabbing in the dark. You have no data to tell what works well and what doesn’t. You’re guessing. 

That’s why I remind the speakers I work with to periodically change up CTAs and measure the impact of those changes. After a period of testing and measuring, you’ll soon discover which words/phrases and URL locations work the best for each specific CTA. 

Avoid These Common Mistakes to Maximize the Impacts of Your Speaker CTAs

CTAs are a vital part of any business, and your speaking business is no different. By avoiding the most common mistakes laid out above, you can ensure that your CTAs are securing high-quality leads from your website, social media profiles, speaker videos, and other inbound marketing channels. 

If you want to learn more about crafting the perfect CTAs, why not join our free Facebook Group – Grow Your Speaking Biz? It’s full of experienced speakers who are already nailing their CTAs swapping hints and tips on the best strategies for taking your potential speaking clients on a meaningful journey.