When it comes to online marketing, nothing is more important than your CTA. The call to action tells the viewer what exactly you want them to do. Usually when it comes to CTAs, less is more. You want your audience to have one or two choices of actions to take for each video, no more. Some will be “share,” some will be “like,” and you may ask people to comment. There are different ways to do it all without seeming like a used car salesman.

You know that CTAs are important in all your written content, but you may not be so sure how to go about it with your video content, or why it’s so important. But, CTAs are important in all your communication with your audience. Having said that, each video will have a different purpose, therefore a different type of CTA.

* Remember the Buying Cycle – Your CTA will depend on the part of the buying cycle the video addresses. Some people will come to a video due to wanting to learn more information; in that case they may want to “subscribe” so that they can learn more.

* Use Specific Action Words – Instead of trying to be tricky when it comes to the words that you use for your CTAs, let them know what they get if they like, share or comment. “To get more videos just like this please subscribe.” “If you want to enter the contest, answer the challenge question in the video below.”

* Avoid Niche Jargon – It’s tempting to use words that are considered jargon within your CTAs, but it’s a mistake. You need to use CTAs that speak to your audience in a clear manner that makes no mistakes about what you expect from them.

* Remember the Audience – Everything is always about your audience, and never about you. Everything you say and do needs to be something that shows that you understand their pain and can help them.

* Think: One or the Other – When it comes to CTAs it’s imperative that you don’t give them too many choices. You want to think in terms of “this or that” to ensure that they follow your CTAs smoothly.

* End Cards Work – An end card is a picture or video added to the end of each video that gives them a CTA. The CTA can change depending on your purpose for the video. You can create various end cards to add to the right video, depending on the purpose.

* Have a Contest – A great way to draw attention to a CTA is to host a contest of some kind. A contest can help encourage more shares of a video without even trying, while drawing attention to a different CTA such as engagement via commenting.

* Send Them to Another Video – A CTA often not considered is to send them to another video via an annotation or link in the description. Sending your viewers to more of your videos is a great way to improve views.

The CTA is likely the most important part of your video. Without it, people may not watch more, like your video, share it with others, or comment. While it may seem like you are selling and yes, you hate selling, if you don’t have a CTA in your video you’ll miss out on the benefits of having videos in the first place.