Quick tip: Using multiple calls-to-action

You’ve heard the classic advice: Use a single call-to-action.

Make it crystal clear what an interested prospect should do.

But what if you have multiple audiences for the same white paper?

What if one call-to-action isn’t enough?

There’s a simple way to handle that: Just specify a different call-to-action for each segment of the audience.

Here are two white papers that show this tip in action.

CTAs for multiple audiences of a B2B white paper

This white paper explained that many  automated safety features rely on  cameras build into a car’s windshield.

And those cameras must be calibrated… which no DIYer or local garage can do.

There were seven different audience segments, the most I’ve ever tried to address in a single white paper:

• Consumer associations
• Fleet managers
• Insurance companies
• Journalists and bloggers
• OEM car dealers
• Police
• Policy makers

At the end, this paper introduced a CTA for each audience with the line:

We recommend that each stakeholder in road safety consider the following next steps.

This is a perfectly fine way to handle this challenge, when you have just a couple lines of next steps for each segment.

< Click to see this white paper

CTAs for multiple audiences of a government report

In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General released a report on teens and social media.

The 19-page report makes fascinating reading. And I consider it basically a problem/solution white paper.

After all, it’s a persuasive essay that uses facts and logic to present new approaches to a nagging problem.

And it addresses five discrete audiences:
• Parents and caregivers
• Children and teens
• Researchers
• Policy-makers
• Tech company executives

The final recommendations are given on a separate page for each audience. That way, anyone can flip to the page for them.

Anyone who falls into two different audiences—say parent and tech exec—can look at the pages for each.

That’s a perfectly fine way to handle this challenge when you have substantial  recommendations for each audience.

< Click to get this report

There are many benefits to this approach:

• No one gets confused
• No one gets overlooked
• Everyone can see the recommendations for one another
• You can do one white paper for everyone, instead of one for each audience

Make sense? Try this next time you work on a paper with multiple audiences.

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