Lots of B2B marketers focus on including a great call-to-action in their copy. But in a recent post at the Marketing Interactions blog, Ardath Albee reminds us that the CTA is not the takeaway. The CTA is all about getting what you want from a prospect or client. The takeaway is about giving your readers something of value to them. In other words, "[a] takeaway is the specific impression or memory the audience walks away with after reading your content," she explains.

According to Albee, a good takeaway is:

• Conceptual: It produces an idea your content helped generate.
• Conversational: It inspires readers to share that idea in their own words.
• Recommendable: It encourages people to pass the content along to others.
• Transferable: It is applicable to the readers' own specific situations.
• Visual: It offers something they can "see" happening—not pie-in-the-sky thinking.

"Quite often, I read content that's technically correct. It may even offer some valid insights," Albee says. "But … it doesn't inspire me to think of anything on my own." A good takeaway draws the reader into the sales process by giving them food for thought.

"[Prospects] want takeaways they can ingest that build their knowledge, increase their confidence and help them make the best decisions. In order to take action, they need to take ownership of the choice," Albee reminds us.

The Po!nt: Get them thinking. "[F]or prospect-nurturing content … [emphasize] one takeaway. Seed one idea that the prospect can build on," says Albee.

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