What are lead magnets?
Lead magnets are incentives offered to potential customers in exchange for their contact information, typically their email address. Lead magnets can come in various formats, such as ebooks, whitepapers, checklists, templates, video tutorials, webinars, or exclusive access to content. The goal is to provide something of value that captures the attention of your target audience and encourages them to take action.
Why use lead magnets?
Lead magnets serve a useful purpose in your marketing efforts. Lead magnets can help to:
Identify potential customers: By being very focused, you can target potential customers in the ‘consideration’ stage of the sales funnel. So, for example, if you are an estate agent and you offer an Ebook titled ‘10 ways to make your property more attractive to buyers’ it’s likely that anyone wanting the guide is interested in putting their property on the market, Whilst, ‘Find out how much my property is worth’ fuels a more general curiosity and isn’t focused enough.
Build a targeted email list: By collecting email addresses through lead magnets, you have the opportunity to nurture and build relationships with your potential customers. An engaged email list can become a valuable asset for your business, allowing you to communicate directly with interested individuals at a much lower cost.
Demonstrate your expertise and value: Lead magnets provide an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and expertise in your industry. By offering valuable content, you establish yourself as a trusted authority, which helps to build credibility and trust with potential customers.
Content ideas:
The content you include should align with your target audience’s needs and provide value. What problems are they facing? What would provide intrigue and investigation?
Once you’ve worked out how to grab their interest, let’s take a look at some lead magnet examples:
A step by step guide: Offer step-by-step guides or tutorials that help your potential customers overcome common challenges or achieve specific goals. Example ‘How to increase your average ecommerce order value’
Cheatsheets: These are particularly easy to digest as readers don’t have to think too hard, as your content can often be copied and pasted. Example, ‘50 Instagram Headline Ideas - Use these killer headlines in your own content’
Webinars: Live webinars are great as they only occur at specific times adding to the element of urgency. However, pre recorded video content is also incredibly powerful at establishing credibility in your field. Example: ‘Learn the secrets of customer retention in this exclusive interactive webinar.’
Podcasts: As above, but even more accessible to people on the move
Templates and toolkits: Provide ready-to-use templates or toolkits that simplify processes. These give added value by being able to be reused again and again. Example ‘Improve your presentations instantly with this free graphic pack. Includes over 200 icons’
Calculators: Give customers the option to calculate spend and/or savings. A calculator can either be a downloadable spreadsheet or you can host it on your own website with an option to email the results. Example ‘Are you paying too much to acquire a customer? Find out with our simple calculator’
Free taster/strategy session: Free taster or strategy sessions establish credibility and trust with a potential customer. They also help to build a relationship and help people to remember you. Where possible, add monetary value to your offer.
Example, ‘Request your exclusive 30 minute taster session worth £50’.
Getting potential customers interested in your lead magnet:
If your offer is good, then the lead magnet should sell itself.
However, you do need to consider the language you use to promote your offer. Using words like ‘course’, ‘book’, ‘guide’ ‘strategy’ and ‘resource’ etc add value. Words like ‘email’, ‘document’, ‘sign up’ or ‘phone call’ sound dull and worse still, spammy.
‘Sign up for your free email’ doesn’t exactly set the world alight with anticipation, does it?
Including phrases in your headlines such as
‘How to...’
‘10 ways you can improve....’
‘20 quick wins...’
‘The fastest way to increase your...’
work well as they are all positive, provide intrigue and give people a time frame for when they will receive the benefit they are promised.
Key takeaways
- Tailor your lead magnet to your customers. Understand their pain points and what will interest them
- Provide genuine value
- Be focused, use your lead magnet to gain insights on your potential customers and where they sit in the sales funnel
- Keep your lead magnet short and to the point
- Be creative with the format, lead magnets don’t just have to be simple eBooks
- Use enticing language to promote your offer
