When I speak about lead magnets, I have seen people’s eyes glaze over. Often, they have no idea what I am talking about. This is absolutely normal, so don’t feel bad if you can relate to this. In fact, there are terms in the online marketing world that I have to look up sometimes, even though it is my forte´ because there are just so many.
The Why, Who, What, and How
The ‘why’
There is so much going on online that it makes it difficult to get people’s attention. You need to stand out. Competitors are vying for attention, and there are so many distractions (like social media). We need to build a connection with our users, and that’s where lead magnets come in.
Did you know that most visitors to your website will leave after 15 seconds and they’ll never return? With this in mind, you need something to start building that connection with them so that they do come back, they do get to know you, and you build their trust and eventually convert them into a lead in a sale.
A lead magnet also shows why they should choose your business to solve their problem as opposed to competitors.
The ‘who’
Lead magnets should be created to connect with the people who visit your site. You want to stop them from leaving after those 15 seconds. Who would get value out of your offer?
The ‘what”
Simply put: a lead magnet or freebie is a free item or service that you give to a user in return for their contact details.
As I mentioned, to stand out you need to create a connection, and building a list is the first step. It’s not just as simple as asking people to sign up for a newsletter though, because email is personal so not many people choose to do that. Someone allowing your emails to pop up in their inbox is a privilege. It’s rare to find someone who wants to be spammed with how amazing a business is all the time. This takes us to the “how”.
The ‘how’
You need to give something of value that will make the visitor feel comfortable enough to give their email address. You do this by creating a lead magnet with a high perceived value, that leads the person to feel like they got something great for free.
But it’s actually nothing, it’s their email address, but there’s no monetary exchange. They get a result immediately; they get the instant gratification that they can act on now that will solve a problem they have right now.
5 Types of Lead Magnets
There are lots of different types of lead magnets, but I’m going to give you five examples that will help you get your brain going and give you some ideas.
- Training Videos
Generally, when someone doesn’t purchase from you, it’s because they’re not ready, and they are lacking the information that they then feel ready to purchase from you. Education is an important building block of that. If you can give a short training video on how to use your product or how they can do something to make their lives easier. That is a great lead magnet.
- Free Consultations
Sometimes people have questions and doubts but they don’t want any financial commitment attached to find out more. And, a free consultation with you will answer those questions and clear up any doubts that they have in their mind which will get them ready to actually purchase from you.
- Checklists and Cheatsheets
These are generally a one-page PDF. It helps to cut through the noise and saves time on Googling how to do something. It will also make a connection to your business and your service, and how you can help them. People don’t want to be reading a whole 100-page book. They just want quick, fast, instant results. So a checklist in their cheat sheet is just a no-brainer. People will quickly download that.
- Quizzes
Quizzes are very, very powerful. They’re actually one of the highest converting lead magnets we have online. Although they are sometimes difficult to set up and it’s quite a process, people love learning about themselves. The results of the quiz will show them how your service will actually help them at whatever particular stage they’re at in their lives.
- Ebooks and Guides
These are a bit longer than the cheat sheets and checklists and they give a bit more information. But again, they don’t have to be 100 pages long, maybe four or five pages. In it, you give them a backstory, and how to do something in a more elaborate way than the PDFs.
Rethink Lead Magnets
You now have five examples of lead magnets to use for your business so that you don’t have to go with just asking people to sign up for your newsletter. Remember, you won’t grow your email list that way, because they want something in return.
If you have the right lead magnet that solves a problem for your ideal customer, you will grow your list. If you haven’t thought about lead magnets and how they can build your business online, give this some thought. I hope that you now feel more comfortable when you hear the term lead magnets and it has also sparked some ideas of what you can use in your own business so that you can grow your list. If you have any comments or questions, feel free to get in touch with me.
Until the next time,
