It’s every business owner’s goal to get as many qualified leads as possible, but it can be difficult knowing where to start with so many strategies worth trying. In this article, we’re going to talk about one that’s proven to work – lead magnets. We’ll explain what this is and how to implement it, followed up by several examples. Give it a try!
Lead Magnet Definition
A lead magnet is a free piece of content (a template, a checklist, a case study, etc.) that’s usually available to the public but is given to an email subscriber in exchange for their contact information. Lead magnets are typically designed to solve a problem that your target audience has. They’re essentially an informational bribe to build trust and drive conversions.
Lead magnets should be exclusive to email subscribers to increase their perceived value and encourage further engagement.
However, the quality of your lead magnets can make all the difference in whether or not people engage with them. Here are some things to keep in mind when creating lead magnets:
- Test before releasing: Before you release any lead magnet, test it out on a small group of people that fit the persona that you’re targeting. Ask them for their feedback and make any necessary changes before going live with it. If you don’t do this, likely, the lead magnet won’t be what your audience is looking for.
- Create relevant content: Make sure that your content is relevant to your target audience – if it isn’t, no amount of design will save it from being ignored.
Why Do Businesses Need Lead Magnets?
Content marketing is a strategy that many businesses use to attract leads and customers, but it can be difficult to get started. You have to invest time and effort in creating high-quality content that people are going to want to read, and you need to spread it around so that others will notice your business.
It’s a great strategy for getting noticed, but one of the best ways to get attention from potential clients is through lead magnets.
Businesses use lead magnets for a variety of reasons:
- They’re one of the most effective ways to attract leads and build your email list, which is often the starting point of nurturing prospects into sales.
- They can also help you move prospects through your sales funnel by providing relevant content in each stage as they become more engaged with your brand.
- You can even use lead magnets to promote your products and services. Don’t think of lead magnets just as a tool for getting more sales—use them to generate leads so you can get more sales!
By using lead magnets you can build up an email list of people who are interested in your business, get these people on your team, and continue to engage with them over time as you continue building your brand.
How to Build the Perfect Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a valuable asset of your online marketing strategy as it can help you acquire new clients/customers. But, first, you need to set up a clear objective for it. Why do you need it? How can people benefit from it? And what will be your call-to-action (CTA)?
To create a good lead magnet you need to follow the following steps:
Step 1 – Understand Your Target Audience
What kind of people would be interested in your product? What questions do they have? Don’t think about your current customers because they already know about your product or service and are just looking for other ways to use it. The target audience is those who don’t know anything about your brand yet. These are the people who need to be convinced that they need your product or service. So, you have to come up with the right offer that will address their needs and get them interested in what you have to offer.
Step 2 – Define the Value of Your Proposition
If you want to build the perfect lead magnet, you first need to define the value of your proposition. Remember that most people aren’t looking for a solution until they’ve already started experiencing a problem.
Trying to persuade them to buy something they don’t need is not only ineffective but also can put them off brand loyalty with your company, which will be hard to win back.
So what is the value of your lead magnet? What problem are you trying to solve for your potential customers or clients? Be specific and define the exact outcome that your lead magnet will bring about.
Step 3 – Learn From Your Competitors
Building a successful lead magnet can help you grow your list faster and make more money from your marketing efforts. But it’s not always easy to create something new from scratch. You can save time and build a better lead magnet by learning from existing examples from your competitors.
You need to figure out what your competitors are doing right and wrong, so you can make sure you’re doing it better. What type of lead magnet is your competitor offering? Is it free, paid, or both? How are they positioning the offer? What tone do they use in the copy? How often do they send emails with this lead magnet content?
Step 4 – Choose the Right Type of Lead Magnet
Before you create your lead magnet, think about what type of content would be most valuable to the people you’re targeting. Traditionally, lead magnets have been whitepaper or ebook PDFs or other downloadable files, but there are lots of other options. Some marketers create a video course and offer that as a lead magnet. Whatever your lead magnet is, make sure it delivers real value.
What Are the Different Types of Lead Magnets?
Lead magnets are used extensively by online marketers as a way to build their email lists and nurture relationships with prospects. They can be very effective when used correctly, but not all lead magnets will be right for your business. It’s important to test out different types of lead magnets to see what’s most effective for your business and what resonates best with your audience.
In general, lead magnets can be classified into 3 categories:
- Product-specific – Product-specific lead magnets are lead magnets that describe and highlight your offering. They could be a product brochure, e-book, video, or any type of content that helps your customer understand more about the benefits of your product. These lead magnets can be used to inform your customers about new offerings or updates from your business.
- Entertaining – Not every lead magnet you send out needs to talk about your product or service in a professional tone. Entertaining lead magnets playfully illustrate what it’s like to do business with your company. At times, people prefer a lighthearted approach to the serious side of the business.
- Advice/Best Practices – This type of lead magnet offers advice and tips on a certain topic, enabling readers to solve a challenge they experience. It’s extremely helpful in establishing yourself as an expert in your niche by demonstrating your knowledge based on firsthand experience. If you have knowledge or expertise, turning it into learning assets such as an ebook, video series, or checklist can greatly boost its value to the reader.
6 Examples of Great Lead Magnets To Use in 2022
1. Whitepapers
Whitepapers are well-researched reports on topics related to your business. They offer something of value to those who read them and can give readers a reason to contact you for more information or help. Whitepapers are usually between 1,500 and 10,000 words in length, though shorter versions can be effective as well. They should be highly relevant to your business and give the reader value for their time.
2. Webinars
On-demand webinars are one of the most successful lead magnet types that companies are using today. They engage audiences, convert leads, and provide a natural follow-up for people you already have in your audience.
With a webinar, you can easily showcase all the thinking and research that went into a project, get direct feedback on your ideas, and refine them in real-time.
3. Mini Guides or Ebooks
Mini guides, or ebooks, are like whitepapers but without all the data and deep-dive analysis. Like whitepapers, they’re usually comprehensive and long—typically 10-30 pages—but they’re written in a conversational style. Ebooks solve a specific problem; they’re often conversational; they tend to be shorter than whitepapers because they don’t contain as much data.
TIP: Keep your ebook straightforward, while still offering value. You want people to get the most out of it in the shortest amount of time possible!
4. Free Online Courses
An online course can be as simple as a series of videos or an interactive training program. Courses don’t have to be super detailed; they can be whatever length it takes for you to adequately teach the skills you want to impart to your audience.
5. Quizzes, Surveys & Polls
Quizzes, surveys, or polls have interactive elements that allow you to learn more about the prospect’s needs and interests while they’re engaged with your site.
- Surveys can be used to understand what people like about your company and discover market segmentation niches.
- A quiz is a short interactive survey that focuses on one area specifically, such as whether a customer is happy with their current service provider.
- Polls are great for social media and community sites. Use a poll to ask customers what features they’d love to see in a product or service, or ask how they feel about the direction of your company.
6. Case Studies
You’ve most likely seen case studies on websites accessible to the public, not as gated content. This is a great strategy for demonstrating your E-A-T to search engines while also building up your reputation and trust with potential clients/customers. However, using case studies as a lead magnet and making them gated content can be highly effective. Differentiate a lead magnet case study by making it even more informative and detailed, and possibly provide some insight into the strategy that helped the business featured in the case study.
Before You Leave
A lead magnet is a fantastic way for you to build up your subscriber list and start trading value for contact information. It’s a tried and true tactic for getting people to sign up for your email list, and it can be the catalyst for a great deal of future revenue. Pick a piece of highly relevant content, integrate some marketing messages into the content, and you’ve got a lead magnet that’s ready to be tested. If you’re interested in learning more about lead generation, check out some additional articles below!
Related Lead Generation Articles:
- Effective Tactics for High-Quality Lead Generation for Small Businesses
- Exploring SEO Lead Generation Opportunities
- Local Lead Generation Tips For Small Businesses
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