Nothing else will get quality hot leads into your email automation as quickly as a quality lead magnet. Consider this, a lead magnet is a bundle of massive value, one that you’re giving away for free. It is so valuable that people are willing to trade their email to get it. It’s essentially the marketing equivalent of a lure; by creating an attractive and useful lead magnet you are getting people to hook onto your brand.
Lead magnets are often associated with internet marketing and an ultimate goal of monetization. The idea is that this free value gets leads into your funnel, and then later your funnel monetizes these leads. If you have well built campaigns, this is like making money on autopilot.
An end goal of monetization is not the only reason you would use lead magnets. You can also use these magnets to promote your work with people who are interested in your passion. If you are simply a blogger or a podcast website owner, and don’t want to monetize your content, lead magnets are extremely useful for building lasting relationships with your visitors; you will ensure that a larger audience interacts with you and benefits from the high-quality content on your blog.
Having in mind the importance of the lead magnet, it is paramount for you to experiment. The first factor in a lead magnet’s success depends on the type and quality of content it contains. This comes from how valuable it appears in the eyes of your visitors. You have no idea which solutions to which problems appear most valuable, until you try to find out. Research is a good first start, split testing is a decent second step.
Different forms of lead magnets in email automation
Ebooks
People want to read quality actionable content. Be the one who provides them with said content in the form of an ebook. The best lead magnets will promise to deliver a ton of value within minutes of the opt-in being completed by the visitor.
Ebooks should be succinct. For example, Michael Hyatt has an ebook lead magnet called Shave 10 hours of your workweek. This is a fantastic title, because it gives the visitor a hook and an incentive. After all, who doesn’t want to reduce hours from their workweek? A strong and specific lead such as this one ensures a high number of converted visitors. Meanwhile, what you don’t want to do is offer a 100-page ebook, as no one will download it (except for some voracious readers).
Cheat sheets
In contrast to ebooks, cheat sheets are oftentimes pretty short (not more than one page) and get right to actionable steps. Some people offer their blueprint as a mind-map, making it visual and easy to follow. Try various versions and see which one fits your content the most. These often work best when offered in the form of a “content upgrade”.
Discounts / free codes
There are many online business owners who use free codes to attract visitors and make them spend time on their website. Discounts are a fantastic way to get prospects to see your content or buy what you are selling. For example some podcasters have a deal where they can offer free Audible books if a visitor subscribes to an e-mail list or downloads some of their products (e.g. podcast episodes). The free incentive is what gets consumers through the door. Quality content keeps them coming back for more.
Webinars
Offering a free webinar is another great way to interact with your visitors and get them through the door. When you offer a webinar, you’re doing more than creating a lead magnet. You are essentially reaping multifold benefits. You can establish a community of people that revolves around your expertise on a certain topic. You are establishing yourself as an expert authority figure on a particular subject and you are creating a community that is more likely to buy your products.
John Lee Dumas has a massively popular podcast called Entrepreneur on Fire. He offers a free podcast webinar training during which he has an upsell (Podcast Paradise), a private community with a course that teaches people the specifics on how to create and monetize their own podcast.
If you create a webinar, make sure it’s simple to sign in (the most popular webinars require just an e-mail address to register). Also, you should make the webinar free (but have an upsell ready for the duration of the webinar), and provide several links on your website containing a signup form for the webinar.
Blog posts
Blog posts are (or at least should be) by nature actionable and succinct, and usually don’t require much time to be read. If you’ve been running a blog for a long time, chances are you have some evergreen content that is buried in your archives. Polish it and prepare a compendium of your best blog posts, and offer them as your lead magnet.
If you have a podcast, offer a short guide with some of the best recommendations from your guests on the show. Or transcribe the podcasts and offer the transcripts from the shows as a lead magnet in the form of an ebook. The podcast business is booming lately, so why not ride the wave?
Tools and products
Everyone wants to be productive. So why not give them the right tools to be productive? An effective way to get more subscribers or customers is to offer them free downloads for some of the best tools for productivity on the market.
Create a list of free products and arrange them in categories (to-do lists, calendar apps, project management apps, etc). Afterwards, start offering these products in exchange for contact details. Not only will people readily give you their information, but they will also be grateful for the products you’ve given them access to.
Checklist
When creating your lead magnet, have the following best practices in mind:
- Your choice should be based on your target audience and goals;
- You should invest money in a great and professional design for the lead magnet;
- Highlight the benefits for the visitors (e.g. You will lose 10 pounds in two weeks);
- Highlight how others have benefited from the lead magnet, and add a number of subscribers;
- Use an attractive headline;
- Include videos of you “selling” the lead magnet.
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Tags: email automation, lead magnet
