Basically, every business out there should have a lead magnet to grow their email list.
Just saying “Join Our Email List” is…
BORING!
There’s no sizzle.
Instead, give people a very good reason to surrender their email address over to you. If you do it right, you can practically force them to do it. Compelling headlines and resources make people think they’re missing out if they don’t join, so that forces them to join.
You do this by offering a lead magnet…
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is something of value people can get by giving you their email address.
That email address gets put on your list, that hosted with a service like GetResponse, for example (the one I use).
You then get to send out emails to that list whenever you want. Those emails shouldn’t all be offers – no way! They should be emails with more good info for them and then once in a while, send them an offer. Most Internet Marketers get this wrong.
But the question is, what should my lead magnet be?
15 Types of Lead Magnets
- Short Report (5-page PDF report)
- Checklist (1 page PDF)
- Cheat Sheet (1-2 page PDF with steps)
- Blueprint (Steps for success)
- Mindmap (Use mindmapping software)
- Course (video, email, PDF)
- Toolkit (resources, reports, calendar, guide, and tools)
- Template or Workbook (copy/paste, fill in the blanks)
- Quick Start Guide (boiled down tips to follow and get people started)
- Swipe File (pre-made text to use as a guide – 90% of the work is done)
- Video Guide (show steps / easy to digest)
- Plan / Planner (7-day plan to…)
- Resource List (a list of links/resources/tools)
- Email Course (drip-fed by an autoresponder daily)
- Quiz or Assessment (a tool that gives a score – more advanced)
- BONUS: Your contact list / trusted resources
- BONUS: Access to live or pre-recorded training
How to Create a Lead Magnet
- Research what is working at https://app.buzzsumo.com/research/content
- Decide on what kind of content will be produced:
- Report / PDF / e-Book
- Checklist
- Top 10 List
- Resource List
- Guide / How-to Manual / Tutorial
- Whitepaper
- Web Application / Tool
- Planner
- Template
- Webinar
- Presentation
- Have a compelling headline – brainstorm as many as you can and choose the best one or split test them to find out
- Decide on a format: PDF, audio, video, or 5-day lesson via email (use an email autoresponder)
- Produce the lead magnet
- Get a very attractive cover created (SUPER important!)
Keep Them Short!
The good news is, lead magnets are easy to make because they don’t have to be 30 pages because… who wants to read 30 pages? Yuck!
Get right to the point and distill it down to the essentials. Don’t go on and on, trying to fill pages. Be direct. Use bulleted lists, headings, and sub-headings. Bold the important things.
Provide High Value!
This is the first impression people have of your business, so deliver high value with your lead magnet. You’re setting the stage (expectations) of what your audience will get from you, so make it really, really good – more than they would expect.
Checklists Are UNDER Rated – You Need to Provide Them
You may think that putting together a checklist of resources (a page of links you find from doing searches on Google) doesn’t mean much but I’d say you’re wrong.
I was looking to create a directory website and there’s a company out there who has a great theme and really all you need to do it except they didn’t list where to get business listings. It’s good to have some business listings for the area you’re covering already there instead of a blank directory, right? So I needed to buy some listings and I asked them where to go. They replied back, “Those sites are out there.”
So I did some searches and even found a place and I bought a listings but they weren’t very good, so I abandoned that project. That theme company never got my money because they didn’t provide me with what I needed. They had a chance to provide one more step to complete the sale and they passed on that.
That sounds pretty silly, right?
In your business, maybe there’s something you think everybody knows but to someone just entering that space, they have no idea. Putting together a quick checklist may seem like it’s not worth doing but you could be missing out on a big opportunity to make more sales by providing guides like that. And you can even capture email addresses of people interested so you can follow up with them.
This is how you get a lead magnet and funnel that work – provide something extra people need in exchange for an email address. You look good, you get the lead, and you get more sales. Why isn’t every business out there doing this?
The Cover Image Makes ALL the Difference!
An attractive book image is THE difference between you getting leads or not. You could have the greatest content inside the book but if the cover looks old, outdated, cheap, or amateurish, people will think it’s not worth giving up their email address for.
Get a cover professionally made at Fiverr if you don’t know how to make them. Or, I’ve had a few people ask me to create covers for them. I love doing it. If you like how mine look, shoot me an email.
Videos
These videos also have great ideas:
CREATE A LEAD MAGNET IN ABOUT 1 HOUR!
Don’t struggle with creating your lead magnet giveaway. Learn the easy way to create your lead magnet to start getting more traffic, sign ups and leads from your website.
This simple, easy-to-follow course will get you cranking out lead magnets in an hour.
You get step-by-step training to walk you through how to have them completely done in no time while keeping the quality and value high.
If you’re being held back by the thought of having to create books, courses, products, or downloads, then skip all that and finally learn how the experts do it.
Conclusion
Hopefully these videos and tools help you. Just remember to provide massive value. Your first offer to people needs to be absolutely free with no cost to them so you can start communicating with them.
What Do You Think?
Leave comments below about what you think of these videos and if you have any more ideas for lead magnets.
