A “Lead Magnet” is a term that’s used in the online marketing industry to describe something that you give to your prospects in exchange for permission to market to them (i.e. capture the lead).
The best lead magnets offer a specific solution to a known desire, in a specific market. It must provide immediate gratification for the person who consumes it, scratching an itch they have.
(e.g. “Discover Your Life’s Purpose. Take a Free Life-Purpose Test” or “How To Build Your Email List Using Facebook” or “Download the Ultimate Wholesaler’s Catalog for Free!”)
Some other simple examples that can also work as lead magnets in certain markets are things like, a “free price quote” or an “online demo“.
But more often these days, companies are producing more interesting and compelling offers to attract new customers into their sales funnels.
Some additional examples are:
- Cheat Sheet
- White Paper
- Case Studies
- How To Video
- Free Trial or Download
- Surveys or Quizzes
- Resource Lists
- Discounts
- Reports/Guides
- Contests
- Catalogs
Ideally, your lead magnet will promise (and deliver) one important solution to your prospects. It is designed to alter their belief pattern, making it possible to believe that a quality-solution actually exists.
Although your lead magnet is free to your website’s visitors (in exchange for their name/email) it still must be perceived as being of high value.
It does not need to be overly complex or ornate to do this. Sometimes the simpler it is, the better your response will be.
Examples:
FREE GUIDES
VIDEOS
DISCOUNTS
QUIZES
What They Want Vs What They Need
Make it as desirable as possible, positioning it as “what they want” and gradually steer them towards “what they need” so that your product/service becomes more relevant to providing the solution that they truly desire.
An example of this might be a free guide about, “How to Make Money Day Trading” (what they want) – that demonstrates the process using the specific tools/software needed to produce the desired results (what they need).
Useful But Incomplete…
Don’t be afraid of giving your prospects too much of “the good stuff” or your “secret sauce” in your lead magnet. The key is to make it “useful, yet incomplete” so that there’s still a bit of mystery surrounding what you do.
By showing a prospect how to solve their problem or produce the desired result themselves, you also demonstrate the effort needed to do so. This helps to educate them on the value of your product/service so they know that they don’t have to do it all themselves.
Creating Multiple Lead Magnets
Your lead magnet is an asset to your business. Having more than one is an effective way to lead different types of buyers into your sales funnel. If a visitor is not interested in one lead magnet, they may be interested in another. So be sure to provide different “entry points” like this on your site.
Exposing your visitors to information in this way helps to anchor your product/service as the best solution. Couple this will automated follow up emails, that reiterate your message and continue the selling process, and you have a powerful system that sells for you automatically!