Finding new clients is the key to scaling your business and controlling cash flow issues. The eternal question plaguing all business owners is how to continually get more, good quality leads. Attracting the right prospects to your business isn’t as simple as it once was. Having a strong online presence is important, but in today’s noisy online climate, that on its own isn’t always enough to help your business stand out and attract new customers. This is where a lead magnet can be a great asset.
What Is A Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is a valuable piece of content that you offer online in exchange for the contact details of potential new leads and customers. Something more than the short-form information that businesses often give away for free on their social media channels. It could be an eBook, a report full of valuable industry data you’ve collected, or a download of a webinar or podcast you’ve created. Typically, new customers will come across a lead magnet via a social media ad or post, and be redirected to a landing page where they will submit their email address in order to access a free download of the lead magnet content.
How Can It Help You Grow Your Business?
These days, most people’s inboxes are overflowing with marketing emails. This means they’re often reluctant to sign up to any new mailing lists or offers for fear of adding more clutter to their inbox. But a lead magnet offers customers an incentive to give you their email address, with the promise of something genuinely valuable, while also helping to position you as an expert in your industry.
Once the new leads are in your system, you can use a lead nurturing sequence to introduce them to your brand, product or service and move them through your marketing funnel, eventually turning them from leads into paying customers. A strong lead magnet can be promoted to new audiences with targeted social media ads and can ensure that you have a steady flow of new leads for months, if not years to come.
What Makes A Good Lead Magnet?
A good lead magnet is something that addresses customers’ pain points or provides immediate value in some other way. I’ll elaborate further shortly, but it’s also important to note that a lead magnet should always be free (people ‘pay’ you by providing their email address or contact details), and it isn’t just another a chance to promote your services or product.
When thinking of content ideas for your lead magnet, there are a couple of ways to approach it:
1. Target To Different Audience Personas
If your business targets multiple audience segments or personas, think of different content that will appeal to each.
For example, if you run a financial planning and management business, your clients in the 45 – 55 age bracket most likely have different concerns and priorities than your younger clients who might be saving to buy their first home. It’s best to create lead magnets to address the specific concerns of each of your target audiences. This means you will end up creating two or three lead magnets (or maybe more depending on your business!), but it will be much more effective than creating one that’s too general. After all, the more specific the topic of your lead magnet, the more likely it is to really catch your customers’ attention when you promote it online.
2. Addresses Specific Pain Points
Another approach is to think about your customers’ most common pain points and create a lead magnet that addresses them. You might look at your FAQs, chat to your customer service team or engage in social listening to get an understanding of the most common issues facing your audience.
For instance, if you run a skincare brand and you’re constantly getting asked which products are best for which skin type, you could create an eBook of different skincare routines for oily, dry, sensitive skin, etc. But remember, your lead magnet shouldn’t be promotional, so rather than focusing on your products, focus on something more general like ingredients to look out for, or environmental factors that can affect different skin types. This also gives you the chance to show off your expertise!
Common Mistakes To Avoid:
1. Being Overly Promotional
A lead magnet is designed to pique the interest of potential new customers who haven’t yet purchased your product or engaged your services. This might be the first time they’ve ever come across your business, so it’s not time to be promotional or focus on your own product. An eBook with 10 tips for making the most of your SaaS product is great content to offer your leads further down the line, but it won’t be particularly effective at attracting new leads. Instead, think of something that’s related to your industry or the problem your product solves. For instance, if your SaaS product is designed to help users manage their time at work, your eBook could be ‘10 Productivity Hacks You Haven’t Tried Yet’.
2. Offering Too Much
While you do want to offer real value with your lead magnet, the value also needs to be immediately accessible. That means your new leads shouldn’t have to work too hard for it. While a 100-page report about your industry or a 6-week e-course are definitely value-packed, they could seem like too much of a commitment for many time-poor people out there and put people off before they even hand over their email address. Instead, opt for something more bite-sized that can offer something valuable or actionable within a few pages (or minutes if it’s video or podcast content).
3. Being Too General
As I’ve already mentioned, most businesses are targeting multiple audience personas. There’s a great quote that states – ‘if you speak to everyone, you engage no one,’ which basically sums up the idea behind creating multiple lead magnets for your different audiences. A lead magnet on a topic that is too general (e.g., 10 Money Saving Tips) won’t stand out anywhere near as much as one that makes one of your customer segments feel like you wrote it just for them (e.g., 10 Saving Tips for Millennials to get that House Deposit Faster!).
Lead Magnet Ideas
If you’re ready to jump into creating a lead magnet, here are some ideas that you can easily adapt for your business, industry and audience.
- Editable templates – like a weekly budget template if your business is a financial management firm, or a content calendar template if you offer digital marketing services.
- 10 Tips for X – numbered lists tend to grab attention on social media, and this format is easily adaptable for any industry, e.g., 10 Tips for Glowing Skin in Winter, or 10 Tips for Making the Most of Your Gym Session.
- X Myths about X Industry – Busted! If your industry is rife with conflicting information, showcase your expertise by busting some common myths, and provide value to your new leads by helping them feel more informed and empowered.
- Trend reports – focus on upcoming trends in your industry, and back it up with research and data to add maximum value for your audience.
All of these ideas can be adapted for different formats. For instance, if you know your audience is busy, a podcast they can listen to on-the-go might be more appealing than an eBook. If your audience typically responds well to video content, a video series that’s accessible once they provide their email address could be the way to go. If you have the resources, it can even help to test a few different formats of your lead magnet.
A lead magnet does require an investment of time and resources up front, but once you’ve developed something that offers great value for your audience, and backed it up with targeted social media ads and automated lead nurturing sequences, you’ll be able to enjoy a steady flow of leads for a long time to come!
For some tips on content and lead generation strategies ‘to do’ check out these recent Marketing.com.au articles:
- Generating High Quality Leads with Knowledge Base Pillar Pages
- How User Generated Content Improves SEO, Traffic And Sales
- The Definitive Content Marketing Checklist to Drive Leads
- Intelligent Online Marketing Content – Avoid Over-Selling And Repelling
- 5 Lessons to Learn from an Unsuccessful Email Campaign