Choose Your Lead Magnet

Driving traffic to your site in order to have impact on your online business just won’t cut it. In order for site visitors to provide value to your brand or business, they need to either become subscribers, customers, or leads through your site. One of the best and most effective ways to convert those “on the fence” site visitors into leads is to use lead magnets.

Lead magnets have always been one of the lucrative ways to build a list of loyal subscribers. You might have noticed them on popular blogs/websites, or you might even be offering one.

But what exactly is a lead magnet?

Lead Magnet Defined

Basically, a lead magnet is one that you offer to prospects in exchange for something they give you in return. It’s typically a free offer with only one job, which is to give prospects something of value in exchange for their contact information (i.e. email address). By getting their contact information, you gain permission to market to them directly.

Lead magnets, based on its name and nature, attract leads into the sales and marketing funnel. The more information you get from people, the higher value your lead magnet needs to provide.

 

Different Kinds of Lead Magnets

Lead magnets come in different forms and formats. The most common examples include:

• They’re really hot these days. A lot of people are having great success selling their products/services through webinars. You simply have to get people to sign up for free and get them on your live webinar, where you can promote and sell your product/service at the end.

• Reports and books. You can give these to your prospects for free. They’re one of the first and most popular lead magnets used, especially by beginner online marketers.

• Swipe Files and Cheat Sheets. You can offer swipe files to prospects, which is a collection of tried-and-true marketing letters. It’s a common practice among advertising copywriters, serving as a ready-made reference of ideas for projects. Cheat sheets, on the other hand, are intended to provide people with the fundamental information, key tips, and techniques on a topic of interest (i.e. online marketing strategies).

• Free Trials. Some companies usually offer free trials, particularly for software. Nowadays, they don’t even let you commit to signing up for a free trial. The experience is often seamless, wherein you can start with the trial and get value from it with just a few simple clicks.

• Free Training Video. Some marketers provide free training videos in exchange for a person’s email address. One thing that works well these days is giving prospects the first video on the actual opt-in page, and then opt-in to get the next parts of the video.

• Freebie (Just pay shipping fee). This could be anything from offering free samples of supplements, books, or any product you offer, as long as it won’t cost you a lot of money. Prospects simply have to pay shipping.
• Coupon or Exclusive Deal. Newcomers do this a lot nowadays in order to get a person’s email address and keep them in the loop.
• Quiz / Survey / Test. They are excellent lead magnets, especially if they are detailed and don’t scream “I’m trying to sell you something”.

• Case Study. Offering detailed information to the development of something, like effective online marketing strategies, for example, over a given period of time. This is often offered to prospects after they opt-in.
• Free Consultation, Free No-Obligation Quote, etc. This is typically seen in insurance companies/agencies and other service-oriented businesses.

 

Purpose of Lead Magnets

Overall, what is the real purpose of lead magnets? Well, a lead magnet’s job is to get people to engage with you, and eventually buy from you.

See an example of a lead magnet that I setup myself by watching the video!

What you need to remember at this point is that everything starts with understanding your target audience. Try to put yourself in the shoes of your prospects and think about the problem that they are facing. A lead magnet is used to solve this problem and if you are able to help them, they will love you for it!

It’s important that you consider how to package your lead magnet. Of course, it needs to be relevant to your audience and you need to make it clear how you can help them. Your aim is to get an emotional reaction. The more value you offer, the better.

Your lead magnet serves as a tool that will help you reach the ideal subscribers. This doesn’t mean, however, that everyone is your ideal subscriber. You also need to make it simple and easy for people to access your lead magnet. Otherwise, they just won’t bother.

Indeed, lead magnets are a powerful way to reach and engage your target audience on a deeper level. You are not just giving something away because you have put time, thought, and effort into creating something of value. It’s equivalent exchange for you and your prospects, since you’re exchanging trust from them in return for your knowledge.