Lead Magnets…
- What are they?
- How do they work?
- How are they useful in sales?
- What can you do to put one in place?
Keep reading and I will share with you everything you need to know about lead magnets and why they are so important. Below you will find some tips that you can implement in your business, to help you generate leads that get you results.
WHAT IS A LEAD MAGNET?
Of course, we all know that a magnet is something that pulls metal objects towards itself. A lead magnet does the same in concept – it draws a lead toward your business so that you may prospect and win more sales.
A lead magnet is a valuable piece of information, guide or resource that you can share with a potential prospect (or client) in return for them giving you some information. It’s an exchange between them saying, “yes, you can have my email address, my contact number, and my information in return for me getting something that I think is going to be helpful and valuable for me.”
WHAT MAKES A GOOD LEAD MAGNET?
What makes a good lead magnet and how should you go about creating one that makes a difference to your business?
1. THEY MUST SOLVE A PROBLEM
Your lead magnet ideally needs to help your prospects achieve something, or solve something.
One of the best lead magnets I saw was by a wine critic who designed a guide on how to choose wine at a restaurant. It’s a problem that so many people face. In return for this guide which shared some ideas and tips, you had to give him your name and contact details. I was happy as a user to do this and exchanged my details for this information which would be helpful for me when choosing wine in a restaurant.
What could it be in your industry? Could it be a guide to help your audience solve a specific type of problem? Could be a video series on what they can do to achieve a certain type of plan or goal? Maybe it could be a quiz which can show them how they compare to certain criteria.
You can have a mixture of different lead magnets, but the goal behind them always remains the same – it’s got to be valuable! Just asking prospects to sign up to a newsletter to get monthly updates is probably not going to make them want to hand over information. You have to outline exactly what they will get, and how it will help them.
One of my best lead magnets (you can access it here if you want to) is 52 questions that you can ask to get better sales results. This lead magnet generates regular leads because it targets my audience of people who want to get better sales results.
Make sure that whatever you share is helpful, and it will set you off on the right path to executing a brilliant lead magnet.
2. BE SPECIFIC ON WHAT YOU ARE OFFERING
The more specific you can make it, the more likely people will connect with it and complete their information (result!).
Be specific in targeting a certain type of audience. Whether it’s sales professionals, CEOs or HR directors, make sure you identify what the person is going to do and how it will work for them.
3. HAVE A GOOD-LOOKING LANDING PAGE
Have a simple, clean-looking landing page that’s easy to use and looks professional. The landing page must provide clarity on what they have to do (and how it will benefit them) to get something in return.
I also recommend that you let people know where and how you will store their data. These days, most people are worried about their data being used for malicious purposes and may not wish to submit it. Outline where you store their information, what you’ll do with it, and also what you won’t do with it.
I also encourage you not to put lots of mandatory fields that they have to fill in. If you try and ask for 15 – 20 different items about your prospect, it’s incredibly unlikely that they will bother to fill it in. Keep it simple and ask for a name, email address and maybe a company name or website. The more you try to ask for the fewer people will complete.
Keep everything nice and simple for the prospect from the moment they end up on your landing page to when they have the email to receive the resource.
4. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PROCESS TO DELIVER IT
There’s nothing worse than a user submitting their details, but they don’t receive what they’re expecting. Or even worse they get nothing at all.
You can automate delivery through systems like ActiveCampaign, or many other CRM platforms. These platforms have the ability to send that information straight to a database and automate an email that will send the resource right away, no matter the day and time that the person requested it. Don’t create a system where you have to do it manually each time a lead comes through.
Lead magnets like this are powerful. They can work for you when you’re busy doing other things. If you then start to nurture the leads, you can hopefully start to turn that potential marketing lead into a sales-qualified lead whom you can do business with.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF THINGS YOU CAN USE WITHIN YOUR LEAD MAGNET?
Let’s have a look at what you can use within your lead magnet that can maybe attract your audience.
As previously mentioned, guides are great! They’re especially great when you’re encouraging your prospect to do something quite complicated. Just as before, I’d encourage you to try and keep it simple. Bean in mind the time span your prospect would need to consume your guide. Does this match their person, will they have the time? Everything we do needs to speak to our target audience. Do that, and you’ll get a great result.
Another great thing is a checklist. Wedding planners (for example) can put a checklist in place to remind couples to do certain things before an event or an activity takes place.
Another option is a video series that you can send over a few days. It gives the information in a different format, which is helpful if your target audience would rather consume video that reading something.
One more lead magnet to consider is a quiz or a scorecard. They are great ways of capturing information and a quick lead magnet for the person to fill out.
Another lead magnet is a toolkit. Perhaps there are several resources that someone needs to put in place to achieve an outcome. Having a toolkit with the resources to help them do this can be really valuable.
Another great resource is a template. A pre-formatted sample on a topic is a great tool for your prospect, and a great way for you to connect with your very specific niche.
The key thing is that you make sure you’re clear about what it is they’re going to get, and how it is going to work and then put in place the automated systems to send out communications to them. Make sure you deliver on what you said you would do and if you do that make sure that you’ve captured the information and stored it safely and securely. Once you have done that you can start to build that value exchange with the prospect and start to show that you are useful, helpful and someone that they should engage with.
MAKE SURE YOU TEST IT THEN PROMOTE IT
Don’t put a lead magnet out into the world only to find out it doesn’t work on certain browsers or the emails are not working correctly.
Take the time to test it. Send it out to three or four friends and ask them if they can complete the information and check it’s all working. Once it is checked and working properly, only then should you start to promote it.
Create content around the subject and then add the lead magnet as your call to action.
Create graphics and videos to promote the lead magnet and focus on why somebody needs to download it and how doing so it will be beneficial to them.
You could also put it on your email signature where it’s always visible to anyone you communicate with.
Get your lead magnet out there and make it visible!
TRACK THE METRICS
When you start contemplating the sort of lead magnet you will put out into the world, think about how many leads you would like to get from it over a period of time. Once your lead magnet is visible, track how many people come onto the page but don’t submit the form.
Track the metrics and review the data. This will enable you to make tweaks and test again. Keep tweaking and testing until you’re getting the number of leads you wanted.
