CONTENTS
Lead magnets. What are they and how do you use them?
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It attracts people who are already searching for ways to improve their website. It caters to the need to improve website performance.
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The lead magnet gives them a way to fix this by offering the person who fills in their information free advice to fix the problem. A quick win.
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The report is not automated, it is written by an expert, not a machine. This communicates value by showing that an expert is willing to offer up their time for free to help the potential customer.
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The report allows the expert to communicate their knowledge and experience through the report
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The report presents an opportunity for the expert to offer their services to implement the recommendations
Why Do You Need to Be Using Lead Magnets?
The online world is busy which makes it difficult to stand out above your competitors. To be noticed, you need to be going above and beyond just best practices, especially if there is a lot of competition in your industry. Lead magnets can help you do that.
Lead Magnets Build Trust and Authority
Potential customers have one key question, “how can this benefit me?”. But how do you answer this question? And how do you tackle those who haven’t yet built up enough trust with you to spend money with your business?
The answer: lead magnets.
Lead magnets show your potential customers that you’re not just trying to do a hard sell. It communicates that you’re interested in giving them value, and not just taking their money. It’s a great way for you to shine a light on your expertise, prove that you know what you’re doing and that you really know how to help them. It also communicates that you are an authority figure in your industry.
As well as the obvious benefit of generating leads, another great benefit to lead magnets is that they allow you to send email comms to opt-ins.
It may take some leg work to begin with but it’s worth it for the long-term advantages.
So, what makes a good lead magnet? To understand this, we first need to understand the common types of lead magnets. Skip this section if you’re familiar with them.
Common Types Of Lead Magnet
1. Books and eBooks
Books and eBooks are free content upgrades that can and do work. But they need to be rich with original content if they’re going to work long-term. With so many eBooks available online, you need to make sure yours is the best it can be. Your aim should be to produce an eBook of so much value that the consumer feels like they’re stealing. A way to add additional value is to offer a physical book which can then be ordered from your website.
2. PDF Resources
PDF resources are another great form of a free content upgrade. They are a nice way of complimenting a blog post or case study and adding more value to it. They include printable checklists, instructions, guides, and more.
These are some ways you can utilise PDF resources:
a. Cheat Sheets
Use cheat sheets to get straight to the point. You’ll recognise them as checklists or blueprints.
b. Guides or Reports
These are popular types of lead magnet. Industry reports tend to be a popular way to get people to opt-in and position yourself as an industry leader.
c. Toolkit or Resource Lists
This type of PDF resource attracts users by being simple, straightforward and often reusable. For example, an estate agent may release a checklist for people who are moving house which covers the steps they need to take for a stress-free move.
d. Case Studies
As well as using your case studies to show off your work, you can also use them as lead magnets. People want to see customer success stories more than ever. Producing more in-depth case studies with catchy headings can help you collect warmer leads for example:
- How X Tripled Its Sales In Just 1 month
- This Health Club Member Lost X Weight With This Simple Habit
If a user enters their details to view or download a case study, more often than not, they are considering purchasing from your company.
e. Video or Email
You can use free training in the form of an email series or demo videos to show how something works. They entice users to sign up for something like a free trial and to try the product in real life. Although video courses and demonstrations can perform well, they can use up a lot of time and resources to turn it profitable.
3. Evergreen Lead Magnets
The most versatile lead magnet is an evergreen lead magnet. They can come in any of the above formats and rarely go out of date. The difference is they take less time to set up, less time to upkeep and offer more value. Examples of these include free trials, bespoke calculators, templates, free shipping, discounts, and swipe files. Swipe files are digital folders where you keep a collection of useful media. For example, a collection of work out videos, a sample of email subject lines, a sample of blog page templates, a template of a teaching plan. They’re valuable because they usually inspire the consumer or help them to achieve something.
Lead Magnets That Convert
The most logical option is to start with an evergreen lead magnet. With many sites using content upgrades (PDFs, eBooks & video demos), the value of them began to diminish. Consumers have started to become blind to opt-ins.
Not only do evergreen lead magnets offer more value, use up less time and less resources than content upgrades, but they also have other benefits.
1. They Offer Immediate Value
2. They Invite Repeated Usage
3. They Stay Evergreen
With evergreen lead magnets, the trick is to regularly return to it and make sure it’s still as relevant. Doing this ensures it offers as much value as it did when it was first created. A strong evergreen lead magnet should only need tweaks here not a complete revamp every couple of months.
Steps To Create An Evergreen Lead Magnet
Step 1 – Identify Customer Pain Points
Step 2 – Identify Your Customer ‘Wins’
Step 3 – Decide What You Want Them To Do Next
What Should Your Lead Magnet’s Landing Page Look Like?
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What: Get tailored website recommendations from an expert
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Benefit: Improve your website’s performance with actionable insights
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How to get it: Just provide your email address and website URL and we’ll send your tailored review to your inbox
How To Get People To Sign Up
Website Pop-Ups
Website Banners
Organic Social Media
Paid Social Media
If you want faster results, paid social media ads like Facebook Ads can help you there. You can easily set up ads to remarket people who have visited your website without opting in or converting. It’s a great way to drive them to your lead magnet.
SEO
Google Ads
We’ve already mentioned using paid-for social can help boost traffic to your lead magnet. Using paid ads on Google, Bing or any other search engine is no different. You can target people who have visited your website and not converted or a particular set of key phrases and demographics. This helps to get the right people and better leads through the door.
Email
Summary Do’s And Don’ts
Do’s
- Use an evergreen lead magnet
- Create an offering that has considerable value
- Provide your potential customers with a lead magnet that offers an instant win
- Use a wide range of platforms to promote your lead magnet
- Make sure your landing page is optimised
- Keep it short and simple
- Make it clear what you want your potential customers to do (i.e. book a call, use a discount code)
Don’t’s
- Avoid seasonal lead magnets where possible
- Offer something that takes a while to benefit
- Offer something that needs overhauling regularly
- Rely on organic social media to get you results unless you have a large following
- Overcomplicate the landing page
Once you’ve decided to implement a lead magnet on your website, you need to add a responsive landing page to your website along with a data capture form. Depending on which platform you are using, this may be easier said than done, but we can help if you’re unsure what to do.