What’s the secret to building your email list so leads turn into sales? Give your customers something valuable in exchange for their contact information and permission to market them directly. Both service- and product-based small businesses can use a lead magnet digital marketing campaign to attract leads that convert!
A lead magnet is a download, resource, or service you give away for free in exchange for contact details from target customers. It’s incentivizing your prospects to share their contact information (which you can use to market to them) in exchange for receiving something for free from your business.
Examples of effective lead magnets may include:
- Downloadable free resources (like PDF guides, checklists, video tutorials…etc.)
- Trial subscriptions or products
- Discounted offers or coupon codes
- Free workshops or events
For an example of a lead magnet, check out picnic’s free guide for Instagram success using profitable lead funnels!
How lead magnets drive conversions
Lead magnets usually include a “salesy” call to action at the end. It’s often something like:
“Hey, if you liked this free checklist, click here to start your monthly app subscription.”
Sometimes, you may get conversions from this call-to-action, but not always. That’s why, in addition to creating and publishing a lead magnet, you should also develop a lead nurturing campaign for these prospects to go through. This provides more educational and helpful content and helps build trust in your brand.
For example, if your lead magnet was a PDF download, create a campaign of several emails scheduled over the following days and weeks. These emails could include additional offers and freebies, links to other relevant blog posts and online content (from your brand, of course), sharing client/customer stories, and more to introduce these new prospects to you and your brand.
Top 6 tips for effective lead magnets
Lead magnets are only effective at bringing in leads if they’re done with purpose and strategy. Here are our top 6 tips for developing lead magnets (and lead nurturing campaigns) to turn visitors into leads that convert:
Tip #1: Provide a “quick win”
A lead magnet should either show people what it’s like to work with you or provide a teaser of the results your business provides. Look at your target customers and their pain points.
Choose a pain point where you can provide information to help them solve that problem (or create quick, tangible progress toward solving it).
For example, a sample morning wellness routine or checklist shows how easy it is to incorporate mindfulness into their day and start the day feeling more positive. These positive feelings and outcomes encourage leads to subscribe to your fitness YouTube channel for daily mindfulness routines they can follow.
Tip #2: Create an accurate representation of what it’s like to buy from or work with you
Your lead magnet should be on-brand and accurately represent the processes or expected outcomes you will help customers and clients achieve. For example, if you help fix personal computer issues, a lead magnet with healthy eating recipes is not in your area of specialty. It’s not likely to convince people to hire you to rid their computers of a virus.
Tip #3: Don’t ask for too much information
The lower their barrier to entry, the more lead magnet sign-ups you’ll likely get. Don’t ask for much more information than their name and email (or maybe one other relevant demographic question) in that first lead magnet form.
You can use your follow-up lead nurturing program to offer additional freebies in exchange for more detailed information later. Build trust before you ask them to give up more personal information.
Tip #4: Promote your lead magnets
If you want to increase sign-ups for your lead magnet, you should promote it. A link or tasteful pop-up message to your lead magnet page on your website is a good first step. Be sure to share it often on social media, through your existing mailing list, and other customer channels.
Don’t forget that even your current or past customers may be interested in your lead magnet. It can help you discover who is engaging with your brand to see who may be ready for an upsell or to return as a customer, so you can plan your marketing and outreach efforts accordingly.
Tip #5: Nurture your leads with a lead funnel
Not everyone will “buy in” to that first lead magnet. You will likely need to nurture your lead magnet leads to build trust before new leads are ready to make a longer commitment (buying from you).
Be sure that all leads are automatically uploaded to your general email newsletter list. Add these new prospects to a specific lead nurturing email sequence that sends them more valuable brand-building content over the following days and weeks. Include appropriate calls to action throughout these emails to capture when the lead is ready to buy.
(Always comply with local email and privacy laws by including an opt-out or unsubscribe in your emails.)
Tip #6: Automate lead generation
Set up automation for your lead nurturing campaigns. Ideally, design your lead magnet landing page within your email marketing platform to automatically import and tag leads into your database and send scheduled emails from your nurture sequence. The goal is to create a lead magnet and nurturing sequence that runs on its own.
How to create your first lead magnets
Create your first lead magnet in five steps:
- Brainstorm customer pain points you can solve.
- Design a freebie or offer that creates a quick win to solve that problem.
- Design a simple landing page to capture emails and names, and send the lead your magnet upon submission of the information.
- Create a follow-up email sequence or outreach plan to nurture these leads
- Add a link to your lead magnet on your website and promote it often on social media.
Our team followed these steps when we created the picnic social strategies lead magnet and how we help our clients do the same.
Our team of strategists, designers, copywriters, and social media experts can help you brainstorm ideas, create your freebie or offer (including the collateral and graphics to go with it), and help you promote it.
Are you curious about how a lead magnet can fuel your business’s conversion process? Book a call with Erica today to learn more.
Like this article? Then you’ll love how to Master Lead Generation with 5 proven techniques for small businesses.
