Building Your Best Lead Magnets

Lead magnets are an effective technique for gaining a prospect’s contact information for building your lead and email lists. The goal of a magnet is to maximize the number of targeted leads for some sort of offer. The respondent receives something of value in exchange for their contact information.

Magnets don’t need to be long and complex – in fact, easy to consume content is more likely to convert as opposed to longer content. The magnet simply need to solve a SPECIFIC problem with a SPECIFIC solution for a SPECIFIC segment of your market.

Best Lead Magnet Types

There are many to choose from, and these are some of the most popular:

• Checklists

Checklists prevent people from feeling overwhelmed (as long as there are 10 or fewer steps). They are easy to digest and are actionable. They can normally all fit on one page and are easy to create.

• Step-By-Step Guides

This option provides a full road map to achieve a more complex goal. It is best practice to limit this to 5 steps in total with one page each.

• Resource List

Some audiences just need to know where to go and they can figure out the rest from there. The magnet could be delivered as a “starter kit” – or a swipe file or template.

• Educational Video

In today’s digital world, video is becoming one of the most powerful formats to entice customers. It’s easy to consume and provides more gratification than text-based magnets. Types of videos to consider include “how to” videos, case studies, and webinar excerpts. They can tell a story featuring a relevant problem, the before state and after state after implementing the solution. The close ends with a call-to-action for the viewer to take –with a sense of urgency.

• Blog Post

Blog posts are good for two reasons:

One.  Google always optimizes pages using text so your blog post can help bring more relevant viewers to your content without any more cost to you. This is called SEO optimization.

And two – syndication. When you post on someone else blog (also known as guest posting), the creator of the blog (or someone who manages that blog) can publish it on other blogs they own or manage if they believe it may resonate with more of their viewers. This will magnify your visibility at no extra cost to you.

• Content Upgrades

A content upgrade is typically placed within other content that you are sharing with your readers, like a blog post. Since readers are spending time reading through that content, they are probably finding it useful. A content upgrade is offering the same content in a snackable format, like a PDF, which could be downloaded and used as a reference for the reader. It could also have some additional content within it like a resource list.

Content upgrades often provide greater conversions, because they are more contextual.

• Discount Code or Voucher

Rather than just letting visitors leave, give them a discount code, voucher, or even free shipping by having them enter their email. Some will even buy that same day if the offer is enticing enough. But at the very least you will get the ability to market to them again in the future via email.

Lead magnets are a great way to nurture relationships with your audience because you are providing value to your prospects on a continuous basis. Implement some of these ideas to build lead magnets on your website – and don’t forget to A/B test them so you know what works best!