As an affiliate marketer or a business owner, you will need to attract people to you. This is when giving away something valuable comes in handy.
I hear you! You are already creating tons of free content, why would you give away more?
To make people enter your funnel.
Funnel? I don’t have a funnel!
Oh! Well, I invite you to read this article I wrote about funnels and why they matter.
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Free is always a winner. People LOVE free stuff, even when they don’t need it. So it’s a good way to get people’s attention.
But first things first,
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is something valuable that you give away for free. Something different from your regular content.
In some training programs, they also call it a free gift…but a gift is always free, so..
A lead is a future prospect, someone who is interested in what you have to offer.
It’s a potential buyer.
So your lead magnet should be something that has value for that future customer.
Think of all the roadblocks, problems, issues, questions people have that are related to your niche.
You gather the answers and you give that away to attract people to your content. You attract them so they can enter your funnel.
Keep in mind that a good lead magnet should take about 15 minutes to consume and about 2 hours to create.
What Kind of Lead Magnet Can You Use?
There are different types of lead magnets. Some work better than others for certain niches.
You can create a list (like Top Tips lists) or a checklist, like the one I have for my email list. They are easy to create and they are useful on the spot.
They can be used in many niches with different topics like everything you need to buy for your guinea pig, what to look for when choosing stocks or ETFs, what you need to create a website, how to get over a break up, top foods to avoid when you have diabetes, etc.
Lists are great when you get started. You can look at what already exists in your niche and model from there, using a different angle or point of view.
Next lead magnet is a cheat sheet. It is a lot like the list, but with a little more details. So maybe my article on Top words to know : online business could be considered as a cheat sheet.
These can also be used in many markets, for beginners and for advanced users.
Then you have the report model. The report is a few pages long. It can be anything like the best practices for your niche, a solution guide, a step-by-step tutorial or a self-evaluation guide.
This kind of magnet can also be a video, like a mini training video. You can do both for that kind of lead magnet. That way, people who prefer to watch the video will be able to do so and people who prefer to read will do so.
Last but not least, you have the ebook. It’s anything over 50 pages. It takes much longer to create, unless you can use most of your blog posts and blend them all together to create it.
Since it would take over 15 minutes to read, you may not find it as effective to attract people as the other types of lead magnets.
I think a real ebook works better when you have established your authority in your niche and you can often sell it at a very low price instead of giving it away for free.
Don’t fall into the Free Book trap where you ask people to pay for the shipping. It’s not a good marketing strategy, especially when it’s not clear that people have to pay for the shipping before they click on the ad.
So now the burning question…
Why Do You Need a Lead Magnet?
You need a lead magnet to get people in your funnel. It gives you a way to reach these people again and then you can promote things to them.
The goal of the lead magnet is to get people’s email addresses or phone numbers in exchange for the free thing you are giving away.
You need a lead magnet to build your email list.
If you don’t plan on building an email list or a text messaging list and you don’t plan on using funnels to earn money, you don’t need a lead magnet.
To grow your business and start earning good income, you will have to build a funnel that will make people enroll for your daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletter.
I wrote an article about that, ALL marketing strategies lead to email marketing. You can read the article here.
By the way, your newsletter can be your lead magnet.
Think about it, receiving an email packed with valuable content that people are happy to read IS something valuable you give away for free.
Your lead magnet will help you stay in contact with people who showed interest in what you have to offer.
Plus, it can be used in different places like your blog, your Youtube channel, your Facebook group, in ads, etc.
The more places people can see it, the more chances people will want to trade their email addresses (or phone number) to get that free content that can help them with something they are struggling with.
What Makes a Good Lead Magnet?
Your lead magnet may be the first thing that makes people aware that you exist and that you are creating good content.
- A good lead magnet answers a problem your audience struggles with.
- It grabs people’s attention.
- It’s value packed.
- It is easily consumed.
- It is easy to use.
- People can take action based on what you provided them.
- It talks about the what and gives some tidbits about the how (they have to buy something, read your emails, watch your videos, etc in order to get the details).
- It gives people immediate reward (instant gratification) in exchange for their email addresses/phone number.
- It has calls to action: inviting people in your private Facebook group, telling them to read some articles you wrote on some topics, inviting them to take the next step in your funnel (going on a sales page), inviting people to share it with others, etc.
- It’s evergreen, meaning that you won’t have to change it every month.
- It makes people want more of your content.
That last one is important. A good lead magnet is a teaser. It gives enough to help people, but not enough so people want to know more.
Think of it like the previews of a movie. You often see many of the good scenes that will happen in the movie, but you still want to go see that movie to know how it started and how it ends.
The previews of the movie grab your attention. If it’s good enough, you will keep watching, if not, you’ll pass ( or watch your phone until the next previews are showing if you are at the theater.)
This is why it’s important to do your research and see what other people in your niche are doing.
Then you can see what’s working and what’s not.
It will help you create a good lead magnet with a great headline.
In Conclusion
You don’t need a lead magnet or a free gift if you are not building an email list or if you are not using a funnel.
If you are building your email list, keep in mind that your newsletter can be enough as a lead magnet.
You can reach cold audiences using a lead magnet. Make sure it’s valuable, easy to consume and that it can solve a problem people have in your niche.
Keep in mind that a problem is the distance between the reality of people and what their goal (or dream) is. Bring people closer to their goal.
What kind of lead magnet do you plan on creating?
Cynthia