What’s a Lead Magnet and Why Do I Need One?
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Simply put a ‘Lead Magnet’ is something you give away, in exchange for someone giving you their email address and signing up to your mailing list.
It can take many forms: a written pdf; access to a video or audio; a short course delivered by email; a checklist; or anything else that delivers value.
The easiest way to deliver this incentive is via autoresponder. So as soon as someone opts in to your newsletter, the autoresponder sends out the freebie.
Even better, you could then follow up with a few emails, giving your audience more great content (think evergreen blog posts) or telling them more about what you offer (products and services).
In a nutshell, you have just created a marketing funnel. Nah, not so hard was it ☺
So, Why Is A Lead Magnet So Important?
1. It’s an enticement to sign up to your list. Therefore, it’s got to be something that is useful for your audience – so they want it. It’s also an exchange of value (although not monetary value), and this is important in marketing. Your reader wants what you are offering and in exchange they are willing to give you their email address.
It’s also the first time a reader says ‘yes’ to you. It might not be a purchase yet, but it’s a definite indication they want to learn more about you and your business.
As such, you need to make sure the lead magnet truly does offer value in terms of content. It needs to either provide answers to questions your audience has or it needs to provide helpful info they can use.
2. The lead magnet serves as an introduction to your business or blog, so ensure you include links back to your website. It shouldn’t be over salesy, but there’s no harm in pointing people in the direction of your products or services, as long as you have offered good content first.
3. The lead magnet should make people think, “if the free content they are giving away is this good, how great must the content be on their blog or in their paid offerings”. Therefore, again quality is important, but it doesn’t need to be War and Peace. Your lead magnet is a teaser for what lies beyond. It’s about building trust and going from very little awareness of you to consuming your content in whatever form that takes.
If your aim is to grow your list you need at least one lead magnet in place, more if possible, so get started today. It won’t take you long to put together, but you will reap the rewards in terms of new subscribers.
To make offering multiple lead magnets super easy is why I opt for Convertkit for my email provider. To try a free account, you can sign up here.
