Today we are going to review what a lead magnet is and why is it important for companies and their marketing strategies. Acquiring and retaining new customers is always a big challenge. There are countless strategies that can be used to capture the attention of consumers, and one of them is the lead magnet, which is practically impossible to generate leads without this basic tool. In this article, we give you the basic concepts to create those lead magnets that can attract your potential customers.
What is a lead magnet?
Getting noticed as an e-commerce company can be a big challenge these days. This also includes the challenge of winning over new customers. This is where lead magnets come into play. These can help you grow your customer list. A lead magnet is a free incentive that you can offer your visitors in exchange for their email address or contact information. This incentive must be relevant to your target audience.
In other words, the lead magnet is free content that attracts the attention of the audience and convinces them to leave the email address, or in any case, a reference needed to be contacted. This is the basis of lead generation techniques that allow you to create lists of potential contacts. Therefore, the lead magnet to work in the best way must be free from the point of view of economic exchange and must request contact in return.
Creating one of these incentives means creating attractive content (magnet) for a potential customer (lead). The “attractive” content is a gift, an advantageous element for the people you want to reach. The lead magnet is closely related to lead generation activity, i.e. the system of actions that allows you to obtain a list of qualified contacts. A good lead generation strategy, capable of transforming visitors to your web pages into contacts, involves the use of lead magnets.
These, in addition, allow you to create a good list of contacts, segmented and targeted. Google‘s algorithm changes, Facebook visibility decreases, but the contacts remain on your list and you can reach them forever. The lead magnet is the element capable of attracting the right attention to start generating your database of potential customers. Create lead magnets that convince the visitor to leave you their email or phone contact.
What are the benefits of lead magnets for companies?
The lead magnet is a tool to approach a stranger and make them understand what kind of impact your company could have on their life. Regardless of what you sell, you can create valuable content to trigger a lead generation process. The main benefit of using a lead magnet is its ability to obtain valuable and relevant information from your potential customers, such as email, personal data, or phone numbers, among others.
Additionally, if you create high-quality content, you increase your reputation, and you are seen as an expert in the sector, which will attract more visitors to your site. More traffic generates more leads to start building a relationship with lead nurturing activities. With an effective strategy, you are taking the first step to find new customers online.
How to integrate a lead magnet into the marketing strategy?
In a marketing strategy, lead generation is essential. A strategy, without the generation of identified leads, does not produce the expected results. And, lead magnets are part of an excellent lead generation strategy. They identify potential customers and capture their information so you can initiate or continue an interaction. This way you will be able to leverage all your marketing efforts better. A user who gives you contact is a future customer.
To integrate this excellent tool in lead generation you must clearly identify what you are looking for. You have to understand what your audience is really asking for and what their needs are. Keep in mind that the offer you use to attract attention must be designed to intercept an audience that will be interested in your product. And the job of a marketing strategy is to transform a visitor into a lead and then into a customer.
Ideas for designing a good lead magnet
A good lead magnet is the product of a detailed analysis of your potential customers. With the right ideas for your type of business, you will get the results you expect. But, how to find those ideas? How to create the perfect lead magnet for your audience? Focus on your potential customers and create quality content! Think as if you were the customer: What would you like to read? What resources would you need? Always start from this point of view, never forget it.
Additionally, you should create a lead magnet for a specific audience in order to collect well-targeted leads. Analyze the search keywords, analyze the competition and propose something unique. Don’t be generic, always try to adjust your scope to make the conversion rate higher. Create confidential content, don’t copy and paste an article, create an added value that makes your lead magnet attractive. After being clear about what you are looking for, adapt the type of lead magnet to your needs.
Types of lead magnets
Learn about 5 types of lead magnets to attract your potential customers:
- Templates: It is a directly usable document so your visitors can implement what you have taught them to do in an article. In fact, it’s simple, what separates knowledge from competence, is action. Your potential customer has read a great article. He/she immediately receives actionable content that will guide him in implementing this new skill. Together, these two pieces of content provide him with a new skill. This lead magnet is very effective, the conversion rate from visitor to lead is high.
- Webinars: It is an online event, in the form of a videoconference, which is organized on a specific topic. The visitor has to register to participate, so it is considered a lead magnet. The webinar is very attractive to your potential customer. Why? Because by registering for a webinar users can identify their problems and find a possible solution. A webinar filters potential customers who are at the right stage of the buying cycle.
- Consultations: This is probably the easiest and most obvious lead magnet you can offer. However, many people who visit your site will hesitate to do a free consultation thinking you are trying to sell them your products. To avoid this, introduce scarcity when offering to consult as a lead magnet. Free consultations work best as a lead magnet when you make them appear as prizes that you are only giving to a select number of people. Keep in mind that, to offer free consulting, you must have a reasonably strong personal brand.
- Simulators, calculators, and testers: This allows you to simulate or test something. This lead magnet works because it addresses an important problem that is holding your visitors back.
- E-book: An ebook is a stellar choice for your first lead magnet. The ebook has a flexible format and has plenty of room for creativity. The most popular style, of course, is the “how to” guide or some variation thereof. While you can present your ebook content in a variety of ways online, the PDF format remains a popular favorite, as your readers will want to save it for future reference. A well-written ebook helps you establish authority on your topic.
Tools to make a lead magnet work
You have excellent tools that will help you simplify the creation process. Here are three of them:
- Canva: This is a go-to tool for a multitude of quick design projects. It’s also one of the most affordable and easy-to-use options available today. With Canva you can design simple graphics that you can save in multiple formats, including .gif or .mp4. You can also create single or multi-page documents (such as checklists or information downloads) and infographics from scratch or using one of their pre-made template designs.
- Zoom: This excellent tool is specially designed for those who target B2B (business to business) buyers. You will get more subscribers by using lead magnets such as webinars and other video tutorials. According to estimates from experts in the field, 97% of B2B buyers have a strong preference for this type of prescriptive content. Zoom allows you to conduct live video conferences and webinars, as well as record educational screen-sharing videos for later viewing.
- Pixabay: Photos are another type of visual content you may want to use to break up large chunks of text and support your story. Since 41% of marketers see visual images as the most important type of content used in campaigns, you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to reinforce your powerful lead magnet message with high-resolution images. Pixabay is an online tool you can use for free.
Mistakes when creating a lead magnet
Learn about 5 common mistakes when creating a lead magnet:
- Not having an audience in mind: You must know exactly who you are targeting when creating a lead magnet. You must be at the forefront of their thinking during every step of the creative process: from choosing the content for the lead magnet to its design and promotion. When creating your lead magnets, make sure it is useful and relevant to the people who will ultimately buy your product or service. Your lead magnet is the first step in your relationship with the customer.
- Not having a specific objective: You have to analyze the specific purpose of your lead magnet. The lead magnet is not about making a sale, at least not in the short term. While your long-term goal is to convert a lead into a customer, your short-term goal can be any or all of the following: establish trust with your prospects, grow your email list, increase your search engine visibility (SEO) or demonstrate your usefulness as a brand.
- Not choosing the right topic: To be effective, your lead magnet topic must recognize the immediate need of your audience. The lead magnet must be specific and personal rather than generic and universally applicable. Your ideal customer should look at your lead magnet and think it was created specifically for them. It should address their immediate needs. In fact, you should use the exact language your target customer uses to describe their point when promoting your lead magnet.
- Typos and grammatical mistakes: If there’s one thing the Internet masses hate, it’s grammatical errors. Misspellings, typos, improper word usage. Grammatical errors can distract some readers from your overall message. But beyond that, it can affect the audience’s ability to trust you. After all, if you can’t verify your content, maybe your product is inferior and also poorly done. It may not be a fair assessment, but your reader draws this unconscious conclusion.
- Too much content or not enough content: Your lead magnet needs to find the perfect balance between too much and not enough. Keep in mind that your lead magnet needs to be instantly actionable so you don’t bog your reader down with a lot of philosophy and theory. You need to get straight to the point. Remember that you don’t have to fill your lead magnet with everything to produce a valuable offer. Your lead magnet needs to deliver on its promise, but it doesn’t need to address every possible angle.
Using lead magnets for lead generation is only the first step in converting leads into customers. Many people think that lead generation is basically about taking users to a landing page and getting their data or email. In fact, these potential customers need specific and targeted marketing actions that lead to conversion. That is why the strategies to follow change according to the type of lead you get.
The strategy, methodology, and techniques you apply with your potential customers must be the result of a reasoned analysis of your sector of reference, the type of product or service you offer to the public. In addition, you have to take into account the users’ search intention, which is directly linked to their position in the purchase or decision process. The follow-up of all customers generated by your lead magnet will make them loyal to your brand and thus maintain a constant flow of sales.
