Why your business needs to offer lead magnets
Cotswold Web • May 20, 2020
A lead magnet is a unique piece of content you offer to visitors to your website in return for their contact details.
Few people can resist something extra for free – it’s called a ‘magnet’ because it attracts
people.
We’ve written more here about some of the different types of lead magnets you could offer, but it could be anything from an ebook to bonus video content or a downloadable checklist.
Whatever form they take, lead magnets usually have two things in common. The first is that you will need to put a bit of time or effort into producing them (even if that’s just repackaging an existing blogpost), so that visitors know they are getting something unique.
People are unlikely to give you their email address if they can find the content elsewhere without giving you their contact details.
The second is that lead magnets go beyond simply selling your products and services – they are about giving visitors useful information, whether or not they go on to buy from you.
From the point of view of your readers, a lead magnet is added value with no strings attached.
What’s not to love?
Why you need lead magnets
When you consider your content strategy, including your blog and social media, you should also think about lead magnets. Because lead magnets can make a really valuable contribution to your conversions.
Lead magnets drive conversions, full stop.
The whole point is to get contact details from website visitors, so that they go from unknown visitors to known leads and potential customers.
By signing up for a lead magnet, a person is showing that they are interested in what you have to say and want to find out more.
If your lead magnets are of interest to your audience, they can help turn leads into regular customers who are loyal to your brand.
If you are knowledgeable about a particular subject, a lead magnet - whether an ebook, video or something else - allows you to go into the subject in more depth. Every blogpost you write should contribute something – whether that is answering questions from customers or commenting on issues in your industry or the news agenda.
But a lead magnet goes much further than a blogpost can. It isn’t restricted to 1000 words and allows you to share more of your expertise, giving something valuable to your readers, which they can’t get anywhere else.
How lead magnets encourage conversion
Just signing up for a lead magnet is the first step towards conversion – converting readers into leads and ultimately into paying customers. But it goes further and helps put you at the front of a potential customer’s mind.
When people start researching a subject or looking for a particular product online, they will usually search a phrase, then open a number of sites, have a quick read through, and shut them down again. They might be learning something, but they aren’t building a connection with a particular site or brand.
But when you send them a lead magnet, you are sending them something which meets their needs and answers more of their questions in an easily digestible format.
This will make your business more memorable. It becomes the one they build a connection with – and the one they are most likely to buy from.
As a business, the most important benefit of a lead magnet is that you get valuable contact information. The aim is always to get a person’s primary email address. Many people will have multiple email addresses, some of which they don’t use. But if they want to receive something from you, they are far more likely to give you their main email address.
While some companies advise offering a lead magnet as a download immediately in return for an email address, we would advise you being a bit cleverer than that.
Make sure you actually email out a link containing the lead magnet, rather than offering it immediately. That way, visitors will have to give you a genuine email address, in return for the lead magnet.
Make it work
To get that valuable contact information, you need people to want your lead magnet. The whole point of a lead magnet is not to give too much away initially, but you have to reveal enough detail to make it something people will actually want.
So whether it is an ebook, a checklist or a piece of video, you need to write a title that will get people excited.
People have short attention spans and that goes for titles too. Apparently they only really notice the first three and last three words in a title – so those need to be the most important ones.
This isn’t the place for puns or clever headlines, just tell them exactly what your lead magnet is about
eg 15 LinkedIn secrets that will work for you or 10 top SEO tips for small businesses.
Alternatively, use How to
in the title. This makes it clear exactly what problem you are going to solve eg How to get your garden ready for summer
and promises useful information that the reader will be able to use straightaway.
If you are confident that your lead magnet has all the answers anyone could possibly need, make a bold claim in your headline using The ultimate guide
eg The Ultimate guide to keyword research for SEO.
Spread the word
Although you don’t want people to share your lead magnets in the same way they would your blog links (because then people could get them ‘free’ without giving you their email address) – you can still encourage your leads to spread the word.
Once a visitor has given you their contact details for the lead magnet, they should be redirected to a page thanking them for their information. This is a great place to suggest they share something on social media
eg ‘I’ve just downloaded Tewkesbury Garden Centre’s ebook Making the most of your garden all year round, click here to find out more’. Include social media sharing icons
eg Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and a link to your landing page, so that their followers have the opportunity to sign up for the lead magnet too.
You can also add another opportunity to share to social media after reading or viewing, with a call to action
like: ‘If you think this ebook would be useful to others, we would love you to share it with your followers’. Again, include a link to the landing page and social media sharing icons.
Alternatively, you can encourage people to share your lead magnets directly on social media, but using the Link Lock tool. Anyone who clicks on the link in social media will be able to see an impression of the lead magnet, below the Link Lock opt-in tool, but will need to give their email address before they are actually able to unlock and read or view it.
Creating lead magnets takes a little bit of time, but the potential gains are well worth the additional effort.
By putting that extra work in and creating something of value to your audience, you will be able to increase your email contact list to help keep building your business.
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