How To Create Your First Lead Magnet
Are you a blogger or business owner who wants to grow and generate sales? If you answer YES to this question, the goal is very clear – you want to attract and convert as many regular readers (aka prospective customers) as you can!
And one key marketing strategy that will lead you towards that goal is to create a lead magnet.
It may sound easy enough, but the lingering question at this very moment is how – How to create a lead magnet or better yet, how to create your first lead magnet?
What is a lead magnet?
A Lead Magnet is anything of value that you can exchange for a prospect’s contact information – usually their name and an email address.
A Lead Magnet has ONE GOAL and that’s to maximize the number of targeted leads you are getting for an offer.
Back in the day…
People would simply sign up to receive your free newsletter and/or blog updates. Today, not so much.
People are inundated with emails every day and so most people have become stingy about sharing their email address, unless they know there’s something valuable in it for them – which is where your Lead Magnet comes in!
Note: Getting a prospects email today is a valuable transaction on your end. I talk a bit more about this ‘value’ in my post Why Creating An Email List Should Be On Your Priority To-Do List.
An irresistible Lead Magnet immediately grabs the attention of your ideal prospect and delivers real value to them.
When you can obtain leads with your free offer, you are establishing a strong list of people who will be interested in starting a relationship with you and most likely interest in your money making offers.
Okay – now that you understand WHAT a Lead Magnet is and WHY you should have one.
It’s time to learn how to create your first lead magnet by following these 5 steps:
Step 1: Define Your Ideal Target Customer
“To whom are you doing this Lead Magnet for?” This perhaps is the first question that you should answer to know what sort of lead magnet you’re going to offer.
Something to keep in mind… not everyone is your ideal customer and trying to attract everyone with a “one-size-fits-all” message will actually give you the opposite effect, with fewer people joining your list.
When you try to please everybody and target to the masses, you’re going to have a hard time differentiating yourself from others in your industry.
Failing to know your buyer’s persona is one of the biggest mistakes that bloggers (marketers) make. Lead Magnets need to be very specific to the people you want to attract. If your Lead Magnet isn’t relevant to the wants and needs of your ideal target customer, they aren’t going to want to sign up and download it.
To make it clearer, if your blog is about working mom meal prep recipes, you will target working mothers who cook and prepare meals for their family. Does this mean that grandmothers or stay-at-home mothers can’t be your subscribers? No, but your language is going to be different if you’re talking to a grandmother or stay-at-home mom because they have slightly different wants and needs.
Lead magnets should be specific to only those prospects you want to attract. If your magnets are not deemed relevant and useful to your ideal target customer, then is there any reason for them to subscribe? Unfortunately, not.
Step 2: Identify Your Value Proposition
Let’s say that you know who your ideal customer is and whom you’d like to make your lead magnet for. Now, the next question is “How can I convince my ideal customer to sign up?”
It’s time to identify your value proposition.
A value proposition tells prospects why they should do business with you and in this case, why they should sign up to join your email list.
A great value proposition paints a clear picture of what you/your brand/your blog has to offer and how your product or service solves problems and improves their lives!
BFF Tip: Always try to put yourself in your prospect’s shoes.
Let’s brainstorm some ideas!
- What are your audiences pain points or struggles? What can you help them with?
- What is your audiences biggest desires or dreams? How can you help them fulfill this?
- What are some frequent questions you receive about your topic? Look on your social media platforms, in your emails, on blog post comments, in Facebook groups where your ideal target customer hangs out, etc. for questions you get about your topic.
- How can you tie this struggle or these questions into an actionable piece of content that helps them with this struggle? Remember, these would be actionable and actually gets them results.
The best value propositions are something that your ideal customer already needs. Figure out what they need or a common problem that they have and provide them with a quick solution to it. The quicker you can get them results, the better!
Step 3: Create an Eye-Catching Headline
Once you know who your Lead Magnet is for and what you should be offering them, it’s time to create a catchy headline.
Think to yourself, “How can I catch my ideal customer’s attention?” And remember, you only have a couple seconds to do it!
A recent eye-catching Lead Magnet headline I’ve used is “60+ Blog Post Content Ideas …so you’re never at a loss for writing ideas!” (seen below)
This headline catches the attention of bloggers. And is a solution for bloggers who have a problem coming up with blog post ideas. Those that sign up for this Lead Magnet might say this has provided a great deal of convenience and they would like more things to help them make their blogging lives easier!
An enticing phrase written in a big, bold font could actually make a huge difference in your conversion rates.
The headline essentially serves as your value proposition that attracts the interest of your ideal target customer.
Step 4: Choose The Right Type of Lead Magnet
Lead Magnets come in various forms. They could appear in a form of a checklist, cheat sheet, toolkit, workbook, survey, webinar, video series, printable PDF, a toolkit, audio, etc. The options are virtually endless. But at the end of the day, you only need to choose one that will effectively convey your value proposition.
Also, keep in mind a Lead Magnet should…
- Be Simple
Keep your lead magnet simple. An overly-complicated Lead Magnet that no one understands, won’t be very effective. Make it simple, concise, and loaded with value for your ideal customer!
- Contain Useful Content
Teach them or show them how to solve their struggle or pain point. Provide actionable steps that are easy to apply and gets them closer to solving their struggle or achieving their goals/dreams.
- Provide Quick Results
People nowadays want what’s fast and convenient. They want solutions that will provide the best results in the quickest possible time. Therefore, choose a format that’s easy to use yet would effectively deliver your value proposition.
Want to choose the right type of Lead Magnet? Focus on your strengths.
Do you have design skills? Then creating checklists, cheat sheets, or other downloadable freebies might be best for you. A great writer? A mini ebook could be your best format. Like to be on camera? Then you might want to appear in a video for a webinar series.
Choose the right type of Lead Magnet that attracts your ideal target customer, fits you/your brand and leads to current or future money-making products or services that you might offer!
Step 5: Create Your First Lead Magnet
The most common lead magnet tends to be in a PDF format, so I’m going to walk you through how to create a PDF Lead Magnet!
First, you’ll need a tool that allows you to create a PDF file. You can use programs like Canva, Pic Monkey, Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Apple Pages, Adobe Photoshop or InDesign.
In your Lead Magnet design, add your eye-catching headline and a special introduction, if necessary. Then add branding elements such as your brand colors, fonts and your website url.
Then, save the Lead Magnet design/pages as a single PDF document file.
Lastly, place your PDF file onto a page on your website. Then you can send subscribers directly to the page on your website containing the PDF document OR simply send them the link to the PDF in the welcome sequence email for new subscribers.
It’s Time To Take Action Now
The keys to remember are:
–who the Lead Magnet is for and the value proposition you’re promising to them.
-make sure that your Lead Magnet fits your brand and leads your ideal customer to your current or future products and/or services.
Now you are fully equipped with the things you need to know + the 5 steps on how to create your first lead magnet.
Great post Tana! I’ve been thinking of just this thing lately, and this is a perfect resource – which is actually not a surprise to me! I come to your website with all of my questions! 😉 Thanks for being so smart and for sharing your awesome knowledge!
I could totally see you doing an ebook on the world of teacups, (or whatever your heart desires) xo!