A lead magnet is a free digital asset or service that you can offer to your prospects in exchange for their contact details. It’s used specifically for lead generation; it can help you generate more leads and attract high-quality prospects.
When used strategically, lead magnets maximize your potential in engaging the right people. Even when your videos don’t gain traction or your ads fall flat, these assets enable you to turn leads into paying customers and put your conversion rate back on track.
On top of that, lead magnets give you a chance to not only get more leads but also lead them down your lead magnet funnel. They open opportunities for further communication between you and your target customers. Most importantly, they impact the quality of the leads you attract. Consider these findings:
• According to business to business (B2B) marketers, webinar lead magnets and eBook lead magnets are among the top three most effective means of acquiring leads. (Content Marketing Institute)
• Marketers who use lead magnets to capture email addresses report higher conversion rates than those who do not use them. (Hubspot)
But while all of these sound exciting, you may be wondering what is a lead? or what is a lead magnet? You may also be wondering how you can create one and what it could do for your business.
But before we dig deeper into what is a lead magnet, what is a lead in the first place?
The definition of the term “lead” varies from organization to organization. From a sales perspective, a lead refers to any individual or organization with not only an interest in your offer but also the intent, the right behavior and the means to purchase it.
Now that we have a clear idea of who lead magnets actually attract, it’s time to learn more about how to use them for your business. In this article, we will answer these questions to help you get started on supercharging your lead generation efforts:
• What role do lead magnets plan in your conversions?
• What are some lead magnet ideas worth trying?
• How do you create a lead magnet?
The Role Lead Magnets Play in Your Conversions
In general, the conversion process comprises a series of strategies used to acquire prospective customers or leads and convince them to make a purchase.
However, it’s worth mentioning that your conversion rate can suffer if you focus solely on the number of leads you need to generate. You must also determine if a lead is worth passing on to sales. Telling good leads apart from bad ones helps your sales team focus on highly qualified prospects. In the end, you get an efficient team and an optimized conversion rate.
Not everyone who shows interest in your business is a good lead. Some may simply be curious about your offer but are not a perfect fit at all. On the contrary, a high-quality lead is anyone who has all of the factors listed above checked. They are almost ready to turn into paying customers; all that’s left to do is nurture them until they are willing to close the deal. The more high-quality leads you acquire, the higher your chances of converting leads.
This then poses another important question: how do you increase high-quality leads? There are various techniques you can use, but let’s take a look at how adding lead magnets to your digital marketing strategy drives your conversions.
How Lead Magnets Work
Fundamentally, a lead magnet is any valuable incentive you provide to your prospects for free in exchange for their email address or other contact details. Some commonly used lead magnet examples among marketers are whitepapers, eBooks and trial subscriptions. With that said, there are other lead magnet ideas you can explore, which you’ll learn in the next section.
Having a team dedicated to building a lead magnet or enlisting lead generation services for this task helps you drive your conversions in various ways. A meticulously crafted lead magnet helps you:
• Target one buyer persona at a time and speak to their specific needs, making you and your offering more relevant.
• Easily gain your leads’ email addresses, a key contact detail that lets you market your products or services to them on a more personal level.
• Solve some of your prospects’ pain points before they even convert, which may then convince them that you have exactly what they need.
What Are Some Lead Magnet Ideas Worth Trying?
If you’re stuck thinking on what is a lead magnet format worth pouring your time and effort into, check out these popular and highly effective lead magnet examples for inspiration:
1. eBooks
According to HubSpot, eBooks are the best example of an effective lead magnet, and it’s not hard to see why. This type helps prospects solve a problem or understand a topic in an easy-to-read and conversational mini-guide. Moreover, Thrive’s digital marketing manager, Tristan Harris, shared that this is effective in capturing leads and nurturing and guiding them through the lead magnet funnel.
If you’re wondering how to create a lead magnet following this format, one way would be to put together an extensive list of helpful tips for a particular audience group. This is what Thrive did with its newest eBook on Google My Business (GMB). It shared 14 steps that local businesses and franchises should take to optimize their GMB and boost their online presence.
2. Cheat Sheets
Customers are actively looking for solutions to their business problems, and using cheat sheets is a great way to entice them.
While they are similar to eBooks in that they address a certain problem, the difference lies in the delivery. eBooks cover one topic over several pages but cheat sheets usually condense practical information in one or two. In this way, they deliver ideas that prospects can consume and use right away, saving them a lot of time.
3. Whitepapers
Have you recently conducted a survey or research relevant to your target audience? You can share your valuable findings from it and generate more leads at the same time by creating data-driven whitepapers. If you cannot produce this type of content within the team, you can enlist content writing services to get the job done.
With a solid whitepaper, you can:
• Report specific information or unique data that your audience can apply to their strategies
• Help business leaders understand trends or complex topics
• Establish yourself as a credible resource or thought leader in your niche
4. Product Samples or Trial Subscription
It’s easy to get stuck on how to create a lead magnet if you do not have the means to produce any of the first three materials listed above. But there are other interesting ideas you can explore, such as samples or free trials.
The advantage of these is that they allow you to introduce your product or service to your prospects without forcing them to enter into any commitment. If these customers like their experience with your offer, they become more open to future messages until they willingly turn into paying customers themselves.
5. Webinars
Holding webinars or web seminars is worth considering if you want to discover how to get leads in the B2B space. According to Demand Gen Report, more than half of B2B buyers are willing to share information about themselves, including their contact details, to register for them.
What makes webinars an effective lead magnet is that they are engaging. They not only educate prospects on certain topics but also allow them to ask questions and interact with thought leaders.
If you are planning to hold a webinar but do not have the resources to oversee it, seeking the help of B2B lead generation companies is a good idea. They have the experience and resources needed to ensure your web seminar event generates the results you want.
6. Video Tutorials or Courses
If you want to generate more leads in a fun and engaging way, create videos that educate your target audience on a certain topic.
Like eBooks and cheat sheets, educational videos impart helpful information. But what distinguishes them from other lead magnet examples in this list is that they have a video and audio component. These two features have the power to grab people’s attention and keep it. Moreover, they can elicit emotional responses from viewers and urge them to take action.
This is the opportunity explored by Clever Girl Finance, a personal finance platform for women. Their lead magnet encourages users to sign up to gain access to a library filled with community coaching call replays and bite-sized course videos. The bonus is that users also get to enjoy free personal finance resources.
7. Memberships
Another effective way to get and convert leads is to build a great community on platforms like Facebook Groups, LinkedIn and Slack.
Customers often look for spaces where they can freely discuss topics that resonate with their situations, challenges and goals. Aside from that, they want opportunities to exclusively connect with like-minded people or access helpful resources.
Considering this, creating a space where your target audience can come together and get what they need is an effective way to attract and get more leads. The best part is that you can also use these communities to understand your audience better.
How Do You Create a Lead Magnet?
Here’s a quick summary of the steps in creating a high-quality and effective lead magnet:
STEP 1: Think About the Audience You Want to Reach
The key to creating a lead magnet that will improve the way you do lead generation is to focus on quality, not quantity. With this in mind, you must choose a particular buyer persona you want to target, the one that can provide the most value to your business.
Understand who they are and what their needs are, and then create a highly specific lead magnet that will answer those needs. If you are not able to deliver an offer relevant to what they are looking for, you can’t expect them to hand their emails over for it.
If you do not have buyer personas for your business, a lead generation agency can help you get started with this.
STEP 2: Find the Best Lead Magnet Format
Once you have decided on the audience you want to reach and the particular need you want to address, you need to determine the most appropriate format to use. Consider the lead magnet examples above to jumpstart your brainstorming process, but feel free to explore out-of-the-box ideas.
However, if you cannot decide on what to use, here are some pieces of advice:
• Consider your strengths. If your team has skilled writers, you may want to try creating an eBook, cheat sheet or whitepaper first.
• Consider your target audience. What would appeal to them the most?
• Remember your goal, which is to deliver value. No matter what format you end up using, make sure to keep it packed with value yet digestible for your audience.
STEP 3: Build the Lead Magnet
After you have completed the strategic part of the work, you’ve come to the most exciting part: crafting a lead magnet that will generate and convert leads.
However, you need to take this step seriously as today’s consumers are savvier than ever. They can easily tell if a material is indeed relevant and helpful to them—or not. If you fail to provide value through your magnet, your brand’s image will likely suffer and your prospects will turn to your competitors to find what they need.
Spend time developing a solid lead magnet or seek the help of full-service lead generation companies to get more leads and protect your name.
STEP 4: Make Your Lead Magnet Exciting and Enticing
If you find yourself asking what is a lead magnet design appropriate for your digital asset or service, you’re on the right track. You must design your lead magnet thoughtfully to ensure that it captivates the attention of your target audience. You can’t encourage people to give you their contact details in exchange for your lead magnet if it looks unappealing.
If you are creating an eBook, you may consider seeking the help of a professional designer to come up with an attractive layout. For video courses, you can partner with agencies offering video production services to produce professional videos. When it comes to webinars, you can tap B2B lead generation companies for reinforcements.
The bottom line is this: whichever type you decide to produce, leverage the relevant lead generation services and resources available to you. If you can draw people’s attention with how your lead magnet is designed, that will be half the battle won.
Propel Your Conversion Rate Upward and Unlock Business Growth
Learning how to get leads is the foundation of your lead generation efforts. However, if you want to take your conversion rate up a notch, you need to look beyond the quantity and focus on the quality. You must bring in prospects who have a high propensity of turning into paying customers. This will enable your sales team to convert leads efficiently and contribute to your revenues.
Adding lead magnets to your existing lead generation tools can help you discover how to get leads that drive your business. When you offer enticing incentives to your target audience, you get the chance to acquire their email addresses while introducing them to your product or services. This puts you in the best position to nurture them through an email communication strategy until they finally convert.
However, it pays to remember that creating compelling lead magnets is not an easy task.
You can draw ideas from some of the best lead magnet examples shared above, but you must approach the production process meticulously. Today’s savvy customers can easily tell if your offer is indeed valuable or not; they can also quickly dismiss your brand if you fail to meet their expectations. To ensure great results and protect your reputation, enlist the help of an experienced lead generation agency.
If you want to increase your conversions and unlock business growth, Thrive is here to help. We’re one of the most established lead generation companies, and we offer lead generation services that turn your visitors into paying customers. You can rely on our experts to craft and market your lead magnet to ultimately engage your most valuable audiences.
Ready to partner with a seasoned lead generation agency and reach new levels of success? Send us a message or call 866-434-4748 to get started.
