Create Your Lead Magnet : Part 1 - Building your list
Jul 27, 2022
We’re going to talk about building one of the most valuable assets in your business – it’s probably not what you think it is.
It’s your email list.
It’s the best way to reach your customers and it’s one of the few ways that you have complete control over.
Social media is great but you don’t own your reach there. At any moment the platform could change or lock you out or disappear and you have lost your audience in a blink.
It’s critical that you convert as much of your social media following to a list that you actually do own and control - and an email list is the way most of us do that.
The most common way to do that is with a lead magnet. A lead magnet is something that you offer your followers, customers, prospects etc in exchange for their email address.
It can be a free download, an event, access to a group, a training video, or anything else that gives enough value that your audience is willing to supply their email to you, in order to get access to it.
You can get really fancy and complicated, but the basics you need to convert those followers to emails is a high value offering that can be delivered digitally, a landing page for them to go to in order to learn more about it and supply their email, and an automated email to send out the lead magnet or further information. That’s it. It’s a weekend project and you can totally do it all on your own.
This is part one of a four part series where we will walk you through all three steps, and then a bonus fourth session on other free ways to grow your list.
If you don’t have a website, you can build simple sites and landing pages easily on Godaddy or Shopify. If you already have a website you can send them to, but need a way to collect their emails, you can usually do that with a pop up from your email provider, or by adding a page or section to your existing website.
So first things first – we’re going to start thinking about what you can provide of value that your followers will want to sign up for.
Some ideas for your lead magnet are a checklist, template, masterclass video, worksheet, or something else that you can produce at very low cost or for free, and deliver digitally.
No matter what you decide to use for your lead magnet, the process to use it is basically the same:
- You are going to create it,
- let people know how to get it, (post on social, tell verbally, mention on podcast etc)
- take their email for access to it (usual by signing up on website pop up, sign up page etc)
- and then deliver it to them (usually via email but sometimes could be instant evergreen webinar platform etc)
A good lead magnet will always be:
- Designed for your avatar
- High-value
- Actionable and consumable
- High-converting
When deciding what your lead magnet is, you want it to give value but also give a quick win – something that they can consume easily, gives them immediate value, and gets them ready for more from you.
It’s also critical that it’s attracting the right people for you. You want to create a lead magnet that will get the right people on your list.
For example, if you are selling art lessons for brand new artists, and your lead magnet is a tutorial on advanced drawing techniques, although it might be incredibly popular and grow your list quickly, it’s filling your list with people that will not be interested in your product when you offer it.
Or if you have a roofing company and you know that your ideal customer is a homeowner, and your lead magnet is a guide for renters, you’ll be filling your list with home renters that will never want to buy a new roof, for a home they don’t own.
So think strategically right from the start, on what you can offer that will appeal to the RIGHT people, and attract them to your list, so they are a good fit for the products or services you have to offer.
If you are stuck for ideas, you can start by thinking about your ideal avatar or persona, and what is the big question you get asked over and over again.
What checklist could you create that they would find useful?
Back to the roofing example – maybe you could offer a home maintenance checklist. Or for the art lessons – perhaps a equipment and supplies checklist for new artists.
If you would rather use a video for your lead magnet, think about what single video masterclass you could produce that gets your ideal client closer to being ready to buy your product when you offer it. Think about the objections people have before they buy your product or service, or skills they need to pick up.
Let’s say you offer health coaching, but an objection you often get is that people don’t have time for the exercise portion of your program – then maybe your lead magnet is a free masterclass on fitting in fitness with a busy schedule.
Or perhaps you are a realtor and you are finding your clients are not prepared when you go out to show them houses in this new and very competitive market we’ve seen lately. Perhaps you could do a free masterclass on what they need to know in the new housing market, before they start viewing homes. You could show them how they need to get their financing preapproved, be prepared to go over asking in some markets, have their needs clearly defined etc.
Do you have anything that you’ve already created that you could use? Perhaps if you just tweak the title or the format you can repurpose that as a lead magnet.
Decide what your lead magnet will be, and then get it created.
Don’t get stuck in perfectionism. Jump into canva and design a pdf with one of their templates, or get on zoom and record yourself on video. You can even throw together some slides on Canva and record yourself right in Canva as well, with your face in the corner of the slides, for a professional look.
However you do it, just do it, and get it in front of your audience to test it.
You WILL want to tweak it and make changes once you start testing it, so don’t spend hours and hours trying to get it absolutely perfect.
Get it created and then get back here for the next blog post and we’ll talk about your landing page where they can sign up for the lead magnet, and how to make sure that it converts those visits to successful leads more often.
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