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How to Create a Lead Magnet: Ideas, Tools, and Examples

    Lead magnet

    A lead magnet is a tool used to entice potential customers to request information at the point of contact from your company.  

    You can use digital and print media as well as social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest to distribute your free content offering.  

    Lead magnets are offered in several formats that include:

    • Ebooks.
    • Checklists.
    • Whitepapers or reports.
    • Videos or presentations.
    • Webinars.

    Lead magnets can be used as a lead generation tool and in lead nurturing automation campaigns, specifically drip marketing.

    Leads captured from your lead magnet will automatically be included in your local database for use in future communications such as email campaigns and catalog mailings.

    Lead Magnets for High-Quality Lead Generation

    Lead generation is a process of converting strangers into qualified leads for sales consideration when they download your free report.

    You will need to create several lead generation channels, such as landing pages and autoresponder messages or email series to drive the traffic, which comes from PPC campaigns, organic search results, email campaigns, and social networking.

    Lead Magnets for Lead Nurturing Automation Campaigns

    The first step in lead nurturing automation campaigns is creating an attractive lead magnet that will attract leads who are interested in the product or service you offer.

    To retain a good percentage of these valuable contacts until they become customers, you will need to create:

    • Landing pages
    • Autoresponder messages.
    • Email drip sequences.

    How to Create a Fast Download Lead Magnet

    When you are designing your lead magnet, you should know that most people do not read a lot of text anymore.  

    They prefer watching videos or presentations if they are available.  

    If you do not have the budget to create a video lead magnet, then you can use simple charts and graphs in slide presentations.

    Checklists are also effective in retaining leads.  

    If you want to write an ebook as your lead magnet, then choose a topic that will be of interest to your target audience such as:

    • Product comparison.
    • Product benefits.
    • Tip sheets or best practices.
    • How to guide.
    • White papers on specific topics.

    Pro tip: Use tools that allow you to include videos, links, and documents directly into the ebook images such as Google Docs Spreadsheets or SlideShare Presentations in order to create a valuable lead magnet quickly and easily.

    Must-have features for an Effective Lead Magnet

    How to Know If Your Lead Magnet Is Effective

    Here are some tips on how you can tell if your lead magnet is effective:

    Your landing page should have a good amount of traffic each day.

    You should create an autoresponder sequence that continues to generate leads after the initially free report has been downloaded.

    You can check the statistics on your autoresponder and landing pages in Google Analytics.  

    How to Create a Lead Magnet From Scratch

    You need to find or create content that people will want to read or watch.  

    Watch out for hot topics of interest that can be used as lead magnets (you can use Google Trends or BuzzSumo).

    If you do not have the budget to create a lead magnet from scratch, then you can take a new angle on existing content:

    • Re-examine your whitepapers and reports.  
    • Explore how you can create an ebook or checklist out of them.
    • Can statistics be turned into a free report?

    What About Content Curation?

    This is where an individual takes other people’s work and edits it into an attractive lead magnet.  

    Pro tip: When you edit other people’s work, make sure that you give credit to the original author and link back to the material in your lead magnet.  

    How to promote a Lead Magnet for higher conversions?

    You can use social networking to promote your lead magnet.  

    Leverage the power of existing relationships with influencers on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook in order to drive targeted traffic that will be interested in downloading your free report.

    How to Use Lead Magnets for Creating Successful Landing Pages?

    When you are designing a landing page for your lead magnet, it is important to:

    Use social proof as an effective way to grab the attention of potential leads.  

    Create a sense of scarcity in order to encourage people to download the free report since there are only a certain number of copies available.  

    Incentivize leads to take action by setting up a contest or giveaway for a free product.  

    Pro tip: You can incentivize your landing page by offering an “upsell” during the checkout process that will allow the customer to gain access to additional information about your business or products and services offered.

    What are some examples of effective Lead Magnets?

    For example, here are some of my lead magnet examples:

    I have a free checklist for bloggers that helps you to start your blog with confidence.

    It has been downloaded more than 3000 times and I am generating leads from this tool on a weekly basis.

    And I have another checklist for online entrepreneurs.  

    The checklist has been downloaded more than 7,200 times and this is one of my most successful lead magnets.

    Lead magnet examples

    Other examples are:

    A free video training course on LinkedIn for students about starting a business.  

    A free PDF checklist for online entrepreneurs who want to build an effective blog in record time.

    While these lead magnets are useful, they are not very complex and take some specific knowledge to create.

    When you are creating a lead magnet, it is important that you consider your target audience in order to provide them with something that they will actually be interested in reading or watching.  

    Pro tip: If you want to increase the effectiveness of your landing page, then create a “video sales letter” and record videos with potential customers talking about why they love your product or service.  

    This video will not only help to increase the effectiveness of your landing page but can also be used as an additional lead magnet in order to generate more leads.

    I hope that this blog has helped you to learn more about how to create a lead magnet that will attract your target audience.  

    If you have any questions, then please leave a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

    Good luck!