Not everyone is ready to buy from you right away. Sometimes, you have to offer something for free in order to gain a customer. This is called a lead magnet, or opt-in, and is a great way to engage with your customers. Creating a lead magnet helped us generate thousands of dollars for our business and is a marketing strategy we still use today.
How to Create a Lead Magnet
The key to creating a good lead magnet is to provide something that your customers would actually want. For example, we created a lead magnet for a free website evaluation. People would enter in their name, email address and website URL. After taking a look at their website, we would email them with a PDF document with things we thought were working well on their website and things that could be improved. The email address would be saved into our CRM, so we could communicate with these people in the future.
This lead magnet worked well for us because our customers are coming to us looking for solutions to improve their websites. The people that filled out our website evaluation have websites that aren’t performing well, so they are looking for ways to make them better. Through our years of experience in the industry, we can provide our expertise, which helps build trust in our brand. When the time comes to rebuild their website, these leads will remember the advice we gave them and choose us to rebuild their website.
Lead Magnets: Value is Key
No one is going to sign up for something that says, “Subscribe to my email list.” That’s boring and overdone. People want value. Think about what it is that your customers are needing help with and how your knowledge could help them. Provide something that they actually would want or use.
Some examples:
- A wedding photographer could provide a wedding day checklist for the bride of items not to forget.
- A clothing shop could provide a PDF on how to wear their denim 5 different ways.
- A real estate agent could make a checklist for things you need to do to make your home more attractive to buyers.
People will be much more willing to opt-in to your email list if you give them something that they actually want.
Promoting Your Lead Magnet
Once you create your lead magnet, you need to promote it! A great way to promote a lead magnet is through social media. Include links to it on your posts, create videos, add it to your blog posts or if it’s in your budget, experiment with Facebook or Instagram ads.
We heavily promoted our lead magnet on social media and added call to actions on our blog posts so when people landed on our articles, they were incentivized to sign up.
What to Do After They Opt-In
After someone opts in to receive your lead magnet, you want to make sure you continue to email them regularly in the future. It’s important that these emails contain value as well. Send them links to your latest blog posts, give them exclusive tips or tricks, or tell them about any promotions you have going on. People check their email far more often than they check social media or your website, so email marketing is one of the best ways to stay in touch.
Use Lead Magnets and Opt-ins to Generate Business
By creating a successful lead magnet, we generated thousands of dollars for our business. What are some ways you can provide value to your customers for free?
