Are you on the hunt for the elusive winning lead magnet idea? Are you struggling to figure out what to create, how to create it and wondering how you’re going to turn it into actual paying clients?
In this episode I talk about :
- The biggest lead magnet mistakes!
- Where you need to be spending the majority of your time and effort (and it’s not where you might think)
- How to come up with a winning lead magnet idea & get the best results in terms of numbers AND money numbers!
Useful links:
Download the killer lead magnet checklist
Send your emails to jen@jen-hall.com
Listen to this episode on the player above or read the blog below.
How to Create a Winning Lead Magnet (from start to finish)
Creating a winning lead magnet is a part of my Elevate programme and my clients inside the programme are often reviewing their lead magnets to see how they can improve. Often, creating a lead magnet is about trial and error. Looking at how your market responds to particular lead magnets.
I’ve been working with a particular client to create a lead magnet. We have been testing the lead magnet out on Facebook Ads and what we’ve found is that while the lead magnet generated a lot of leads, they were not necessarily pre-qualifying the right kinds of clients. It was generating the clients with the problem but not with the level of pain they require in order to be able to move. Yes, the lead magnet was interesting, it was not converting well.
This is something to bear in mind. While we want to create a lead magnet that is as click-heavy as possible, we also want to make sure they are generating leads who will buy our products. If this is happening to you, look at whether it is the right lead magnet. I would much prefer to see fewer leads and more money on the back end. Else it is simply vanity metrics.
Where lead magnets go wrong
Lead magnets can fail to deliver with the content.
This means lower conversions and lost clients. I have had this many times, where I’ve downloaded something which is five words and blank boxes. This means nothing without background information. I feel like the person has not put in the effort to make this work for me – the potential client.
If you do not want to create a PDF, think about audio content that they can download with it. This can be important. You can use video, a masterclass or audio. Make it more comprehensive or provide something to explain the lead magnet. It can be difficult to explain something in the written word and therefore much easier to do as a voice note or audio. Your potential client will get more value from it.
You have to do what works for you and what makes sense to your ideal client.
Create a clickable headline
At the same time, the content could be absolutely amazing but the headline lets it down and no one gets to experience it. Many people do not understand how you sell it that is important. The headline does 90% of the work of selling the lead magnet. Give your time and attention to the headline so people want to click and find out about it. Make the topic of your headline super-specific.
You forget the benefit for the client
Another mistake. I see in lead magnets is that you get tied up in what you want out of the lead magnet that you forget to focus on the benefit that the potential client wants to achieve. Is the lead magnet something they need or want at this early stage? They need to be aware of their problem but it needs to make sense at this stage for them. If the client does not want this right now, then it is content that should be in your products and services, not in the download.
Vague lead magnets
Lead magnets can go wrong when they are not targeting a particular client or problem. This means a low conversion and a lack of leads. Focus your efforts on researching what your clients want at this point in their journey. Make sure this works for you because you will waste time and effort creating the lead magnet.
Ask your audience before you create a lead magnet
Now, you can go and ask your audience. You can give them options rather than leave it open-ended. People don’t have the time to think and give you that level of feedback. What can work well is to deliver an A, B, C option. This will give you an idea of a warmer audience such as your Facebook group or LinkedIn audience.
If you ask your clients, you may need to take it with a pinch of salt depending on how long you’ve worked with them. You would think that your current clients would be the best place to check in but they’ve gone past that stage and into a deeper level of knowledge and understanding. Your current clients have gone past that initial stage. If you do want to ask existing clients, put them in the mindset of: “when you first got to know me, would you have downloaded this?”
Make sure you put your own thought into it as well. When it comes to market research, be careful who you ask as your mum will give you an answer as well. And she is probably not your ideal client.
If you are putting it into a pool of people, then pre-qualify it by saying: “for those of you who are X, Y, and Z who have A, B, C goals or problems. Which one would you like to?” And it’s okay to say don’t answer this if you don’t fit this description.
Coming up with a winning lead magnet idea
With all the best lead magnet ideas, you need to decide where your client is right now and where they are trying to get to. You can plot the steps they are going to take. When you have mapped these stages you, you can plot the part in between.
There are two ways you can design your lead magnet.
First, you can take those plotted steps and find a way to help someone achieve one of those micro-steps. For example, James Wedmore put out a great lead magnet recently, which is get your first 100 leads. That is what his ideal client knows they need to be able to sell courses. It is almost a mini-course to help them achieve that. It can also be made time-bound and become more super-specific.
The other route is to look at the two destinations and list out all of the genuine problems your ideal customer is aware of, stopping them from reaching that end destination. When you create a list of the problems, order them from most painful to least. Then create a lead magnet that helps to solve one specific painful problem. Preferably the first one but be careful to draw a line between what you give away and the outcomes of working with you.
Make it congruent to your product
It is worth saying that there is no point in having a lead magnet that does not lead to your product. For example, you are a health coach who helps with weight loss. You put out a lead magnet on the five best exercises to lose weight in the gym. Yet the product they are trying to sell from the lead magnet is food-related.
You may think it. plugs into the same outcome, it is not entirely congruent. The lead has downloaded that because they are interested in going to the gym versus someone interested in nutrition. You really need to consider this, so it’s not as easy as it first seems. Look at the journey and the core desires of your ideal client. Look at this through their eyes as to why they would download it and then buy your product.
You also need to draw a line between your free content and your paid-for content. It is looking at the micro-destinations and micro-problems and how you can help your ideal client achieve these.
Lead magnets do not sell themselves
People will make the mistake of putting the lead magnet on their website and then expect ideal clients to download it. Unless you are getting serious organic traffic on your website, you will need to promote your lead magnet. If you do have that organic traffic and it is not being downloaded then potentially, your website traffic is not your ideal audience. Or your lead magnet needs a rethink.
If you are not getting SEO traffic, or Facebook Ads, then you need to look at how you are promoting your lead magnet in your content plan. You need to actively promote your lead magnet so that it gets in front of the right people.
How are you selling it? Every lead magnet needs to have a read magnet. It does not have to be written. It could be video and audio. But it is how you sell that particular lead magnet. I’m showing you how to create a great lead magnet. I’m walking you through this and now I’m going to tell you to download the lead magnet. There is a checklist that you can go through and make sure you hit everything you need to in order to create your winning lead magnet.
The podcast episode (and blog) would be the lead magnet and the checklist is the lead magnet. Many people think they can chuck out a link and say download this. You are not really warming up your audience to want to download it. You need to generate a desire and a need for that lead magnet. Sometimes that needs a little more work.
The checklist combines what I’m talking about in this episode all together in one place. You can also head to my YouTube channel which has more information about creating lead magnets over there. It visually shows you ho to generate the lead magnet on a PDF and attach that to your email system for delivery.
You need to have a read magnet so you can educate your audience first before they download it. But you need to promote it everywhere. Offering to your existing audience can be a great way to get feedback. How many of them click to download it regardless can give you an idea of the success-level you should be experiencing. Go to your warmest audience first, especially before you put it on something paid.
Extra tips
Three things your headline needs to have are:
- Ultra specific – what pain it solves, who it solves it for. Make it granular and micro.
- It needs to be useful – e.g. a template they can use
- It needs to be relevant to your ideal client.
Make sure what you deliver looks fantastic
If you want to be the number one choice, then it has to look good. My advice is to outsource if you do not have the skills to create this. There are plenty of people and tech that you can outsource to. I use Beacon.by to create lead magnets. It create professional lead magnets. You can also use Canva. But you can outsource to a designer to create one for you.
Likewise if you are delivering audio, make sure the sound is good and as professional as possible. I’m not saying it needs to be all bells and whistles. If it is a bit home-made then get it to a good standard. A lead magnet is the first impression. It needs to reflect well on your branding and positioning.
Nurture your clients
You need to take people on a journey. They are in the top of your funnel and you need to nurture them after the download. How are they going to buy your product? It is unlikely someone will download your PDF and then buy your product. You need a sequence of emails to position yourself as an expert and someone to buy from. You need to make sure you overcome your objections and make sure you help raise awareness on their problem. Plus, how you are the best person to solve their problem. What you provide that is new and fresh.
You can provide emails, webinar, masterclass and lead them down the route to book a call with you to buy your programmes. Think about that nurture as a journey to trust you, understand the need for your product and overcome their objections. Don’t forget this part.
Look at your funnel
When you’re nurturing your leads, you can then work out where you have leaks in your funnel. And where you need to improve. You can tweak and test as people go through this funnel. Obviously, this can appear to be complicated. It is not as involved as you may think but it does involve testing and hard work.
If you want help with this process, instead of blindly walking through it, Elevate is one of the best environment to understand your ideal client. Who you are serving make a huge difference to the success of your lead magnet. In Elevate, we work through this and help you generate the winning lead magnet ideas. But we also develop the nurture and funnel which gets the to the point where they have to buy from you.