Ok, so lead magnets aren’t real magnets. They don’t go in your computer. In fact, if you tried to put a magnet in your computer, you’d probably break a lot of things. That not even the Genius Bar could fix.
So, keep the magnets away from your computer.
BUT, you should have lead magnets on your website. These helpful artifacts can often help to supercharge lead-generation on your website because they do three things:
- Provide Massive Value to Your Prospects
- Build trust
- Collect lead data, for you to follow up with, according to your system.
What Is A Lead Magnet?
One of the most powerful tools you can have on your website is helpful and compelling content. Lead magnets are a particularly potent form of this kind of content because they consist of helpful tools, resources, or artifacts that your prospects can download, in exchange for their contact information.
They’re especially powerful if you’re targeting the top of the funnel and are willing to engage in lead nurturing, in order to move people from the sidelines to the playing field.
Generally, a lead magnet is a useful resource that:
- Helps a prospect to better define or understand their problem
- Helps a prospect to reframe their problem in a new and different way
- Gives the prospect a tool or guide in order to better solve their problem
- Helps the prospect make better choices about the different ways to solve their problem.
Typically, lead magnets might consist of:
- Checklists
- Infographics
- Workbooks
- Ebooks
- Audiobooks
- Courses
- Templates
- Trials
- Apps
And more. What works for you will vary, based on your industry and audience.
Lead Magnet Examples
For example, we have a few lead magnets that we use on this site, in order to build relationships.
These include:
Our Free Workbook – How to Create a Marketing Campaign – We offer this to visitors who are interested in building marketing campaigns that they can measure from soup to nuts. It maps to the different stages of the sales funnel, so you can make sure that your campaigns are aligned with where a prospect is in the buying cycle.
The Business Wellness Wheel – We offer this to business owners who are managing growing organizations and need a helpful way to immediately & visually assess the health of their organization.
And, of course, our free website review and free quote pages, which help people to assess the performance of their existing website and understand what it might cost to get a new one, respectively.
Two Reasons Your Website Needs Lead Magnets
1. Build Trust
Because lead magnets provide awesome value – for free! – they go a long way towards building trust. There have been many products that I have tried, including Salesloft, Adespresso, and Hubspot, where the value of their lead magnets was so strong that it ultimately became a no-brainer to try their product or service.
In each case, I had confidence that if the value I got for free was so good, then the value I’d get as a customer, would be even greater. In many cases, it usually is.
And, even when it turned out that the product or service wasn’t a good fit for me, I still have really positive things to say about each company and would gladly recommend them – and their resources – to others.
It’s no wonder that companies like the ones mentioned are growing so fast, right?
2. Get Lead Data
In addition to building trust, lead magnets also give you the opportunity to get contact information from prospective customers. With that information and, depending on the complexity of your business, a sophisticated lead-scoring and automation system, then you can follow up in smarter, more effective ways.
For example, if someone downloads our marketing campaign workbook, I might use that as a starting point for my conversation with them. Plus, the more someone downloads, the more ‘qualified’ they might be.
What Should I Use For A Lead Magnet?
Creating and installing lead magnets varies by business, offer, and industry. For example, one of our customers, a sales recruiting & staffing firm uses lead magnets to acquire prospective candidates for placement. For them, we installed an exit box, as well as a button trigger that allows prospective candidates the opportunity to get their current list of opportunities, in exchange for contact information.
For a retail store, you might use a coupon.
Ultimately, it depends on your goals and the value you’re willing to offer in exchange for that contact information.
Want To Know What Kind Of Lead Magnet Might Work For Your Website?
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