Lead magnets are free resources you giveaway in exchange for a prospect’s contact information.
Because most prospects are likely not in-market for your solution at the very moment they visit your site, a fantastic lead magnet will teach your audience something that warms them up and positions you as an authority.
Once people download your lead magnet, you can add them to email nurture sequences. Furthermore, you can embed CTAs in your lead magnet to drive them down your funnel.
Here’s a great example from The Hoth of a lead magnet in the form of a website pop-up:
The Hoth gets hundreds of people every day to ****download **** their lead magnets, who later convert to booked calls and ultimately paying clients.
Cleverly’s best pop-up has 425 downloads over the last 3 months with a 9.6% CTR. We’ve used this one pop-up for over a year, successfully.
Here’s how to create your own incredible lead magnet.
STEP 1: Create a super valuable PDF to give away.
Anything less than stellar here will NOT convert.
A lead magnet can be a guide, report, toolkit, free trial, video training or quiz.
The best blue-print I’ve ever read on lead magnet creation is DigitalMarketer’s 8-point lead magnet checklist.
To sum up the checklist: the giveaway should be one ultra specific thing with a high-perceived value that is immediately useful towards a relevant end result.
STEP 2: Create a pop-up on Getsitecontrol.com or OptinMonster.
GetSiteControl is $19/month and easy to set-up.
Our pop-up triggers on an “exit intent” (when someone goes to click out of our website)—commonly used in ecommerce shopping carts, but also works for B2B.
STEP 3: Set-up an email automation to follow-up with people who download. Send them more free stuff (natural followup pieces), don't pitch hard, keep emails short.
We use ActiveCampaign to send email automation, and it’s easy to integrate with GetSiteControl and OptinMonster.
STEP 4: Test different offers until you find a winner. Don’t give up.
You’ll have to create and test a few lead magnets before one converts high enough (aim for a 3%+ CTR and you have a winner) — it’s worth the time. Do not outsource the copywriting to a junior employee, a subject matter expert should write or influence most or all of it.
Once you have a great, evergreen lead magnet, you can also use it in paid ads for a great way to convert cold traffic. And as you scale your business, you’ll want multiple lead magnets.
