Email marketing is a critical tool for any business, but collecting email addresses is tricky. People don’t want to be inundated with emails and, thus, are hesitant to hand over their email addresses without getting something in return.
This is where a lead magnet comes in.
A great lead magnet can help you generate leads, grow your email list, and drive sales.
There are various ways businesses can use lead magnets to accomplish these goals. We’ll share some lead magnet ideas that will help you do the same.
Table of Contents
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet is a piece of content you offer your audience—a free resource—in exchange for their contact information. This might be a guide, a checklist, an introductory course, or another valuable resource.
In order to receive the resource or offer, a potential customer typically needs to provide their name and email address.
There are a number of lead magnet ideas to choose from that may make sense for your business and resonate with your target audience.
Whichever idea you pursue, it’s critical to create a valuable lead magnet since it’s the starting point of your relationship with a potential customer. If your potential customers see value in the free lead magnet offer, they’re more likely to purchase a product or service from you in the future.
Purpose of Creating a Lead Magnet
The ultimate goal of a lead magnet is to convert traffic into leads so you can grow your email list and, eventually, increase your revenue. But there are other benefits of a lead magnet as well. It can help boost traffic to your site and introduce your brand, products, or services to your target audience.
Grow Your Email List
Growing your email list is one of the most tangible benefits of a lead magnet. When website visitors are interested in your lead magnet, they’ll provide you with their name and email address, allowing your list to grow.
What’s the benefit of growing your email list?
The majority of online consumers check their email accounts multiple times per day, and, if they subscribed to your email list because of your lead magnet, it likely means they’re genuinely interested in what you have to say.
Thus, an email list provides you the opportunity to deliver your message to a warm audience through a highly personal and engaging medium—the inbox. Here, you can communicate your mission, establish your community, and increase conversions.
Drive Site Traffic
Another benefit of a lead magnet is that it can drive traffic to your website.
After creating your lead magnet, you’ll need to create a landing page where you can direct your audience to sign up for your email list and receive your lead magnet.
After signing up for your lead magnet, potential customers might explore your site, i.e., read about your brand, research your products or services, or discover your social media accounts.
Introduce Your Brand
One important reason to create a lead magnet is to introduce your brand to your target audience. The best lead magnet ideas are those that give potential customers a preview of what they can gain by purchasing a product or service from you in the future.
Take free trials, for instance. If a potential customer is unfamiliar with a service, a free trial gives them the chance to understand how valuable it can be.
If they perceive it as valuable and useful, they will likely decide to purchase and continue using the service. This is just one example of an effective lead magnet.
It’s not only free trials that have the ability to introduce your brand, though. All of the best lead magnet ideas reveal a bit about who your business is and what it does and leave the audience wanting more.
Convert Leads
Perhaps most importantly, a lead magnet provides you with the opportunity to not only generate leads but also upsell those leads to convert them into paying customers.
If you create a successful lead magnet, your leads will likely want more of your products or services after consuming them.
Keep this goal in mind when creating lead magnets to ensure you always include a call-to-action or “next step” in each lead magnet.
How To Create a Lead Magnet
You may already have a resource that you think would make a great lead magnet. If not, don’t worry. We can walk you through creating a lead magnet from start to finish in this course.
It will teach you the key things that your lead magnet should do if you want it to be absolutely irresistible. Here is a brief overview of the basic steps to creating the perfect lead magnet.
1. Know Your Audience
An effective lead magnet attracts the right people and positions those people to purchase.
In order for a lead magnet to be effective in these ways, you need to know your buyer persona and position the lead magnet to them specifically.
2. Identify Your Value Proposition
It’s only once you know your audience that you can promise them something that they want or need. You need to give them a compelling reason to download your lead magnet. This is the value proposition of your lead magnet.
It must be specific and catered to your buyer persona. Make it very clear who your lead magnet is intended for; you want to attract as many of the right people as possible without appealing to those outside of your niche.
3. Choose the Type of Lead Magnet
There are many different types of lead magnets, so the next step is to choose the type that makes sense for your business and target audience. Use the lead magnet examples below to help you decide what type is right.
While there are many lead magnet ideas and examples that may excite you, focus on the ones that utilize your strengths. If you’re great on camera, it may be a video training. Or, if you’re a great writer, it may be an eb00k.
4. Give Your Lead Magnet a Name
The next step is to give your lead magnet a name. Similar to writing a great blog post headline and intro, your lead magnet needs a catchy title and snippet that draws people in.
Make sure the title is applicable to the content inside and expresses the value it provides. If the title doesn’t hone in on the right promise and the intended audience, it will fail to generate leads.
5. Create Your Lead Magnet
Now it’s time to create your lead magnet. Remember, the lead magnet will set the tone for your relationship with the lead, so you don’t want to leave a bad taste in their mouth.
Make sure you deliver on the value you promised. Don’t skimp on quality. And always position the lead for purchasing.
Lead magnets that do these three things are poised for success.
6. Promote Your Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is at the top of your marketing funnel and is the primary driver for targeted leads, or leads that have a high potential for conversion.
The more traffic you send to your lead magnet landing page and the more targeted that traffic is, the more leads you will be able to convert. So, promoting your lead magnet is paramount to its success.
Use different channels, such as Instagram stories or Facebook ads, to drive new leads to your lead magnet landing page and increase subscriptions. Then, you can begin to filter those new leads through your sales funnel until they convert to customers.
12 Great Lead Magnet Ideas + Examples
There are many ways you can attract leads. Here are some lead magnet ideas and examples you can use as inspiration for your own lead magnet.
1. The Guide
A guide or report is a type of lead magnet that serves as an educational piece of content someone can read to learn a specific skill or field.
For example, here’s a great lead magnet example of a guide that we developed for author and speaker, Brian Tracy: a 14-step Goal Setting Guide to help users set and achieve goals faster than they ever thought possible.
2. The White Paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs the audience about a complex topic or issue. This lead magnet idea is ideal for B2B businesses that are leaders in their industry.
As a leader, your audience perceives you as an expert, and a white paper lead magnet is a great lead-generation tool to confirm that expertise. You can use research or reports your business has conducted and repurpose them into a useful guide for businesses in your target market.
3. The Cheat Sheet
The cheat sheet lead magnet idea is easy to read and digest. It is also easy to create as it should build off of current content, such as a blog post or white paper.
A good cheat sheet lead magnet will break down the key point or terms to know or remember. Think of it as a quick and simple version of a multi-step process or short definitions or descriptions of important terms.
For example, a great cheat sheet for this article might include the 6 steps to creating a lead magnet and the mistakes to avoid.
4. The Checklist
If you’re looking for a lead magnet idea that is quick to create and easy to consume, this is it. Many consumers are drawn to a checklist-type lead magnet because of that very reason. It is straightforward and action-oriented.
Take this lead magnet example we created, for instance. It provides a list of boxes to check to ensure someone is preparing their finances for high-inflationary times. Plus, it provides tips to complete the checklist.
5. The Webinar
A free webinar is also a great lead magnet idea if you or your business already has a video presence, i.e., you offer online courses or you share content on Youtube or TikTok.
Webinar lead magnets work by providing useful information via one or two informative videos. These can even be teasers of a larger webinar course you already offer, which could drive viewers to purchase or watch the entire course.
6. The Template
A template is any free resource that provides an outline so that all the user has to do is fill in the blanks. For example, here at Brandetize, we like to offer digital marketing resources as free templates, such as a template for creating a customer avatar or a template for writing a webinar script.
If you’re serving other businesses, a template for a particular concept may be a good lead magnet idea for you.
7. Examples
Example-style lead magnets can be case studies, product demos, or a free consultation. Regardless of your industry, an example, such as a consultation or case study can offer your potential customers a peek into your products or services.
With permission from a previous customer, you can share a case study of how your business helped them succeed. This should include what products or services were used, the end result, and testimonial quotes.
In addition to case studies, product demos and free consultations can be great introductions to your business offerings. The best lead magnets are those that leave people wanting more and these ideas are great ways to achieve that.
8. The Quiz or Survey
Who doesn’t love taking a quiz or survey? Quizzes are popular lead magnets because they tend to be high-converting. A quiz or survey that reveals something about the user to themself is a great way to not only collect leads but also expose a need for your product or service to the user.
Take this quiz, for instance. It helps leaders identify their talents and abilities and then provides ways they can strengthen them to achieve higher levels.
9. The Toolkit
Another popular lead magnet idea is a toolkit or resource list. As a thought leader or expert in your field, your audience wants to know what you use to excel. Providing your toolkit or resource list to them for free is a great way to earn more leads.
For instance, this might be a list of the apps you use to edit your photos or the SEO tools you use to generate a high-ranking blog post.
10. Video Training
In a world where people crave instant gratification and attention spans are limited, video content is extremely effective. It’s easy to consume and can be entertaining. The best lead magnets that use video training turn complex ideas into short and engaging videos with attractive graphics.
If you have the capabilities to create a video training lead magnet, it can be a great medium for generating leads.
11. Calculators
If your customer needs to deal with numbers, i.e., to calculate a return on investment, a commission on sales, or how many calories to consume in a day, a calculator can be of tremendous value. And high perceived value is the key to great lead magnets.
Calculators can also help address a customer’s pain points, as it makes using certain products or services easier.
12. Maps
Maps are lead magnets that serve as both guides and templates. They can feature tips on “how to” get somewhere or achieve something as well as fill-in-the-blank spaces to do so. A map can also serve as a type of lead magnet game; the user has to complete the map to get to where they want to go.
Take this lead magnet example, for instance. It maps out how to invest in one’s 20s, 30s, and 40s, featuring specific steps to take in each decade.
5 Lead Magnet Mistakes to Avoid
There are many reasons lead magnets fail to perform or meet expectations. But, if you follow the tips above and avoid the mistakes below, that won’t be the case for yours.
1. It’s Not Specific
Don’t create a lead magnet about something general. The more specific you are about the benefit of your lead magnet, the better it will convert leads.
Hone in on a particular subject that you know will provide value to your target customers and you’ll have an excellent lead magnet.
2. It’s Not Urgent
Your lead magnet may very well solve a problem but if it doesn’t address something that the customer views as urgent, they’ll be less likely to sign up for it.
3. It’s Poorly Designed
Whether it’s the landing page or the lead magnet itself, poor design can hinder a lead magnet’s performance. Great content marketing utilizes attractive graphics and layouts that naturally appeal to viewers.
If you’re using video in your lead magnet, make sure you have a skilled video editor to ensure your content is high quality. If you’re offering a template or cheat sheet, hire a graphic designer to help you lay it out, or download a free design template online.
Remember to keep the design elements of your lead magnet, such as the font and colors, consistent with other materials of your brand.
4. It Has the Wrong Copy
Excellent lead magnets capture the audience’s attention from the outset while other lead magnets fail to deliver the right copy on the landing page or the right content within the lead magnet itself.
To avoid this pitfall, make sure your landing page has a strong headline and call to action. Additionally, make sure it outlines the key benefits your lead magnet provides. Then, make sure the copy within your lead magnet delivers those benefits and provides the promised value.
5. It Doesn’t Position Leads for Purchase
There are a few common mistakes people make when it comes to positioning leads for purchase.
The first is that the lead magnet topic doesn’t relate well to the tripwire product. If these products or services aren’t synergized, the likelihood of converting leads decreases dramatically.
The second is that they fail to present a call to action at all. You can’t expect to convert leads if you don’t provide them with their next step. It’s possible to avoid these mistakes and create perfect lead magnets that do perform.
These lead magnet examples and ideas offer guidance, but if you’re looking for more help, reach out to our team of experts for a free Digital Marketing Audit. We’ll provide personalized recommendations for your marketing strategy that will help you generate and convert leads like never before.
