Recently, we published a series of blogs all about generating leads and building your list using lead magnets. For your convenience, the series is summed up in this single post below.
A lead magnet, opt-in or irresistible free offer (IFO) What is it? Why do I need it? How do I get one? Your client won’t give you permission to email them without receiving something they want in return. Chances are, neither would you, this is where a lead magnet comes in. It’s one of the best ways to grow your list. And before you say, ‘but I’m a speaker – I don’t need a list”, let me tell you that you do. If you are wondering what makes a strong IFO, and how this will benefit your business, read on!
What makes a great lead magnet?
I hate to say it, but the majority of your prospects (meaning, the people who do not yet know and love you) do not want your newsletter. Why would they? You have not proven yourself to them yet. They do not know if you have the ability to solve their problems yet.
So – how do you entice them? What do they really want? Read more about that here.
So now that you have figured out what they want – what next?
In a series of blog posts, I came up with over 50 ideas to entice your customers to opt-in, broken down into 5 major types. I know you will find the one (or a few) that will work for your business.
Useful
Useful opt-in bribes help to save your user time, energy, money, and more. This type of lead magnet is the most irresistible of all the types because it’s a “silver bullet” one specific, actionable solution to a problem.
It’s human nature to want the greatest outcome for the least amount of work, so make sure your lead magnet gives your users easy answers to their problems AND that you prompt them on ‘what to do next’ so they continue down your sales funnel. Here are some useful lead magnet examples…
Educational
Educational lead magnets teach users about a specific topic that is highly relevant to your offerings. These lead magnets help users to understand why they need your product or service, so they’ll be more likely to purchase.
The best part about educational lead magnets is that they position you as the expert or authority in your industry. Let’s take a look at some educational lead magnet examples…
Entertaining
Entertaining lead magnets “bring the fun in” while they educate and solve a customer’s problem. Perhaps they uncover a hidden problem, or highlight a personality trait… Let’s take a look at some entertaining lead magnet examples…
Community-Building
Businesses like to create communities in order to have a dialogue between their brand and their prospects. Communities are also a place where users can interact with each other, and that’s a really valuable thing that many people are willing to pay good money for (let alone trade their email address for). Here are some great examples…
Bottom of Funnel
Ordinarily, when you think of opt-ins, the bottom of your sales funnel isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. Usually, the goal of a lead magnet is to move top of funnel prospects into the middle of your funnel, or the evaluation phase. When your lead magnet links to your funnel – you win!
