If you want a good contact list for email marketing, you’re going to need at least one lead magnet (some businesses have a dozen or more!). Lead magnets come in many forms, but the basic premise is that you provide something of value in exchange for contact information. You want to create something memorable and useful that will keep people coming back to you and start them on a journey to becoming customers. Here are some things to consider to make the most of your lead magnets:
Have a plan for the leads. What will you do once you have the contact information? How will you provide value in the future? Will you send a monthly newsletter, a daily sales pitch, or a weekly coupon? WIll you provide updates on your industry, their industries, or your products?
You should have a plan before you create a lead magnet, and the plan should honor the wants and needs of your audience. Email marketing should be about creating an ongoing relationship with customers or people who will become customers. Keep in mind that people can opt out of receiving your emails any time. Your job is to give them a reason to stay.
Best practices: Keep your frequency reasonable for what you’re providing; don’t bombard people with spam! At the very least, stick to the 80/20 rule and be promoting yourself no more than 20% of the time. Provide value on a continuing basis rather than just once. Otherwise, people will snag the content from your lead magnet, unsubscribe, and forget you exist.
Pick a format. There are plenty of formats to choose from. Which is right depends on how your audience consumes content, and the nature of your business. If you primarily serve professionals in a specific field, a webinar or class might be appropriate. If you run an event venue, a checklist for event planning makes sense. As always, it comes down to knowing your audience segments and creating content that appeals specifically to them.
Format choices include: Training materials, guides, e-books, courses, worksheets, workbooks, webinars, data and industry reports, case studies, white papers, templates, quizzes, checklists, calendars, and additional content/bonus materials. Content may be delivered as a video, a podcast, a pdf, a slideshow, or a free service or consultation. As long as the format suits the content and appeals to your target audience, you’re only limited by your imagination.
Choose and create the content. To decide on content, take a deep dive into your buyer personas and their pain points. Figure out what solutions you can provide that they don’t see every day. Look through the content you already have to see what gets the most engagement and what people comment on or ask about. Think about your real life interactions. What do people ask you? What do your potential customers need? You’re an expert at many things…what kind of content will showcase that expertise? What kind of content do you already have on hand that can be repurposed to contribute to your lead magnet? Focus on solving your customer’s problems, making their daily lives easier, teaching them something, or entertaining them. Find some way to meet their needs.
Keep these tips in mind:
Appeal to a specific segment of your audience. It is better to get fewer leads and have them convert than appeal to a broad range of people who won’t be engaged.
Be authoritative but not comprehensive. You want people to be satisfied but feel they can still learn more from you. Give them a reason to come back.
Use social proof when possible. If you can release your lead magnet in advance to people who are willing to write short testimonials, your content will probably perform better.
Design your landing page to be as straightforward and easy to manage as possible. Don’t give people a reason to leave halfway through the process. Keep the form short and simple with name and email as the only required fields.
Update your lead magnets from time to time! No one should be on your website downloading the hottest industry trends from five years ago.
Learn from the experience. Pay attention to what people like and don’t. Analyze the data from your email marketing campaigns to see what keeps people subscribed and what drives them away. Attracting leads is only the first step.
Substance and Style 