Somebody told me this story the other day.
Back in the day, when Tinder wasn't a thing, a man with no eyebrows walks into one of those dating places.
You know, the ones who promised they'd get you a match no matter what, that sort of thing. Now this man, he...
complains he couldn't get a date to save his life!
No worries, says the matchmaker. Calls in the makeup artist or whatever the official title of the person who does eyebrows is, bada bing, bada boom, the guy now has eyebrows to die for.
The man is over the moon, obviously, pulls out his wallet, and asks “how much”?
The matchmaker says - “No worries, pal. They’re on the house.”
The man is surprised, but obviously, very happy.
The matchmaker then adds…
“When it’s time for you to get married, be sure you come to us!”
He probably didn’t even have to say that. The matchmaker has probably generated enough goodwill that given the circumstances, the man would’ve returned anyway.
I don’t know what happens next, but if the matchmaker was smart, he’d make this a thing. “Free eyebrows, and when it’s time for you to get married, come to us”.
Now how would this idea of “free eyebrows” look in online marketing?
Can you guess?
It’s the good old concept of having a lead magnet that you give away for free in order to generate a list of customers that then, hopefully, buy something when your offer and their needs match.
Now, just like everyone doesn’t need free eyebrows (for example, mine are just fine, thank you), everyone doesn’t need your lead magnet.
Which is why you build as many as possible.
Here’s some ideas to get you started.
First, before we even drill down to specific types of lead magnets, make sure you run through this checklist.
- 1. Make sure your lead magnet solves a real problem for your audience. Here’s an example. If it’s raining outside and you see somebody standing there, soaking wet… you could have the best sunscreen in the world as your lead magnet, but the best response you can expect is “Uh… Thanks?” Now, if you give that person an umbrella and directions to your hotel… well, now you’re in business, right?
- 2. Quick to consume and quick to get results - even though you’re giving this away for free, you need to deliver one specific result and do it fast. Which means, don’t spend pages and pages (if it’s a downloadable PDF) on every little thing. Solve the one problem and get out. They’ll be grateful.
- 3. Have high perceived value and demonstrate your expertise beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Now, let’s look at the types of lead magnets you can create.
Because as much fun and value as text PDFs are, it’s good to switch things up every now and then - and you might even find that one type of a lead magnet comes more naturally to you than another.
- Checklist. Now this format is great if you really want to make sure you just include the crucial parts and leave the fat out. This format almost guarantees it. An expansion of a checklist is a cheatsheet - it’s a bit more elaborate, but still very focused.
- Template. If you do anything that can be templatized (and most things can) why not offer people that template as a lead magnet? If you feel that’s giving away too much, just pick the best part of it and templatize that separately!
- A calendar. For example, this works great for social media consultancy - you give away a yearly calendar that specifically describes what they should post on every single day. Not the specific text or image, but just ideas they can build their content on every day.
- A swipe file. What if you took 30 of your best social media posts, bundled them together, added some commentary and offered it for download for people who have trouble figuring out what to say on social media?
- And more. You can toy with infographics, gated content, tutorials, ebooks, videos, sound recordings, etc.
Now, some types of lead magnets will work better and some will not work for your business at all. But my point is this: Build as many different lead magnets as possible. Put them up. You’ll capture WAY more leads that way than trying to rely on a single lead magnet and wasting time making it perfect.
To Your Success, Paul Hanson
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