Lead magnets can be a very effective tool in terms of follower increase. Nonetheless, these attraction elements have to be used correctly. Otherwise, they can cause you more damage than profit.
What are lead magnets? Briefly, it is a marketing term for free items or service that is exchanged for customer details. Good lead magnets should increase your subscribers, followers, shoppers, or other customers. Therefore generate more profit in the long term.
For example, you can give a free subscription for your service for one month. If it satisfies customers, they will prepay the service for the next month or even year.
Table of Content:
Fast & Simple
Effective
Combination
Discount
The first on our list is one of the eldest lead magnets. Discount has been with us since the first item was sold. It can be a handy tool, especially when used properly. However, many discounts are just non-sense blind shots.
To choose the right discount, calculate how much you can lose and what is your expecting revenue. Discounts can be used in many ways. You can cheapen your product because it is reaching the expiration date or you want to free up storage space. Nonetheless, using discount as a lead magnet is for one purpose only, therefore, attracting attention to your product or service. Keep this in mind when creating a campaign.
Because if you are discounting for the attention, you have to do it right. First of all, choose a proper platform to advertise your discount. For younger audiences´ products and software, use social media like Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok. They are cheap and reach a high amount of young daily users. However, for older audiences and most physical products use billboards, TV commercials, or Netflix ads. I believe you have a picture now.
Last but not least, use strong visual or audiovisual that suits your brand. You are not advertising only the discount, however also your product and brand. For smaller campaigns, you can use templates and presets, or you can hire cheap cousins son to do the graphic. However, I encourage you for larger discount campaigns to use professional services.
Pros
- Done in a few hours
- Can be applied to all products and services
Cons
- Interferes with revenue
Checklist
A smart checklist aimed in the right direction can bring you a lot of revenue. The biggest plus of the checklist is its price compared to other lead magnets. You can make a checklist by yourself from online templates, and it is only a matter of few hours.
The first rule, try to be specific and aim at your audience. If you don’t know your target group, then try to guess it or make more checklists for different age groups. Both options are still better than making a checklist with a broad range aimed at everyone; therefore, no-one.
The second rule, it is better to make your checklist shorter than longer. Of course, the more answers you got, the better. However, hitting the golden mean when you have just enough options and customers have a will to answer is very difficult, especially if you are new in check listing. So, write down the most important questions/options and make your checklist short and easy to use.
Tip: give something in return to people who completed the questionnaire
Pros
- Easiest on our list
- You will find out the most important questions
Cons
- It hardly attracts many people
Course/Webinar
Now we are getting into the waters of more complex, however, more effective lead magnet techniques. Forget the cheap webinars that only annoy people. If you want to build a course, it has to give some value, especially when it’s free.
The online seminar should give people a picture of the whole issue and lure them into buying your product, service, or extended version of your online course. Webinars have to work standalone and bring some valuable information. Otherwise, they seem only as cheap marketing campaigns and manipulation.
Making a professional course belongs among the hardest lead magnets. Nonetheless, it bears fruit. The courses can be in text form or in more popular video form, or they can be live.
Before the creation itself, writedown everything about your course, brainstorm the directions, primal points, and messages. Do a wireframe, simplify the course into short points, and specify the sequence. Then you can shot your videos or write a course. Millions of templates can be found online, so do not worry about the graphic side of your course, and as for video, you can shoot great footage with your mobile device.
Tip: same as with checklists, shorter is better. Do not overdo the length of your course, make it clear, short, and full of value.
Pros
- Very popular and effective
- Lure people naturally
Cons
- Time and money consuming
eBook
eBooks, besides hardcover books, have two prime advantages. First, you can make it for free, and second, eBooks can be easily shared across the internet and reach a broader audience.
Nonetheless, it is still very hard to manage and create readable and especially joyful eBooks. Inexperienced authors often depict unnecessary details and deviate from the main message, which can result in a pointless piece.
eBook as a lead magnet can be even stronger than Course or Webinar. You can dive deeper into the issue and make selling your product or service even easier.
Whereas many eBook authors are focusing purely on the content, you have to try to preoccupy attention before customers open the book. Create a nice digital cover and breathe life into your work with coloring, illustrations, fonts, etc. If you are not proficient in graphic design, find somebody online, for example, on Fiverr, or use free templates findable all over the internet.
Tip: As for the writing itself, a shorter version full of information is better. Despite it, writing meaningful pieces is very hard, so take at least one course, watch few videos or read a writer´s book before you dive in.
Pros
- Dive deep into the issue
- Attracting people without “marketing tricks”
Cons
- Aplenty time consuming and hard to do
Free Trial
The best way for online services and software is to offer a free trial version or demo version. This lead magnet combines high effectivity with ease of creation.
A free trial as a lead magnet is used by most software companies all over the globe. It is the best because you are offering premium stuff for free and still keeping the premium status.
The free trial can be easily made by offering it on your website or in ads (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok). It can be limited by time, quantity, or impoverished of some features. The free trial has two cons. The major minus is the incapability with solid products and natural things. You can just offer pants or dishwashers for free. However, you can, for example, offer a free ride in a new car which is also a trial.
A minor minus of a free trial is the fact that you have to secure use of the free trial. Otherwise, people will easily be using trials over and over again. So, adjust it with a phone number, credit card, ID, or something else.
Pros
- Easy to do
- Very effective
- People love them
Cons
- Can be used for all products and services