Lead Magnet Basics

leads Aug 10, 2020

Introduction

Yes!

So in the last lecture you learned about strategic blogging.

Earlier you learned about your email list and now we’re going to dig into your lead magnet.

Your lead magnet, also known as your welcome mat, ethical bribe, irresistible offer, freebie, whatever you want to call it, this is the thing that pushes the whole relationship process in motion.

>> Click here to get a FREE instant download of the PDF version of this post... I'll throw in my audio narration as a free bonus.

"Your lead magnet is the bridge your audience crosses from your blog to your email list."

And once they are on your email list they are in a position to become a paying customer.

An Irresistible Gift

Humans are reciprocal by nature.

If you keep giving someone something valuable for free, eventually you'll create an inequity; a gift imbalance that the recipient will want to correct. This is what you’re trying to achieve with your lead magnet.

Your goal is to load up the scale and tip it in such a way that you make a great first impression. By getting your audience a quick result in an area of their lives that is deeply important, you'll begin mounting the imbalance in your favor. And then you'll continue to build this reciprocity imbalance when you get them on your email list. Once they arrive on your email list you continue to lavish them with life changing content in an entertaining, original, just-being-yourself kind of way.

And what happens is, after getting showered, week after week with free content... and getting week after week of real results, the reciprocity imbalance will grow and the gap will widened.

If you start getting thank you emails and praises for your content then you are on the right track.

Always write for the thank you.

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The Honest Salesman

So a few weeks ago my wife and I purchased a new car. Now, I’m not the kind of person who likes to deal with haggling and scams and sales. We did our research and knew EXACTLY what we wanted so I just wanted to get in there and get out.

Our sales man seemed to understand this. He knew we had two kids at home and needed to leave quickly but instead of abusing his time advantage to kick around the price he was very patient with us. He told us personal stories about his family and why this car was a good purchase. He answered all our financial questions (even the stupid ones we could barely articulate because we were too tired to phrase them correctly)

Ultimately at the end of the day we gave him the sale and this is partially because he earned it by just being himself and not pressuring us to make a decision before we were ready. In a very small way, he set up a reciprocity imbalance by giving his honesty and patience. He became more likable and therefore more trustworthy and it paid off for him as we ended up purchasing the car!

Getting Started

To get started with this process we’re going to dig back to the niche research material we covered earlier in “Finding Your Great Idea”.

In this lecture we're going to boil down your customers true desire to just one word, then we'll talk about what you can offer to meet that desire and finally we'll decide on the format of your lead magnet. Remember, your lead magnet should be something that gets results around ONE specific subject in the quickest time for your audience.

"You want to get them a quick win but in away that makes it memorable. And the way to do that is to infuse your personality and vulnerability into everything. If your magnet takes 45 minutes to an hour to get a result then it’s a bad lead magnet and you need to scrap it."

After you guide your audience through the Lead Magnet you’re going to want to hold their hands to the next step.

Lead Magnet Formats

A short PDF checklist, blueprint or worksheet is the best approach to attracting people to your email list. You want to design it so it gives a quick result to your audience so you want to put your best content in this.

Worksheets and checklists are also good because they are considered more of a tool rather than just more information.

There are various ways to create the PDF (Microsoft Word, Canva, Adobe InDesign etc...) but we’ll talk about that in the next lesson.

Your focus at this point is to outline something that attracts your ideal client, is super helpful and most importantly... creates a desire for them to work with you in the future.

You want the lead magnet to lead into the next step... which will be your email list and then from your email list you’ll work the relationship until you earn the right to sell.

Lead Magnet Content

The magnet itself needs to satisfy their true desire not their obvious desire. So in the “Finding your Ideas” stage we talked about learning what your market cares about, learning about their pains and taking the time to let their problems become your problems. When that happens you’ll be in a better position to create a magnet that addresses their true desire (not their obvious desire).

The purpose of the magnet is to get them just one step closer to their true desire. By being vulnerable, informative and ultimately giving them results you want to give them a quick win they can complete within 5 minutes. When they see they got the result they wanted, they will begin to trust you and associate you with someone who can really help them!

Then you want to guide them into the next step.

Lead Magnet Placement

We already talked about this in prior articles but the best places to put your lead magnet are:

Your Home Page
Your About Page
Your 404 Error Pages
Bottom Of Blog Posts
Blog Popups
Side Bar Ads
Opt-in Page (Squeeze Page)

After your Home Page, your About Page is one of the most trafficked parts your website.

The 404 Error page is the page people see whenever they try to access a page that was deleted or moved or doesn’t exist. So instead of sending these people away empty handed, seize this great opportunity to capture a percentage of those folks and funnel them into your email list through your lead magnet.

The bottom of blog posts work well too because think about it: if you've followed my blogging advice, you’ve just delivered massive value to your audience through your blog content so now it’s time to give them an opportunity to take the next step. Your lead magnet is that logical progression for your audience.

But what about popups?

Blog Popups may be annoying but they have been statistically shown to improve opt-in rates. Most people don’t know how to promote pop-ups in the right way that’s why they piss so many people off. Your popup should enhance your visitors experience not distract from it. It should offer something truly helpful to your audience and it should only appear at the right time. Don’t pop the user as soon as they hit your page. With New Kajabi you can set a timer so pops are delayed. Or you can set it so it only pops the first time a visitor shows on your site or it only pops when they try to exit your site.

The popup should have a headline and an image that shows the thing your visitor is about to get. The image is important because it enhances the perceived value of the thing you are about to give away. The popup box should also have a funny call to action. For example, using “Get Instant Access” for the “Yes” button and “No, I Don’t Like Free Stuff” for the "No" button is funny. I mean, who can honestly say "No, I don't like free stuff!?"

And then you should have a section where you list off the benefits (not features) of the freebie. The benefits will talk about what your lead will get out of the lead magnet. You’re basically answering the question: “So, what’s in it for me?”

"If you can get a testimonial about the lead magnet that also helps build credibility in your prospects mind. After you get a few opt-ins, a few people will likely respond thanking you for helping them get great results. It's you're responsibility to reach out to those people and ask them if they would be willing to let you use their raving satisfaction as a small testimonial on the lead magnet popup."

Alright so let's wrap by looking at side bar ads and the opt-in page.

>> Click here to get a FREE instant download of the PDF version of this post... I'll throw in my audio narration as a free bonus.

Side Bar Ads refers to when you create a small ad creative that represents your lead magnet and you place it in your blog sidebar as if it were an ad. It technically is an ad, it’s just an ad for your own product so you can send clicks into your value ladder rather than way from it.

Finally, your Opt-in Page, also known as a Squeeze Page, should average between 30% to 40% opt-in rates. Especially if you’re driving cold traffic here. This means if 100 people are hitting your page daily, you should average at least 30 daily subscribers.

Now It’s Your Turn

Think about three checklist Lead Magnet ideas you could offer your list.

What is an irresistible free offer you could provide that delivers massive value in a short amount of time and is so good... people would even be willing to pay for it? When you start thinking like this your mind is in the best position to create a truly remarkable lead magnet.

Quick Action Result

In the next lecture we’re actually going build your Lead Magnet. In this lesson I want you to search the internet for 2 hours and see if you can find any sites that have email lists and Lead Magnets.