Email is not dead!
In fact, it’s still one of the best ways to build relationships with your audience and convert them to buyers.
Unfortunately, email marketing is one area that creative business owners overlook or just flat out neglect.
If you don’t already have a lead magnet to entice potential subscribers we are going to change that.
Before you think about what type of lead magnet to create, I want to share the 4 elements of an effective lead magnet.
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is an incentive that marketers (FYI: you are a marketer) offer potential buyers in exchange for their email address.
There are a variety of different types of lead magnets ranging from webinars to ebooks to quizzes.
An effective lead magnet is your golden ticket to list growth, qualifying leads, and giving a sample of the results you offer.
Here are the 4 elements of an effective lead magnet:
1) It’s Well Designed
The graphic designer in me will not let me breeze over this point. We consume with our eyes first.
A nicely designed lead magnet will make you look more professional. If your lead magnet doesn’t hold visual appeal, browsers are less likely to interact with it because we’ve already made a judgment about its quality or usefulness.
This is really easy to fix. Canva offers beginner-friendly design software that you can use to design your lead magnets.
If you really want to go next level, you can purchase templates from Creative Market and customize them in Canva. My favorite place to buy templates on Creative Market is Basil & Bark (affiliate link).
2) It Serves As The Pre-Step To A Paid Product
Remember when you were back in school and you had to take pre-algebra before you could take algebra 1? Or English 1 before English 2?
You had to complete the pre-requisites before you moved on to more advanced coursework. Your lead magnet plays a similar role helping your audience get up to speed.
Think about it like this, what does your audience need to know before they invest in your paid offer or decide to work with you? The pre-step helps your audience close that knowledge gap.
Here’s an example…
Say you’re a life coach for busy single moms. Your clients often show up to you overwhelmed and struggling with time management. You know that they benefit the most when they have a basic understanding of where their time is being wasted.
A great pre-step would be helping your clients identify five daily time wasters that once eliminated would add an hour back to their day. You could present this as a short guide with questions that would help her find the time wasters.
Boom! You’ve helped your audience get a win. You closed an information gap for them. Now they’re primed and ready should they decide to invest in any of your paid offers.
3) Delivers A Quick Win
Your lead magnet should give them a quick win. You want your audience to get the information and be able to put it to good use right away. Something to get them excited about what’s possible.
The easiest way to gain your audience’s trust is to help them solve their problems. In fact, that is the exact reason you are in business, you saw a problem and you created a solution to fix it. You can (and should) be using your content to help your audience achieve small wins.
So how exactly do you help your audience solve their problems with your content? By making sure your content is actionable.
Actionable content gives your audience a take away that they can practice or apply right now. They don’t need to wait weeks or jump through hoops to get the answer, you lay out all the details right there. Providing these quick fixes shows that you get results.
4) Includes A Call To Action
Tell your new subscriber their next steps. Don’t leave them to guess.
There are plenty of options but the point is you want your audience to do something while you have their attention. Including a call to action helps move interested members of your audience up a level on the relationship spectrum.
Examples of next steps: watch a free on-demand workshop, tell them about the premium offer related to this opt-in, invite them to join your membership, ask them to join your FB group, tell them to share it on social.
Calls to action are a great way to deepen your relationship with your audience because engaged members are looking to take the next step. And if you plan your funnels and product paths right the next step might just be a sale.