If you’re here, it’s probably for a good reason. Sales are slowing, people don’t seem to be calling, and you might not even be sure why. Sixty percent of customer interactions take place online.
You need a lead magnet.
You’ve looked at your website analytics. You’ve seen an increase in website visitors. You may have even created a great email marketing campaign, and you’re sending it to a large prospect base.
Great job!
But here’s the problem: the world is changing; and so should your business. Even with an increase in website visitors and an email marketing campaign that is up and running, your sales funnel still isn’t filling up. It’s because you don’t have a high-converting lead magnet, or maybe you don’t yet have a lead magnet at all.
Let’s fix that.
Understanding the Funnel
First, you must understand the three sections in your sales funnel.
At the bottom of your funnel, you’ve got those people who’ve already been in contact with you in some way. They’ve engaged in an email you sent; they’ve filled out a form. What defines this group of people is that they are already customers or close to purchasing your product or service.
In the middle of your funnel, there are those people who have already heard of you. You likely have an email address or phone number, and they’re listed in your CRM.
What defines this group is that they see a need. They’re considering purchasing your product or service.
Finally, at the top of the funnel are your new prospects or targets. These are people that are not currently on your email marketing list or people you have not yet engaged.
This is where our focus will be: filling the top of the sales funnel.
What Content Should You Use at the Top of the Funnel?
It’s not always easy to come up with exactly what your lead magnet should be. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. Especially since you don’t have to pick just one, you can have multiple publications out there collecting email addresses and filling your funnel.
Items at the top of the funnel need to be easy for people to digest; and things that provide value. Make it easy for them; easy enough that they want to give you their email address.
Here’s a quick list to get you started:
- Articles
- Blogs
- Cheatsheets
- Checklists
- E-books
- Exclusive social media groups
- How-to guides
- Industry updates
- Infographics
- Resource lists
- Podcasts
- Quizzes
- Surveys
- Videos
- Whitepapers
There are many more to choose from. Checklists, guides, and quizzes are some of the most widely used lead magnets at the top of the funnel.
And here’s why: they work. Why do they work? Because they provide value.
Step-By-Step Guide to Creating Your Lead Magnet
Now that the definitions are out of the way let’s get to it.
Step 1: Define Your Topic and Your Target Audience
Do your research. Find a topic that relates to your product or service.
You can use your analytics tools to see what has historically been bringing visitors to your site. You can also use a keyword planner and multiple other website tools to brainstorm topic ideas.
Define your audience. The goal here is to make sure it matches your subject. For instance, you’re not going to market the “Top 5 Toys to Buy Your Children” to an audience of business owners.
Speak the language of your audience. Define your market (in the example case: parents), and write it to them.
Step 2: Don’t Require Too Much Brainpower
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is creating something too complicated. How many times have you downloaded something that was too busy or too hard to decipher?
Odds are you quit reading it, closed the window, and unsubscribed from future offerings. It’s because your brain didn’t want to have to use too much brainpower.
People don’t want to have to make sense of what you’re offering. Title it in a way that tells them exactly what they’re getting.
This article title is a perfect example: A Step-By-Step Guide To Creating A High-Converting Lead Magnet. If you clicked to read this, you came in expecting to receive just that.
Then, work to keep it simple and easy-to-implement for the prospect or client.
Step 3: Provide Value, but Leave Them Wanting More
At the top of the funnel, you have to provide enough value that makes people want to give you their email address.
If someone gives you their email for a checklist on something related to your product or service, make sure you’re providing just that. Not only does it create credibility with your prospect, but they’ll also be more likely to engage with your content in the future.
The key to this step is not to give away too much. Provide what you promised, but make sure there’s a call-to-action that makes them believe they need your product or service to feel complete.
Step 4: Plan Your Lead Magnet Design Around Your Brand
After you’ve figured out what your lead magnet will be and created the content, it’s time to brand it.
Make sure your publication speaks to your brand. If you use a certain type of language, incorporate that. If you have specific colors, incorporate that.
People should be able to recognize that it is a publication by your company because it aligns with the rest of your brand. Spaced-repetition makes prospects remember you.
It’s the same concept as seeing the same commercial over and over. Eventually, it catches on, and people see a recognizable brand. If your brand becomes recognizable, it can also become first-in-mind when someone needs your product or service.
Bonus Step: Don’t Reinvent the Wheel Every Time
You’re going to want more than one lead magnet on your website. It’s essential always to be filling your funnel.
Sometimes though, people believe that every publication has to be new. Here’s the good news: you can repurpose your content!
For example, let’s say you’re ranking high or getting multiple views on your website for a keyword that isn’t exactly what you’ve been targeting. But people are visiting because there is something of value there. Pay close attention to your high-ranking landing pages.
Using your analytics platform, figure out what on your website (usually a blog or article) provides that value.
From there, take the content from that page and turn it into another publication. You can make a checklist out of it. You can turn it into a downloadable PDF.
You can record yourself reading it and make a video. You can even separate each paragraph and add photos to turn it into your very own e-book.
This works two-fold. You are repurposing content by turning it into a lead-generation tool. You can also use the content from your lead-generation tool and use it to convert leads on social media.
With this method, not only do you already know that the content is already performing well, but you also know it’s providing value. Now you have a high-value lead magnet.
Incorporate It into Your Marketing Strategy
Once you create it, you don’t just get to dust your hands off and call it “done.” This is just a small but integral part of a much bigger picture.
Now you must make it work for your business.
Publish it on your website, and make a form for people to download. But here’s the step many people miss: they don’t follow up.
If you’re going to have a high-converting lead magnet, you must be ready to convert them. Define your email campaign or follow-up strategy, and have it ready to go as soon as you hit publish.
This might look like a series of 3 to 5 emails sent to prospects once per week for a small business owner. It could also be a case where once it’s downloaded, it’s simply followed up with a phone call. Maybe they’re automatically added to your blog list.
Whether it’s a phone call, an email campaign, or adding the contact to a newsletter, make sure you follow up. Otherwise, the newly converted prospect will be simply another email contact in your CRM.
Creating a Lead Magnet Doesn’t Have to Be Complicated
You don’t have to have a marketing degree or even a marketing team, for that matter. In fact, many entrepreneurs and small business owners do it themselves every day.
Remember, it’s essential always to have new leads coming into your funnel. It’s easiest to start at the top of the funnel.
The easiest way to do that is by having a high-performing lead magnet. Using this step-by-step guide, you can easily create your own. For more help, register for this virtual summit.
So stop wasting time on marketing strategies that don’t work, and instead, create a lead magnet that will start filling your funnel right away.
Get Our Ebook on Lead Generation
Lead generation websites are ideally suited to the small local business owners as it doesn’t require selling any products online and doesn’t take an immense amount of time like other forms of online marketing do.
It is based on generating online leads through targeted Internet marketing tactics and then turning those leads into new customers.
