Many businesses rely on networking to start. They reach out to people they know or try to cold call/message people in hopes that they will buy in. Eventually you will hit all the people in your circle and will not see much growth beyond that.
I am not dismissing the importance of networking and cold calling. It has a very important place in building a business, and industry depending, it might be the primary lead generation method. However, we can save time and generate more warm leads by implementing lead magnets.
You know those little incentives like a Free Planner or cheat sheet businesses use to get you to sign up for their email list? That right there is a lead magnet. With a little bit of labor, you can generate a list of people who saw your offer and thought it was worth subscribing to your emails.
From that lead magnet, you will be able to add that person as an email subscriber and be able to send them marketing messages. And if you serve them with your best, you will be able to convert them into a customer.
“That’s fine and dandy, but WHAT do I make for a lead generation?”
Don’t worry about that. I have a list of examples for you to be inspired by:
- Cheat sheet or quick start guide
- Journal prompt
- Reflection guide
- Worksheet
- A small e-book
- Webinar
- Preview of some of your work
- Exclusive video
- Recipe
- Promo or discount code
- A high-value weekly newsletter
- Check list
- Tutorials
- Email course
- Video course
- Workbook
- Best of list
- Video tutorial
- Swipe file
- Case studies
- PDF of a blog post
- Templates
- Resource library
- Calendar
- Weekly planner
Did one of these ideas catch your eye? While deciding to create a lead magnet, you need to decide what would make sense with your business. A journal prompt probably would not make sense for a CPA accountant trying to get clients.
After you decide what to make, go and make it! There are many different options for you to use out there. If you are making something highly visual, I suggest that you use Canva and make it look visually appealing and in line with your branding. Remember, this is the first view some people have of your business, make it look great!
Implementation
You created your lead magnet, now what?
Time to implement it! You can do this in various ways, but the best way is through email marketing. So sign up for an email marketing service, preferably a free plan that includes email automations. You will create a sign up form and an automation that triggers an email to send with the link in it, or they are taken to the download after they sign up. They will go into your list, and you will serve them with amazing content and offers. I cannot give you step-by-step instructions because every email marketing service has different set ups and terms.
In your sign up form, you must have a check box to allow them to consent to signing up for email notifications. Consent is mandatory when it comes to email marketing!
After you get the automation set up, it is time to send it out to the world! Pretty much, make this offer present EVERYWHERE you are online. Add it to your website, on your social media, you can even put it in your personal email signature. The possibilities are endless.
Building an email list is important for most industries. This is the most cost-efficient way to grow an audience and to have direct access to a line of communication. I can go on and on about how important lead generation and email marketing is, but I will save that for later posts.