If you’ve ever wondered what digital freebies or lead magnets are and why you should use them to build your email list and prime your target market for your signature offer, then this post is for you!
A lead magnet is simply a tool that marketers use to try to draw in (or attract, like magnets do!) potential customers or clients, also referred to as leads. These can literally be anything that your target market would have enough interest in that they would be willing to give up their email to get.
There’s an art to this though—you want your lead magnet to align with your business enough that the people who get it won’t want to click unsubscribe the moment you send them a marketing email.
If your business sells candles, then your grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe probably wouldn’t bring in your target market—unless maybe that’s one of the scents of your candles. Even then, the cookie recipe is only partially adjacent to the candle business, not inherently related. You’d have to draw the connection to your candles explicitly yourself in order to attract the right people for your email list. For example: “If you’re curious how our ‘Grandma’s House’ candle smells, then download this free cookie recipe.” Now that would have a better chance at drawing in your target market.
The key is to provide something of value to people, that relates to your primary offer closely enough to draw in the right people, but that doesn’t completely give your offer away for free (or else no one would be willing to purchase it because they no longer need it). This may seem like a tall order—and honestly, it kind of is! It will take some finagling on your part to figure out where that sweet spot is.
All the best,
Ryanne Zender
Disclaimer: While marketing is based in part on statistics and psychology, it is not an exact science. Every business and market are unique. What may work for one business, will not necessarily work for another. There are no guarantees in marketing, and this post is for informational and educational purposes only and does not replace professional advice. You can check out the full list of disclaimers and disclosures here.
