If you want people to give you their contact information, you have to give them something valuable in return. In the world of content marketing, when you offer something to generate leads, it’s called a “lead magnet.”
Many brands have a suite of lead magnets they use to test the right offer for the right audience. (Pushpay’s resource library is a great example of this.)
When you create ad campaigns frequently, it’s easy to get stuck in a pattern, testing slight variations of the same offer. But if you want to maximize the value of your ad spend, you need to experiment with a few different types of offers.
Here are seven kinds of lead magnets you should consider using.
1. Ebooks
Ebooks allow you to deep dive into any topic your target audience cares about and showcase your expertise. You can write these versatile lead magnets in-house or partner with a thought leader in your space to create something unique and valuable for any stage of your sales funnel. You could even interview specialists within your organization to position them as thought leaders.
2. Checklists
Checklists can be ebook-length resources or simple step-by-step instructions for completing specific tasks your target audience has to do, like creating a church budget.
3. Infographics
Infographics can simply be a roundup of stats and facts that are relevant to your audience, or they can showcase new insights that come from your organization’s unique data. They can also be a good way to visually explain how to complete a task or how a process works.
4. Case studies
Case studies are an ideal lead magnet for highly qualified leads, because they create one of the most direct paths from your content to your sales pitch. Case studies are basically in-depth customer testimonials. They give you a chance to show off the real work you’ve done and highlight real results. Find a past client who is comfortable sharing their story, and then interview them to get all the practical details potential customers will want to know.
5. Webinars
Webinars are great because you can promote a live event, record it, and then continue advertising the recorded video. You can take live questions from potential customers or come with a pre-planned agenda, and you can use your in-house expertise or increase the appeal by bringing in an influencer.
6. Courses
Courses can come in a variety of formats. You could record a series of videos, publish downloadable articles, or even just use a nurture campaign to send it out via email. Courses can be as in-depth as you want them to be, and they allow you to educate your audience about a range of subtopics within a single topic, which gives you several entry points to highlight your product or service. Further, by the end of a free course, you’ve probably earned a free sales pitch.
7. Surveys
It might surprise you to learn how willing people are to give you their contact information just to complete a survey. But if you create a good survey that relates to something your audience cares about, people will complete your survey because they want to see the results. And that means there’s a perfect built-in opportunity to follow up with your leads.
Plus, when you decide you’ve collected enough data, you can publish the results in an article that could get you some attention from press, or you could even create a new lead magnet to advertise to others.
Invest in quality content, get quality leads
Whatever lead magnets you decide to create, the key is to take the time to do them right. If your lead magnets are poorly written or designed, and they don’t actually help your audience, it reflects poorly on your brand and makes your pitch a lot less effective.
A well-crafted lead magnet, on the other hand, sets your sales team up for success by making your brand look good and priming the pump with content that helps your audience solve their problems and reach their goals.
It’s an investment that pays off, and it produces a resource you can promote for months or even years to come.
