Create a Lead Magnet that Builds Your List Today
If you’ve amassed 10,000+ followers on Twitter, Periscope, Facebook – any social platform – you are painting the walls of a rented house. That may not be news to some, but if it’s news to you, stop and think about it. Maybe you can launch a Periscope broadcast and immediately have 40-50 people as an audience. What if Periscope goes away? What if Periscope begins charging for notifications? What is, heaven forbid, you are banned by Periscope for no apparent reason?
How would you get in touch with your followers.
What It Means to Own an Email List
Building an email list simply refers to managing a list of people who are interested in what you have to say. Two of the more common services you may have heard of, Mailchimp or Constant Contact, are email campaign management programs that provide you with the tools necessary to capture emails via your website or smart device, among other methods.
Every email you are given is added to a list… thus, you build your list over time.
Owning an email list means that you have an audience of individuals who have provided your email in exchange for something. That something is typically called a lead magnet or opt in bribe.
How to Create the Perfect Lead Magnet
A lead magnet relevant to your audience’s pain points can dramatically increase the rate at which you add subscribers to your email list. So, how do you decide on your lead magnet?
Make Your Lead Magnet Easy to Consume
Your lead magnet should be easy for someone to consume and easy for them to act on. You want to provide your reader with a quick win. If your lead magnet is 20 pages long they will download it, open the file, scroll, close it and move on. There will be a few readers who take in all the information but the vast majority are looking for a quick fix to a specific issue.
Your Lead Magnet Must Be Related to Your Offering
Your lead magnet must be related to the end product or service that you are trying to sell. You could have a lead magnet for, “how to buy an iPad at wholesale cost,” but if your product is social media consulting, your lead magnet will attract a different type of person that your product or service would appeal to. Choose a lead magnet that appeals directly to the person who you would like to sell your product or your service to. Many marketers will refer to this as your avatar.
Do Not Overthink Your Lead Magnet
Do not overthink your lead magnet. As a matter of fact, your lead magnet is most likely already created, albeit in a raw format. Do you have a checklist that you use to write a blog post? Or perhaps a template for running meetings? Did you create a tutorial video somewhere along the road to demonstrate to co-workers or friends how to accomplish a task?
When you overthink your lead magnet you do two things. Thing a, you prevent yourself from launching a lead magnet. Trying to perfect a lead magnet often involves lots of time and every day you’re “perfecting” is one less day you’re collecting.
Thing b, you will end up wasting a lot of time. Your lead magnet is not the great American novel – it is something that scratches an immediate itch and provides convincing temporary relief. Its sole purpose is to help you make a sale… the time and energy you waste creating a massive lead magnet could have been spent making sales.
Take Action and Create Your Lead Magnet
When I created The Entrepreneur’s Social Media Checklist I simply wrote down the 18 things I would say to you if you hired me to coach you on social media. In one evening I wrote down in a Google doc every question or comment I would make to someone if I was critiquing their social media and helping them improve.
Your lead magnet can be that simple.
Take 30 minutes right now and write down three or four pain points that your audience identifies with.
From there, write down 10-20 suggestions on how they can relieve that pain or at least lessen it. “If you apply these xx pointers you will experience less resistance when you ______________.”
Revisit your list 24 hours later, adding any new ideas you have and clarify the ones you already listed. Eliminate any that no longer make sense.
Write a short bio for yourself, adding it to the end of your list and then ship your document off to a designer. If you do not have a designer, check out this list of designers who have made their services available on Fiverr.
You Can Always Create a New Lead Magnet
You may have a great idea for your lead magnet and just need some time to put it together. You can pursue that idea – but do not put off creating a lead magnet right now for the sake of making the perfect one one month from now.
You can always create a new lead magnet – the important thing is that you get one active on your website now.
If you have any questions, you can send me a Tweet and I’d be happy to answer them.
