In 2017, Ryan Deiss, of Digital marketer, released the conversion figure for one of their best-performing lead magnets – the Facebook Ads library. The charts showed that the lead magnet brought Digital marketer 35 859 leads in 60 days.

Now, you might be wondering, why’s it that some lead magnets do well while others flop? Well, this is because, like every other marketing piece, lead magnets have to be carefully crafted to create the desired impact.

All of the best performing lead magnets we’ve seen today have certain traits that enable them to convert, and we’ve covered those critical ingredients in this piece.

Speak to a specific audience

The first step in creating a lead magnet is to jump into the writing process, but every other move will fall flat if you fail to get the foundation right – which is knowing who your reader is. Remember, your marketing content should speak to what Seth Godin calls a “small viable market.”

These small groups of people share a lot in common – problems, hopes and dreams, victories, failures, and income goals. Before sitting down to type on your computer, creating a buyer persona is essential. Your buyer persona or customer avatar should answer basic questions such as;

• What’s their Goal and objective?
• What type of industry do they work in
• What keeps them up all night, tossing on their bed?
• What’s their monthly Income?
• How have they tried to solve their problem?

Luckily, HubSpot’s “Make My Persona” template can help you achieve this.

Frame yourself as an Authority figure

Most people wait till the middle of the book before selling themselves. However, if you want your prospect to pay rapt attention from the start, you need to answer the ultimate question ” who are you?” and “why should I listen to you?.”

It’s okay if you’re just getting started and don’t have a proven track record in your niche. You can leverage third-party authority or use testimonials from a few customers. This is why the best way to capture people’s attention in your lead magnet is to earn your reader’s trust by making them believe that the solution you offer has worked for people just like them.

Marcus Sheridan did that perfectly in his Inbound marketing playbook by first mentioning how the information the reader is about to consume has transformed the business of past customers.

A famous example of a USP is M&M candy “it melts in your mouth and not your hand.” If we’re to cite an example from recent years, Grant Cardone’s 10x Business concepts is one of the few examples of USPs that have appealed to many customers even though most of the ideas aren’t something new.

That’s what a USP does. They help you stand tall among your competitors, and you won’t be forgotten in a hurry.

Help the reader solve a pressing problem.

Lead magnets offer free value, but the information must be beneficial to your prospective customer. That means it should solve a pressing problem, and executing the strategies contained in your lead magnet should yield tangible results.

Take the Facebook Ads template Digital marketer offered as an example, many of their customers could draw inspiration from the templates Hence, it saved them the stress of crafting ad copies from scratch.

You want your readers to think, “oh, if his free service can help me solve XXX problem, imagine what I will be getting from his paid offer?”

Essentially, each marketing effort should take your readers from point A to B. This is why lead magnets can’t be crafted in a hurry. If you don’t know where to start from, block out 30 minutes from your calendar to brainstorm ideas, you will be surprised with how much information you can come up with

Present an Offer

You’re bound to have several freebie seekers in your email list the same way there is likely to be a percentage of your readers who would love to take the next step after going through your lead magnet. This is why you need to include your offer at the end of the lead magnet.

Your offer should tie in with the initial information contained in the lead magnet. For instance, if your lead magnet covers topics such as ” why is your Facebook Ads not converting,” your opening offer could be a video course on ” how to run profitable Facebook ads.”

Remember, it’s important not to sound desperate with your offer. The reader should feel like you’re doing them a favour and not the other way round.

Inject Urgency/ FOMO

Humans are bound to procrastinate. Left to us, it can take forever to make a buying decision. This is why you should nudge your customers toward the “buy” button with an element of urgency.

It would be best to make your customer feel like they will be missing out on a lifetime opportunity by not jumping on your offer. This doesn’t mean using fake evergreen timers as most dubious marketers do.

Instead, you could offer a discount on the launch date or a gift. Whichever option you opt for, ensure it’s real scarcity. Good usage of scarcity is seen in this landing page from Digital marketers.

Conclusion

It’s important to know that several businesses on the internet today are offering prospective customers lead magnets. Hence, it would help if you stood out with yours. Among all other factors, one thing your lead magnet should do is to help your reader solve an instant problem. Else, your marketing message will pass like a ship in the night.

You might also like our article on how to create landing pages that convert.