Lead Magnet Writing Guide

Lead magnets are a critical part of business lead generation strategy. They play such a central role in attracting fresh new prospects because they are vats of value on offer.

The ultimate lead magnet will benefit your prospect in some way, establish your positioning as a business and encourage the prospect to act in signing up or subscribing.

We want to make this as straightforward as possible for you so we’re going to look at:

• What a lead magnet is
• How to structure a lead magnet
• Real life example
• Top tips
  
  

Our goal for this blog is to give you the tools to create lead magnets that are informative, valuable and relevant for your prospects.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a piece of content that incites your prospect to take action and watch/listen/download what you’re offering in exchange for their email address.

It’s a classic list building technique that works because it offers such a great incentive. If your lead magnets aren’t attracting new prospects then the content needs optimising so that it is as valuable as it can be.

These are not a sales opportunity. They are pure solution driven magic for your prospects.

Incredible lead magnets:

1. Solve a real problem

2. Provide a quick win

3. Are really specific

4. Can be easily digested

5. Offer high value

6. Can be instantly accessed

7. Demonstrate your expertise

Lead magnets can come in so many different forms such as:

• Checklist
• Cheatsheet
• Webinar
• Template
• Toolkit
• Ebook
• Planner
• Tutorial
• Guide
• Report
• Survey
• Quiz
• Swipe file
• Workbook
• Printable
• Infographic
• Slideshare
• Challenge
• Many more
  
  

You need to figure out who your target audience is, what their problems are and how to offer a solution in the most effective way. 

How do you structure a lead magnet?

Working step by step through a lead magnet will help you establish a template for every lead magnet you go on to successfully create for your business.

We’re going to walk through this one step at a time to make sure we have a solid structure but is simple enough to apply to all businesses. 

Problem

Start with your customer's problem. Remember, a great lead magnet solves a real problem.

If you aren’t sure about your customer’s biggest struggles then don’t just guess, do some research to get it right.

Once you have a list of problems, you can hone in on the most common problems and make sure you are creating a lead magnet that focuses on a real problem.

Solution

Now you have your customer’s unique problem in mind. You want to create a solution that is really specific and provides a quick win. 

Remember that extensive list earlier in the blog? Which would offer an accessible solution for your customer?

For example, are you a garden centre whose customers don’t know what to plant when? You could provide a seasonal planner.

Add value

You want this lead magnet to resonate with your customers in a way that makes them want to engage with your content, share it with their friends and shout about it from the rooftops.

Make it more valuable.

Let’s think back to our garden centre’s brilliant seasonal planner. This could be made more valuable by adding tips. You could include insight into the amount of sunlight, shade, water, best soil or how to protect them from pests.

Relevance

There is no point in creating a lead magnet that isn’t relevant. For example, if you’re creating a seasonal planner for planting. But your customers are actually interested in seasonal produce for cooking - you’re missing the point.

Relevance makes the lead magnet appropriate for your target audience. You want them to feel compelled to exchange their email address for the lead magnet and it needs to be a fair exchange!

Call to action

Lead magnets are NOT about sales and they are NOT about you.

So can you have a call to action? You can.

A soft, subtle reminder of who you are and how to get in touch with you. Or a slightly stronger steer to other content your prospects may find valuable.

Beyond that, you’re using the lead magnet incorrectly and the trust you’re so carefully nurturing could be destroyed.

Lead magnet example

We have covered the steps so far but let’s implement these into a live example that we create together.

Our business is an eCommerce gift shop that sells bespoke gifts.

Here are some of their customer problems:

• Don’t know what to buy for someone special
• Unsure what to gift in a corporate setting
• What do I buy for someone I don’t really know
• Which gifts should I avoid?
  
  

The most common problem is that our customers don’t know what to buy for someone special so we need a solution for that. 

Here are some solutions:

• A gift buying roadmap
• A quiz to help them find the perfect gift
• Personal shopper support
• A vlog covering the most popular options
  
  

We want this to be accessible for everyone so a quiz to help our prospects find the perfect gift. This means that we can help our prospects rule options out or options they didn’t think about to begin with. 

Now we have a great solution.

How do we add value?

• Add best selling gift options for Mum/Dad/Partner/Grandparent
• Flesh out with testimonials that are directly relevant to quiz results
• Have a cheatsheet that highlights what gift would be best for a beer lover, gardener, baker etc
• Include gift wrapping ideas to make the gift that extra bit special
  
  

We now have a lead magnet that is offering a quiz to help prospects solve their problem of not knowing what to buy for someone special. We’ve chosen to add more value by including a cheat sheet that highlights what gift would be best for people with varying interests.

Is the lead magnet relevant enough?

Our customers are predominantly female between the ages of 24 and 60 looking for gifts for friends, siblings and partners. 

With this in mind, we need to structure the quiz to be helpful for our target audience in particular. We also want the value add to be steered towards their typical buying behaviours.

Last but not least, we must go through our checklist and optimise to make it the very best it can be:

• Solve a real problem
• Provide a quick win
• Are really specific
• Can be easily digested
• Offer high value
• Can be instantly accessed
• Demonstrate your expertise
  
  

Top lead magnet tips

The content of the lead magnet isn’t the only factor here. Here are our top tips to make sure you’re hitting all the right notes.

Creative input

It’s important that the lead magnet is aesthetically pleasing, creatively designed, on brand and easy to interact with. 

You want your lead magnet to be pretty and useful. Something that prospective customers enjoy using and are confident in sharing with their network. 

Delivery

Don’t just promise a solution, really deliver it.

When you write the copy for the email that delivers the lead magnet, elevate it by adding some key tips or guiding on to further content that’s relevant. 

Follow up

You’ve invested all this time into offering an amazing lead magnet, don’t lose momentum!

Follow up the delivery with more value, helpful insight, great content and offers. Make sure you stay in your prospect’s minds and they look forward to engaging with what you’re sending them.

Track behaviour

You want your lead magnet to be useful and you want your prospects to want it. 

Track how many people download the lead magnet and how they interact with the solid follow up you put in place.

This will also help you improve your lead magnet so it’s doing its greatest work for your lead generation.

Writing a smashing lead magnet can enhance the quality of your leads which will build a more engaging list. Ultimately increasing conversions and leading to happier customers.

Take your time getting to know your customers and their problems. Develop solutions that are accessible, high value and really specific. 

Finally, don’t forget the checklist! Nail your lead magnets every time by hitting the checklist and establishing your expertise. 

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