People don’t like giving up their email addresses. But as a business owner, you want their email addresses to send them marketing promotions. Sometimes, your customers just need a little incentive to encourage them to hand over their contact information, and that’s where a lead magnet comes in.
A lead magnet is simply a free offer you use to convince people to give you their email addresses. The more valuable the offer, the more email addresses you’ll get. Here are seven lead magnet ideas to help you grow your mailing list in no time.
Checklists and cheat sheets
Checklists and cheat sheets are arguably the most popular form of lead magnet in the marketing world. When someone provides their email address, they’ll be able to download a PDF file giving them a checklist or cheat sheet about something that interests them.
For example, if you provide digital marketing services, you could offer a checklist titled something like, “Five steps to boost your SEO power.” When a lead gives you their email address, they can download the checklist and use it to help them get their website back on track.
The key to a good checklist or cheat sheet is to make sure it’s relevant to the types of leads you want to attract. If you want to get leads in the digital marketing industry, providing a cheat sheet for how to make better cookies likely won’t get the job done.
Access to a webinar
Webinars are basically video versions of cheat sheets but better! Because webinars are live events, they tend to have a higher perceived value, increasing the likelihood of generating leads. It’s not just a download; it’s an experience!
If your business already offers webinars on a regular basis, this lead magnet is a no-brainer. Simply add to your lead generation form that when the user enters their email address to your contact list, they’ll be automatically signed up for your next webinar (and of course, mention what it’s about). It won’t cost you anything additional, and you’ll get another contact for your database.
Industry reports
Businesses run on insights. Managers and owners always need to know what’s going on in their respective industries to create campaigns and make major business decisions backed by facts. That’s what makes reports such powerful lead magnets, especially with B2B organizations.
If you have access to specific industry research (or even better if you can do it yourself), compile all the data in easy-to-read charts and graphs and add a brief interpretation of what you, as an industry expert, believe the data means.
This information could be invaluable to other professionals in your industry, making it nearly impossible for them to resist giving up their email address.
Discounts and coupons
What if you could simply pay for someone to give you their contact information? Well, you can! On your lead generation form, simply tell users that they could get a discount on their next order with your company by signing up for your email newsletters.
Discounts and coupons have a very obvious value to nearly any user. Plus, since the user is already on your website, they’re likely interested in your products anyway. The discount might just be that extra incentive they need to sign up for your email list. And the larger the discount or coupon, the more valuable the offer will seem to users.
Giveaway entries
What’s even better than a discount? Freebies! Giveaways are another powerful tool you can use to generate more leads for your mailing list.
For example, choose a highly sought-after product from your business’s catalog. The more expensive, the better. Then, post on your website and social media that you’ll have a drawing after a set period of time and the name drawn will receive the prize. How do people enter the drawing, you ask? By signing up for your mailing list, of course.
Fun or educational quizzes
Everyone likes taking online quizzes. People just can’t resist finding out what character they are from the latest popular TV series or where they should go on their next vacation based on their personality. They might even be curious enough to take a quiz that they’d give up their email address just to see the results!
Using quizzes as a lead generation tool plays on the human desire to learn more about oneself. Plus, they’re just fun! This type of lead generation tool might not be ideal for B2B or more serious businesses, but they work great for retail and other consumer-focused organizations. Just make sure the quiz you choose is at least somewhat related to your business and its offerings.
Exclusive content
In today’s marketing world, content is king. But not all content has to be free to view. You can take some of your best content and hide it behind a login or save it as a downloadable file. How do you get the password? All it takes is an email address.
When users enter their email address into the form, they’ll get access to your latest content. This content can be exclusive articles, industry insights, or (most effectively) video content. Whatever content you choose to offer, like every lead generation tool, make sure it has value. Tell users what the content is about and why it’s valuable to them to generate even more leads.
Generate more leads than you know what to do with
There are countless tools and strategies you can use to generate more leads for your mailing list. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to this: The higher the perceived value, the more contacts you’ll add to your database. The word “value” means something different for every person, so make sure you take the time to learn about your ideal customer and offer something they would see as valuable.
And once you collect all your leads and are ready to start firing off messages, create an email campaign with a platform designed for creative business marketing, like PosterMyWall. With thousands of templates for nearly every industry, easy drag-and-drop editing, and simple contact management, PosterMyWall has everything you need to launch your next successful email marketing campaign.