Oh, the Controversy Your Lead Magnets Can Stir Up

Oh, the Controversy Your Lead Magnets Can Stir Up

Depositphotos_4726674_s-2015-magnet-controversyThe other day, I sent my ezine subscribers a playful email in which I changed the words of a popular Dr. Seuss quotation to describe the power of lead magnets. Of all the emails I’ve ever sent, stirring up controversy was the last thing I expected from this email.

I received a response from an irate (former) Freedompreneur newsletter subscriber who was responding to what I had written on this blog post: Oh, the Places Your Lead Magnets Will Go

This is a snippet of what I received from the reader:
“You are obviously a wonderful person, but your advice in today’s email is just plain wrong. You are coming at it from the wrong end. The solution isn’t a lead magnet to create traffic, it’s a deeper one of creating a better business that is inherently attractive.” 

First of all, let me clarify one thing: a lead magnet does NOT create traffic. One of the many purposes of a lead magnet is to turn traffic into well-qualified leads.

I completely agree that “…creating a better business is what is inherently attractive.”

That aside, I maintain that learning to create high-converting lead magnets is a lifetime business skill.

One can create an inherently attractive business, but that doesn’t guarantee that people will find it.  Let’s suppose, though, for a moment, that people find out about a business of interest, online and/or offline… if they don’t readily understand the business’ core message, then it’s all wasted effort. A good lead magnet serves as a conduit for providing value and information, as well as beginning to build a relationship of trust, credibility, and competence with interested parties.

Like a knife, a lead magnet is merely a tool. It can be used for good or not so good, used with class or distastefully. How the tool is wielded determines whether the use of the tool produces results (or not). Clearly, if there is no depth or substance to the programs, products, and services that a business offers, no lead magnet in the world will matter. A well-designed lead magnet is no panacea; rather, it serves as one of many “moments of truth” where an opportunity exists to engage with, inform, educate, and even entertain a prospective buyer.

I know many exceptional people who are superb at what they do. They deliver on their promises. They do make the world a better place. Yet, they struggle to develop sustainably profitable businesses. A well-designed lead magnet would be of great value in leveraging their ability to “connect with the right people and send the right signals about how they make their world better.

Lead magnets are highly effective offline, as well as online.

I used to naively believe in the aphorism that “the best marketing remains a job well done.”  A job well-done does not guarantee a successful business. I was given such advice by more established plastic surgeons when I was starting my surgical practice and it was flat-out wrong, misleading, and impractical advice that nearly led to the demise of my practice.

Furthermore, a job well-done should be the minimal level of performance for a business. Plenty of businesses in the history of humankind have provided exceptional services and products. Yet, they still went out of business.

I’ve made countless costly mistakes with my own offline and online traffic and lead-generation efforts. Consequently, I’ve made it part of my business to help others avoid such mistakes and to use available technologies wisely and effectively. I take high-level concepts and strategies and distill them into practical principles and best practices. I teach the “what to do” and the “how to do it” as well as recommend specific tools and technology to get the job done. Teaching about the power of lead magnets is no exception.

For that reason, I heartily invite you to attend the upcoming Lead Magnets Master Class: Click to register

I’m going to show you how lead magnets are instrumental to generating more revenue and profit for your business, while doing work that is meaningful to you and those you serve.

One more thing: Think of Lead Magnets as “connectors.” The approach I take with lead magnet creation actually gets you in greater tune and closer touch with your best audience and into their world. Click here to join us on the upcoming Lead Magnets Master Class

Oh, the places your lead magnets will go!

Oh, the places your lead magnets will go!

Depositphotos_42419599_s-2015-balloon+lead magnet“Oh, the places your lead magnets will go! There is traffic to be directed! There are leads to be gained. There are buyers to be won! And the magical things you can do with your lead magnets that will make you the winning-est winner of all.”  — inspired by Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

The number one urgent problem most business owners have is that they want more clients. That means you need to attract leads who will one day become clients.

TRAFFIC => LEADS => PROSPECTS => CUSTOMERS

Turning traffic into quality leads isn’t always the easiest thing to do in the world. But having a quality lead magnet that “magnetizes” the attention of your audience makes the job a lot easier.

A well-designed lead magnet delivers immediate value to the recipient and begins to build the “know, like, trust, respect” factor. It also begins to establish your position as an authority and trusted resource. More importantly, it leads your audience to the next appropriate action step, which may be either getting more information or making a buying decision.

Because lead magnets are such a critical element of your entire marketing and sales pathways, I invite you to attend the next Lead Magnet Master Class: The 10 Most Important Tweaks to Make to Your Lead Magnets So You Can Triple Your Email List Growth in the Next 12 Months

Space is limited, so click to register right away!

Then get ready for some “flat forehead” moments during this MasterClassYou’ll learn easy tweaks you can make right away so your lead magnets convert better and you grow your email list faster!

Lead Magnets: Overlooked Superheroes of Rapid List-Building

Lead Magnets: Overlooked Superheroes of Rapid List-Building

We’ve all done it. We’ve entered our names and email addresses into a website form to get a free gift. The gift may have been a variety of things, such as a free report, eBook, mp3 audio, video, webinar, teleseminar, and so forth. From there, we downloaded the free gift and typically started receiving emails from the gift giver.

From our perspective, we’ve received a “steal-of-a-deal:” something of immediate interest for free.

From the perspective of the business from which we received the gift, it’s worth giving something away to obtain our contact information and lead us into their marketing and sales funnel.

This “free gift” has many names, such as freebie download, ethical bribe, irresistible gift, etc.

lead magnet word cloud

My favorite term is “instant gratification gift,” but for our discussion, we’ll refer to the free gift as a “lead magnet.” This has a nice ring and visual imagery to go with it.

The Lead Magnet is an item of value that provides instant gratification to the recipient in exchange for their contact information.

For businesses, the main purpose of the Lead Magnet is to increase the likelihood that someone, either online or offline, will exchange their contact information for the value promised by your Lead Magnet.

To accomplish this task, your Lead Magnet must offer meaningful value in the minds and hearts of your subscribers.

If the Lead Magnet does its job, then a significant number of subscribers will be interested in learning more and ultimately buying from you.

All marketing and sales paths lead to and from your lead magnet.

This is why I call the Lead Magnet a “superhero.” It has a super-critical job to do that involves heavy lifting: getting the attention of potential buyers, enticing them to express their interest, and then setting the stage for future sales.

Businessman in suit with suitcase and magnet as Superman

Your Lead Magnet can be as simple as a checklist created in a Word document. Or it can be as involved as a 12-part training program with text documents, audio, and video.

I encourage you to create a number of Lead Magnets. Testing different Lead Magnets and variations of Lead Magnets tells you which ones generate the most subscribers and lead to the most sales.

As you might imagine, there are many ways to create your lead magnets. For that reason, I’ve created a free resource guide that I’d like to gift you (Ah, you saw the lead magnet coming, didn’t you? :-))

Here you go: Resource Guide for Rapid List-Building: The Best Easy-to-Use Tools for Creating High-Converting Lead Magnets in Less Than a Day.

lead-magnet-landscape_367x307

It’s wise to understand the tools and resources that are available, even if you ultimately hire a designer to create your Lead Magnets for you. That way, you will be better informed and more involved with the strategic and creative processes. In addition, you’ll be a better judge of hiring a good designer, one who ideally understands both design and marketing.

Click here to get instant access to your free Resource Guide for Rapid List-Building: The Best Easy-to-Use Tools for Creating High-Converting Lead Magnets in Less Than a Day.

 Let your Lead Magnet superheroes help you rapidly grow one of your most valuable business assets: your email list.