Digital marketing today has advanced greatly with the addition of SEO-optimised web articles, which increase the chances of a firm’s website to reach and impact the right audience. Moreover, other techniques and strategies such as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Content Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and many others have also emerged as ways to strengthen a business’s online presence. One of these new techniques utilised by the best email marketing service, which I will be talking about today, is the use of a lead magnet.
What is a Lead Magnet?
A lead magnet refers to a free product or service, such as a trial subscription or a product sample, which is given away in exchange for a customer’s contact information. Lead magnets are very useful because they allow a company to collect information about potential clients while also giving free samples of their content and services.
In this way, customers are able to express their interest in your product. The free sample allows customers to try your product and decide if they even like it. This filters out non-serious and non-committed customers and increases your chances of not only making a sale but also earning loyal customers who will truly value your services.
Guidelines for the Perfect Lead Magnet
Since up to 90% of customers can be convinced to share their contact number or email address in return for a small token, using the strategy of a lead magnet is a sure-shot way to increase your clientele. These so-called “free” goods can pave your way to reaching your target audience.
The secret to benefitting from lead magnets is to design them, keeping in mind your target market, their needs, and wants, as well as how your products and services can serve them. For example, the target audience for a fast food restaurant chain is very different from that of an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
Another point to note is that your lead magnets should concentrate on a particular need or want of your target market. For example, an event planner may offer a free tutorial or video about on possible ideas for a themed birthday party for your child. In this case, the target audience may include parents and young children. A service of that kind may appeal to busy parents who need help with organising a party for their child’s birthday, especially if they like the theme ideas mentioned in the free video. Furthermore, an email subscription will increase the chances of that parent considering the event planner’s company in the future for their other services. Thus, something as simple as an email address can bring new clients to a firm.
This also means that your lead magnets must be very specific so that even if your firm caters to various different groups of people, you have a separate marketing strategy for each segment. It is essential that you categorically design content suited to each niche.
Lead Magnet Ideas
Videos and Webinars
Video content can be an effective medium to impart knowledge if you prefer speaking to writing, as opposed to doing it in an e-book or blog post. According to research, at least 15% of webinar participants will ultimately make a purchase. If you have 100 guests, that means approximately 15 of them will make a purchase from your company.
Giving someone access to an online course can demonstrate your knowledge and character. Webinars could be lectures on a subject relevant to your business or instructional videos that demonstrate to clients how to carry out a certain operation. For example, a private tutor could provide a free demo lesson on a particular subject or chapter. On the other hand, a restaurant or bakery owner might offer clients a free video tutorial, sharing tips on how to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie at home, in exchange for their email address.
Gather email addresses throughout the webinar registration process so that you can share the recorded lecture (and other materials) with registrants even if they are unable to attend the live event.
Checklists
Despite how straightforward it might appear, a checklist can be a strong and highly useful form of content. This is particularly true if it is offered by a reputable company in a competitive sector, where every purchase comes with risks. For example, a criminal defense attorney could use a “preparing for a court date” checklist as a lead magnet.
Checklists are an excellent way to combine and condense detailed blog posts into short and easy-to-read content, which can be accessed by all kinds of readers. Additionally, these can be a source of quick information from a reliable creator, as in the case of the law firm, which could prove life-saving in emergency situations. A private investigation agency could include a list of useful emergency numbers to contact in case somebody has been robbed or assaulted. Likewise, a doctor could provide a digital pamphlet on how to prevent a deep wound from getting infected while on the way to the hospital.
Resource Lists
A resource list can serve as a helpful document for customers looking for information regarding the service they are interested in. A useful resource list will include a verified collection of service providers along with a catalogue of relevant services and products offered by those firms. If we are to borrow from the law firm example mentioned in the previous lead magnet idea, we can presume that a lawyer may advertise his or her services using a resource list, which may point out which types of law the firm specialises in. Also, he or she may include official resources that potential clients may refer to for information regarding the law. This can help people decide what kind of lawyer they need in the first place, as well as find out if they can even afford a private solicitor.
E-books
E-books are a smart way to provide useful information on a topic or related topics, especially if you have a series of articles on your websites, as they can easily be converted into chapters for the e-book.
For example, a sports equipment store may choose to combine the following posts from their website into an e-book, which can be emailed to potential customers as part of the best email marketing service strategy:
- “Best Athletic Wear Brands to try as an Amatuer Tennis Player”
- “Tips from an Expert: How to train like a professional”
- “Follow your dreams in style: The best tennis gear in town”
- “Rackets at Reasonable Rates without any Compromise on Quality”
- Free Trials
Free trials are arguably one of the most effective lead magnets that the best email marketing service provider will advise you to use. This is because not only do free trials generate a great amount of leads, but they also result in most of the trial users eventually becoming long-term customers. A lot if software companies and other digital service providers utilise free trials as a key segment of their marketing strategy.
For instance, Spotify, one of the world’s largest music-streaming platforms, regularly advertises its premium account, which offers offline listening and uninterrupted music listening. It does this by offering a 7-day free trial of the premium features, with the option of unsubscribing afterwards. This is very clever because once the user enters the required credit card information, he or she may forget to cancel the subscription at the end of the free trial period. Even better, they may choose to pay for the subscription after all due to really enjoying the features of Spotify Premium.
Furthermore, an example of a major software firm that implements this policy is Google. In this case, rather than offering a free trial period, the company allows customers to use their services for free, but with certain limitations. Google Drive is a cloud storage application owned by Google, which provides 5 Gbs of free storage to its users. Once this storage limit is reached, customers are required to make payments for any extra storage they want to purchase. The prospect of having all their data on one cloud platform account thus acts as an incentive for users to invest in extra Google Drive storage.
- Templates
Some businesses provide their potential clients with templates, such as poster designs, practice worksheets, and so on. These templates are perceived to be very valuable by customers and thus it gives them an incentive to sign up as subscribers to your service. Customers really appreciate it when brands focus on meeting their needs, which is why these free templates can help attract many leads.
For example, Canva gives users that sign up for their services using their email address access to free Canva templates, ranging from birthday cards to Instagram posts and even presentation slides.
- Rewards and discounts
These days, many online businesses incentivise their customers by offering them rewards, from store credit to special loyalty discounts in exchange for recommending the business to their friends, family members, and colleagues.
For example, Foodpanda, which is the largest food and grocery delivery network in Asia, outside of China, not only brings in new customers everyday but also ensures the loyalty of its old clients by implementing a marketing strategy, also used by The Dreams IT & Marketing Agency, which is the best email marketing service in Toronto. This involves rewarding customers with a certain amount pandapay credit for each new user that joins the app because of their recommendation. Foodpanda verifies that you have shared the app with your friend by designing a WhatsApp invitation message for them to send through the Foodpanda app.
Another example of modern businesses that use this marketing strategy is the telephone and mobile network company. These companies now have their own apps through which customers can buy Mobile data, call minutes, and SMS (Messaging) packages. They often advertise weekly and monthly data packages, pushing customer to purchase larger bundles at discounted prices. Oftentimes, there is a catch to subscribing to these cheap deals. For example, half of the Internet Mbs may only be available at odd hours, such as from 12 am to 6 am. Nevertheless, these discounts do help attract more customers into opting for a particular network provider.
Conclusion
To conclude, lead magnets are a useful way for firms to generate leads and retain customer loyalty. In 2023, they are being widely used by network providers, online businesses and software companies. It must be noted that on order to really reap the benefits of this strategy, you are encouraged to seek the expertise of Dreams, the best email marketing service available in Toronto. IT technicians recommend designing lead magnets in accordance with the demands of your target audience.
Some useful ideas for lead magnets to use today are free video tutorials, checklists, resource lists, e-books, free trials, templates, and rewards. For example, popular food and grocery delivery platforms like Foodpanda and Ubereats keep their customers happy through rewards and free vouchers. Further, lots of software companies offer free trial periods in exchange for email subscriptions by their clients.
Therefore, lead magnets are a useful and effective email marketing tool, which not only help online businesses attract customers but also benefit the customers themselves. Resource Lists compiled by experts such as lawyers and doctors, for instance, are a great help and verified source of valuable information for the common man.