Making Your Lead Magnet Simple

A lead magnet is valuable content you give away for a visitor’s email address, allowing you to contact them in the future and build a relationship. As you establish your relationship, you hope they become customers. It’s a simple enough process, but for whatever reason, people tend to make lead magnets a lot more complicated than necessary. 

The best lead magnets are simple above all else. The most vital component isn’t that they’re impressive, comprehensive, or built with a fancy tool. It’s that they provide real value. Let me explain.  

How Long Does it Take to Make a Lead Magnet?

Unfortunately, there’s no clear answer on how long it takes to make a lead magnet. You could create a great, effective lead magnet in a couple of hours or take weeks to craft one.

The question is, how long do you want it to take to make a lead magnet? And if you’re a business owner with other priorities, the answer is likely that you don’t want it to take long.

That’s why a simple lead magnet is not only an effective way to get new subscribers. It also just makes sense for your business.

A Simple Lead Magnet 

Your goal in creating a lead magnet is to help your audience while gathering email addresses. Lead magnets can be the first step in creating a relationship with someone who will eventually become your customer.

Lead magnets come in many forms, including checklists, infographics, worksheets, and webinars. So, it’s curious that people think they need a 40-page e-book to use a lead magnet strategy. They don’t. You can start simply with something your ideal customer finds valuable. 

For example, Vida Bars offers a hair quiz to help you choose the best product for you. Focus Federal Credit Union has a financial education e-book to help people build their financial health. Both are examples of lead magnets that align with their work and help those they serve. 

Simple lead magnets that stay true to who you want to attract as customers make the most sense. Think about who needs what and how best to present it. Yes, e-books and original research studies are a way, but they aren’t the only way.

The Formula for Simplicity

When you get down to it, lead magnets aren’t nearly as intimidating as people make them. They follow a simple formula. 

[ Website + Lead Magnet = Email ]

It can be that simple. If you have a website, you can create a simple lead magnet that connects to an email list. People will download the lead magnet in exchange for their email. Then you have a targeted list of people who you know are at least somewhat interested in what you provide to continue nurturing through email marketing.

The Importance of Simplicity in Lead Generation

As a business, you want to create a simple lead magnet. But did you know that your audience also wants to read a simple lead magnet?

Creating a simple lead magnet focusing on one topic will help your audience understand the content. When content has multiple topics and extra information, the reader can’t focus on the information they need because there’s simply too much.

Plus, you don’t want to give all your information in one go. Ideally, once someone downloads your lead magnet, they keep coming back to your newsletter, blog, and social media accounts for more. So keeping the focus of your lead magnet on just one thing ensures you still have more to say when they return.

If you keep consistently giving your audience the answers they’re looking for, that will build your brand authority and increase their reliance on you for the answers. Your audience will learn to trust you, which will make them more likely to purchase from you.

Benefits of Making Your Lead Magnet Simple

By now, you probably know that simple lead magnets are the way to go. But if you’re still on the fence, the benefits should convince you.

Simple lead magnets:

• Save Time and Money. A simple lead magnet takes less time and fewer resources to create. That saves you time and money you would spend on software or outsourcing. 
• Are Easier to Distribute. You can easily store a PDF on multiple platforms, including your website. The more complex lead magnets, like video, require more storage.
• Enhance User Experience. A complex lead magnet won’t matter to your audience if they can’t get the answers they need. But your users will appreciate it if you give them the information they need quickly and easily.
• Improve Reach. The less tech required to access your lead magnet means more potential subscribers. Plus, a short and simple lead magnet is more attractive to a busy person than something that will take hours to consume.
• Increase Audience Engagement. The simpler a lead magnet is, the more likely someone is to download it. And the more downloads you have, the higher your engagement rate will be.
• Get Better Conversion Rates. A simple lead magnet will get more signups because your audience will get what they want quickly and easily.

Types of Lead Magnets That Utilize Simplicity

You don’t have to go overboard to create a helpful lead magnet. Your audience will appreciate simplicity if it means they get the answers they need more easily. 

Lead magnets that are simple to create and for your audience to consume:

• Checklists. Help your audience understand a process or the things they need to address their pain points. These are useful and helpful.
• Lists of Tips. If your audience needs help with a process, a list of tips can be a great way to help them do so more easily.
• Infographics. If your lead magnet contains data, using an infographic can help your audience interpret that data. 
• Recipes. Everyone loves a good recipe, and if your business is related to food or drinks, creating a recipe lead magnet is a great way to snag new subscribers.

Providing Real Value in Your Lead Magnet

The critical aspect of a lead magnet is that it provides real value. 

What does it mean to provide value? It means you educate your audience about something. You give them information that helps them improve their lives or businesses. And you’re genuine when you do.

Valuable content is useful to your audience. It focuses on them and their needs, and they trust the source. It’s easy for them to understand, and they can use it immediately to improve their life.

Make sure you start with value regardless of the type of lead magnet you create.

Tips for Creating Simple Lead Magnets

Your lead magnet can be valuable while also being simple. The easier a lead magnet is to consume, the more likely your audience will get something out of it. Here are some tips to help you create a simple lead magnet:

• Offer a Single Piece of Content. This approach will help you keep your funnel simple and your calls to action uniform.
• Use Clear Language. Your audience is looking for answers, not a homework lesson. Making your lead magnet as easy to read as possible will help them understand the content and learn to trust you as a source of information.
• Make it Scannable. Nobody wants to read a whole textbook to get one answer. Make your lead magnet easily scannable so your readers can get the answers they need quickly and easily.
• Use Visual Cues. Most people are visual learners. Make the content visually appealing to help your audience understand what your lead magnet is about.
• Include One Call to Action. Once your audience is done with the lead magnet, they need to know what they should do next. Let them know what that next step is, whether it’s following your company on social media or booking a call.
• Keep Signups Short. The less your audience has to do to get the lead magnet, the more likely they are to sign up. Minimize the number of boxes to check or fill out.

If you really want to simplify, check out our lead magnet creation service. What’s more simple than letting us do the work for you?

Essential Steps for Creating a Lead Magnet

No matter your business, the steps for creating a lead magnet are the same. Following these steps will help you create an irresistible lead magnet your audience needs without taking up a ton of your work schedule.

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Audience 

Setting goals before you create the lead magnet is crucial for its success. Clearly defined goals will help you target the correct audience so you don’t wind up with a subscriber list full of unengaged people who never intend to purchase.

To start, think about how many subscribers you need. A good conversion rate is 10%, so use that number to calculate how many subscribers you need to hit your sales goals. Once you know that number, it’s time to think about what kind of subscribers you need.

Your ideal audience has problems only you can solve. These are their pain points. Once you’ve determined their pain points, you can create a lead magnet that addresses those problems by answering your audience’s questions.

To start, think about what questions they’re searching for on Google. Do a little keyword research to see how they phrase those questions. Once you know the answer, then it’s time for Step 2.

Step 2: Brainstorm Ideas and Choose Format

When you’ve determined your customer’s pain points, it’s time to brainstorm how best to address them and what kind of lead magnet will work the best. There’s no right or wrong answer, and many businesses use multiple types of lead magnets made from essentially the same content. Others may switch them out over time, depending on what they think may work better.

The best format is one you can create easily in the least amount of time. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t put time and energy into the process. But if you don’t have the means to easily create a short video course or webinar, picking a checklist or e-book is the right choice.

Step 3: Create Content and Design

The next step is to create the content and design it. This process will be different for everyone. 

In some cases, you may need to take old blog posts and reformat them to make an e-book. In others, you may have to write video scripts and record them. It may be as simple as creating a list or checklist. Or, you may need to hire a graphic designer to create an infographic.

This stage likely takes the most work, and for a good reason. You don’t want to create a boring lead magnet. Take the time to ensure it’s well-branded and your subscribers know it’s from you.

Step 4: Promote Your Lead Magnet

Once your lead magnet is ready to go and you’ve uploaded it to whatever platform you’re using for distribution, it’s time to tell people about it.

Share a link on social media and let your current email subscribers know about it if they want to download it too. The more you promote it, the more likely people will download it.

Your website is a great place to promote your lead magnet. You can include calls to action for your lead magnet in all your existing blog posts and a pop-up that encourages your audience to subscribe.

Tools for a Simple Lead Magnet Strategy

You don’t need a bunch of fancy tools or expensive solutions to create lead magnets that serve your audience. 

Lead magnet tools we recommend:

• ConvertBox. We recommend ConvertBox as our preferred tool for WordPress sites. It’s easy to use, and the price can’t be beat. 
• PopUpAlly. Another great one is PopUpAlly for WordPress sites. It’s simple to use, and you can embed it in content, a sidebar, or have it pop up. It lets you showcase your lead magnet just by setting up the plugin.
• Beacon. A great tool that works with any platform is Beacon. It even has a free tier if you just want to check it out. They give you templates to work from, so you don’t have to be a designer. And it will work across multiple platforms. 

Of course, you also want to make the most of the emails you gather by having an email newsletter, which means you need an email solution.

Email hosting options:

• Mailchimp. Probably the most commonly used mail host is MailChimp. MailChimp is simple to set up and has many integrations. 
• Active Campaign. If you need a CRM and email integration, Active Campaign is another good option. I love using this one for automated workflows. Plus, they do full training with new users. 
• Klayvio. If you already have an email database, you can upload it easily to Klayvio. It is gaining traction, especially for ecommerce stores.

What’s Holding You Back?

Lead magnets can help you build relationships with potential customers and grow your business. Don’t hold back! Start small and simple, then build from there if it serves your audience to do so. 

Think about it. What is one thing you can implement today?

Start small. Choose your email provider. Then build from there.

If you don’t want to think about email and lead magnet marketing, but you know it’s worthwhile for your business’s growth, book a call. Let’s talk about how Content Journey can take care of both for you.