How to create a lead magnet

A lead magnet is an exclusive piece of content that turns your audience into subscribers and customers. It's like the free samples they give you at grocery stores (can we please bring those back?!). Think of it as a sneak peek at what's to come if someone buys your products.

For example, you could create an ebook PDF that you give away for free. Or, you could film a special training that people can only access by opting-in to your lead magnet.

Lead magnets are one part of creating a predictable selling system, click here to learn the 2 other strategies you'll need.

The key to a successful lead magnet is putting it behind an opt-in. This requires your audience to give you their email address in return for access. Your lead magnet needs to have so much value packed inside of it that your customer avatar has trouble ignoring it.

We'll show you how to do that below.

Lead magnets fit into the Subscribe Stage of the Customer Value Journey.

This is the stage where they're already aware and engaging with your company, but now it's time to take the next step in your relationship. You know when you meet a friend's friend and realize you have a lot in common with them and ask for their number to stay in touch?

It's like that. Your lead knows you're cool and they want to hang out again.

Instead of just asking them to opt-in to your email list without giving them anything in return, you incentivize them by providing this "valuable" lead magnet.

To figure out what "valuable" means to your customer avatar, you'll need to know what their pain points are. If you haven't figured these out yet, you can use the Customer Avatar Worksheet.

Your lead magnet will solve their pain point, making it an irresistible offer that feels like you're giving more than you're taking.

Here's how you can create a lead magnet that drives email opt-ins:

Step #1: What are your customer avatar's 5 biggest pain points?

The biggest pain points your customer avatar has are the perfect places to start when creating your lead magnet. You want this to be irresistible, so the more you can lean into solving their problems and challenges the higher opt-in rate you'll have.

Step #2: Which of those pain points makes the most sense to turn into a lead magnet?

Out of the 5 pain points you listed, which would be the easiest to turn into a lead magnet? By easy we mean—do you already have content that you can package together into a lead magnet?

There's no need for this lead magnet to take a huge amount of your or your team's time. Be strategic. 😉

Step #3: What content does your customer avatar resonate with best?

Feel like this is all about your customer avatar? That's because it is. Our next step is to figure out what type of content our avatar would like best.

Does the thought of an ebook make them run the other way?
Do your organic videos get the highest engagement?
Are they interested in research results?

Take a look at how different types of content have performed for you in the past to decide which form you'll put your lead magnet into.

Step #4: Write strategic copy for your lead magnet

We're looking for conversions here, so we can't just slap some subpar copy on this lead magnet and hope for the best. Let's make it worth all the time you've put into it.

The PADS copywriting formula works great for lead magnets:

Pain: Talk about the pain point your lead magnet solves
Agitate: Describe the experience your customer avatar has with this pain point
Discredit: Explain why the solutions they've tried in the past didn't work
Solution: Tell them they can get the solution by opting into your lead magnet

Step #5: Promote, promote, promote!

Your lead magnet baby is ready for college. It's time to drop them off, wave goodbye, and call them five minutes later to check in.

In the final step, it's time to hit publish on your promotional content. Keep promoting your lead magnet and using your audience's feedback to see how you can continue to improve your lead magnets in the future.

For just $7, grab our step-by-step Customer Acquisition Playbook to learn how to create lead magnets, entry-point offers, and challenges that build a predictable and profitable customer attraction system.

You've got all these marketing tools that are supposed to make your job easier and your team more efficient. Right?

But what about when different departments use different tools? Tools that don't integrate well, making working across teams a pain in the derrière.

With AdCellerant's advertising software platform, UI.Marketing, AdCellerant partners with local media companies, helping them leverage this powerful tool.

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So book a free demo today (or tell your manager your company needs this!) and stop feeling fractured by the tools that are supposed to make your life easier and make you more money.

In the Customer Acquisition Playbook, you'll get a system for producing customers for your business, predictably and profitably, PLUS...

Build a foundational, repeatable Customer Acquisition Strategy—whether you've had zero paying customers, or had some luck and want to repeat it
Attract & engage your prospects by applying your customer acquisition plan to your Paid Traffic, Organic Traffic, and Email Marketing Campaigns
Tips and tricks for leveraging the 3 main methods of customer acquisition: Lead Magnets, Entry-Point Offers, and Challenges

This playbook isn't just 1 single approach for getting customers—it's a system of actionable strategies that work time and time again.

Get the essential strategies for creating a lead-attracting, customer conversion plan—whether you've had zero sales, or are looking for a way to create a repeatable process.

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