Whether you are offering products or services in a brick-and-mortar store or online, our first step in the sales process is to grab the interest of potential customers. To capture their interest from among the noise that is our crowded markets, we have to raise their awareness and introduce them to our offers. We do this via our Lead Magnets.
When they are at their best, they are like this guy!
Hey, Yeah You, Look Here!!
Editorial Note: Market Identification and Segmentation is another topic altogether. Finding prospects from within groups and attracting them into your proximity is a separate skill that we must hone. Look back for a more detailed series that delves into this topic at another time.
These are simply targeted pieces of value that we offer to potential customers in exchange for the right to have further conversations with them. They represent a very low barrier-to-entry for someone within a market to engage with us.
We are not proposing to them! There has just some spark of mutual interest and our Leader is the icebreaker. It is a first step.
Good Lead Magnets have four very important characteristics:
- They are specific. For our Lead Magnets to be effective, they should be laser-focused addressing the top issue that a targeted group of our potential customers is encountering.
- They speak to the customer’s Desired End State. By learning what customers really want, we can craft a specific solution to answer it.
- They are immediately consumable. Reports or newsletters are rarely specific and they take time to consume and implement. The best Lead Magnets address a customer’s biggest concern and guide them in the first actionable steps to resolve it.
- They change our relationship with the customer. When the customer encounters our Lead Magnet, we are raising their awareness of what we offer. However, a key role is to elevate knowledge to engagement.
Too many businesses offer reports, newsletters, webinars, or meetings as their Leaders. They are usually generic and not actionable now. To be effective and represent a real exchange of value, Lead Magnets must speak to that immediate, specific need in their keyword search. It must be the big issue pressing the group to which they belong.
If you answer that question now, you will capture their attention and get their permission to engage further.
If you have a specific question about your Lead Magnet and where it might score among these four, feel free to comment below.
