What is a lead magnet?

I don’t know about you, but when I first started my business I was bamboozled by all of these digital marketing terms I wasn't super familiar with. I mean, wtf is a funnel?

Anyway, I figured if I had these thoughts, I wouldn't be the only one (proper original thinker, over here).

So, I've created this semi-regular series of blog posts to explain terms like this across digital marketing, social media and podcasts and maybe some others, should the mood take me. The sky's the limit.

So what is a lead magnet?

In basic terms, a lead magnet is an item that a business offers in exchange for your email address to collect your details and add you to their mailing list.

I sound quite disparaging here but I don't mean to - I promise. Some lead magnets can be really useful! I use a discovery call checklist from a lead magnet all the time.

A lead magnet could be anything - a fillable PDF, a private podcast episode, a checklist, a free consultation, a free sample.. anything that is helpful to the intended audience.

One thing I would say though, is, if you're in the market to create a lead magnet: make it genuinely useful. There are a lot of lead magnets out there, and a lot of those are gathering digital dust on people’s computers!

This is a good time to do some customer research and discover what would be useful for your ideal clients. Can you take a part of your existing work and cut it into a bitesize piece for your audience? Would a PDF be useful? Could you make it something a little bit different?

You will also have to bear in mind the delivery format of the lead magnet. Sorting out the tech in the background isn’t as scary as it sounds! There are a lot of lead magnets that just use a simple web link, for example, to a Zoom recording or a PDF created in Canva, and then use their email marketing platform to automatically send the content.

What next?

Once you sign up to a lead magnet, you will likely be added to an email sequence telling you all about the business. This is commonly referred to as a “welcome sequence” in email marketing.

Personally, I like these, because I'm nosey and I love finding out about people but if they're not your bag, you can always unsubscribe once you've got what you need.

The best way to find out more about how you might like your lead magnet to look and feel is to check out how other people do it! So sign up to some and take notes of what you like and equally, what you don’t like!

So there we go, that's a quick tour of lead magnets!

Are there any other terms you're not sure of? Let me know, and I can include them in upcoming blog posts!