Ever wonder how businesses build an email list of leads as well as customers? They typically start with a lead magnet (some people call this a giveaway or freebie).
A lead magnet is something of value that is given away in exchange for someone’s contact information, typically an email address. A good lead magnet can be a checklist, a worksheet, instructions for a project, or any bit of information that someone can apply quickly.
The naming of the lead magnet is an important step – make it something that catches the reader’s attention and promotes them to act. You want to create a bit of FOMO.
The lead magnet is designed to answer a specific question and provide a specific solution not just provide general information for general knowledge.
Coming up with an idea for a lead magnet can be overwhelming at first but there are two things to keep in mind:
It doesn’t have to be perfect, and
You can create more than one.
Where to look for topics?
One place to look is your social media content. From all of the posts that you have been making, which presumably are targeting your ideal client, look for the comments that are made on the posts.
Are your leads and customers asking questions? If so, take one of those questions and make the question and answer into a lead magnet.
If your social media content is not generating questions, then go to Google or an AI model and ask it for ideas based on your business.
Sort through the ideas, flesh them out, and dig deeper. Don’t go with the first ideas that come up.
You can also visit websites like Ask the Public, where you can put in keywords or topics and it will provide you with what people are searching for related to that topic on Google.
Take any of those questions and answer one or more clearly and succinctly. Provide practical advice and ideas that people can apply right away.
Make it represent your business
Make sure to put your branding on your lead magnet and include your contact information.
Place the link for your lead magnet in social media posts, in the footer of your email and in your profiles for easy access.
When someone signs up for your lead magnet, be sure to send it to them right away through email. You should also create a 3-5-email drip campaign that will be sent over multiple days, typically 2-3 days between emails. Each of those emails should engage the potential client in an additional way.
In the first follow up email, make sure that they received the lead magnet that they requested. Ask if they need any help with it, ask them what they learned from it or ask what follow up questions they have. In each follow up email, make sure to include the link to the lead magnet.
What to do after the lead magnet is delivered
In the last email that you send, you should invite the subscriber to engage with you further. That could be by following you on social media, subscribing to some service that you provide, or offering them a low-ticket item that they can purchase from you. This invitation provides them with an opportunity to engage with you further, get to know you better, and for you to continue to provide them with value.
Once someone joins your email list, it’s important to engage with them on a regular basis. People often ask me how often you should email your list. Typically one to two emails a week is a good frequency. Some businesses opt to go with a monthly newsletter, but depending on the business that may not be the best thing.
Emails that go out to your email list should only include an offer in 30% or less of the emails that are sent out. Sending out email after email that is continuing to ask for a purchase is going to cause your potential leads to be turned away. They will unsubscribe and no longer be interested in doing business with you.
The key to successful email marketing is to use it to develop a relationship. Allow your leads to get to know you, both on a business level as well as a personal level, and encourage them to reach back out so that you can get to know them. People buy from people they know, like, and trust. Building that relationship is what pays off in the long run.
One way to never run out of things to send to people in emails is to collect stories, anecdotes, and client successes that are not time-locked. That means you can provide a general client story, success story, etc., that is not locked to a particular time in the calendar. If you are not referring to holidays or seasons or things that only happen at certain times of year, then those emails can go out at any time. Building a collection of those stories will allow you to pull from them to create valuable emails between your offers.
Anyone who is starting to build an email list needs to begin collecting their stories. The stories will be used in evergreen emails going forward.