Deploying lead magnets are a brilliant way to boost the building of a healthy list. A lead magnet, or ‘lead bait’, is something that you offer your cold prospects in exchange for their information – most often their email address and permission to contact them.
Your carrot on a stick might be a free cheatsheet or template, or even a whole eBook.
Enticing, and valuable to your target audience. Valuable enough for them to give you their details.
You give, and you get. Simple as that.
I’ve spoken about the makings of great lead magnets here, in a previous blog post.
Now. Everyone knows having a big, happy list of the right people at your fingertips is a yellow brick road to growing your business. And many businesses do use lead magnets. Some even use it well.
But SO many coaches and speakers aren’t using this age-old list-building strategy to its highest potential.
So, how do you get more people to take the bait?
It’s got a lot to do with where you position your opt-in form – the clear and concise way for cold prospects to join your email list and level up to warm leads.
Let’s break it down.
1. Home Page
Your home page is one of the best places to position a well-designed opt-in form.
It’s the most visited page on your site.
Reports say you’ve got on average 15 seconds before a visitor bounces, so positioning your lead magnet early on and high up, with a clear offering and an even clearer call to action can be a powerful move.
2. Blog Footer
Many businesses feature blogs on their website but don’t take advantage of the site footer, yet it could well be the underdog. Hear me out.
You’ve maintained their interest with well-written, captivating content and a potential customer has lingered long enough to make it to the end of the page.
They scroll, looking to see what else they can find.
Give them something! Capitalise on their interest by offering a freebie – reward them for their loyalty so far with some tasty lead bait and get them signed up to your list so you can continue to nurture your budding relationship.
3. Sidebar
You might argue that it’s perhaps not as common to see a sidebar anymore.
But, alongside the footer, it’s another classically underused and underappreciated space on your website.
Making your subscription form, or opt-in, easy to use and visible is KEY, and the sidebar can be sticky so that it’s always there.
No brainer.
4. Social Media
Too often businesses get stuck on leveraging their website to hook new customers and forget that a chunk of said potentials are already following you in the social realm.
Social media is a wide net and the opportunities are vast. You could…
– Station an opt-in form, buddied up with your lead magnet, on a stand-alone landing page on your website.
Link through from planned, relevant social media posts driving readers and followers to that page.
Even if they don’t give you what they want this time round, you’re upping website traffic.
– Set your Facebook header to visibly offer the lead magnet with a click-through to a landing page with your subscription form.
Headers and bios are brilliant places to anchor your lead magnet because social media algorithms often mean readers don’t see posts in chronological order.
– Instagram is a little trickier with its single link rule, but Linktree is a simple and now very common tool brands use as a workaround.
Linktree allows you to use that one link quota to transport your reader to a clear and mobile-friendly landing page displaying ALL of your links, created and kept up-to-date by you.
5. Paid Ads
Promoting lead magnets through paid ads is a practice undertaken everywhere these days, so the market is undoubtedly saturated, but for good reason.
It works if it’s done well.
Be sure to have a precise handle on your target market so you can advertise where they are likely to see you.
If you’re new to TikTok with little to no following, starting up a campaign there isn’t a good move. If you’ve got a huge following on Instagram, put some hard-earned cash into generating a clear, clever set of ads with a campaign plan that will draw in your readers.
(Or, get someone to do it for you, More on that later).
BONUS: Joint Ventures
The dream, obviously, is your own list booming with target market customers, but sometimes partnering up can fast-track you to where you want to be.
A joint venture is a mutually beneficial agreement between two businesses to pool their resources (in this example, email lists). Running out an email to a fresh list promoting your lead magnet might bring in new life.
Do you know anyone who might be interested in your customer base? It might just be worth a shot.
So, in short...
Lead bait wins subscribers if it’s visible, easy to understand, and valuable to the audience, which it should be if you’re doing it right.
Check your social media channels, blog and website with fresh eyes, or get others to do it for you – are you dangling any carrots? Are they in the right place?
Anyone can do all this stuff.
But maybe you don’t want to. Maybe you don’t have time.
Or maybe you just want it done well first time round.
If that’s the case, click here to book a call and let’s explore how I can help make email marketing easier for you.
