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We write and design lead magnets for your business – then find the right people to expose it to, in exchange for their contact details.
With so many competitors vying for your customers’ attention online, it can be hard to get potential clients to pay attention to what you have to offer.
One of the best ways to gain a competitive advantage is through what marketers call ‘list-building’. This is the process of constructing a list of email addresses and other details about current and prospective customers so that you can develop a relationship with them via well-crafted email communications.
This is where a lead magnet can help by providing an incentive for potential customers to join your list.
A lead magnet is when you offer your website visitors a perk like an exclusive discount, free trial, or exclusive content in exchange for their email address and other information such as their name, phone number and location. The idea is to give your audience something of value in return for them giving you their contact information and permission to communicate with them.
The most successful lead magnets offer instant value to your audience. This means they need to offer something for free that your potential clients perceive as valuable. Better yet, if it provides a solution to a problem they are experiencing, it will be even more beneficial.
For example, a free newsletter containing random industry information will not be perceived as valuable. However, if a customer came to your site looking for information about a specific topic and your lead magnet is a free eBook that gives them that information, this is a much stronger proposition.
If possible, you should also use the opportunity to educate your audience about why your product or service is better than your competitors’, otherwise known as promoting your unique selling proposition (USP).
1. They help you build your email list, which you can then use to communicate directly with prospective customers. Your emails arrive directly in their inboxes, and you don’t have to reach them via a third-party platform like Facebook and Instagram or pay for online advertising.
2. They help you build trust and credibility with your customer base before they are ready to buy from you. You do this by providing them with useful and engaging content – not just sales material.
3. They help you acquire qualified leads. If a customer has gone to the trouble of filling out a form and gives you their details, they are more likely to want to hear from you about your company and your products and services.
Here are six practical examples of lead magnets and how and why they work:
A great way to add subscribers to your list is to offer exclusive content in return for signing up. Some good content ideas include informative blogs, articles or eBooks, exclusive case studies, training videos, behind-the-scenes content and videos. This tactic can work well for both B2B and B2C markets, as it makes the customer feel like a VIP; they are given exclusive access to content that the general public doesn’t have.
Free trials are a great way to let your prospective customers ‘try before they buy’. This lets them test out your product or service for free, to see if they are a fit for their needs. Free trials are especially successful in the software and media industries, and they don’t cost you much to offer. Even if the customer doesn’t buy your product after the trial ends, you can still communicate with them afterwards and to nurture them along the sales funnel to make a purchase in the future.
Offering customers a sample in return for signing up to your email list gives them value in the form of something they desire for free. This works especially well in the beauty industry, for example. Not only do you get a new subscriber to your list, but your customer can also try out your product.
Quizzes can also be an excellent way to get potential customers to join your email list. Depending on what product or service you sell, you can offer a quiz to website visitors and then ask for their email address before giving them the results of the quiz. This works well because people are competitive and curious by nature, so want to know how well they did in the quiz. This makes them more willing to give you their email address in return.
Everybody loves to save money and feel like they are getting an exclusive price. This is what makes them a great lead magnet idea. You can put your deal in front of your audience when they are actively looking at your products or services to entice them to make their first purchase. It’s a great deal for both parties; your customers get a discount, and you get a potential customer, plus their email address for future communications.
Another high-performing lead magnet is offering a free consultation or access to a webinar if a customer signs up for your email list. This is especially great for services companies, who can use the initial contact to talk to a prospective customer in more detail about what your company offers and answer any questions or objections they may have. For the customer, they get access to free information and advice in return for joining your email list.
Remarketing is an established technique that’s used to keep your past website visitors engaged. Ever been ‘stalked’ by ads for a travel agency after visiting a travel website? That’s an example of remarketing. This is an expert technique where cookies are used to follow your website visitors around the internet then present your display ads to them on websites that are part of the Google Display Network.
Placements are the positions display ads can appear in on the Google Display Network or on YouTube (which is owned by Google). If you don’t target placements, Google decides which websites in the GDN your ads appear on. Managed placements let you select which sites you want your ads to be displayed on, which gives a more certain outcome than Google guessing which ones are relevant.
As the Google Display Network is so huge – reaching over 90% of all internet users across more than 2 million sites – you can easily end up spending thousands of dollars on wasted traffic. Flow recommends starting with a moderate budget initially, while we test the market for your products or services.
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If, for example, we see that you have managed placements that are delivering great results, we can allocate more spend to them. We can also expand your budget to include other, untested, sites to maximise the return on your display advertising.
Some websites only support one (or few) Google Display Ad formats. To have reach across the GDN it’s important to design your display ads in various formats and sizes, including some with text only.
This might seem obvious but you’d be surprised how many ads on the Google Display Network are simple text ads. To have maximum impact, display ads need to be visually strong, yet simple and easy to read. Images should also be related to the product or service being offered. Even a product photo is better than nothing!
As we point out on our Paid Search page, it’s essential to monitor and fine-tune your Google AdWords search advertising. You should do the same for your Google Display Advertising. For example, when managing your display advertising, Flow will review your audience and see what impact your ads are having. This lets us reach potential customers more effectively, using audience targeting to reach people based on who they are, their interests and habits, what they’re actively researching, or how they’ve interacted with your business.
The Google Display Network is extensive, which means your audience is almost limitless. Google releases new features and methods of targeting, so you have to stay on top of the latest trends and development to optimise your display ad campaigns. This means setting aside a modest portion of your budget to test new features and advertising techniques using managed placements, topics, interests and contextual targeting.
Flow has helped clients both in New Zealand and abroad to harness the power of lead magnets. We are skilled and successful at producing high-quality campaigns that incorporate the use of lead magnets. We would love to help you launch or improve your marketing strategy.
If you are considering implementing a lead magnet marketing strategy, or are just keen to test the waters, get in touch with the team at Flow today – NZ’s leading marketing agency
Claim your free 30 min discovery call by filling out the form below.