Show Notes

Lead magnets and your ideal client.

I’m diving into not only the “why” behind why your lead magnet, that incredibly important piece to your marketing, I’m also going to dive into a little bit of how you can go about developing a lead magnet that’s really going to generate that ideal client that converts.

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Hey there. Thanks for listening and welcome to the marketing matchmaker podcast. If you're looking to grow your business, increase your revenue and scale your impact all while staying true to who you are and the people you serve. This is the show for you. I'm Jennifer Tamborski, digital marketing strategists, fractional CMO, and founder of Virtual Marketing Experts. My team and I work with six and seven figure coaches, consultants, and online entrepreneurs who are tired of playing the guru game of one size fits all marketing. They're ready to create a business and marketing strategy that actually builds relationships with their ideal clients creates massive shifts in their business and rapidly increases their revenue. As your marketing matchmaker, I'm going to help you find the perfect marketing match for you. This show will teach you how to reach your ideal client, connect with your audience, build that perfect relationship and generate more revenue. All through a process I like to call dating your ideal client. Now let's go have some fun!

Hey there, welcome back to the Marketing Matchmaker. So I have a question for you. What is your favorite lead magnet? You know that one that you downloaded that made a huge difference for you, and maybe even convinced you to buy the product, service, or solution that was related to it? What made you download it? And what was the value you got out of it? 

Yep. If you can't tell, today's episode is all about the lead magnet. I have a belief that your lead magnet is really the most important part of your funnel. So today, we're gonna dive into not only the why behind why your lead magnet is that incredibly important piece to your marketing, we're also going to dive into a little bit of how you can go about developing a lead magnet that's really going to generate that ideal client that leads them into that buyer. So if you've never downloaded a lead magnet before, and honestly, I cannot imagine anyone out there who hasn't. Let me explain what it is. 

So a lead magnet is simply a marketing term for a free item or service that is given away for, well, honestly, the purpose is to get their information to get them on your email list. And the examples are wide and varied. They can be anything from a PDF to a checklist or challenges, e-courses, quizzes, webinars, the list can go on and on and on. And quite honestly, this is something that we could just dive into each one of those and discuss; however, today's episode is all about your lead magnet.

Oftentimes, your lead magnet is often seen as the top of your funnel, it's really where you start the building of your email list. And it's how you start gathering your emails and start connecting with your ideal client. Honestly, it's part of the dating cycle, right? It's dating your ideal client. And your lead magnet is a perfect example of that. It's that cup of coffee that you would do if you were going out on a date, that is really low cost, low risk, and could be a big reward item. So when you are building your sales funnel, you really want to spend a good amount of time intentionally designing your lead magnet. 

Before you even start designing or redesigning your lead magnet, I want you to ask yourself a few questions. The reason behind spending time intentionally designing your lead magnet is really because that's your first introduction to your ideal client. It's how they're going to connect with you and move through your funnel. So that lead magnet has to be high quality, high value and really connects with your ideal client.

However, one of the things that I see very often happen is that coaches, consultants, online course creators, online business owners, will develop an amazing lead magnet that has nothing to do with what they're selling. And that my friends is the biggest mistake that people make. 

So question one is really pretty simple. What do you sell? This should be easy for you to answer. If you're in business, you are currently selling something, so honing in on what your offer is, what is your core offer that you're going to sell to your ideal clients? We've been through this before. I think you have one core offer and everything feeds into that offer. So what is that one offer that you want people to purchase? 

Question two is what does your ideal customer need to understand or be aware of or believe in, in order to want or need your product service or solution? So what does your ideal Client need before they need your offer? What do they need to know? What do they need to understand about themselves, about their problem, about the potential solution? 

Your lead magnet needs to address these things in order for it to be connected to your offer. I have a client, and we've gone around and around and around about her lead magnet. She has a fantastic lead magnet, it provides a tremendous value to her ideal client. And one of the issues that she was having was that a lot of people that were coming into her weren't ready for her services.

So we've had this discussion of, what is it that your ideal clients need in order to be ready to purchase your services? And figuring out what that need is, figuring out what they need to do? What do they need to be thinking about? What do they need to understand about their problem, to move into her solution. And it's taken a while for her to develop a lead magnet that connects the two. The current lead magnet, while incredibly successful, and fantastic and gives a ton of value, doesn't necessarily directly connect to her solution. It's almost like during our conversation, she was saying it kind of goes, this is my lead magnet, this is what I'm offering, this is what I'm teaching. And then I have to re-explain how that's going to end up helping them fix their problem, and why they should work, purchase their product, which delays them from purchasing, right? 

If your lead magnet can explain to them what is their worst, most obvious symptoms that they must overcome before they can purchase your thing. So for example, we, in my company and Virtual Marketing Experts, we sell ads, so we do pay traffic, Facebook ads, LinkedIn ads, Instagram ads, we do ads. One of the things that I was having problems with when finding those ideal clients, was really speaking to them about what it is they're struggling about. 

Oftentimes what my clients are struggling about when they come to me is that they've tried another agency before and it didn't work. So I developed a lead magnet, Seven Questions You Should Ask an Agency Before You Hire Them. It helps my ideal clients to see what it is they need to be asking, what questions they need to be asking; they can ask me, they can ask somebody else. The idea is that by offering them a solution to their biggest frustration, they are able to see me as the expert in that field, which then helps to build that know, like, and trust. That's the whole point of your lead magnet to start building that know, like, and trust. 

So what is that related issue or add on, that would be a great companion to what you already offer as your core offer. Understanding that really helps you to develop that ideal client's lead magnet.

This is where you're going to spend a lot of time and here's the secret to all of this, you can't develop that lead magnet until you really know who your ideal client is. We've gone over this in a couple of episodes where it's incredibly important for you to understand what their struggles are, what they're suffering from, and how your product, service, or solution can help them. Because let's be honest, our customers don't really care about what it is that we do. What they care about is their problem and how you can help them solve it. 

So if you can give them a lead magnet that inserts yourself into that problem, they're better able to see you as the solution to that problem. Oftentimes your lead magnet will give them a small win. It'll give them a mindset shift or just a tweak of the problem and allow them to see that there's a solution to it and that you are the person to go to get it. 

So question three is what type of lead magnet could you create that will compliment or align with Your product service or solution that you are currently selling. Now, when I say that, I mean just that. Earlier just a few minutes ago, I was telling you there are a million different lead magnets. 

So is it a guy? Do they need an e-book? Is it a checklist? Is it a five day challenge? Or a three day challenge? Or a 30? Day Challenge? Is it a Mini e-Course? Are you selling a course and having a small maybe three day course, will help them to understand that buying the bigger course will solve their problem. Quizzes are one of my favorite things to do, especially in today's market and the way Facebook ads are working and the way people are responding to lead magnets. Everybody loves a quiz. So if you can develop a quiz that will help your clients see what their problem is, and what maybe a couple of solutions are. The other bonus benefit of quizzes is that it helps to weed out those that aren't your ideal client. 

You also have webinars, or there's also SLO offers, which are self liquidating offers, those are low cost products. So kind of like a DIY kind of thing. Those also bring in leads, they just help to pay for themselves by having some low cost portion upfront. Understanding what it is that your ideal client will click on and either download or watch or take, will really help you to create something that is going to speak to them.

 And keep in mind people learn in different ways. So my questions, my seven questions to ask before hiring an ad agency, it's done in both video and printed. Because people learn through watching or hearing as well as reading. Giving them those kinds of options can also increase how you're going to sell to your ideal client. If you know that your ideal client listens to podcasts a lot. There's the option of doing those private podcasts as that lead magnet, there are a million options out there and all of them are valid, you just get to decide which one is going to work best for you and your audience.

Keep in mind that the purpose of a funnel is to take people from the top and bring them down. So oftentimes, you are probably going to get one to 3% of the people at the top of your funnel actually moving through the whole thing. Which means about 97 to 99% of the people that download your lead magnet aren't ready to purchase yet. That's the whole purpose of a lead magnet is to guide them to the point where they are ready to buy from you. 

So always create your lead magnet with your end goal in mind. And honestly, for all of us, your end goal is attracting paying customers. Make sure that you have a follow up to your lead magnet, which means having some kind of email sequence that nurtures them, that again gives them value and lets them connect with you. It could be as simple as sending out your podcast every week, or maybe you do a Facebook Live or whatever that is. It's that whole flirting stage. And also the dating stage. It's the getting-to-know-you before they're moving into that purchase point. 

Now you will absolutely have maybe 1% of the people who download your lead magnet immediately buy. That happens. Absolutely. And it's incredibly important to know that the majority of them probably won't. If you create a lead magnet that speaks to them, however, it will help to incentivize them to stay on your list to learn more about you and to potentially buy from you in the future. 

Lead magnets in general are the first things that I discuss with my clients. The first thing I ask is, is your lead magnet the right one for your business. Is it what your ideal client needs to learn, to know, or to implement, in order to be ready to work with you. And if it's not, what is it that we need to do in order to to tweak it to make it better to make it that first initial step. 

That is one of the things that I see my clients struggling with the most when they come to me, oftentimes they don't have a lead magnet that is ready to move their clients or their prospects into clients. Make sure that your lead magnet meets your ideal buyer, where they're at, and really, so that you can help them step into your program to take them where they want to go. Your lead magnet should be very intentional. It should be specific, and it should be well thought out, quite honestly, it should be where you spend the majority of the time when you're putting out your funnel. Always ask yourself, Is this going to take my audience to the next step in my funnel? You want your lead magnet to make a difference for both your ideal client and your business.

Thank You for listening to the Marketing Matchmaker podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I would love to hear your feedback. Please head over to iTunes and leave a review so we can hear from you. And if you are a coach, consultant, or online course creator who are looking to grow your business, increase your income, and scale your impact connect with me at yourmarketingmatchmaker.com. I look forward to hearing from you.