Building your email list is an essential strategy for any small business today. However, with the countless emails we all receive daily, it’s necessary to incentivize your target customers to subscribe. That’s where lead magnets come in

Lead magnets, or free resources you provide in exchange for someone’s email address, are the key to developing your email list and cultivating an audience of engaged prospective customers. Here’s why lead magnets are crucial for your business and how to create and use them successfully.

Benefits of Lead Magnets

When you share a lead magnet with your target customers, you’re providing them with a valuable resource. Ideally, your lead magnet will have content or information that helps your audience solve a problem they face in their lives or businesses.

By giving them something valuable from your business, which is free, you establish yourself as a credible source. When your target customers receive your lead magnet and see that it is effective, informative, or helps them accomplish something they desire, they’ll begin to see your business as a solution. Building this relationship and establishing trust opens the door to their investment in your business in the future.

Types of Lead Magnets

There are various lead magnet formats to choose from depending on the nature of your business, the products or services you provide, and your target customers’ needs. 

It’s important to choose a lead magnet that will best serve your audience and demonstrate your expertise. Effective lead magnets will highlight your strengths and promise your audience results.

Some popular lead magnet formats include:

• Workbooks or guides

• Free webinars
• Email challenges
• Checklists
• Quizzes
• Video tutorials
• Mini-courses
• Lightroom presets
• Social media templates

• Workflow or roadmaps

Grab my free Plan Behind Your Brand Workbook to help you establish your brand personality, define your dream clients, and specify your business value: All essential to determining suitable lead magnets for your business.

Provide Resources That Drive Results

Most customers prefer resources that give them observable results to those that don’t. This goes for free resources, as well. As you contemplate what type of lead magnet you’ll use and what content it will include, consider what results your target customers hope to achieve.

Is there a problem they’re looking to solve? A process they need help navigating? By honing in on your target audience’s needs and the different ways your business can address them, you can develop a lead magnet that provides value, establishes your credibility, and helps them drive results.

My Free Pinterest Template Pack lead magnet is an excellent example of a lead magnet that drives results. Subscribers get a free pack of Pinterest templates created in Canva. They can customize and use them to attract traffic to their websites.

The Importance of Growing an Email List

Did you know you don’t own your followers on social media? Technically Mark Zuckerburg does. And with the platforms always changing thanks to algorithms it can be hard to keep up. But you own your email list. And these are people that already showed interested in your business. 

That is why investing your time and energy into building a sustainable email list is so important for the growth of your business. The best way to do this is with lead magnets. 

How to Create a Lead Magnet for your Audience

You might be wondering exactly how you can find out what your audience needs. The answer is to ask them. People are typically happy to tell you what problems they are seeking to solve. Not only will connecting with your audience help you find out their pain points and challenges, but it will also allow you to engage with them and learn more about their business goals and ambitions.

You can survey your audience with an approach as simple as posting a poll or question to your Instagram Stories or sending an email out to your subscriber list. 

As you receive responses and feedback about what your audience is looking for, carefully consider what aspects of your services or products can resolve their needs or provide solutions to their problems. While your lead magnet will be free, it should offer value that your audience will be excited to get their hands on and use for their business.

My Ultimate eMarketing Kit provides you with not only a workbook templates you can add in your own content but over 100 professionally designed templates that help you market that lead magnet and help you grow your list. Use them to engage and connect with your email and social media audiences.

You Can Create Multiple Lead Magnets

Depending on your product or service mix, you may want to create multiple lead magnets. This will let you attract different target customers who will benefit from other things your business offers.

For example, I provide an assortment of lead magnets that help small business owners with various aspects of their business, from branding and content creation to font selection. The lead magnets all reflect essential elements of my services while catering to my target customers’ specific needs.

Tip: Give a Preview of Your Lead Magnet

For your target customers to give you their email address, they will likely want to have a clear understanding of what they are signing up for. That’s why it’s beneficial to give an overview of what your lead magnet includes. 

I like to provide a bulleted list of my lead magnets’ features, uses, and benefits. Sharing highlights of why the lead magnet will be valuable to them, I also share screenshots of what the lead magnet looks like so that subscribers can be confident they know what exactly they’ll be receiving.

Ready to create lead magnets for your business? Get The Canva Lead Magnet Template. It has 15 fully customizable pages you can use to design a lead magnet your audience will be excited to sign up for!