You’ve probably dreamed about a thriving health and fitness business before? You’ve probably wished you could consistently and predictably convert total strangers into paying clients.
But convincing people who’ve never heard of you, your brand, or your business to give you their money can feel like an uphill battle on a treadmill.
The old school technique was sales—the door-to-door kind with the guy who would ask strangers if he could demonstrate how to use his new vacuum cleaner. This method was slow, laborious, and often dreaded by the salespeople and customers alike. But today, there’s a better system in place…
This approach can help you convince strangers to throw cash willingly and eagerly in your direction. It’s called a Lead Magnet.
This little thing has helped us and other coaches bring leads in and turn them into long-time customers. They’re simple, effective, and efficient—the perfect tool for marketing with speed.
If you’re ready to get more people on your site with catchy and effective lead magnets, let’s talk about how you can make that happen…
What are lead magnets and why should you care?
Lead magnets are the bait that grows your email list, get you new leads, and more business. They’re the incentive offered to people in exchange for information, like an email address, and usually come in the form of a piece of digital, downloadable content, such as free checklists, special videos, or guidebooks.
They’re incredibly powerful in helping companies grow an email list of people who they can market to on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
Why does this matter?
Email marketing is incredibly profitable. In fact, reports show that for about every $1 spent on email marketing, companies make about $44 in return. Today, email marketing is one of the most lucrative ways to build a lasting relationship with prospective customers. And it all starts with our friend, the lead magnet.
How do lead magnets work?
Let’s put lead magnets into context by looking at things from the perspective of your potential customer:
Let’s say you’re a health coach who teaches pregnant women how to eat and exercise safely. Mary, our example client, is a few months pregnant, is having a hard time controlling her sugar cravings, and is gaining more weight than her doctors have suggested.
Mary Googles “how to stop pregnant sugar cravings?”
Because you’ve been pumping out content focused on that audience, you have a blog post on just that subject! She clicks on the link, reads through your post, all the while seeing how much you know about stopping those midnight munches. This forms her trust in you as the expert.
Then, at the end of your blog post, you include a call to action—a convincing and clear invitation for Mary to take the next step down the sales funnel. Yours happens to be an invitation to sign up for your free guidebook, Conquering Hard Cravings During Pregnancy (a.k.a. your lead magnet).
Because this is directly related to what Mary is going through, she takes the bait and clicks the link, leading her to a landing page where she enters her name and email address in exchange for your guidebook.
And there you have it! You now have permission to float lovely nuggets of knowledge to her inbox whenever you want.
Every day or week you send out your emails, Mary will see you there and you’ll grow as a trusted authority on the topic of health during pregnancy. And when the timing is right, she’ll already feel comfortable trusting you with her money.
So, what do lead magnets look like?
With a little creativity, you have a wealth of options for a great lead magnet. Here are a few examples:
Beyond promising weekly fresh content, personal trainer, Tony Gentilcore, offers his subscribers a deadlift quick-tip guide. This lead magnet helps to resolve a common problem amidst his audience since deadlifting is difficult to complete with proper form.
The Minimalist Baker gives subscribers a free recipe book for joining their email list. Here, they’re creating a lead magnet that directly correlates with their audience’s interests by simply collecting all their “Fan Favorites.”
To get you started on your lead magnet, we’ve put together a list of 50 highly effective content topics you can use to capture new clients.
How to craft an effective lead magnet:
Top-notch lead magnets have three things in common: they’re transformative, simple, and valuable for your target audience. Let’s look a little closer at each of these elements.
1. Your lead magnet should get your audience a specific result.
Your lead magnet should be transformative for your audience, and this transformation needs to relate to their current needs and interests. Ask yourself:
“What impact will my lead magnet have on them? What is the result that my lead magnet will bring to my audience?”
Create a lead magnet that can help your audience overcome their challenges and move them towards their goal based on what aligns with your business.
2. Your lead magnet needs to be simple.
People often feel like giving value means creating a 100-page workbook. It absolutely does not.
With a lead magnet, you want to give your audience a quick win. This way, they’ll see the value of your services fast and wonder how else you can help them.
Make sure to keep the design of your lead magnet simple. While your design should align with your brand, you don’t have to get fancy or extra-creative.
Side Note: Canva is a great tool we recommend for any coach who wants to create a quick lead magnet that is visually appealing and simple. Check out this short video tutorial from Jason Whaling on how to make one yourself.
This practice also applies to your written content.
Write a strong and straight-forward call-to-action to sell your lead magnet, telling your prospective clients exactly what they will get when they sign up. Short, sweet, and to the point performs best when it comes to effective lead magnets.
3. Your lead magnet must be insanely valuable.
When it comes to creating great lead magnets, fire your big guns first. Don’t be afraid to give your best in your lead magnets. Prospective clients need to see what you can offer them. So make them fall in love with you at first click.
It’s easy to think, “I’m offering it to them for free, so my lead magnet can’t be my really good stuff.” But a lead magnet is like a first impression. It’s the first exposure a prospective client has with your services, so it’s imperative that your lead magnet is hella good.
Remember, this doesn’t mean making it overly complicated or too long. No matter what, your lead magnets should pack a punch and get your audience results.
Time to get the word out.
At this point, you may be thinking, “Great, but how do I actually promote these things and get people signing up?”
While in the beginning, responses to your lead magnet might be a little slower, you can ramp up the responses by sharing your lead magnet everywhere you can.
Post your lead magnet in a banner, sidebar, or popup on your website. Set up a landing page on your website to display your lead magnet. Share it across your social media pages, in any groups you’re involved with, and in your social media bios.
You can also try out ads on Instagram and Facebook. Social media ads and posts are one of the most common ways businesses grow their email lists and share details or leverage lead magnets.
Make sure your lead magnet leads somewhere.
Creating a great lead magnet is simple. There are no big secrets to it. With some discipline and a good handle on what your audience wants, you can build an email list filled with hundreds of thousands of people. And if you do that, just think of the impact it can have on your business and the people you’re looking to serve.
A strong lead magnet is just one of the steps to building your client base, your income, and your business. It’s the part of your marketing strategy that gets your audience’s attention on you. But then what? Once you’ve crafted a killer lead magnet and are drawing hundreds of potential clients to your site, what do you do with this captive audience?
You need to be armed and ready to promote your products. You don’t want to end up like a kid on stage, standing in the spotlight who forgot his lines. Once you have a captive audience, make sure your product or service is ready so that you can seamlessly guide them to the next step in your sales funnel and eventually encourage them to make a purchase.
We’re here to help…
Creating programs for your clients, building a platform where you can advertise these programs, and managing your programs can take months upon months to build out. We know. We did it ourselves. But now, we’re stocked with so much information that can help other fitness entrepreneurs who are ready to take their business to the next level.
This year, we thought to ourselves, what would have been a life-saver in those days when we were scaling our business?
So we created a tool that includes everything a health and fitness entrepreneur needs to run group training programs—from promoting and running their own fitness brands to accepting payments from clients—it’s all wrapped up into one app.
Sounds epic, right? For those who feel ready, schedule a demo with our team today. See you there.