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What you’ll learn in this episode:
Lead generators (also known as lead magnets) allow us to build our audience and following, and drive traffic to our paid offers. As business owners it is essential that we have an audience of aligned and interested so that when we launch or create products or services, there are people there who are willing to purchase from us and we generate sales. In order to adequately build a lead magnet that is valuable and captures the attention of a new audience or cold market, you need understand the different pieces of the lead magnet and how they work so that you can appropriately build and utilize it.
In today’s episode, I break down the pieces of lead magnet, what their purpose is, and how to know if your lead magnet is created properly and poised to convert clients onto your email list (and ultimately into sales).
Here’s a glance at this episode:
- Why do you need a lead magnet
- What are the four essential pieces that make up a lead magnet
- Why each one of those pieces matter and how they work together
- What to do if you have a lead magnet that isn’t work, and how to diagnose the issue using this framework
Mentioned in this episode:
Work/Connect with me:
Consults That Convert FREE Training

[0:01] Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week’s episode of the It’s Your offer Podcast. I’m just Miller and I’m your host for the day. So today we’re going to talk about something that’s been coming up quite a lot recently, and that is around lead magnets. So as we record this, it’s toward the end of the year of 2022, we’re getting ready to think about 2023 goal planning, we’re thinking about who we want to work with, who lights us up, what kind of problems we want to solve, and most importantly, who we want to attract into our business, to make up our business ecosystem, and most importantly, our audience. If you’re in business for yourself, you’ve probably heard about lead magnets. And you’ve probably heard of them as one of the most, I would say, enticing ways to have people come into your business and interact with your brand, a lead medica take a variety of different forms, whether it’s a webinar, or a checklist, or a downloadable or maybe it’s a free workshop you put on or something else that people will consume, to get some piece of value in exchange for their email address. But what has been coming up recently is a lot of talk around whether or not lead magnets are working is their lead magnet working is my clients lead magnet working. And so I thought this would be a great opportunity to come on the podcast and talk about the anatomy of a lead magnet, so that you could go out and actually look at your email lead magnet right now and diagnose how it’s doing. And if it’s not performing in the way that you want it to perform, what do you need to look at, to figure out how to fix that. Because a lead magnet and having a strong lead magnet is one of the easiest, most cost effective and streamlined way to build your audience and build your email list. And again, as business owners, you are nowhere without a consistent stream of traffic and an audience for you to help with the products or the services that you sell. So I want to jump right in and talk about the different parts of a lead magnet, and what you need to look at and how you need to put these pieces together in order for your lead magnet to perform well.
[2:13] So the first piece of the lead magnet is what I call the front end. It’s the part of the lead magnet that everyone in the public your cold market your audience is actually coming into contact with. So if you collect create a lead magnet, and you put it on your website, or you put it in social media, it would be the thing that people come into contact with first. So maybe it’s what is in your bio and Instagram, it might be the headline or the piece of information that’s on the button. If you click the link in the bio in Instagram, it’s the information that if you have your lead magnet on your website page, it’s that information or that headline that’s right there with the button that is enticing you to click on it. If you’re giving something away, like a free workshop or a free webinar, it would be the information that is on your landing page. That is enticing people to click on that thing to get more information. So I refer to this as the front end. And the important piece about the front end of your lead magnet is that it makes people want to consume it, it is juicy, and it promotes the action of having them click on this thing to either consume the content, if it’s a very quick thing, like put your email in here and then click this button and I’m gonna give you the information or to compel them to click on the button to learn more about this lead magnet. If you have a lead magnet that is performing well, you have mastered or optimized that front end piece to compel people to click, it is super, super important to remember that a lead magnet, most of the time is really targeted toward a cold market, it’s people that don’t know you very well, that are coming to get more information about you and some piece of value from you that they care about. That is going to prompt them to give you their email address in exchange for that. And so that front end piece needs to be optimized, it means it needs to be aligned to the person’s problem. It needs to be catchy, and it needs to compel people to click on that lead magnet and consume it. Okay, so that front end piece is your what I call the front end is really the headline, or the you know that that short description that compels people to want to click on this thing or give you their email address in order to get it. So my question to you right now is if you were to go and look at your lead magnet, what are what is the data telling you about your front end of your lead magnet? So what that means is are people being compelled to click on it Right, are they being compelled to go and get more information about this lead magnet. So you want to look at that to find out are is my lead magnet performing to pull people in, because that’s the front end piece.
[5:14] Second piece is once they get into the lead magnet. And this is an important distinction that if people are clicking on a link to get more information, for instance, if there’s a headline on your landing on your webpage, for example, on your website that says, Get the five mistakes you’re making with your lead magnet, click here on this button, when you click on that button, you then go to another landing page, that landing page is there to really sell your audience on the value of this lead magnet in exchange for you to give them your email address, this could overlap with the front end of the lead magnet, if for instance, you had on your website, you know, get the five things, mistakes that you’re making with your lead magnet, and then there was a box where you put an email and then a button, then that would almost serve as a front end and a landing page. But to keep things simple, we’re gonna pretend that people will come to your social media post or your website, or your link in the bio, and they’re going to click on that thing to come in and land on a landing page, where you are able to give them more information and sell them on why this lead magnet is important for them. And why they should put their information including their email address in this box to get the thing that it is that you’re promising them. When you’re on that landing page, the important piece around that is that your copy your messaging, anything that has to do with the with selling someone on? Why should they care about this lead magnet, why should they care about this content needs to be positioned on that page, to get them to convert to get them to give you their information. So when you think about the lead magnets that you have right now, are people actually giving you their email address, are they exchanging their information with you for something of value is that landing page converting to actually get the email and get, you know, allow the person to download the thing or get access to whatever it is that they want. Then once they consumed it, right, they come in through that they give you their email address, they give you their information.
[7:35] The next piece is the guts of it, it’s the content. And the purpose of the content in your lead magnet is to give them the thing of value. And to help them solve a problem that they have with whatever information you’re giving them. So that they go through a transformation process of being stuck or in pain or having a problem to having that problem solved through your content. So when people actually go into your lead magnet, you want to make sure that the content that you’re giving them is robust, it’s giving them a something really that they value, and that is going to give them something that they consider to be really incredible. And that is worth having given you their information. You also want to make sure that that content is aligned to your business and what it is that you’re going to sell to them upstream or other problems you’re gonna help them with, because the purpose of your lead magnet is bringing people into your ecosystem, so that you can help nurture them to becoming what the goal is, is a paying client for those people who actually have the problem that it is that you’re trying to solve. So that content within the lead magnet is often a piece of your process. It could be a high level of your process. It could be something that gives them you know, the what do they need to do type of information, but it’s something that they care about. And in giving them the content, it is warming them up, and moving them closer down the customer journey to being a paying client. So when you’re looking at your lead magnet, the thing to look at is are people actually consuming the information when they go in and get that content? Are they actually consuming it. So as an example, let’s pretend your lead magnet was the five mistakes you’re making with your lead magnet. And it’s going to be a three part video series that you send one video to them each day. So you’re looking at this lead magnet. And the first thing you’re looking at is are people actually clicking it. Do they want it? Are they going to this landing page to see how they can get more information about it. That’s the first piece. The second piece is are they actually giving you the information that you’re asking for their name and their email address to actually get these videos sent to them or to get access to the page where these videos live. Then the third piece of that is are they They actually watching the videos, right? are they consuming that content, because consuming the content is one of the important pieces to them getting the transformation. And moving through this customer journey to knowing, liking and trusting you and warming them up to be a potential paying customer, you know down the line.
[10:19] And then the fourth piece is the call to action. So in a lead magnet, what that means is after someone has consumed your content, you’re asking them to do something. And this is a very, very important point about a lead magnet, because some people think it’s like, I just give them the thing. And then they’re kind of like floating out there, because we’re not asking them to do anything, you have to always have a call to action. And so at the end of the consumption of that content, you need to ask them to do something, book a call with me, come to my webinar, go join this Facebook group, whatever it is, come listen to my podcasts, that can be another one, you want to have a call to action, where they’re going, you’re sending these people somewhere, and you’re making an offer to them. And you do this through a variety of different ways. People are put into an email sequence, often when it comes after lead magnets.
[11:10] And that’s a discussion for another time, but you’re warming them up and pulling them through that way and you’re calling them to action in that way. But at the end of the content, you want to make sure that there is a call to action, you want them to do something next. And you want to know what that is before you actually get into it. So you can make sure that your content is flowing easily and in a streamlined fashion, so that you’re moving people through that lead magnet into some place with ease. So you always want to have a call to action at the end. And so again, in in this format of looking and auditing your lead magnet, are you having people that are taking that call to action is it resulting in some sort of conversion. So for many of us, if you’re a coach listening to this, or even if you’re not a coach, often many businesses have these journeys that lead customers to a phone call to book a console call. So the metric that you would look at here, it’s are people actually booking those content calls is the content, converting in the way that you want it to? Or are they moving through that call to action to actually take action in the way that you want and produce that result that you want.
[12:20] If you are in a place where your lead magnet is not producing that ultimate result, which is people in this example, booking a call to talk to you about your services. The key is you have to go back to this lead magnet. And look at all four pieces of this lead magnet, you need to go back and look at the entire anatomy of the lead magnet to see where there might be breakage. Because if any one of these pieces is broken, your lead magnet is going to be struggling. And the way that you see this is most people come in and they see that the lead magnet is not converting, I am not booking console calls, I am not making more sales, I am not getting this end result at the end of this customer journey with this lead magnet that I want. And what people often do is they think, Oh, this lead magnet just doesn’t work. I’m going to try another one, I’m going to throw this whole thing out. And I’m just going to create a quiz, which was seems to be the thing that I hear everybody talking about these days. But it is really, really important that before you spend any time energy and money, trashing a lead magnet that could otherwise be awesome. You need to go in and diagnose what is happening at each one of these steps. So for instance, if no one is clicking on your lead magnet up front, if they’re not clicking on the front end, it could be a messaging and positioning issue. It could be the way that you’re teeing up this lead magnet so that people want to consume it, it may not be juicy enough, it may not be targeted enough, it may not be aligned enough around the problem that people have. So what it would take is for you to go up to that front part front part and really just optimize that. And once you do it, and people start clicking on it, then you can observe what’s happening behind it. I have seen people just change a headline on their website, in how they’re positioning their lead magnet to go from getting practically no clicks to converting a 50%. So for instance, you look at that front end and you see okay, maybe it’s a positioning a messaging issue up front. If you have people clicking on your lead magnet, but something is not happening downstream again, there’s still you’re not getting those sales, you’re not getting those conversions.
[14:48] The next place you could look at is that landing page. Okay, so people are clicking on your lead magnet. Now what is happening when they get on that landing page? Are they going the next step? to actually give you their information, if the answer is no, there could be an issue with your landing page, how are you positioning it? And how are you selling them on that lead magnet and the value of that to get them to give you that information. One of the issues I see with this part of the lead magnet is people make it too short. A lot of times, they’ll just have that front end piece like, hey, the five mistakes you make with your lead magnet, you know box to put in your email address, click this button. And people are really they’re very particular about who they give their email address to. So sometimes people just need to give them more of a reason to actually download this thing to give them the email address. And so a lot of times that landing page where people are landing a if they don’t have one, they just need to build one in. But sometimes the landing landing pages they do have one is sparse, or it might be just not selling people on that the value of that lead magnet enough. And so going back in and looking at that landing page is important to just tweak it and optimize it so it performs better, you can find out if your landing pages have the problem, if you’re getting a ton of clicks on your lead magnet, but then no one is actually really giving you the information to download it, you know there’s a mismatch there. And then if they’re giving you email addresses, but again, you’re not booking these console calls, you’re not getting the sales through there, then you look at the next piece, what is happening with the actual content. So are they consuming it? Where are they falling off? What’s going on in that content? That gives you some insight into what people are just getting stuck on? Especially if you have a video series, you can see where do people fall off? How much of that video Do they consume. If you’re sending it over three days, they just watch the first video and not the last two videos. And then they’re not, you know, hearing the call to action. So you start becoming the super sleuth by looking at this lead magnet and really diagnosing, like, what is going on here? And where am I losing people? If it’s in the content piece where people are falling off, then you have to look at where are they falling off?
[17:02] Why? What do I think is going on here? That’s not resonating with this person? Because when people think something is valuable, they will consume it. So is it the beginning of your first video to use this as an example? Is it the setup? Is it how you’re pulling people in? Is it the way that you’re telling people why they should care about it? All those things you start to look at in the content, to look for ways to make it more consumable. And you really want people to consume that content, because at the end of the content is the call to action. So you can look at that piece of it. And then last but not least with the call to action is do you have one? Are you being clear? Are people coming in clicking on this thing, giving you the email address listening to all your videos and content? And then nothing’s happening? Well, what’s going on there? Right? Where is there a mismatch? Is there a mismatch to not having a call to action, not having the right call to action, not getting people through a transformation or getting them a result that’s going to warrant them taking that next step is your call to action, ask too big for them based on what you’ve given them in your lead magnet, all those things are things that you look at. But the most important piece of this is rather than trashing an already good lead magnet, you want to go and really diagnose every single piece of this lead magnet. A lead magnet is not one thing, it is a series of things that come together. And when they come together optimally, they lead people to buy your offer to convert to a paying client. So in summary, if you’re a business owner, and you’re in the business of helping people and having paid clients and making money, you need to have a lead magnet that works. And in order to have a lead magnet that works, you need to understand all the pieces of the anatomy of the lead magnet. So then, as you collect data, as you put this lead magnet out there, you can break it down and look at where it may or may not be performing. And once you optimize this, you will have a lead magnet that is performing with ease. And let me tell you a strong lead magnet is a gift. It is a gift. It’s a gift to your clients. It’s a gift to you. And it’s a gift to making your business work and be streamlined with ease.
[19:15] So just to recap, what are those four pieces. So the first piece is that front end piece, it’s the piece that people consume and click on or that compels them to click on it. It could be the link in the bio, it could be the thing on your website page. It’s that thing that is the first step that comes into contact with the you know your cold market your traffic. The second piece is the landing page. So after they click on that thing to you know that headline or whatever it is the button to learn more about your lead magnet, it’s the page that they land on that landing page is there to sell people on the value of that lead magnet so that they can consume it. So that’s the second piece.
[19:54] The third piece is once they’ve given you their information and opted into that lead magnet. It’s the Short content, and that content is there to really move your clients through a transformation. And most importantly, move them through a transformation that is related to your paid offer down the line. So that content is whatever they’re getting whatever you’re giving them after they give you their information, and their email address.
[20:18] And the last piece, but not least, is the call to action. What are you asking people to do at the end? Is it clear? Is it robust? Are you making sure it’s aligned? And I would say, most importantly, are you making sure that you have one and it’s clear, because that is one of the biggest hurdles I’ve seen is that people come through these lead magnets, and then they kind of fall off a cliff, and they’re not being sent someone there. They’re definitely not being sent somewhere that is in line with the next step to nurture that person to be a paid customer. So if you are a business owner, and you are you struggling with your lead magnet right now, or it’s not performing the way that you want, I urge you to go and look at each piece of this lead magnet, walk through the different pieces of the anatomy of this lead magnet and look at your data and see where it may not be performing. I promise you sometimes just a little tweak can take your lead magnet from being kind of a total stinker to completely magnificent. And once you get that lead magnet rolling with ease, it will be a win win for you, your customers and your business.