Providing clients and potential clients with a free resource is a proven small business marketing strategy. One of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to do that is by offering free, downloadable, lead magnets. A lead magnet is an incentive to tempt potential customers to take a specific action. That action might be subscribing to your newsletter, visiting your website, or showing up at your live event.
Part of content marketing is developing a lead magnet – like a downloadable checklist, whitepaper, ebook, or special report is usually the easiest and least expensive shareable resource you can create. Customers love getting things for free. They especially love it if what they are given at no cost has a high value. Here are four easy steps to creating a freebie lead magnet to give away on your small business website.
- Create a free resource people need and want. Check out what’s happening and trending in your industry or genre. Offer helpful information or content your audience is craving.
- Don’t get too technical – make sure your resource is fun, informative and descriptive with a professional air. Try adding humor and images to make it more engaging and use bullet points to make it skimmable and easy to read.
- Proofread and edit your lead magnet and other online resources before you make them available to the public. You do not want to send out a professional whitepaper to rep your business that is rife with errors.
- Finally, make sure the very last section or page of your free resource offers every possible way to contact you – all your social media outlets, a list of the services you provide, additional product or service offerings, ordering info, and a compelling special offer.
Choose one or more of these steps to create a lead magnet or other giveaway that can help build grow your business. Check out your favorite social media sites to see how other SBOs are using this strategy to grow their email list, build client interactions, and increase sales.