So it’s finally time.  You’re a coach, speaker, or consultant, and you KNOW you need to have a lead magnet, a freebie, an easy way for people to connect with you so you can gather leads on your website.  But where to start?

Well, I’ve got you covered.  This article is going to lead you through my step-by-step process to create a lead magnet that not only looks good and gets downloaded but also one that brings you new clients.  After all, that’s the end game!  Am I right?

Let’s start with the basics:  what the heck is a lead magnet anyway?

What is a lead magnet?

A Lead Magnet (also known as a freebie or opt-in) is an irresistible bribe that offers something of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information.

Why do you need a lead magnet?

The truth is, most clients don’t just show up out of the blue in your inbox asking if they can give you money.  (I wish that were true!).

New clients find you in many different ways, either through recommendations, maybe networking groups or events, they see a post on social, they might stumble across a blog post you’ve written, or they see a comment you’ve made in a Facebook group and then check out your profile.

This is what we call the “customer journey,” – and each client takes a different journey to find you, connect with you, and ultimately buy from you.

Your lead magnet is a crucial part of that customer journey; it’s the space between “oh, who is that person?” and “hmmm, that sounds interesting. I think I’ll dip my toe in that water”.  It’s the easy micro-commitment that a prospect can take before committing to giving you cash.

A great lead magnet will make a prospect say – WOW – I want more of that!  And a poor lead magnet will repel.  Viciously.

What makes a BAD lead magnet?

I’ll never forget the time I attended a free webinar given by a very well-known marketer (I won’t say his name here, but for SURE you’ve heard of him). The webinar was his lead magnet – an on-demand video, a free piece of valuable content that I could consume to learn something (and to learn something about him).

I’m telling you, I was itching to buy. As a seasoned marketer, I know what “free webinar” means – there’s going to be an offer, a course, or a program at the end, that I can purchase.  I was ready!  I had seen this guy on social, heard great things, and he was talking about a subject matter I wanted to learn more about.

I even had my wallet out on my desk for when the time came for the pitch.

Holy smokes, did he fail!  The webinar was full of sell, sell, sell, with practically zero learning content, including a looooooooong part all about him growing up, the most basic, uninformed “teaching” of a self-explanatory concept, and a scare tactic sales pitch that let me know how much I would be losing out if I didn’t give him money.

I didn’t.

In fact, I felt so robbed of my precious time and energy that I wrote an email to his team expressing my disappointment. He was a well-respected man in his field, with thousands of followers, a huge name, and a stellar reputation. So how could it have been so bad?

Needless to say, I never heard back from anyone.

And that’s the point about a lead magnet – IT HAS TO BE YOUR BEST STUFF.  Don’t think that you can get away with some fluff, a quick checklist you dash off, a sell-sell-sell presentation, or other obvious stuff you’ve seen everywhere else.  People who opt-in for your lead magnet are WILLING TO BUY, and they just need you to prove that you’re worthy of their attention and their money.

So let’s go through my 10-Step-Process to creating a lead magnet that WORKS.

How To Create A Lead Magnet That Gets Clients

STEP 1 – Choose a place in the customer journey to focus on.

The customer journey refers to how you interact with your customers, both before and after the sale.  For a more comprehensive look at this, you can read this excellent article from Digital Marketer.

For a Lead Magnet, most coaches will concentrate on the “Top of Funnel” – a fancy way of saying the people you are trying to attract. They don’t know much about YOU; they only know about the problem that they have.

At this stage, we want to concentrate on a lead magnet that solves a specific problem they have that is top of mind.  Examples of a top-of-funnel lead magnet would be “How To” articles (blog posts), free ebooks or guides, quizzes, checklists, email courses, or video training.

Other points in the customer journey that you could create a lead magnet for would be for the “Middle of Funnel” or consideration/evaluation stage – they know you, they like you, but they are not sure precisely what you offer or why it’s a good fit for them.  Ideas for middle-of-funnel lead magnets might be brochures about your program, in-depth case studies, whitepapers, free challenges, private Facebook groups, or premium content.

The “Bottom of the Funnel,” or buying stage, is when they know about your solution specifically, and they just need that little push to move them into being a customer.  For a coach in this category, we usually look at a free trial of a membership, a discount on an offer, and most often, a discovery/consultation call.

What stage should YOU concentrate on?  It’s likely that you already have one “Bottom of Funnel” lead magnet set up – your discovery/consultation call.  If so, your first order of business is to create a lead magnet for the Top of the Funnel.  Once you have one there that’s working (and sometimes it takes several tries to get it right!), I suggest continuing to work on the middle of the funnel and bottom of the funnel.

STEP 2 – Consider the biggest pain point – and then make it ultra-specific

You’ve picked your customer journey stage – great!  Now think about what is the most significant pain point that your client has within that stage.  What keeps them up at night, worrying?  Remember, you are NOT thinking here about your solution or about what you teach. Instead, you need to put yourself into their shoes – what are they obsessing over, considering, struggling with?

If you’re not sure about this – I suggest you take a step backward and think about your positioning as a coach – I have a great resource here to get you started.

Some other places to research your ideal client’s pain points are:

• Look for books or audiobooks on your topic and read the reviews – what are people saying that identifies problems they are having?
• Look at your competition – what kind of lead magnets are they using?
• Think about questions you get over and over from your clients
• Ask your audience email list for their input
• Post a question or poll on your social media and look at the responses
• Look at your blog for what is the most popular topic, what gets the most traffic
• Look at your social media posts to see what topic has the most engagement and comments

Once you have a few ideas, see if you can get more specific.  If they’re worried about corporate culture, could you drill down further to talk about language to use in conflict resolution?  If they’re concerned about gaining weight, could you drill down further to talk about specific exercises for belly fat?

STEP 3 – Look at matching your BEST MATERIAL with that pain point

You’ve now determined one or two SPECIFIC pain points that your ideal client has.  Now it’s time to match your BEST MATERIAL with these pain points.  Maybe you don’t have something specific already created, and that’s ok!  That’s really what this process is all about.  Can you create something that delivers some of your most mind-blowing, knock your socks off, fundamental transformative ideas?

Many coaches get scared here and tell me they don’t want to “give it all away for free.”  To be honest, this is a false fear based on a scarcity mindset.  You’re a fantastic coach with an abundance of material to deliver, and your expertise will expand over time.  Front loading your relationship with a potential client with amazing value is the best way to turn that person into a raving fan.  Someone who says, “shut up and take my money!”.

Give away your BEST STUFF.  Don’t be that “not to be named marketer” from my story above.

STEP 4 – Deliver only ONE THING

This step is short and sweet.  Deliver only ONE THING.  Only ONE SOLUTION.  It might be your best stuff, but it’s only one single, small piece.  If they want more, they have to pay.

It’s a speedy world out there, with tons of competition.  Our attention spans are short. Your prospects should be able to consume your lead magnet and get a breakthrough or a-ha moment within 5 minutes while they’re finishing up their Starbucks.  Your lead magnet makes them go “oh wow” almost right away, while they still have their attention focused on YOU.

STEP 6 – Make sure it has high perceived value – and high actual value

Here is where we often fail when it comes to lead magnets.  We’ve uncovered a real problem, we have a great, best-material-style, quickly consumed piece of content – but no one is opting in.

Why?  The value exchange doesn’t seem worth it.  If your lead magnet seems like something I can get easily elsewhere, just by doing a google search and NOT having to give you my email address, I’m sorry, but I’m not opting in.

It just doesn’t have a high enough perceived value for me to give you my contact information.  Our email addresses are a personal piece of ourselves that we don’t want to part with lightly.  We need to see the value in the exchange.

Have a look at your lead magnet and ask yourself – would I give my email up for this?  Does it make my mouth water to get my hands on it, just a little?  And when I receive it – does it live up to the hype?  If you can answer yes to both points, then keep on truckin’.

STEP 7 – Leave them wanting more

YES, it’s your best stuff. YES, you’re solving a problem (and only ONE problem), but you also need to think about the logical next step they will want to take and show them that journey.  This is where a lead magnet moves from good to great.

The best kind of lead magnet for coaches solves a problem that ideally creates the next problem!  And that next problem is the one they need to pay you to solve.  So don’t give them the whole enchilada (see my point #4 above), and show them how taking the next step with you is the right decision.

STEP 8 – Create trust through design

First impressions are 94% design-related. If it doesn’t look good, you don’t look good, you won’t create that feeling of trust, and as coaches, trust is paramount to making sales.

Your lead magnet may be the best thing since sliced bread, but if it isn’t beautiful, readable, well-designed, and trustworthy – no one is going to take the time to consume it. So spend the money or the time on making it stellar, and your conversions from opt-in to sales will increase, guaranteed.

If you are working with me to create your lead magnet – you can leave step 8 up to me – my team will make sure your lead magnet looks professional, beautiful, and instills trust through great design.

STEP 9 – Include your mini-bio, and all your contact information

Here’s something I see people forget all the time.  Don’t forget to promote yourself!  A great lead magnet will offer a small glimpse into your world, telling people who you are, what you excel at, and how to get in touch with you.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that they already know you just because they are opting in.  Many potential leads will land on your lead magnet page from a shared social media post or a quick google search, and they may have no idea who you are.  Make it clear!

STEP 10 – Have a clear CTA at the end

A CTA – or Call To Action – is the message you give telling them what to do to continue the journey with you.  Choose only ONE CTA, and repeat it if necessary throughout your lead magnet.

Often for coaches, your CTA is “Book A Call,” – but it can be anything that makes sense for your client as the next step in their journey.  Maybe they need to read the next blog post in the series, or they need to join your Facebook group, or they should try out your membership for the one-week free trial – just make it clear and consistent.

BONUS – Your Lead Magnet Title Is Everything

What’s in a name?  Unfortunately, Shakespeare got it wrong (well, when it comes to lead magnets, anyway).  All the hard work and excellent content you’ve put into your lead magnet means nothing if the name or title isn’t sexy. Catchy. Mouth-watering. Magnetic.

Your title is the only part of your lead magnet (after the page’s design) that people will consume to entice them to give you their email address. So getting it right can make or break your conversion rate.

For some help in understanding what a great title looks like, you can read this excellent article by Neil Patel.

I usually start my process by using a working title while creating the lead magnet.  Then once the content is completed, I work on the actual title.  Brain dumping AT LEAST 20 different titles should be the standard, and then run them through this title analyzer by MonsterInsights.

Continue to tweak until it’s right.

Sometimes changing a title can make a huge difference! For example, a client I was working with on a website redesign recently wasn’t getting the conversion rate we both wanted, so we kept the same content and changed the title.  Boom!  Her conversion rate skyrocketed from 19% to 57% – a considerable improvement.

So there you have it, a proven, tested method to develop a lead magnet that will grow your email list and convert like crazy!

But I’m not just going to leave you there. I know that sometimes you just need a bunch of IDEAS to get those creative juices flowing.  So here is a pretty comprehensive list of lead magnet ideas for coaches and consultants to provide you with some inspiration:

Lead Magnet Ideas For Coaches

• Report or Guide or Ebook
• Cheat Sheet or Checklist
• Content Upgrade (when you have a download that relates to a blog post)
• Toolkit or Resource List
• Video Training
• Free Trial / Software Download
• Discount / Free Shipping
• Quiz or Survey
• Assessment or Test
• Sales Material / Brochure / Catalog
• Audio File
• Swipe File
• Infographic
• Chapter of your book
• Calculator
• Contest or Giveaway
• Challenge
• Event Recording or Training
• Private Facebook Group
• Webinar
• Script
• Workshop
• Free Book + Shipping
• Curated content or roundup
• Worksheet
• Calendar
• Free Sample
• Free Quote
• Mini-Course
• Email Course
• Quick Start Guide
• Mindmap
• Case Study
• Whitepaper
• Free Consultation
• Coupon Code
• Expert reviews or teardowns
• Branded swag
• Slideshare download
• Library of Content
• Loyalty Programs
• Business Assessments

Questions? Need help? Want to bounce ideas off of me and work on this together? That’s what I’m here for! You can book a call with me here for a free 15-minute chat, and we’ll talk about YOUR killer lead magnet. Easy peasy.