Sometime in the Summer of 1908, the Hoover family debuted their newest product-an upright vacuum that sucked up materials while also sweeping them. The vacuum-then known as the "electric suction sweeper" used a motor to power the suction process and bring any materials that the vacuum passed over into a bag. A simple solution to an existing problem. The Hoover was born and the company lives on 100+ years later. The beauty of the product is the manner in which the vacuum sees materials around it and sucks them up, leaving no residue or doubt. As marketers, we rarely get a chance to bring a customer or a potential lead into such a powerful vortex. Our TV commercial might attract an audience and slowly pull a customer in. A billboard might serve as a gentle reminder of the strength and competitive advantage of a brand-a slight pull on the purse strings of a consumer. But rarely do we get the chance to suck in customers and spit them out exactly where we want them.
Lead magnets aren't perfect-and they certainly aren't new-but they might do a better job sucking in leads than an Hoover will. The definition of an actual lead magnet spans quite a range. IMScalable defined a lead magnet as "an ethical bribe." Social Media authority Stuart Davidson pointed to a lead magnet being "something of great value you offer to your audience for free in exchange for their contact information." DigitalMarketer suggested it was "an irresistible bribe offering a specific chunk of value to a prospect in exchange for their contact information." Regardless of the actual definition, the point is a lead magnet is a fabulous way to bring customers into your lead funnel by giving them something they want or need. Somewhere deep in the bowels of academia, an old crusty marketing professor is saying "I told you content is king!" This methodology follows the principle that with more content, comes a more engaged consumer.
There are some great lists out there that experts in the industry have published about the best lead magnets and if you are looking to figure out how to leverage them, the more you read about best practices, the better. Two of the lead magnets that have become increasingly popular on social media and we have seen convert well are quizzes and e-books.
How to Create A Quiz That Will Convert
- Find a free service that will allow you to create a quiz (qzzr, quizstar, etc)
There is clearly a distinction on the free products and the pay models, but for your first test, one of the free models will do.
- Create quiz that is relevant to your industry
You don't need to overdo it here. If you are in the insurance industry the quiz doesn't need to be a look at your insurance policy options-it can be a bit more light-hearted like: Is your town safe or unsafe?
- Signups, pass-thrus and branding
Get your customers going with the quiz and throw a pixel on them to retarget to later. Or perhaps you ask them to opt-in to your newsletter for future content. Another option you have is to pass the customers to your landing page after they complete the quiz. Finally, you have the option of just accepting the quiz as a branding play and hoping your customers engage with the brand and share it on social media, etc.
How to Create an E-Book That Will Convert
The key on this one is passion. No one wants to read a 13-page ebook on a subject that you aren't passionate on or have authority on. The ebook could just be a way of helping customers understand a complex problem-or something a bit more benign like a list of your product offers. Regardless, you have potential leads who have solicited this material and now you can market data to them as you wish.
Regardless of your approach to lead generation, the convert with content movement is alive and well and there are more tools being utilized everyday to help you engage with your customers. So go ahead-create a workbook for your clients-or maybe offer them an assessment to test their readiness for a product. Whatever it is, just make sure you would actually want it if you were shopping for the product. After all, what good is a vacuum if it isn't plugged in!