If you want to grow your email list, learning how to create high-converting opt-in pages is essential.
Capturing the attention of a cold audience and transforming them into dedicated subscribers is no small feat for any solopreneur. Yet, you can seamlessly draw them into your ecosystem with a high-converting lead magnet.
In this episode, we’re unpacking the strategy behind creating a killer lead magnet—from defining its purpose and conducting crucial prework to crafting compelling copy and effectively promoting it.
In This Podcast Episode, You’ll Discover
- The Crucial Role of Prework: Before you start designing a visually appealing lead magnet, it’s important to understand why non-sexy prework is the foundation of its success.
- Why ChatGPT Can’t Create Your Copy: Learn why great copywriting is the backbone of a successful lead magnet.
- Promotion Strategies: Discover ten low-cost strategies to keep your freebies in front of your audience.
- Audience Alignment: Understand why many lead magnets fail and how to ensure your offer meets your audience’s needs and pain points.
- Measuring and Optimizing: Learn how to diagnose underperformance. I’ll discuss three reasons lead magnets don’t convert and provide actionable solutions to address these issues.
Your email list is your greatest asset, and it begins with your lead magnet.
Episode Key Takeaways
Ten Strategic Ways to Promote Your Lead Magnet and Grow Your Email List:
- Paid Ads: Use targeted advertising on platforms like LinkedIn, Meta, and Instagram to drive traffic directly to your opt-in page.
- Keyword-Driven Posts: Enhance your SEO efforts by creating podcasts or blog posts centered around keywords relevant to your targeted audience.
- Website Traffic: Make the most of every website visit by incorporating pop-ups, banners, or sidebar widgets that prompt visitors to download your lead magnet, especially on high-traffic pages like your homepage or blog.
- Podcast Guesting: Leverage podcast appearances to discuss topics related to your lead magnet, ending with a direct invitation to visit your opt-in page.
- Guest Workshops or Summits: Demonstrate your expertise live and offer participants your lead magnet as a free gift.
- Business Partnerships: Build relationships with peers who have a similar audience. Engage in joint virtual events or offer to write a guest blog post.
- Email Signatures: Include a link to your lead magnet in your email signature as a subtle but constant reminder to email recipients.
- Social Media Channels: Regularly promote your lead magnet across all your social media platforms, sharing snippets and teasers to maintain engagement and visibility.
- Community Engagement: Participate in online forums and communities where your target audience is active, offering value and making your lead magnet accessible in your profile or bio.
- Newsletters and Articles: Regularly feature your lead magnet in newsletters and articles, giving readers easy access and a clear path to your free resource.
Quotes to Remember
- A lead magnet is more than just a giveaway—it’s your first interaction with potential subscribers.
- A lead magnet keeps your prospecting efforts buzzing 24/7.
- Copywriting matters, so give this process serious attention when creating a lead magnet.
- Successful solopreneurs aren’t just creators but relentless promoters
- Regularly asking for the sale, even when it’s free.
Related Episodes
#93 Simple AI Content Creation Tips to Boost Productivity
#85 How to Reverse-Engineer Free Lead Magnets
Your Next Step
1. Visit My LinkedIn Newsletter and Read…
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2. Join My Upcoming Lead Magnets That Convert Workshop
Ready to boost your lead magnet strategy and get days’ worth of work done in just a few hours with an expert copywriter?
Don’t miss my interactive workshop, designed specifically for solopreneurs like you!
Spots are limited to keep the workshop interactive and personalized, so don’t delay. Check out what you’ll gain from this transformative experience and secure your spot now!
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Podcast Transcript
Marisa Shadrick [00:00:26]:
Hey there, Marisa Shadrick here. Thank you for joining me for another episode of Amplify Your Authority. And today’s topic is really one that I’ve been looking at for a number of months, and it’s about lead magnets. Now, you may know that Kathy Ferrer and I, we co host one of the podcast episodes once a month, and we critique opt in pages. And I also had been doing some critiques on the side for some of my clients and looking at some of their assets and looking at their lead magnets. And what I’ve discovered is that a lot of them are either old or they’re not really targeted for their audience. There’s some broken pieces, and so it’s not converting. And when it’s designed beautifully and there’s a great opt in, they’re not promoting it.
Marisa Shadrick [00:01:18]:
They’re creating content, but forgetting the call to action. And when it comes to lead magnets, just like products and services, we’ve got to give a call to action. We have to sell it even when it’s free. So I’m going to touch on a few points today about lead magnets, because I feel it’s really important. It’s really what they call top of the funnel. It’s what we do to be able to acquire an email and grow our email list. So a lead magnet is more than just a giveaway. It’s more than reciprocity.
Marisa Shadrick [00:01:49]:
It’s the first interaction with potential subscribers. It’s that first impression, and it’s a critical piece for your marketing outreach. It’s something that needs to be in place, and you should have multiple ones. Maybe create a fresh one once a year, or maybe test a couple of them to see which one resonates. But before you even open up Canva to create a design, before you think, oh, this is a great idea. I’m gonna create this. You’ve got to do the prework first. And I think this is where a lot of the lead magnets fall flat and they don’t convert because we don’t do the non sexy work.
Marisa Shadrick [00:02:28]:
We wanna get on Canva or find a template and make something really beautiful, but we don’t think of all the other pieces that are important. And we’ve got to get people off of social media and into our ecosystem. Because as you know, we don’t own the platforms. We don’t own LinkedIn. We don’t own Instagram. We don’t own Facebook. It’s literally the difference between renting property and owning property. So your lead magnet allows you to grow your email list, which in my opinion is your greatest asset.
Marisa Shadrick [00:03:01]:
This way you don’t have the feast and famine. This way you’re growing a following of people that are interested in what you offer. Therefore, your lead magnet has to be very strategic and aligned to what you offer so that when people join you and the conversations you have through newsletters and other content that you push out, it makes sense, and they see the value. When you’re ready to promote, then your email list becomes extremely valuable because these people are more likely to raise their hand and say, yes, I’m interested in this product and I want to join because they’ve already have a history with you. You’ve already built that relationship. You’ve already built the trust. The lead magnet is the bridge that connects their world to yours. So it’s really important to take the time to figure out how do I craft a lead magnet.
Marisa Shadrick [00:03:54]:
Now I have to tell you ahead of time, the pre work may take a little bit of time, but not tonnes of time. When you think about all the pieces involved in creating a lead magnet and opt in and a thank you and then connecting everything and then creating an email sequence, you don’t wanna do all that work, which can be hours, maybe even days, if you don’t have the right lead magnet. And so that’s why it’s important to spend some time, and it’s not gonna be the same amount of time as the actual execution of creating one, it’s gonna be a little bit of time to do some pre work and make sure that you’re creating the right resource for your niche, for your audience. So the time that you invest is going to pay ongoing dividends, so it’s really important. And you have to remember that no aesthetically beautiful resource that has been designed professionally or on Canva is ever going to convert if it’s not aligned. So it’s not gonna revive a fundamentally flawed concept. They’ll never see your PDF document if the messaging is wrong because the opt in page is really what does the heavy lifting and brings people in. So what do we do? So I’ll keep this really brief and give you step by step of what the pre work looks like, because this is gonna help you make sure that you give your audience exactly what they’re looking for, what they need, and what they want more importantly.
Marisa Shadrick [00:05:31]:
So oftentimes, we try to align maybe our resource to some blueprint or some type of framework, but is that what they’re looking for? Are they typing in a search box? What is the blueprint for whatever your product is? Probably not. So my first point is Google keyword search. Look to see what it is that they’re looking for. Now your blueprint could answer that question, could solve it, but you’re not gonna lead with that. You’re going to lead with their pain point. And so a Google search will give you an idea of what people are looking for and what’s ranking. The second you can do is a community search. Now community search can be done in different ways.
Marisa Shadrick [00:06:19]:
Now many people love Facebook groups. Many people are involved in forums, many people join webinars. These are places where you want to listen very intently and pay attention to maybe the chat inside of a webinar or some type of community that you’re part of, and note the questions that the attendees are asking. So if you’re in some type of training where there’s audience alignment and your people are there, listen to what they’re asking. And this is something you can do on an ongoing basis. It’s not just check it off my list and I’m done. It’s an ongoing way of being able to keep your finger on the pulse of your market. The third thing you can do would be quizzes and surveys.
Marisa Shadrick [00:07:08]:
Now the best ones are the ones where you ask one question, and I learned this from expert Ryan Levesque. He was amazing. He had the ask method company, and he came up with the single strategic question that everybody quotes him, but seldom give him credit for it. And here’s the question, when it comes to blank, which is your topic, what is your single biggest challenge? This question is gold because it’s so simple, and it gives you voice of audience. It gives you the language they’re using to explain what it is they’re struggling with, and these can be sprinkled in different places. If you do trainings and workshops, do you give them a one question survey? If you do a webinar, do you give them a one question survey? These can be sprinkled in in different places to get feedback about the way you present, about the simplicity of it, or about what they think. So these one question surveys are so helpful, and these should be done periodically, or you can even email your email list and ask them the one question as well. Also, you need to make sure that there’s business alignment.
Marisa Shadrick [00:08:21]:
And what do I mean by that? Obviously, what you’re trying to do is create a resource that eventually lead to a product or a service or a coaching program of some sort, so you don’t wanna have a disconnect. Whatever it is that you offer them based on the need that they have right now, if you have the solution, reverse engineer your funnel and determine what a free offer or a first logical step would be. So what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to identify the piece of the solution. Perhaps it’s a preliminary insight or a tool that can serve as a standalone. It could be your blueprint or your success path, but you don’t lead with that. That’s what they discover once they’ve opted in and once they open up the PDF file and you explain why this blueprint is so helpful for them. They have no idea it’s a blueprint. They just know that you have some type of answer for a pain or a struggle that they have.
Marisa Shadrick [00:09:22]:
So when you do this, you’re aligning your lead magnet to your paid offers, which will help attract targeted leads, which is what we want. You know that because they’ve opted into your lead magnet and they’re now on your email list, these are warm prospects that most likely will be interested in your next offer. So for optimizing the lead magnet, we’re still not creating it on Canva. The next step is so critical. It’s the copywriting, because if the copy doesn’t do its job, they will never see your beautifully designed PDF. They’ll never see it. And so the copy is so important, and this is where I think people, because of maybe technology or because of the tool they’re using, a few lines is not enough. You need to have a good headline.
Marisa Shadrick [00:10:14]:
You need to have a subhead. You need to have some bullets that explains what’s in it for them. You need to really pinpoint on the struggle and let them know that this resource is gonna give them the solution. And so this part is really what does the heavy lifting on an ongoing basis. It will work for you 247 if it’s done correctly. So what you’re doing is that you are providing them with a significant milestone. So think of it this way. Think of it as your audience has a pebble in their shoe, and that represents that nagging issue that is slowing them down, not allowing them to walk to their destination.
Marisa Shadrick [00:11:00]:
And your resource is a solution and the relief to not only feel better, but remove that pebble. So don’t think of a huge solution where it’s gonna be this huge document. You’re just helping them reach a milestone. So the clarity of the message really is kind of twofold. We’re looking at the obvious external struggle, but we’re also looking at the consequence of this external struggle. And that means there’s going to be an internal tension. What is that internal tension? And when we combine this and we look at the external and the internal tension that this external problem creates, then we can look at the opposite, the solution, and show them the transformation they can have or the milestone they can reach with this lead magnet. And that’s what you need to craft in your copy to make it really easy for them to understand this is going to remove the pebble from my shoe, and I’m gonna reach that milestone that I need right now, and I can continue to move forward.
Marisa Shadrick [00:12:11]:
It’s not gonna answer all their questions. It’s not gonna solve every problem they have. You have to pick 1, and remember to express the tangible and intangible benefit in your copy. So when you focus on one problem is going to be very specific, Specificity is important, and that will help you be clear with your copy. When you try to have too much in a lead magnet, then the copy gets really muddy because we’re trying to include too much in the headline and the subhead. We’re trying to write too much, and then we we confuse everyone. It needs to be simple, not clever, and it needs to be clear. So always go for clear, simple, not clever.
Marisa Shadrick [00:12:53]:
So when you design the top of the funnel lead magnet and you’ve done all this prework, that’s when you can finally go into Canva or whatever design tool you have and create the resource. And a simple way to create a resource is to have a cover with the headline and the subhead that you’ve created, and the nice thing about creating a cover in Canva, you can then create some images of your resource that you can put on your opt in page. So it kinda helps on both ends. It makes your design really nice, but then you can use that and say, hey, here’s what’s included inside. So when you opt in, you’re gonna get this resource, and you can show them a picture of it. So you can go in Canva, and you’ll have a cover. You’ll have a welcome page. Perhaps you can just not necessarily introduce yourself, but say why you created this resource and you understand where they are, their journey and the tension that they’re feeling, and that this resource has proven to be effective for you, and you’re sharing it now with them.
Marisa Shadrick [00:13:53]:
Then once you have the cover and the welcome, you have the content. And I’m sure you know your content really well, so that’s not gonna be a problem to have the content which could be a checklist. A lot of these quick wins, like checklists or a quick guide or even some type of blueprint or quotes or something like that that they can consume very quickly seems to be very effective than longer ones. But you know what? There’s always someone that breaks the rule. So do what’s right for your audience, do what’s right for your niche, and provide that resource. Then on the last page, you’re going to have the call to action. What’s the next step? And that will depend on what you wanna provide, but have a call to action. Make that last page a call to action, and then below, you can have a little bit about you, and that would be perfect.
Marisa Shadrick [00:14:44]:
So once you do that, in Canva, while you’re still there, you can create all the design work for the opt in page. In fact, you can even create opt in pages on Canva now. They have, website type templates too that you can create, but you can create a lot of the design work there if you want. So when you create the opt in page, you wanna make sure it’s emotionally compelling. So you look at the pre work, and you look at all the work you did before when you looked at the external and the internal struggle they’re going through, and you start crafting the opt in page with a headline, a subhead, some bullets, and a button. Most opt ins, that’s all you need, depends on what the opt in is. You could add another layer below where you have some testimonials or you have about you. It just depends on what you’re offering, what it’s for in your audience.
Marisa Shadrick [00:15:35]:
So when you’re doing this, you want them to see themselves in the narrative, and again, a lot of this is really leaning on the copywriting. You want the copy great. It’s not something you can just ask chat gpt to give you some great copy, and it will produce it. You have to think of what your audience needs, and then you can give chat gpt some prompts, and you’ll have to revise it and tweak it and work with it, wordsmith it a little bit to get it right. And then the call to action should be very, very clear. And then you should also have a thank you page. Don’t just create an opt in page and have it go straight to a Google Doc. I think that’s probably a poor practice.
Marisa Shadrick [00:16:20]:
It gets it delivered, but you want them getting used to receiving emails. So you want the resource to be in the first email that you send out. And by just giving it to them, then they’re done. They don’t wanna see any emails from you because they already got the document. So the best practice would be opt in, redirect to a thank you page where you really thank them. It’s a a chance to show gratitude, and you thank them for opting in, and it could be a a warm heading headline that you put on there. It could have a video. It could have an image.
Marisa Shadrick [00:16:54]:
You could keep it really, really simple, and you can use the same thank you template for all your future lead magnets. You don’t have to overcomplicate this unless it’s specific to a webinar or something else. But most of the time, you can keep the same one, and you can have a video if you want. Keep it really simple, but it’s just nice to acknowledge them, and then they know that they did everything right. And you can let them know on the thank you page what their next steps are. So what are those? It could just be whatever fits for your business, but here’s an example. Number 1 would be safe list these emails, and you can let them know that you are sending them the resource and be sure to check. And if they don’t see it, check their spam folder.
Marisa Shadrick [00:17:36]:
Number 2, you can direct them to your preferred social media channel. They’re already on your email list now, and maybe engaging with them on Facebook or on LinkedIn makes sense. If it doesn’t, you don’t have to do that. And then thirdly, you can direct them to more valuable content. So do you write blog posts, or do you have podcasts? You can let them know, hey. Here’s a great podcast episode where I talk about the same topic. You might be interested in it, and be sure to look for new episodes once a week. So you let them know, and then you can give them a little bit more about what to expect being on the email list in an email itself, but you can give them just a brief little overview, a snapshot on the thank you page.
Marisa Shadrick [00:18:20]:
That leads to the email sequence. You can have 3 to 5 emails depending on what the resource was. The first one is always acknowledging them, letting them know you understand some of the struggles they’re having, and that this resource is going to help them achieve whatever the transformation is. You have a link. You host the actual resource in Google Drive. That’s the easiest. You can use Dropbox or others, but I find Google Drive to be super, super easy. So make sure when you host your resource in Google Drive, you adjust the settings.
Marisa Shadrick [00:18:53]:
So you click the share button, and you make sure it’s not set to private. You make sure that anyone with the link can access it or view it, and then you click that so that you get a link that they can use to download and make it their own Google Drive. Because sometimes if people forget and they have it on private, they won’t be able to access it. And then it’s time to promote. You’ve done all this work, and this is the piece that I’ve started at the beginning of the podcast to say people stop there. They think I put it on my website. That’s enough. You need to ask for the sale, and that includes freebies.
Marisa Shadrick [00:19:36]:
If you don’t ask, they’re not going to raise their hand. So the promotion part is ongoing. And so it’s important to realize that we need to provide a call to action anytime we’re creating content. I don’t care if it’s a real, whatever it is you’re producing, you’ve got to give them a call to action. So that means your content needs to be aligned to your topic. So stay within your topic, create a lead magnet that’s going to solve a problem for them, a challenge for them, and then talk about it in little snippets on social. There’s different ways to do this, but it really is a process of attracting them. So research is going to help attract.
Marisa Shadrick [00:20:20]:
That’s what attracts is the research. It’s not people think, well, how do I attract my audience? You gotta start with the right messaging, and then you start engaging with them on social. They are able to self identify with all that research you did. The copy is going to compel them to want to click and read more and click that button, and then once they’re in your email list you continue the conversation and you start building relationship and trust. So there’s different ways to promote your lead magnet, and I’m gonna put a copy of this in the show notes. There’s actually, I have 10 of them here. So I’ll just read through it, and then you can look at them in detail in the show notes. And the first one is obviously paid ads.
Marisa Shadrick [00:21:04]:
So you can look at paid ads if that’s something you wanna do and put very minimal amount to see if to push it out. But I would first try organically to see if you really nailed the need before you invest in paid ads. So paid ads is 1. Number 2 is keyword driven posts. We’re back to keywords. So all that work you do for the lead magnet is gonna help you also figure out what kind of post to create. Number 3 is website traffic. Make sure you leverage your website.
Marisa Shadrick [00:21:35]:
Make sure your website you have metadata and keywords on your pages, so it can get found too, and leverage the website with pop ups, banners, side widgets. Just make sure that you’re leveraging as much as possible so they can see the lead magnet. Number 4 is podcast guesting. So if you’re talking to an audience that’s very much aligned, not just any pod podcast, you wanna appear on the ones that are aligned and where your audience exists, then you can share your resource. Number 5 would be guest workshops and summits. I’ve done quite a few of these where I appear as a guest and I’m able to offer my free resource. Number 6 is business partnerships. Other people that share the same type of audience, but do a slightly different type of business.
Marisa Shadrick [00:22:23]:
You can do the same thing. You can be able to do some kind of joint virtual event together or offer to write a guest blog post. I did this for Mike Kim, and I wrote a guest blog post for him, and that brought me leads as well and subscribers. Or you can write for a magazine. I’m gonna be writing for a magazine here starting next month, now that the move is behind me and I’m no longer in moving mode, but that’s another way to get some of those those links to your website. Number 7 is email signature. That’s a great place, especially if you send out a lot of emails to not only have your name and have maybe your contact information, but have a where to start and give them a link to your lead magnet opt in page. Number 8 is obviously social media channels.
Marisa Shadrick [00:23:12]:
You wanna be able to have it there. Anytime you’re creating content or snippets, you wanna give a call to action. And number 9 is community engagement. We talked about this when you participate in forums. Sometimes there’s private communities. Sometimes they have a day where you can promote your work, and that’s would be the time to not ask for a sale, but offer a free resource. So there’s lots of forums, communities, private groups that perhaps is an opportunity for you to provide a helpful resource. And number 10 is newsletters and articles.
Marisa Shadrick [00:23:45]:
It’s a great way to be able to do that if you create some type of newsletter. Now I’m talking about a newsletter that’s outside of your website, like for example, LinkedIn. You can have articles and newsletters there, and newsletters are a great way to be able to add a lot of content. So one of the ones I recently published was the ultimate guide to lead magnets for strategic list building. So again, keyword driven, and so you can create something on another platform, a newsletter with valuable content, and have a lead magnet at the end, a call to action. So the key here is to find the one that works for you based on the time that you have, your bandwidth, all of that, which one would work for you to promote. And so when you figure that out, then you can be more consistent. If you’re trying all these different things, it’s gonna be hard to be consistent because you’re not gonna get a rhythm or a work flow going.
Marisa Shadrick [00:24:41]:
So pick 1 and then be consistent. And then you have to diagnose the underperformance. When lead magnets are not converting well, you’ll have to figure out, well, why is it not converting? And some of the things from experience that I’ve noticed when I’ve reviewed and critique lead magnets is three things. Number 1, there’s no audience alignment, and number 2 is the value is not clear. The benefit is not clear. So number 1, audience alignment has to do with research. Number 2, value clarity has to do with copywriting. Right? And number 3 is under promoting, and that’s probably the biggest one underpromoting.
Marisa Shadrick [00:25:25]:
So it’s really important to realize that we always should be asking for the sale even when it’s a free offer. So some final thoughts that when you create a lead magnet, it doesn’t end there with the creation. It’s just the beginning. And successful entrepreneurs are relentless promoters. They’re always promoting. There’s always a call to action. So don’t be shy about that. Ask for the sale because in this case it’s free and it’s helpful And you’ve already created some type of reciprocity.
Marisa Shadrick [00:25:59]:
You’ve already provided something. And so why not offer them this resource that will not only enhance their learning, but also it’s your compensation for all the work that you’ve done, all the free work that you’ve done. So I want to invite you to check out one of my newsletters that I have on LinkedIn. It is the one I referenced, the ultimate guide to lead magnets for strategic list building. I listed all the steps in great detail, so you can follow along, and there’s some graphics as well in there that you can look at. So I would encourage you to go to the link provided in the show notes so that you can read that newsletter and get an idea what I mean as far as a call to action and having a way to be able to promote your lead magnet. So that’s all I have for you. I know it’s a lot, but if you go to the LinkedIn newsletter and you click the ultimate guide to lead magnets for strategic list building, you’re gonna find all this content that I have provided there.
Marisa Shadrick [00:27:00]:
I hope that was helpful. And if you have any questions or you need a critique, just reach out to me, and we’ll make that happen. So anyway, until next time. Take care. Bye by
