Lead Magnets: Landing Clients with Exclusive Content

Lead magnets are high-value content that encourages website visitors to divulge their contact information, buying habits, and sales cycle position through web form “gateways”.

Essentially, lead magnets are “bait”, but landing quality clients requires more than a flashy lure. You’ve got to score style points with your casting technique, get them to bite, and keep them hooked.

What Types of Content Make Great Lead Magnets?

Exclusive content makes your visitors feel they’re being rewarded for their efforts, but only if you provide useful, relatable, and easy-to-consume content. That content should be relevant to your keywords, and further refined by the navigation choices your viewer made to get there.

A real estate agent whose website allows visitors to personalize their experience through navigation options might post boots-on-the-ground neighborhood video tours for out-of-state buyers relocating to the area.

A financial planner’s site visitor who is interested in socially-responsible investments could find their way to a gated page with eye-catching infographics about projected returns, and links to a free e-book detailing suitable mutual funds.

An upscale fitness club trying to appeal to middle-aged women could offer instructional videos, exercise tips, and recipes tailored to that specific demographic.

Be specific on your gate forms about what your visitors are getting in exchange for their contact information, and then over-deliver on your promise.

Strategize Your Gating

How you ask for information is as important as the questions you ask. Are you comfortable sharing your personal information with strangers? It’s important to build a rudimentary level of trust with your visitors; otherwise, you might as well just tack your business card to a laundromat bulletin board.

Don’t Make Customers Hate You in the First Ten Seconds

We’ve become conditioned to closing pop-ups, especially when they block the main landing page of a website.

Picture this: You search for a local animal rescue, and click the link at the top of your search engine results page (SERP). And… BAM! A huge square fills your screen, asking you to provide your e-mail address.

Annoyed, you look for the little “x”, but all you see is, “Yes, send me more information on how to adopt a kitten!” or “No thanks, I’m not interested in learning how to save kittens from burning to death in the eternal flames of hell.”

Nobody wants kittens to die, but your emotional response to the website is not a positive one. Not because of the kittens, but because of the assumptions that site made when the business has NO IDEA who you are. So you send those kitties off to damnation, close the window, and go to the next listing on your SERP.

Gateway Placement Generates Quality Leads

You don’t want to date a woman who will go out with the first guy she sees on Tinder. Chances are, that won’t end up being a satisfying, loyal relationship. She likes cats (hopefully non-immolated ones), you like dogs; she’s a vegetarian, and you own a chicken processing plant, but neither of you got beyond the photos. Clearly, you didn’t have enough information before you committed to that first date.

Proper placement and design of your forms vary depending on your target market and specific business. You’ll have more qualified leads if the visitor has had a chance to browse through your un-gated content first, making choices that address their “pain points” and tell you what products they’re likely to buy.

Grease Your Gate Hinges

You don’t want your site visitors to feel like they’re taking their SATs, but you do want to make sure you’re getting the information you need to help you decide how and when to reach out.

Ask only for information you think your audience will be comfortable sharing. The deeper into the navigation you place your gating, the fewer questions you have to ask… yet, the more likely they’ll divulge their data.

Is Adam Lowe Creative the Right Match for You?

If you’re in the market for a website developer and digital marketing specialist, I’d be happy to jump through hoops to help you break into your target markets. I’ll even give you my mother’s maiden name. Let me help you develop a strategy to attract quality leads and set your brand apart as an industry leader. Contact me today to find out more!

I like cats and dogs, by the way, and I don’t even know how to use Tinder.