How to Create a Lead Magnet in Less Than a Day (that actually works)

You’ve probably seen it yourself: websites offering huge gifts to compel website visitors to join their email lists — 50-page ebooks, 30-day courses, 100-page white papers and beyond.

These gifts are called lead magnets or incentives, and they’re a freebie you give your subscribers for joining your email list. A great lead magnet convinces the right people to subscribe to your list (those who are likely to buy), builds trust and assists in converting your leads into customers.

The problem is though, while a great lead magnet is a valuable list-growth tool, you probably feel overwhelmed by the idea of writing a 50-page ebook.

But I have good news: you don’t need to write a novel to craft a great lead magnet. You can build a short, simple and crazy effective lead magnet with minimal time commitment.

Keep reading to learn six simple steps to creating a powerful lead magnet in less than a day.

1. Find your audience’s biggest problem

People don’t join your email list to receive yet another email in their already cluttered inbox in which you talk about yourself. They subscribe to your email list because they have a problem, and they’re hoping you can solve it. That’s what makes lead magnets so effective: they provide the solution to a person’s problem in exchange for an email address.

Before you invest time creating your lead magnet, you need to know what your audience’s problem is. A common problem creates a more valuable lead magnet and more subscribers, which means you’ll want to consider this carefully. What is your audience desperate to learn about? What problems make them scour the internet at night searching for answers?

You might already have some ideas about your audience’s problems. Or maybe you’re scratching your head and making wild guesses. Either way, stop. To discover what your audience is actually struggling with, you need to conduct some research. Although “research” may sound boring and time consuming, there are a few fun and easy tricks for conducting excellent audience research:

Survey your current audience

Create a survey that asks your email subscribers about their current challenges and struggles. If you don’t have any email subscribers yet, ask your personal contacts or attend an in-person meetup and survey people there.

Read and ask questions on Quora

If you’re looking for questions or answers, Quora is a great place to be. Anyone can ask a question on Quora and anyone can answer that question.

To learn about your audience’s questions in particular, search Quora for questions related to your industry, product or service. See what people are asking and take a look at the view count on the answers given: lots of views equals lots of interest.

Or, ask a question yourself (like what challenges people within your target audience are facing). Or, if you already have a few lead magnet topic ideas, you can ask Quora users which option is their favorite.

Check out this Quora question about muscle building for vegetarians. If you’re a fitness expert, you could find this question by doing a quick search using the keywords fitness and nutrition, gauge interest through the number of views on the responses to this question and then decide to write a lead magnet about how vegetarians can build muscle.

Join a LinkedIn group

Become a member of a LinkedIn group within your industry and see what questions people are asking in the group or ask the group what problems they’re facing.

For example, here at AWeber, we’re all about helping email marketers so I joined the Email Marketing Gurus LinkedIn group to see what kind of questions more advanced email marketers have.

2. Choose a format that works for you, your audience and your schedule

The best lead magnets are those that are as brief as they can be while providing extensive information on a narrow topic (Brevity plus depth plus specificity equals awesome).

Yes, that’s right: your goal is to make your lead magnet as short as possible. That’s because short lead magnets take less time to create, but even more importantly, your audience needs less time to consume them. For instance, a 20-page guide is both a chore for you to write and for your audience to read.

To select your format, choose from one of these lead magnet types that are both easy to consume and easy to create:

Checklists/Worksheets

Who can use it: health and wellness consultants, personal trainers, financial consultants, marketing consultants and anyone who helps their audience accomplish a task.

For an example of a great checklist, take a look at this social media checklist created by SproutSocial.

Or, for an example of a worksheet, check out The Ultimate Checklist for Headlines and Subheads by Copy Hackers.

Coupons/Discounts

Who can use it: ecommerce stores, physical stores and anyone who sells a product or service

This 10 percent discount on the Magnolia Market website is an excellent example of a discount/coupon lead magnet. The coupon code is delivered via a welcome email immediately after subscribing.

Plans/Schedules

Who can use it: fitness coaches, health and wellness consultants, marketing consultants, financial advisors and anyone whose audience could use help with planning/scheduling.

Want to see an example? Check out this 2-Week Paleo Diet Meal Plan from PaleoLeap.

Templates

Who can use it: marketing consultants, financial consultants, fitness and wellness coaches, SAAS companies, tech companies and anyone whose audience could use guidance writing or designing content.

We created 20+ free email templates to help email marketers with their email content. Our audience loves these templates, and they were also easy for us to create.

3. Write your content or repurpose it

The next step is to start writing. While writing often seems overwhelming, it shouldn’t be. The types of lead magnets I listed above take very little time to write. Sit down and write non-stop for an hour. Don’t edit anything at this point. If you’re creating a checklist, template, plan or coupon, an hour is more than enough time to write your draft. After you’re done drafting, go back and edit.

Here are a few writing pointers that will simplify and shorten your writing process and help you create a top-performing lead magnet:

Be specific

Remember our earlier step where we determined the problem/question that your lead magnet will solve or answer? Your lead magnet content has one purpose: answer or solve that problem. Be specific. By writing a precise lead magnet that answers one question, you craft a shorter lead magnet. Not only do brevity and specificity make it easier for your audience to read your content, they also shorten the writing process for you — a win-win scenario.

Be green

Save time. Recycle your content.

Repurposing already written content is a great way to shorten the writing process. If you’ve already written blog posts or emails that help answer the problem you diagnosed in step one, reuse that content in your lead magnet. Just make sure to rewrite the content to fit the lead magnet format you chose in step two.

Be authoritative

Your lead magnet is more than just a gift you give people to get their email addresses. It’s a tool to bring your prospects closer to a buying decision. How so? Because it builds trust, and that’s important because people are more likely to buy from those they trust.

To instill trust with your lead magnet content, write with authority. Avoid using words like “in my opinion,” “I think,” “You should,” and other phrases that show uncertainty. These kind of phrases are bad in two senses. One, they are non-essential words that fail to convey any additional meaning. These words waste your reader’s time and wane their interest. And two, these phrases take away from your authority. As your readers consume your lead magnet content, they need to know that you are an expert worth listening to, and the words “I think…” don’t sound very convincing.

For example, take a look at these two sentences a financial advisor might write:

Sentence A: “In my opinion, you should invest in Amazon stocks this quarter.”

Sentence B: “Invest in Amazon stocks this quarter.”

It’s easy to tell that sentence B is the more powerful sentence; readers will trust the advice more because the writer sounds certain.

Be original

The best way to create a priceless lead magnet is to share original insights and tips. Being original means sharing information that can’t be found anywhere else. If the tips you share in your lead magnet can be found in a basic Google search, your lead magnet isn’t all that valuable. After all, why should a prospect give away their email address for information they can get elsewhere or that they’ve already heard?

To be original, see what others have already written about your topic. Then, share insights that haven’t already been written about.

4. Host your lead magnet

Now that you’ve written your lead magnet, you need to figure out how your audience will access it. Here are two ways to host your lead magnet:

Use Google Sheets

If you build your lead magnet in a Google Sheet (this works well for checklists, worksheets and plans), then you can set the permission to view only and ask people to make a copy of the Google Sheet to start using your lead magnet.

You can see how this works in this lead magnet checklist from SumoMe (to get this helpful checklist for yourself, go here).

Create a hosted PDF

If you chose to make a template, a PDF is a great way to host it. To create your PDF, you can write your content in a free Google doc then convert it to a PDF. Click on file → Download as → PDF Document (.pdf) to do this.

After you’ve created your PDF, you need to host it online so that your new email subscribers can access it. You can use a website or a third party site such as Digioh or Dropbox to do so (or you can even host your PDF with Google Docs). Once you have the URL for your PDF/downloadable file, hyperlink to the URL in your welcome email to give people access.

Email your lead magnet

This lead magnet distribution method works great for coupons and templates. It’s simple. Just write an email that includes your coupon code or the content of your template.

5. Write a welcome email that delivers your lead magnet

To instantly deliver your lead magnet, use an automated “welcome” email. Your welcome email not only provides the link (or access) to your lead magnet, it welcomes your new subscriber to your email list, tells them what they can expect from you and starts building a relationship with your audience.

To learn all about welcome email campaigns, read this blog post: Welcome Email Campaigns 101: How to Create an AWesome Welcome Campaign.

6. Share your lead magnet with the world

By now, you’ve done all the hard work. You’ve chosen a lead magnet, created it and written a welcome email to deliver it. Way to go. Now it’s time for the final step (and my favorite part): it’s time to build your sign up form.

Your sign up form is the gateway to your incentive and email list. It’s where people trade their email address for access to your lead magnet.

If you have a website and want to add a sign up form to it, use AddThis, SumoMe or HelloBar to build your form. All three have free account options so you don’t need to dish out money to get access to powerful form building software.

For instance, I created a free HelloBar account and built this sign up form in less than ten minutes.

If you don’t have a website, build a hosted sign up form. A hosted sign up form allows you to share your form anywhere you can imagine – like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, in your emails and much more! To learn how to create a winning hosted sign up form, read this blog post.

Let’s wrap this up — your questions + more ways to grow your list

You don’t need days or even months to create a great lead magnet. Use the steps above to craft a lead magnet that makes website visitors excited to join your list.

Have any questions about lead magnets? Ask them in the comments section below. Or, share your lead magnet success story!

You’ve learned the steps to create a great lead magnet, but do you know how to build a high-converting sign up form, grow your list with social media or attract more website traffic? Learn all this and more in our free, 7-day email course on list building.

The post How to Create a Lead Magnet in Less Than a Day (that actually works) appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

from Email Marketing Tips http://ift.tt/2aqAFdF
via IFTTT

[Podcast] Episode 33: Epic Email Marketing Tactics for Authors with J. Thorn

What are your deepest and darkest fears?

For years, independent author J. Thorn has been exploring the question through his fear and fantasy fiction writing. He’s sold over 150,000 copies of his work and topped the Amazon charts – once landing at #5 in Horror, next to his childhood favorites, Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

Through his work, Thorn has developed a strong, unique voice, both in his respected genres and in the independent writers community. And he’s leveraged that connection to his fans through email marketing.

 

 

In this episode, we discuss valuable strategies that anyone – not just authors – can apply, to attract the right kind of subscribers, offer immediate value, engage their readers. We talk about the ways to maintain a consistently above-average open rate and find your ideal subscriber persona. We even break down J.’s unique lead magnet and welcome message, and what makes them so successful.

If you fantasize about having hundreds of loyal subscribers and fear ending up in the dark depths of the spam folder, you’ll want to tune in, take notes, and take action!

Episode Synopsis

Listen in, as we discuss:

• How J. took the leap and finished his first novel
• The platforms and options for independent authors
• Ways to structure your lead magnet and welcome series
• The importance of writing to a persona
• … and much more!

Additional Resources

Here are the links mentioned during the show:

• J. Thorn
• J. Thorn on Amazon
• The Intronaut Podcast
• Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’
• Amazon CreateSpace
• The Horror Writers Podcast
• The Dark Arts Theater Podcast

Click here to download this episode directly. (MP3)

Ask Us Anything

Have a question about email marketing? Leave us a message at aweber.com/podcast.

The post [Podcast] Episode 33: Epic Email Marketing Tactics for Authors with J. Thorn appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

from Email Marketing Tips http://ift.tt/2atS0E1
via IFTTT

Report: Snapchat is making scannable codes for the real world

Snapchat is reportedly developing a new form of QR code that opens unique content in-app when scanned. According to The Information, Snapchat’s scannable codes could be found just about anywhere: a box of canned soda, movie posters or even in-store advertisements. They may also carry discounts on goods or services, possibly through a coupon that pops open in Snapchat. Like geo-stickers will do for location, these new codes will provide metadata. It may even be a way for Snapchat to monetize its userbase. The scannable codes are said to launch this Fall, though the source claims the project may be…

This story continues at The Next Web

from Social Media – The Next Web http://ift.tt/2aqdZdB
via IFTTT

Influencer Marketing: Building Your List Through Trust and Credibility

What do you think of when you hear the words “influencer marketing?”

An influencer is someone who has built up the trust and credibility of their audience in such a way that they’ll be more willing to make a purchase based on recommendation alone. We all know this scenario: Kim Kardashian tweets about a new clothing line and suddenly it’s the most popular product on the market. People go crazy when a celebrity endorses a product.

But the power of endorsements and influencers isn’t only available to big brands with celebrity contacts. In fact, any brand can work with an established influencer to jumpstart their email list building efforts.

Sure, working with a celebrity sounds like a lot of fun, but might not be attainable right from the start. By partnering with a well-known personality in your space you can boost the awareness and reach of your brand. But how do you get started?

We’ll go over the best practices for locating, reaching out to, and working with the best possible influencer for your brand. When you find the right fit, you’ll start seeing increases in your email audience size in no time.

Who’s the best influencer for my brand?

As you get started, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. A celebrity endorsement may not make the most sense for you. Instead, think about your audience, and the people you connect with every day.

Who are they? What do they like? And, maybe most importantly, who (besides you) do they listen to?

You’re involved in your customer’s world, there’s no doubt that you know who they’re talking about. You want someone who is going to have the klout to expand your potential audience, while still being relevant and valuable to your current subscribers. Social influence is what you want to look for in an influencer.

You’ll be using this partnership to garner trust and credibility. Mutual benefit is important, but remember, you’re connecting with their audience to promote your brand.

This influencer is going to act as a trusted advisor and advocate for your brand. They speak on your behalf. Having an advocate for your brand helps businesses grow in a number of ways.  Not only will you be able to use their influence to increase your social media buzz, an advocate is loyal and will share their opinions freely. They’ll even jump in to defend you if need be.

Look for someone who is a subject matter expert and a thought leader in your market. Their authenticity and credibility are key factors in how well your campaign is going to perform. According to a Nielson study from 2015, “the most credible form of advertising comes straight from the people we know and trust.” Eighty three percent of people rely on recommendations from friends and family most, while 70 percent trust branded websites over traditional advertising.

How do I find the right influencer for my brand?

The number one way is by doing a little research.

As you look for someone who is the perfect fit for prospects as well as your current customers, start by asking yourself a few questions:

• Who is the influencer’s audience?
• Is the influencer’s audience similar to mine?
• What kind of value can an influencer provide to my audience?
• What kind of value can I provide to the influencer’s audience?
• How engaged is the influencer’s audience with their content?
• Is the influencer engaged with their audience in return?

There are also tons of resources on influencer marketing. Convince and Convert is one of my personal favorites; they go over a few things to look out for when choosing an influencer:

• Engagement – How does does the influencer’s audience interact with their content?
• Reach – How well can the influencer reach your audience?
• Frequency – Are they posting consistently? How is their email cadence; is it overwhelming or not?
• Authenticity – How much does the audience trust the influencer?

There is a lot to consider, but we have some tips to help get you started.

What tools are available to help me find the right fit?

Start by learning all that you can about your prospective influencer. This is the beginning of a fun, new relationship, so a little targeted social media stalking can’t hurt. As you check out their social profiles, consider:

• How often do they tweet, and when they do, what is favorited or retweeted most?
• Do they have a Facebook community and are they involved?
• How does their audience interact on their blog? Do they respond to comments?

The biggest characteristic you want to look for here is engagement. Just keep in mind that a large following does not necessarily translate to good engagement. The more people are engaged with your influencer, the more people you can potentially have signing up to your email list. It’s as simple as that. There are even platforms you can use for this kind of research, such as Klout, which measures a person’s various profiles for their overall social influence.

Tracking relevant hashtags is another way to seek out your ideal influencer. SocialMention is a great tool for social channels. Buzzstream Discovery is another for finding influencers by keyword. You can also mine popular SEO keywords to see what pops up. For example, if you’re looking for an influencer who is big in food and recipe blogging, you would search for “food blogging”, “recipes” or “cooking blogs”. Google Keyword Planner or keywordtool.io are great options as well.

There are specific influencer marketing platforms too:

• Traackr – They’re an influencer marketing platform that helps connect brands with influencers based on a number of variables, such as topic, hashtag relevance and geolocation. There is a strong focus on using tracking and analytics to find the best possible influencer for your brand.

• Mavrck – Positioned as a connection point between brands and influencers on a person-to-person basis, which they call micro-influencers. Their focus is on people and connecting brands with the right influencers using social data.

• Exposely – Their goal is to help build influencer marketing campaigns on a case-by-case basis. They’re built in a way to include budgeting for brands with a focus on cost-per-click campaigns and making compensation for influencers more streamlined.

These tools are a great place to kickstart your new influencer marketing campaign. Properly constructed, your campaign will flourish.

With the right influencer, what can I do to grow my list?

It’s time to start thinking about your campaign specifics. When you work with an influencer, here are some of the best ways to reach their audience:

Guest Blogs

Tried and true, this is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways to connect your brand with an influencer’s audience. Trade spots on your respective blogs, or ask your influencer to write a post on their expertise. Giving them the option to represent their own brand is a great way to break the ice.

Growth Opportunity: Set up specific landing pages for people coming directly to this post. Include an incentive for those people who sign up. You’d be surprised how much some exclusive content can help boost your sign ups.

And as the savvy marketing person that you are, you’re aware of how your landing pages perform on a day-to-day basis. Set up your landing pages for the incoming audience from your influencer, and think about how you want it to perform. Look for the following indicators of success:

• Increased traffic to the page
• Leads captured by the page
• Social shares of your exclusive content

Once you’ve published this post, run a short social campaign of your own as well as promote the link to your Facebook and Twitter followers. That will boost the overall reach of this content, and help you get more out of the campaign.

Testimonials/Reviews

Look for any overlap with your influencer and current customers to see if there is any potential for outreach. You can also provide a new influencer with a test of your service for them to review.

Growth Opportunity: A high-value testimonial from a trusted influencer will help ease any doubts your prospective customers have about signing up.

Use this testimonial on an upcoming split test on your site. Direct potential leads to a page that features it prominently, and check into how that page converts in comparison to other campaigns you’ve run in the past.

Podcasts/Webinars

Co-host a webinar or invite that influencer to speak on your podcast. This could be an interview, educational webinar or casual conversation. Try to find something that highlights all of your strengths and gives your influencer the ability to promote your content on their end as well.

Growth Opportunity: Set up specific landing pages for the podcast. Subscribers who sign up for more information can be nudged further down the funnel while you provide them with details on the upcoming event. There is also the potential to follow up with more material after the podcast.

By setting up a webinar with your influencer, you’re able to give their audience a direct introduction to who you are and speak candidly about your brand. This is a great time to promote your business, but remember, they’re keying into your personality, so make sure to showcase that as well.

During the planning process, think about what kind of value you’ll be able to provide to this audience. If you’re educating on a particular subject, include a recap or study guide after the big day. This additional content keeps you top of mind and helps cement your new relationship.

You can use a recording of the webinar as a lead generation piece too. Try offering it up as an incentive for subscribers who may have missed the actual event.

How can I tell it’s working?

Once you’ve set up the campaign and figured out how best to work with your influencer, how will you know it’s working?

As influencer marketing functions mostly in the awareness and acquisition stages of your campaign, the benefits and return on investment will be seen as increases in traffic and conversion. When you work closely with someone whose audience is engaged and willing to trust their recommendations, the benefits can be qualitative as well as quantitative.

Look for how the traffic to these pages differs from other campaigns you’ve run in the past.

• Was there an increase in my overall traffic to this page?
• Is there anything I did differently, outside of using an influencer?
• How can I use those tactics for future landing pages?

Your campaign will not only raise awareness of your brand, it will lend a sense of credibility that can lead to increased willingness to engage and purchase.

When everything is up and running you can track the growth of your list through subscribers. You’ll see an increase in your total subscriber count, but there will be other metrics to look for as well. If you’re adding people to an existing list, you will see an increase in the overall opens for your messages. As these prospects are highly engaged with the influencer you’ve chosen, the click and open rates for your autoresponder messages should reflect that engagement as well.

You may see an increase in your social traffic as well. As the people you reached through this campaign start talking about your brand, potential leads from their networks will seek you out as well. It’s kind of a trickle down effect. Keep track of any spikes in your “likes” or “follows” after the campaign is completed.

Influencer marketing is a bit of a long game. But if you plan correctly, and have the patience to allow the results to come in, the value is immeasurable.

Who are the influencers that you use?

Have you worked with an influencer in the past? Let us know in the comments. What has worked, and what tips do you have?

The post Influencer Marketing: Building Your List Through Trust and Credibility appeared first on Email Marketing Tips.

from Email Marketing Tips http://ift.tt/2b01s0j
via IFTTT

How to Create a Hashtag Just for Your Business

Hilarious IKEA commercial pokes fun at food Instagrammers

We all have a friend like this. Food arrives and they spend a good few minutes taking pictures of their food from various angles. Some even get up on a chair for the perfect bird’s-eye view of their meal. IKEA thinks enough is enough. According to the Swedish furniture giant, a meal is meant to bring people together and relax. To prove their point, the company came up with this impressive commercial. The video is a high-production look back at an age when smartphones were non-existent, and great food was a luxury only reserved for the riches. The social commentary is obviously meant to…

This story continues at The Next Web

from Social Media – The Next Web http://ift.tt/2aJz5Xc
via IFTTT

How to View & Measure Your Tweet Activity