How to create a lead magnet that people actually want to sign up for

My nine-year-old daughter recently was telling me how much she wishes that she were already an adult. She’s tired of being a child and she wants to be an adult now. We got into a conversation about privileges and responsibilities and how being an adult comes with more privileges. But, it also takes a lot of work to get there and that she has a lot of steps she needs to take before she would be able to be successful as an adult.

In today’s episode, I’m going to tell you how this relates to your business and to the lead magnet you choose to give away (for free) in order to get people to sign up on your email list. 

I think it makes sense, to most of us who are adults, that my daughter couldn’t be successful as an adult right now with the skills that she has as a nine-year-old. She can make herself a fried egg, but there’s a lot that she cannot yet do. And there is a lot she doesn’t even understand that she needs to be able to do in order to be successful as an adult. In other words, there are a lot of steps between now and successful adulthood for her. 

The very first step when starting your business is not to build a website

The same is true for you in your business. You won’t be successful as a business owner unless you take the required steps to get there. You cannot truly become successful as a business owner if you refuse to take those steps, or if you don’t understand what they are in the business world. Many people think that the very first step you need to take is to get a website. But that actually isn’t true. And if you don’t know that, then you’re going to struggle to be truly successful.

The same is true for your followers and your customers.  They can’t get to where you are, and to where you know they can eventually be, without taking certain steps. There are things that they don’t know.

For example, let’s say that you are a chef and you’re going to start a website teaching other people how to become expert chefs. Well, you can’t just roll them neck-deep into the pool and expect them to swim.  First, you’re going to teach them what some basic terms are. They need to understand words like blanching or poaching or al dente or basting, right?

Once they understand these terms then they need to gain certain skills, like how to use a knife or how to read a recipe, how to cook without a recipe.

Once they’ve learned all of the sets of skills, maybe they need to then learn how to plate a meal. But you have to take them through those steps, somewhat sequentially, in order for them to truly become the chef they want to be. And in that process, you will teach them things they did not know that they did not know.

This is true of any sort of thing that you can teach people online. There are steps that they need to take. When we present them with information all willy-nilly, we don’t help them as much as we actually could.

What if you created a path?

What if you thought about that process: “Where are my followers/customers right now? Where are they when they come to me? And where do I eventually know they can be; where do they eventually want to be? And what steps are involved in that process?” What if you sat down and actually planned that process out? And then, what if, for free you gave them the things that they don’t know that they don’t know?

What if you taught them the why behind the steps and what those steps are? What if that was all of your free content: your blog posts, your podcast episodes, your YouTube videos. What if they were all about why these steps are necessary and what the steps are?

After they know the why and the what, the next thing they need to know is the how. How do they do the things you want to teach them?

So, in my example of a chef, they need to know how to use a knife. First, you have to teach them that learning how to use a knife is one of the required steps. Then you have to teach them why. So they’re motivated to do it, but what about the how?

Your lead magnet should guide people to the next step

What if your lead magnet, the gift that you give someone when they join your email list, was the how? What if it was the very first step in that whole process? The how – not why, not what; because you’re giving that away for free. What if it was how do you take that very first step?

And then what if your first product, your least expensive product, was the next step? You continue walking them through this process, all the while you’re still giving away free content that is the why and the what. But the content that they pay for is the how, and the very first step of the how is also free, other than the fact that they need to give you their email address.

Lead Magnet vs Freemium

This is why I don’t love the term lead magnet. Because that seems like the lead magnet is all about you. It’s about attracting people to you. You have a whole bunch of leads and you’re creating this magnet that just makes them want to come to you. But it’s all a facade, you’re not really giving them anything of value. You’re just getting this magnet so that you can rope them into being one of your leads and getting on your email list.

I like the term freemium, instead, because it captures this idea that that first step should be something that is worth paying for, but you give it away for free. And in doing so, you gain someone’s trust.

The first step (aka lead magnet) should qualify them for the next step

Remember, in our example of the chef, that they had to learn what the terms were, things like poaching and basting, before they could actually start to learn the how and the skills. It qualified them for the how. So how can you qualify them in that lead magnet for the very next step?

 Your assignment for today is to map out your customer journey, where are your ideal customers? I understand that not every customer starts in the very same place, but if you could choose the perfect follower, the person that you can help the most, where are they right now and how can you help them?

Take two or three or five or 10 steps until they get to where you know they can be. What are those steps? I want you to map that out and then I want you to create something that teaches them how to take that very first step. That is your lead magnet.

I have done this for you, my customers and my followers. I have figured out what steps you need to take to go from wanting to start an online business but having no clue how, to running a successful business while balancing that with your family and your other priorities. I have mapped that out for you. And do you know what I discovered? I discovered there are six steps that you need to take before you ever create your website.

Discover the 6 steps you need to take before creating your website

In my next podcast episode, I am going to tell you exactly what those six steps are, but if you want to learn how to successfully take those steps, you need to check out my e-course The Good Start Game Plan. This is the six-step process for starting a content marketing business like blogging or podcasting that you know from the get-go will be profitable and manageable as a Latter-day Saint mom.

I spent the last eight weeks or so upgrading it and improving it. I have added a bonus that teaches you how to create that first lead magnet.  It also teaches you how to sell that very first product for free. How to set that up on your own WordPress website for free. All the videos are now completely searchable. Every single lesson comes with a to-do checklist and homework for you. And most exciting of all, for me at least, it comes with the ability to earn points that you can then turn around and use to purchase additional products from me.

Coming Up

Thank you for spending this time with me.  You all make my job so wonderful and worth it. This is why I continue to show up, because of you. If you haven’t done so already, make sure you hit subscribe, because in the next episode I am going to tell you what those six steps are that so many bloggers and podcasters and You-Tubers skip and it creates problems in their business.

Nailing these six steps is going to lead to you being able to rock being a mom and rock being a business owner. So make sure you don’t miss that next episode.