Creating qualified contacts is a key issue for a company to best market its activity. This is one of the main objectives of the website, especially on inbound marketing strategies in BTOB. But what are the different lead magnets and how can you use them effectively? That is what we propose to see through this article…
What is a lead magnet?
First of all, it is important to define what is a lead magnet? The literal translation “lead magnet” speaks for itself. This includes creating and offering (good quality) content on your website that you distribute for free in exchange for the person’s contact information. This turns the person into a qualified contact from the visitor in your CRM. We also often talk about “premium content” or “gated content”.
Get involved in an inbound marketing strategy
Of course, there is no point in making a lead magnet if it is not part of an overall strategy. In this case, an inbound marketing strategy. But why is it so?
clearly define your personality
The first step is often the same. Knowing your personality is essential. This is the case for your site, your sales team, and of course the content you create. That’s why it’s important to note that those are your goals before you start, because you need to remember this objective: “Generating Qualified Leads”. These will only lead if you are not mistaken about the intention behind the lead magnets you are going to present. Before getting started, you should always ask yourself this question: “Does my content reach one of my goals?” If yes, move on, if not, change your attitude.
step by step strategy
Inbound marketing is a step-by-step strategy, in this case four. It is important to move from one to the other only when you have reached a good maturity and have established relevant processes to move forward:
- Step 1: Drive traffic to your site
- Step 2: Convert your visitors to leads
- Step 3: Qualify your leads
- Step 4: Create your brand ambassador
Your site must generate recurring traffic (Step 1) for your lead magnets to be more important in your strategy (Step 2). Otherwise, no one will see the quality of your resources.
This is an important element in content strategy. Don’t consider your resources separate from the rest of your site. Like any product or service, your lead magnets can be promoted in a variety of ways for greater effectiveness.
Your site, work base
Providing quality premium content is a task that takes time and requires investment. So it’s a pity not to put it well ahead on your site when it’s done. To avoid this, make UX work on your site not to highlight your resource pages, but to optimize your landing page as much as possible by at least thinking about your users:
- a customized title
- The answer to the question “What does this material provide?”
- a preface
- reinsurance element
- A reference: “why this stuff”?
Ad campaign to go ahead
To go further in lead generation, advertising campaigns are a lever to consider. The return on investment is great, especially since you’re pushing premium content to download and you’re not selling direct. But be careful with targeting, as this is the key to a successful campaign: targeting on ad networks (Google Ads, Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads). There is no need to be present everywhere, above all it is necessary that your goal is where you communicate.
Specific sites, must have
The last step in the rocket is to have specialized sites that will ensure that you reach a particularly specific audience. The logic is quite simple, these actors either have a media site or a site dedicated to a single topic and work consistently with their goals. So they have a specific SEO, database as well as qualified social accounts. So they can create fast and very effective campaigns to provide you with leads. For example one would consider Livres-blancs.com or E-Commerce Nation which offer this type of action.
What are Main Lead Magnets
When talking about lead magnets, what specific deliverables can you envision? Some of these downloadable documents have become classics, but not all. You can also be imaginative and offer very different lead magnets.
White paper to show your expertise
It is one of the most effective and user-recognized premium content. White papers allow you to tackle a topic in depth and shed light on both your skills and that of your company. The only downside is that if eBooks are very effective, they are also very time consuming and require an investment of time which should not be taken lightly. Especially if the content is not up to par, you run the risk of suffering in the case of the image.
Model to make life easier
Another deliverable that is particularly pleasing, models are tools that can be used quickly and that, again, show your understanding of an area. Unlike white papers, they aim to provide a tool that simplifies business processes. The specifications are for models, e-commerce plans, letters and documents, contracts, of all types and for all fields of activity.
Infographics for quick and fun reading
The subject of infographics can be a bit tricky. As you may have understood, it is here to simplify the reading of a subject a proposal of an image that synthesizes everything. If they are very popular, they are rarely downloadable (rather offered in addition to an open access article). The problem also lies in the graphic skills that are often required to go external with a link between business knowledge and the graphic designer that will transmit your message. But if this doesn’t scare you, don’t hesitate even for a second, this theme fascinates all users.
studies and surveys to uncover an area
Both studies and surveys will take you up a notch in terms of strategy. Here, it is a question of highlighting the market (or part of this market) to increase it. This requires being able to present original work with thorough analysis. In short, a work from Titan, which is well designed, can propel you into a major player in your field. Here also the biggest problem is the working time which is substantial and which has to be estimated in advance.
Comparison to show your knowledge about the field
Comparisons are often user-acclaimed documents. They help you showcase your expertise about all the software/companies you are comparing and showcase your knowledge of the market. However, you have to be careful to master the spectrum of your comparisons and be very careful about updating your content, which can quickly become obsolete.
Tool template a more specific case
More marginal, because depending on your field of activity and possibilities, you may be offered predefined templates to facilitate the use of certain platforms. This practice is found heavily on site building with downloadable templates for Divi, Elementor, Shopify, and other CMSs. But this is also the case with other software such as Notion Templates which are very trendy or emailing templates for Sendinblue or MailChimp. If we are talking about directly downloadable elements here, you can also create the template yourself with the work process to set them up easily.
Case study, lead magnet or not?
The case study is case specific. Many companies consider them to be deliverables which is debatable in substance. It is usually more interesting to provide them with an element of reassurance and social proof as early as possible.
Collateral Benefits of Lead Magnets
If the main purpose of lead magnets is to generate qualified prospects, they also bring two collateral benefits that should not be overlooked as it can affect your results. All this, of course, if the background work is of high quality:
Brand Image: First, every download of your document will naturally have an impact on your brand image. The delivery is done by your company and brand and it reflects the quality of your in-house expertise by default.
Linkbaiting: Literally “linkbaiting”, linkbaiting is a fairly simple argument. If you produce quality content, you will naturally generate external links (netlinking) to your site. This refers to your brand image, but also boosts your SEO.
Lead magnets, an effective strategy
As you may have understood, setting up a strategy around premium content to download can be very effective for generating leads for your company. However, it requires structured and quality content offering, otherwise it will create the opposite effect on your expectations.