Before you create a free piece of content on your website, you need to clearly define your target market.
This free content is called a lead magnet because the objective of offering it is to generate leads. In other words, you will offer your freebie in exchange for a person’s name and contact information.
If You Don’t Offer a Freebie…
Many of the people who visit your site potentially could become your clients. It makes sense to capture their interest because you definitely don’t want them to leave your website feeling they aren’t ready to work with you.
Build Trust
Your potential clients won’t trust you overnight. When they first find you they may not be ready to make a purchase but chances are they will be ready to get something free that adds value to their personal or professional lives. A freebie is a great starting point for building a relationship with someone who has discovered you.
Important Considerations
Your free piece of content should highlight a problem or a potential solution that is relevant to your prospect. Assuming you have a signature program that does this, you can take a portion of this program and use this as the foundation for your freebie. In fact, you can create a simple piece of content in one day.
It’s important for your potential clients to see you as someone they can rely on for good advice, someone they can turn to if they need a solution for a problem.
You might want your prospects to have some critical information before they hire you, or you might prefer to show them how to accomplish something small and specific on their own. You want to avoid overloading them with too much information in one go.
Questions to Ask Yourself as You Conceptualize
Is this a valuable piece of content?
If you know the type of content your audience reads, then you can determine the kind of information that will prove useful to them. It will help if you can determine whether they’re searching for a solution or simply gathering information when they come to your website.
Does the freebie convert a sense of authority?
You need to ensure that your free piece of content showcases your expertise. Are you putting a stamp of authority on the content. Your potential client must get an indication that you are the best choice for them.
Does the free content solve a problem?
Does the content you are providing solve a problem that your visitors are facing? Well, it should. Just like results are important to you, they are important to your visitors and your lead magnet should help them with their pain point. That’s the kind of content they are looking for and will be ready to download in exchange for their email address.
Does the freebie focus on a particular Issue?
A broad topic won’t cut it. Make your topic as specific as possible and of course it should be relevant to your prospects. Right away, this enhances the value of the content, thereby increasing the odds of transforming them from random website visitors into solid leads.
Deciding on the Type of Freebie
Understanding your target audience’s pain point is key as you decide on the type of free content to offer. Choosing the ideal lead magnet for your business also comes down to what you’re good at and what excites you most. When you’ve determined the type of problem you’re trying to solve for your prospects, you need to look at the many options available and decide which one is the best fit.
Free Consultation
If you want a simple way to get lots of leads, a short free consultation may be just the ticket, but you need to determine whether it will be the best use of your time. It is wise to qualify the people who show interest by having them fill out a questionnaire that’s sent in a link within your scheduling software.
Guide
A guide doesn’t need to be long but it does need to be a multi-page how-to PDF document that covers a topic in detail. You should include a cover page with the title, a welcome page featuring a personal note, between two and five pages of content, and a closing page where you invite readers to take the next step with you.
Checklist
Checklists are valuable yet super easy to create. They make in-depth information easier to digest for the reader as he or she takes simple actions to solve a problem. The checklist can focus on identifying signs that the prospect’s business is suffering from a problem you are used to solving.
Quiz
A quiz is a fun, interactive way to highlight a problem your potential clients may not even realize they have or might highlight signs that their businesses can improve if you put your expertise to use.
Free Course via Email
A free course via email keeps prospects interested as something new comes to them every day over four or five days. It’s a great way to introduce yourself and build trust, while showing off your expertise. The best part is you can simply repurpose existing content to create this course.
Webinar
Webinars are normally 45 minutes long with a Q&A session added at the end and can be offered live or pre-recorded. The biggest advantages are that they allow you to be seen as an expert and give you the opportunity to build a real connection with your potential clients, especially those who prefer to watch a video rather than read content.
Push Prospects Further Into Your Sales Funnel
Whatever the type of freebie you choose, it should be easy to consume and easy to access. If it meets this criteria, it can help to drive your prospects deeper into the sales funnel and make them more keenly interested in your products or services.