Steven Covey said in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” that you should “begin with the end in mind.” He was talking about personal development and building habits, but you can take that sentiment and apply it when you plan your lead magnet as well.
One of the worst habits you can fall into is creating lead magnets that don’t go anywhere. You want them to be your first step, not the last step, so you need to think strategically about your funnel and how that’s going to look. In essence, you start with the ultimate offer you want to make and work backwards from there until you get to the starting point – your lead magnet.
Here’s what I mean…
If, for example, your end product is a course on how to create templates in Canva, that would be the product that you ultimately want your new prospects to buy. But, they don’t know you yet, and don’t know if your course would be worth it. So you need to get them to know, like, and trust you before they plunk down their hard-earned cash for your training.
Your funnel should start to build that relationship by giving them the pre-knowledge they need to take your course. This is where you start sharing your expertise and knowledge so that as the new prospect progresses through your funnel, you are always building that relationship until them buying your course becomes a no-brainer decision.
If you think about your course as the end, then the beginning – your lead magnet – could be something that sets them up for creating templates in Canva. So, for example, you could create a short report on the 10 things you need to know before you create your first Canva template.
Or it could be something that shares different places to sell the Canva templates they’ll be making after they take your course. Show them there’s a market for what you’re teaching and then market the course through the lead magnet.
One thing it’s important to remember is that people opting in for lead magnets are looking for a solution to their problems. You want them to know you have that solution… you’ve been where they are, and you know what they’re going through.
Once you have their attention offer them your paid training while also explaining to them why you’re the person to teach them. Share proof of your own results, but don’t go so far as to promise guaranteed results. (The FTC kind of frowns on that.)
The main thing is to build step by step to the final paid offer. So after you plan your lead magnet out, you need to come up with the step between the free offer and the paid course.
It might help if you write down the steps your customer will have to go through to be ready for the paid offer. Then you can create a lead magnet for each of those steps. After all, no one says you should only have one lead magnet! We know different people have different learning styles, so the more lead magnets you have, the more appeal you will have for your audience, and the more options and opportunities you have to share products and services that your new customers might need.
So, to wrap it all up: Start with your offer. Then think about what your prospects need to know before that or what problem they’re trying to solve that you have a solution for. Finally, come up with helpful content that is a natural lead-in to your paid products and or services. By starting with the end in mind, it’s easy to plan your lead magnets and tripwires in a way that will make the ultimate purchase of your paid offer an easy decision for your customers.