Creating a Click-Worthy Lead Magnet

Kirsten 0:00

Hey there listeners Welcome to another episode of the creative teacher podcast. If you are listening to this episode, on the day of its release, it is officially Valentine's Day, the holiday of love. And what better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than to talk about something in our businesses that kind of have some type of relationship to attracting somebody. And that is your lead magnet. A lead magnet is almost like a love letter. Or hey girl was up kind of mantra when it relates to getting your audience to know like and trust you we always talk about that a lot. So today we're going to be talking about creating a click worthy lead magnet.

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact inside and outside of the classrooms. I'm Kiersten, a full time classroom teacher and part time business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small to in each week, as I give you my best advice on classroom teaching and starting and growing a teacher business. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

All right, so as promised, we're going to be talking all about a lead magnet, we'll be thinking about what it is why it's important. The types of lead magnets there are how you know if a lead magnet is right for your audience, and so much more. So let's go ahead and dive in. Okay, so first of all, you may be asking yourself, what is a lead magnet, I'm not even sure what that is in general. And that's okay. I didn't know what a lead magnet was, when I first started out really taking my business seriously.

A lead magnet is just a free resource that a person can get in exchange for their email address. This is just your freebie or opt in, they all mean the same thing. It's just a way somebody can get a resource in exchange for an email address. This is how you get people onto your email list. It's important to have a lead magnet because it's a way to build a really strong image so that people can see that it's not just about getting money from them. It's a way to prove that you know what you're talking about in your niche. And it's a way to show that you can be a go to source. It's also a way to establish trust before somebody eventually buys, whether it's a week from now or a year from now. So definitely don't take Oh, they got my lead magnet this X amount of days ago, and they shouldn't be buying from me. And the next 20 days or whatever. There's no timeline as to when somebody's gonna get your lead magnet and eventually purchase. The goal is to get towards there. But for some people it might take increased exposure to what you have to say and what you have to share before they can really trust you and buy from you.

Now there are all kinds of lead magnets out there. You can do your classic PDF guide. You could do a video training, you can do a ebook mini course checklist email challenge. There's so many different ways you can showcase what you know, in the lead magnet. One of my favorite types of lead magnets are those really Fun five day challenges. I host one every year called the spice of your store challenge, and is a really great List Builder. For me. It does take a lot of work, especially those live challenges. But it's also just a really great way to build relationships and build trust. So shout out to those who did join in the spice up your store challenge a couple of months ago. Personally, I really love free mini courses. And sometimes PDF died, something that gives me a quick win. And we'll talk more about that later. But I do enjoy opting into a mini course onto something that I'm struggling with. And it's just a really quick win to help me get to the result I'm looking for. As I said, there are tons of lead magnets out there. And you may be familiar with, you know, a regular PDF resource, especially if you have freebies in your TPT store.

But one question you might be asking is, how do I know which lead magnet is right for my audience? How do I know which one to pick. And the key to a high converting lead magnet, where a lot of people will give you your email address would be one that is a quick win. And it's specific to your targets needs. And that basically could mean any type of format. But think about what can get them a quick win. If the best way to get a quick win would be through a video training or a challenge, then do that. If it's a PDF guide, that's easier for them or checklist, do that. Think about who you want on your email list. And make sure to narrow it down so that it's specific to your target audience. If your lead magnet ends up being too broad, you might end up with people on your email list that aren't really a good fit for the paid products or services that you have. Think about, maybe you have a really great lead magnet. And it's a checklist for all the different ways to incorporate brain breaks throughout the day. But you don't really specify you know who it's for. So you've got people in kindergarten, you've got teachers in eighth grade, opting into your lead that because they see Oh, brain breaks, that's really cool. But if you make it specific, your targeting brain breaks for upper elementary teachers, make sure you make it clear, so that you can kind of get so that people who see that freebie they say Oh, I'm not an upper elementary teacher, okay, so I can't really do that. That kind of narrows down and help you get the right people onto your email list.

If your lead magnet is too much content, or it's too daunting, it's taking weeks for people to get through. People who do opt in your email lists may not be able to get through it. And they may not be too keen on anything else you have to offer. So it's kind of thinking about the Goldilocks Rule, not too much content, not too little content, not too narrow, not too broad, kind of fit it all in to make it just write that sweet spot. Whatever your favorite Valentine's Day candy, think about that. That's what you want right in the middle, you want your opt in to be as valuable and helpful to who your ideal customer is.

So here's a quick example. I will share I've shared this before. But I always do some analogies related to teaching upper elementary math, which is something I don't even sell that much on Teachers Pay Teachers. But either way, let's say that I create TPT resources for third through fifth grade teachers, I would maybe want to think about a problem that upper elementary teachers might have and how my lead magnet can solve their problem. So if it's hard for them to fit in, warm ups or number talks into their math block, I could have a lead magnet with some suggested schedules for 60 or 90 minute math blocks, or a lead magnet with some ways to incorporate number talks and warm up in a short amount of time. All right. So let's say you've got a really great lead magnet idea. You know exactly how you're going to do it. But you're trying to figure out how to get people to opt into your lead magnet or maybe you already have a lead magnet but people are not biting. People are not opting in. So I'm going to share with you a couple tips to get people to actually sign up for your lead magnet.

One really big thing is to make it look appealing. Make the landing page that you have look appealing delaying and make the actual resource look appealing. One big tip I have is the copy you have on the landing page before people type in their name and email address, it's important to have words and copy that speak to your ideal customer. So highlighting some pain points and struggles on the landing page, and then offer a solution. There's different ways to do that. And you have to play around with a copy. But just saying sign up for my email list, and you'll get this free resource that's not gonna entice people to actually put their name and email address in, they're gonna think all the time, well, what's in it for me, what happens do am I gonna get a lot of spam emails, they're not really thinking in that way. So just saying, hey, sign up for it, it's free. Just because it's free does not mean people are going to opt in. So you really have to speak to their pain points, the certain dialogue that you use, you can even think about adding what's included, it's free anyway. So it doesn't hurt to add what you're gonna get in the lead magnet. So that's just really a powerful way to get people to convert is what you put on the page before people sign up.

Another thing is the design of the landing page and making sure you add images. So it showcases a little bit of what's in the resource, maybe listing the benefits, having it spaced appropriately so that it doesn't, it's not difficult to read, making sure your fonts are on brand, but also very easy to read. So formatting is important. You want to make sure the landing page copy images design, it all comes together so that it appeals to your ideal teacher customer. And another way to get people to opt into your lead magnet is of course to share it everywhere. Share it wherever you can. And as often as possible, go on social media go and Facebook groups, whether or not it's allowed, have it as one of your Instagram links in your bio, send a note to followers in your TPT weekly emails. And if you have a blog, make sure you have it at the end of each post have it everywhere you can think of let's go into how we know if our lead magnet is a hit or a flop if it's converting or it's not converting so well. And the answer to that would be time, give it a few months to see how it does.

I researched what the conversion rate was for an email opt in, because and really there's no one size fits all answer. The conversion rate depends on the industry you're in and so much more. There's so much that goes into a conversion rate. But from what I research, a common conversion rate for an email opt in landing page is between 5% and 15%, which is a pretty big range. And companies with the most success will convert at around 20 to 25%. And you would be able to look up the statistics in your email service provider or wherever you host your landing page. But something to think about is that the best conversion rate is really any number higher than what you're currently doing. You always want to try to bump up that conversion rate regardless of what the actual conversion rate is. One of my highest converting lead magnets is smart and simple ways to engage. And I regularly get subscribers who either opt in through my Instagram link Facebook group or my website. And you can check it out in the show notes if you want to see what it looks like. But the copy is super simple. Compared to some of my other lead magnets that I have. I make it so that it showcases a problem or to a show a few photos, I add what's included in the actual guide.

I also make sure this is something to make sure to do is to have a call to action button above the fold. And my call to action buttons are pretty you know, I guess unusual. I don't just say subscribe here. I say something like give it to me or I need this or yes this is awesome or something like that. There are different ways to be creative with your OPT in buttons. But definitely make sure both on your desktop and on your mobile Phone that the call to action button needs to be above the fold. As soon as somebody goes on to the page, they should see a button near the very top.

Now that we've talked about how to get a lead magnet, which one might be right for your audience, and ways to get people to actually opt in, let's talk about what you do after they opt in, there's a couple of things you can do, you can make it really simple, and send them to your general email list. I do recommend tagging where necessary. So if the resource is specifically for math, make sure you tag something like math teachers, so that you can send specific emails and tag them appropriately.

Another thing you can do after they opt in would be to set up an email sequence for either of the options, you do want to make sure there is an automatic email sent with a thank you and a link to the actual download that gets straight to their email. So they have to go into their inbox to get the actual lead magnet. But with an email sequence, you can nurture them as you are onboarding them into your email list. With my smart and simple ways to engage, I do have an email sequence setup, where they get an email right after they opt in with the lead magnet. And then a couple days later, I kind of remind them about the lead magnet and some really great stuff that's included. I have an introduction, email, sharing information about myself and what I do. I have another email with links to other digital resources to engage. And then the last email in my sequence are links to other content they might enjoy. And if I didn't mention it before, it's a lead magnet that is for upper elementary teachers. So I made sure it was specific to third through fifth grade teachers. However, I do have people who ended up getting it that are not third through fifth grade teachers. And that's something that just you can't prevent. It's it happens. All right.

My creative action tip for you today is to plan out a new lead magnet or tweak an old lead magnet if you feel like one isn't converting as well as you'd like. Tweak it using some of the tips I share with you today. Look at it in the eyes of your audit. Well, that's it for today's episode. I hope to talk to you again soon.

Thanks for tuning in to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I cannot wait for you to join me in the next episode for more tips and inspiration. Have an amazing day.