13 Lead Magnet Ideas to Inspire Your Content Strategy

July 11, 2024 By Ashley Orndorff, aka Marketing Geek

Your website should do more than just be a billboard for your business online. With the right elements and strategy, your website can become a serious vehicle for generating quality leads for your business. Lead magnets can be valuable resources that can help turn website visitors into leads and potential customers for your business. Here’s what to know and a few lead magnet ideas to inspire you as you think about what might work best for your business and target audience:

What is a Lead Magnet?

A lead magnet is an asset or resource that is given to a prospect in exchange for their contact information. This usually happens on websites, mobile apps, etc. Lead magnet formats can vary and the information exchanged to access them can range from a single-field email address to longer, more involved forms.

A key element of lead magnets is that they provide value to prospects. Lead magnets are meant to attract leads and be valuable enough that prospects want to provide their contact information in order to gain access to them.

13 Lead Magnet Ideas to Inspire Your Content Marketing Strategy

Using lead magnets is a classic lead generation tip. The right lead magnets will vary depending on the business and target audience. Here are a few lead magnet ideas to inspire you:

1. Have a Newsletter Signup

There are several benefits of email marketing and you can’t underestimate the value of building your own community. However, standard newsletters can be boring and unspecific, which doesn’t meet the standards for lead magnets.

But, if you are able to create a target email newsletter that provides a lot of value to subscribers and you segment your email list, you can make your newsletter a resource that is worth signing up for. In this case, you can make your newsletter signup a lead magnet.

2. Offer Incentives to Encourage Newsletter Signups

If you’re confident that your newsletter offers real value to your target audience, offering incentives to encourage signups can help you grow your subscriber list. You’ll see some list deterioration over time, but if you’re offering something valuable, subscribers will stick around and engage with your emails once they are signed up.

In addition to a standard “free newsletter signup” somewhere, you can also offer specific incentives in other areas as lead magnets to help encourage website visitors to join your list. Incentives could be tangible things like coupon codes, access to special offers, access to exclusive membership benefits, and more.

3. Create Comprehensive eBooks & Guides

eBooks and guides are classic elements of inbound marketing and some of the most common lead magnets. They can also be highly effective, which is one of the reasons they remain popular. Depending on the topic and breadth of specific guides, these lead magnets can hit various parts of the customer journey.

Broader, more educational eBooks and guides tend to target top-of-the-funnel prospects. Guides can be more specific and focused on solving specific problems that can target bottom-of-the-funnel prospects who are closer to a buying decision.

The more valuable and comprehensive the guide you create is, the more likely an interested prospect will be willing to exchange a little more contact information in order to access it. You may even be able to turn it into a priced product someday, like a book. Using it as a lead magnet, you still want to be careful to not go overboard. Asking for too much too soon or too much relative to the value of the offer is one of the common ways businesses annoy potential customers.

4. Share White Papers & Case Studies

Similar to eBooks and guides, white papers and case studies are also popular lead magnet ideas. White papers can be guides, but they tend to focus more on research. If you are able to incorporate original research that your target audience cares about, it tends to make this type of lead magnet even more attractive. You may even be able to repurpose that research to earn relevant backlinks to your site.

Case studies can make great portfolio pieces and examples of work to share with potential customers. Reviews, testimonials, and case studies are trust signals your website should have that can also showcase capabilities to potential customers. Provided it makes sense for the project, you can create extensive, detailed case studies that do a deep dive into projects, methods, and results and use them as lead magnets.

5. Design Relevant Resource Handouts

Resource handouts are a lead magnet idea that can work well in a variety of formats. The handout, quick resource style also makes this lead magnet format more accessible than a more time-consuming comprehensive guide. Usually, this type of lead magnet is based on content you already have and is a way to repurpose it and make the most of it.

A fact sheet, a tip sheet, a quick checklist, and more are common examples of resource handouts that can make good lead magnets. If they are relevant to your target audience’s pain points and can help them save time or solve a problem quickly, they can be effective lead magnets.

6. Use Lead Magnets Strategically as Content Upgrades

Lead magnets are resources and they are assets that can be created in several different formats. Depending on the lead magnet and who it is geared towards attracting, it may have its own landing page. You can also strategically promote lead magnets in different places around your site to get more attention on them.

When done well, this tactic also offers relevant calls-to-action that provide users a pathway to conversion. Content upgrades are an easy way to do this. Often, content upgrades are paired with relevant blog posts and are related to them. Lead magnets used as content upgrades could be an eBook or PDF of the blog post.

They could be checklists, templates, tip sheets, charts, etc. that are related to the topic of the blog post and offer a tangible, valuable resource for prospects who give you their contact information in exchange for access to them. Content upgrades like these are ways to repurpose video content that you can apply to creating lead magnets in other formats and make the most of any content you create.

7. Compile Toolkits & Resource Bundles

Relevant resources make great lead magnets and you can make them even more attractive by combining resources into bundles or valuable toolkits. When targeting the right audience and offering enough value to help them do something, toolkits and resource bundles can be effective offers to help generate leads.

If you’ve already spent time creating a robust collection of resources and content upgrades, you may already have the pieces you need to compile a comprehensive bundle or toolkit. This can be a great way to repurpose and make the most of assets you already have.

In the process, you might also identify content gaps that inform what resources you should prioritize creating next. In addition to generating new leads, these resource bundles can also help you build strong customer relationships. If in talks with current customers, something related to a resource bundle or toolkit you have comes up, you can send the relevant assets over to provide some personalized assistance.

8. Provide Access to Tools

Useful tools can be great resources for your business. Not only can they attract traffic and links to your website, but they can also become revenue generators as well if it makes sense to sell some sort of premium subscription for access to features. Offering limited access to basic features for free in exchange for contact information can also be a good lead magnet.

What the tool offers, the resources required to run and maintain it, the value your target audience gets from it, and more can all affect what makes sense in terms of access and potential costs for full access. In the process, you may even gain valuable insights for improvements to the tool or to inform future developments and product launches.

9. Create Exclusive Member Areas

Exclusivity can help create a powerful lead magnet. If you’re able to build a valuable member area of your website, you can offer exclusive access to it as a lead generation tactic. Not only can this help generate potential leads for your business, but it can also assist with building relationships to increase your conversion rate from lead to customer and for better customer retention and satisfaction post-sale.

10. Incorporate Quizzes & Surveys

Quizzes and surveys are types of interactive content that can be a lot of fun. Offering simple polls, surveys, and quizzes can be a great way to add interactive elements to your existing content. These are also types of content to share on social media, which can help garner more responses to them.

You may also even be able to use the data from them to draw conclusions, do your own research, or just create a fun follow-up graphic of the results. These are things you can use to create visual assets that you can add to the post, share on social media, use to attract media mentions, etc.

The shorter and more superficial the quizzes, polls, etc. are the less likely they would make good lead magnets. You can keep those as fun interactive elements to increase engagement on your content. The value of the results on these quick, surface-level quizzes or polls isn’t usually enough to justify someone providing their contact information.

To use them for lead magnets, focus on quizzes for results that will be more relevant and in-depth. If someone will be receiving a brief result followed up by a report that does a deeper dive into things, they will likely be more willing to provide their contact information in exchange for it.

11. Run Contests & Giveaways

Contests and giveaways are social media marketing ideas for ecommerce that can work well for a variety of businesses. Contests and giveaways can be high-value lead magnets that provide an influx of potential leads. The drawback is that they can also generate a lot of irrelevant leads because the prizes for contests and giveaways tend to be attractive to people outside of your target audience.

That being said, contests and giveaways can be great options for growing your following on social media or growing an email list for broad, top-of-the-funnel outreach. There is a lot of context and nuance here. Depending on what you’re running, what you’re offering as prizes for winning, how you promote it, etc., your results will vary.

Suppose you don’t want to go broad and target everyone. In that case, you may be able to cut down on entries from people outside your target audience if what you’re offering is niche and not necessarily something with widespread appeal. You could also have entry requirements that limit entries to people likely to be in your target audience.

12. Design Detailed Assessment Reports

Detailed assessment reports are other options in the “useful resource” lead magnet category. What makes the most sense for your business and target audience will depend on your industry and related verticals.

Although you could put together a fun quiz with a detailed report at the end that might get you a lot of responses, you don’t want to do something completely irrelevant that casts a huge net if that isn’t your goal. For a more targeted lead magnet, you could create a quiz or survey related to your business that generates a detailed report at the end. If it makes sense to do so, you could also offer a free report or audit as a lead magnet.

13. Create Deep-Dive Sales Materials

Deep-dive sales materials as lead magnets could be video tutorials or walkthroughs, downloadable product guides, comparison sheets, etc. Think about your product or service, the buying journey, the sales process, onboarding, etc., and then think about where your target audience could benefit from supplemental materials.

Whether that is information that helps them evaluate their options and make a purchasing decision, information that helps them get a deeper understanding of the ins and outs of what you can offer them, or something else, these areas can be good places to start when thinking about lead magnets in this category.

What Makes Good Lead Magnets?

Not all lead magnet ideas make sense for your business and some lead magnets may miss the mark. Here are some common characteristics that make up good lead magnets:

1. They Are Specific

When you are making an offer in exchange for contact information, your offer needs to be clear and specific. Being vague on what you’re offering isn’t helpful. Your target audience needs to be able to understand what you’re offering and what they can expect quickly, clearly, and easily.

Similar to how lengthy and confusing checkouts can increase cart abandonment in ecommerce, vague offers, confusing terms, etc. when it comes to your lead magnet can drive away potential leads.

2. Good Lead Magnets Aligns With Your Goals

Any marketing campaign or overall effort you put into promoting your business should align with your goals; this includes lead magnets. Even if the goal of a particular lead magnet is simply to grow your email list as much as possible, a lead magnet and promotion strategy that aligns with that goal will help make that a “good” lead magnet.

If that is your goal and your lead magnet is not designed to help you do that, then it’s time to step back and re-evaluate. Depending on the situation, you may need to either adjust the lead magnet or adjust the goal if it turns out you’re focused on the wrong outcome.

3. They Deliver Value

Because lead magnets are meant to attract potential leads, it is essential that they deliver value. What that means to your target audience will vary. Whatever that is for your audience and business, a good lead magnet needs to both be perceived as valuable enough and then actually deliver on being that valuable. Make sure your lead magnet actually delivers on the promises you are making.

4. Good Lead Magnets Are Accessible

Whatever format your lead magnet takes, make sure you take the time to ensure it is accessible. You want to make sure the people who are interested in your offer can access and enjoy it.

This could mean adding descriptive alt text to images in PDFs, adding captions to videos, checking fonts and user experience on your lead magnet landing page, etc. These, and several other things, are ways to make your website more accessible that can help you ensure your lead magnet is as well.

5. They Generate Relevant Leads

Generally, a lead magnet that is specific, aligns with your goals, delivers value, and is accessible also generates relevant leads for your business. Relevant leads tend to be the outcome of a good lead magnet, especially when paired with the right promotional efforts. If you’re not getting the results you expected, you may need to revisit your promotional strategies, tweak the landing page, or re-evaluate your lead magnet.

The Right Lead Magnets Can Accelerate Lead Generation

Lead magnets can be powerful content marketing tools and lead generation resources for your business. These are just a few lead magnet ideas to get you thinking about what could work well in your vertical and for your target audience.

Resources that can help soothe specific pain points and assets in the preferred format your target audience interacts with are good places to start with lead magnets. From there, you can test results and refine strategies to find the approach that works best for your specific audience.