How To Attract The Right Client To Your Business | by Nashville Branding Photographer & Business Systems Educator Dolly DeLong Photography

If you’ve been around my business for a bit, you’ve probably heard me talking about lead magnets. They’re one of my favorite marketing tools because they are useful, flexible, and totally customizable for your unique business (and bonus they help you attract the RIGHT client to your business). But if you’ve heard me mention these powerful tools and always wondered, “What does Dolly even mean when she says lead magnet?!” then this post is for you. I’m breaking down what a lead magnet is, why you should use them, and how to create one for yourself. So settle in and get comfy, we’ve got a lot to learn!

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is an incentive that business owners offer for free to a potential buyer in exchange for the buyer’s email address or other contact information. 

Lead magnets usually offer downloadable content, like a PDF checklist, ebook, or video. Sometimes a lead magnet could even involve a free 1:1 call. The specifics of what your lead magnet offers depend largely on your business and what you’re trying to sell, but regardless of what you offer – it needs to be valuable.

Oh, and lead magnets go by lots of nicknames. To keep things consistent, I’m just calling them lead magnets, but in other places, you may hear them referred to as; freebies, opt-in incentives, killer bribes, irresistible bribes, or any other number of names. 

Why do I need a lead magnet?

Well, if you’re depending on a little sign-up box on your website to build your email list… you’re going to be waiting a loooooong time for that list to grow. While some people will sign up for your email list through your website, that conversion rate is super low. We’re talking around 3% of your website visitors. 

So what’s a savvy business owner to do? You know your email list is gold when it comes to selling your offers… but how are you supposed to get anyone on your list?

Enter: the lead magnet.

It’s kind of a superhero when it comes to email list building. 

Lead magnets:

• Offer value and begin to build the know-like-trust factor with potential clients.

When you have a super valuable lead magnet, people are impressed. If she’s giving this away for free, imagine what her paid content is like? If you inject your personality, knowledge, and authority into your lead magnet, it also goes a long way to prove that you know what you’re talking about. Bonus points if you can make your lead magnet feel fun and personable on top of bringing lots of value.

• Create relationships with potential clients. 

Once someone has taken action – downloaded your lead magnet – they’re much more likely to take action on your offers again, and the next time it should involve buying something. When a potential client learns, grows, or makes important changes based on your lead magnet, they feel connected to you. That’s a huge win when it comes to future sales!

• Get potential clients on your email list.

Once someone enters their info to download your free lead magnet, they’ll start getting your emails. You now have the power to contact them directly!

• Put potential clients into your sales funnel.

Most people aren’t going to buy from you immediately. They need time to get to know you, like you and trust you. When someone downloads your lead magnet, they should enter into a strategically designed sales funnel. This includes things like a welcome or nurture sequence and targeted content that warms up your audience, establishes your authority, and helps them feel comfortable before you pitch them your offer or product.

How do I create a lead magnet?

OK, Dolly, you sold me! I see the power of the lead magnet… but how do I actually make one?

I go DEEP into this with all the details, tutorials, and examples in my mini-course, The Lead Magnet Mini-Course. I go over the foundations of Lead Magnets and answer the questions of WHY you need a Lead Magnet, HOW to create a Lead Magnet, and most importantly I cover how to AUTOMATE your Lead Magnet which is the heart of the course! I even show you 20+ examples of lead magnets you could create in under an hour… yeah, this course is pretty incredible (and bonus, it’s under 3 hours to consume because I know time is valuable) 

But in this blog post, I’m going to share with you my best tool and secret to creating value-packed lead magnets that look and feel professional: Canva.

This design tool is FREE (there is a paid version, but you can do almost everything you need to do with the free one) and it’s a powerhouse.

Two notes about creating your lead magnet: 

-It’s OK to be inspired by people in your industry, but please don’t ever directly copy someone. That’s not cool.

-Remember to use your free content to cover the what and the why, but don’t give away the how. You want to provide enough value, maybe just start to uncover the how, but that’s what you want people to pay for. So while your lead magnet should be really valuable and useful, you don’t want to share too much. That’s what you’re leading people to pay you for!

And because I love sharing the great lead magnets I find, here are some of my favorites! I’ve happily joined these email lists because these business owners are constantly delivering valuable content and helping me grow my own business. 

1. This one is actually mine, but it’s too good not to share! 🙂 Click here to learn how to get better SEO results with blogging! (This is a fan fave and one of my most downloaded lead magnets ever.)

2. This one is from Elizabeth McCravy and is a fun example of using a quiz as a lead magnet! Click here to match your personality to your perfect website template!

3. Here’s an awesome lead magnet from Davey and Krista. Click here to learn the art of the follow-up so you can reach out (and book!) potential clients who are ghosting you.

4. This lead magnet is from Emily Writes Well, a copywriter who provides tons of free writing tips and helps business owners (like me!) who struggle with finding the right words. Click here to download her free brand voice guide to help you identify your unique brand voice and use it to land your dream clients.

Now that you know how powerful, useful, and necessary a good lead magnet is – go create your own! 

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Meet Your Friendly Nashville Branding Photographer & Business Systems Educator

Dolly DeLong is a Nashville-based family & branding photographer and a creative business owner who educates on all things Pinterest, Dubsado, Lead Magnets & Email Marketing (aka pretty much all the fun automation stuff centered around those business systems)!  Dolly loves serving families, and business owners with her timeless, radiant photography.  She loves capturing the joy and emotion in both digital and film photos.

She also has a heart for serving the larger business community. Dolly shares her knowledge of tools like Pinterest, Dubsado, email marketing, and business systems with new creative business owners in an encouraging and supportive way because she believes that even muggles can become automating wizards!

Dolly’s faith and love for her family motivate her to help other business owners find the joy and freedom she’s found in running a successful small business.

Whenever she has a spare moment, she enjoys watching TV (i.e. Survivor), loves eating way too many sweets, and listens to podcasts while running or walking. To work with Dolly DeLong, fill out her contact form here.

Interested in learning how to best automate a part of your business to attract your ideal clients by creating a Lead Magnet and have NO clue where to start? I created this FREE PDF “The Lead Magnet Master List ” and if you click over here you can access it!