We’re going to outline five crucial things to plan out before you sit down and compose your lead magnet copy. Ready?
Review your Brand Platform & know your audience.
First things first: You need to know what it is you’re delivering to your audience. What’s valuable enough to them to swap an email address for? What can you offer that nobody else can?
The first place you can look for this kind of info is your brand platform. It’s already spelled out for you there! Make sure you know who you’re targeting with your copy, and make sure you can provide what you’re promising.
Decide on a format.
Next up, you want to decide on the best format for your content. Not everything has to be in eBook form, although that’s certainly a common format. You can provide a checklist or cheat sheet, you can create a calendar, a worksheet or workbook, or a template. Think of what you have to offer anyway – it doesn’t need to be complex or complicated, it just needs to be something worth something to your reader.
Think of the last time you were Googling and trying desperately to find specialized information. What did you find? Pretty good chance you came across a template or something that made you say “Oh, thank goodness.” THAT’S your goal in writing a lead magnet. Solve a simple problem and provide value.
Give a quick summary.
Before you get started, you need to be able to give a succinct description of what it is you’re writing. This is an exercise in specificity. Your audience has about three seconds to skim and decide if it’s worth their email, and you need to convince them it is.
Nail your title.
In the same vein, you need a catchy, irresistible title. This doesn’t have to be excessively clever, and probably shouldn’t be. You want the reader to know exactly what to expect, what form to expect it in, and deliver!
Think back again to that time you were Googling: were you looking for something crafty, superlative, or poetic? Nah. You wanted a push in the right direction — and something not so involved you had to follow it exactly. You want a crib sheet you can modify to fit your own needs.
Craft your opt-in copy.
Maybe more important than the title: the opt-in copy. This is what lets people know exactly what it is they’re downloading and why. If you get this right, you’ve nailed it!
Looking for further examples? Check out some of what we have to offer!
