Lead Generation = Coaxing people into caring about your business. Sort of.
Whether you’re dragging your business back from the dead or just stubbornly pushing forward because capitalism refuses to give you a day off, you’re going to need new customers. Which brings us to this month’s grim but necessary topic: lead magnets.
Spoiler alert | Optimistically hoping for word-of-mouth referrals does not a marketing strategy make. Nice try.
Hold up. What even is Lead Generation?
You know we hate marketing jargon as much as you hate being told to: “just post more consistently.” But needs must, when we’re explaining it. We include the jargon so you can delete it from your brain and move on with your life. We’re not here to make you fluent in marketing speak. We’re here to translate it so you can stop pretending to understand and start actually doing stuff that works.
Lead Generation is just a fancy way of saying: “Hey, stranger. Please notice my business before I self-combust.”
It’s the first nudge. The icebreaker. The awkward: “Do you come here often?” of business growth. Except instead of buying them a drink, you offer them something useful (or at least mildly distracting) in exchange for their contact info.
From there, you very slowly and strategically wear them down into paying customers. Romantic, right?
Why bother with Lead Generation?
Because otherwise you’re just yelling into the void and praying someone hears you.
Lead generation lets you:
- Catch the attention of people who might actually want what you’re selling.
- Build a relationship that doesn’t immediately feel like a door-to-door energy salesman.
- Grow your brand awareness, sales and customer base without cold-calling your way into an existential meltdown.
It’s basically less soul-crushing than traditional ads and more likely to actually work.
Lead Magnets aka Bait – but make it ethical
There are two kinds of lead magnets:
- Bribe Magnets | Discounts, giveaways, free trials etc. Basically: “Please take this shiny object and love me.”
- Content Magnets | Checklists, templates, guides etc. Essentially, useful stuff that makes you look smart without having to explain yourself too much.
Either way, you’re giving them something semi-valuable in exchange for their sacred contact info. It’s the marketing version of trading candy for personal secrets. And yes, it works.
How to make a lead magnet without losing your last shred of sanity
Step 1 | Pick your poison – bribery or content.
Step 2 | Build the thing. Make it actually good, or at least good enough to make them feel mildly indebted to you.
Step 3 | Set up a landing page (aka a digital mousetrap) where people can grab your freebie in exchange for their email address.
Step 4 | Promote the hell out of it across your website and social media. No one will magically find it. Unfortunately.
Step 5 | Once they bite, start drip-feeding them useful content, occasional offers and just enough guilt-free reminders that you exist until 🤞🏻 they buy something.
Lead Magnets: Where you pretend to have a sales funnel
Look, you don’t have to love lead magnets. You just have to make one that doesn’t suck. Give people a reason to care, get their email and build something that resembles a relationship. Without feeling like you’re speed dating for money. You’re not trying to win an Oscar here. You’re just trying to grow a business without fully losing your will to live. And hey, if you can’t be the loudest brand on the internet, at least be the one giving out free stuff with strategic-ish intent.
