The Most Powerful Lead Magnet Strategy For Creators

Your efforts to get awareness and visibility for your business are ineffective if they aren't generating leads for your business.

A lead is someone who has given you permission and info to contact them again in the future. The way you get those leads is generally through a simple transaction - an email address in exchange for something of value. 

The Craftsman Content Flywheel that I teach in my monthly workshops incorporates a lead magnet strategy that has served me well over the years. The result is that I have people coming to me pre-sold - they're ready to buy because of the time they've spent with me and my lead magnets. Not just a dollar or ten dollars, but thousands and tens of thousands of dollars before we hop on a discovery call.

Below I'm going to list four types of lead magnets I use, and then the strategy that makes them work so well to get those kinds of results.

Four Types of Lead Magnets

There are four lead magnets that I use regularly.

1. Scorecard
2. Workshops
3. Email Course
4. Digital Download

The goal of these lead magnets is three-fold:

• Deliver tons of value
• Get their contact and other information
• Give them a chance to spend time with you, your content, and your ideas

Let's go through each one and see why they're so great as lead magnets.

SCORECARDS

Scorecards, like what you can build with tools like ScoreApp and RightMessage, allow you to ask questions of your audience as they're becoming (or after becoming) a lead. 

I use both but rely on ScoreApp as my lead magnet because I can deliver a "results" page, rather than just collecting data. (You can see my scorecard in action here.)

Not only is it a bit of "micro coaching" for the person taking the scorecard, but I get rich data that I can use to see who is coming into my little online world.

This helps me understand where my audience is and where they need the most help.

WORKSHOPS

I have done many workshops over the last two years, both in-person and virtual, short (60 minutes) and long (3 days). Workshops are my favorite way to deliver tons of value to a free subscriber or new lead. 

It costs $500+ to work with me one-on-one in a strategy session, so to get 90-120 minutes with me in a small group setting is massive value to those who attend. 

I've also expanded my workshops and turned them into new products and services, which is an unexpected bonus!

Once someone has spent 90 minutes with you they'll have a pretty good grasp on who you are, your personality, the things your business does, and more. They're much more likely to take the next step if they're ready for it, because they just got so much free value from you that the subtext is, "Imagine what working like them would be like!"

To see one of my workshops in action, join the next one.

EMAIL COURSE

This is the lead magnet I started with years ago when I started Craftsman Creative. I've had many over the years, but my current email course is a jumpstart with the MOVIE framework, delivered over 5 days. 

You can teach people a skill, deliver something over a few days, or help onboard people into your world. You get to create the experience you want them to have, and teach them what they need to know to a) create tension and desire for your products and services, and b) deliver a ton of value. 

Over a week, people can spend anywhere from an hour to many hours as they're introduced to your business and your content. I include links to podcast episodes, past blog posts, book chapters, and even past workshops. If someone clicks and watches or reads everything, it's nearly 7 hours spent together, without me needing to be there! That's massive leverage for you and your business.

DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

My current Digital Download is a free copy of my last book, Craftsman Creative. Pretty straightforward - get something that generally costs money, for free!

Now, the strategy...

The Lead Magnet Strategy

First, if you don't have any lead magnets, start with just one. Get that one working, get a lot of people interacting with it, and make sure it's delivering the outcomes you need it to - engaged leads coming to you pre-sold.

Once you have one, the strategy comes when you add a second (and third and fourth...):

POINT THEM TO EACH OTHER

The more you give people, the more time they can spend with you, and the more info you get on them. 

Here's how this strategy works in my business:

• someone signs up for a workshop
• I send them an email series or "course" that includes a link to the scorecard
• at the end of the workshop, I gift them a digital copy of my book

It doesn't matter where they enter my world - through my book, my email newsletter, my scorecard, or a workshop - they'll end up getting all four of these valuable assets that I've created.

My best customers come to me pre-sold because they have gone through at least two of these. They read my book and attended a workshop, for example.

If they do 3 or 4 of them, I know they're ready for the next step in their business. 

From the lead magnets, once I've pointed to the others available to them, I invite them to hop on a call, generally at the end of the workshop. Some people who take the scorecard get that invitation as well, but most need to spend more time with me through my email series, workshop, or book. 

All of the people I've worked with over the last two years have either attended a workshop or read my book on top of the email series and scorecard. 

The goal, then, becomes offering these lead magnets to as many people as I can. Doing so gets me oversubscribed, which allows me to be profitable in my business and have the freedom to charge what I want, work when I want and with who I want, and have the kind of lifestyle I want from my business. 

As Dan Priestley says, "Everything in your business is downstream from leads." 

So don't take this step lightly. Start with one lead magnet, then add more once that first one is working for your business.

Take the free Craftsman Creative Scorecard here, and join us in the next monthly workshop.