Do Lead Magnets Work and Do You Need One?

Introduction to Lead Magnets

Melina Palmer: Welcome to episode three of The Brainy Business, understanding the psychology of why people buy. This episode is called Do Lead Magnets work? And do you need one?

Melina Palmer: Ready? Here we go.

Announcer: You are listening to The Brainy Business podcast, where we dig into the psychology of why people buy and help you incorporate behavioral economics into your business, making it more brain friendly. Now here’s your host, Melina Palmer.

Melina Palmer: Hello, everyone. My name is Melina Palmer and I want to welcome you to The Brainy Business podcast. Thank you for being here with me today. I am so excited to talk to you a little bit about lead magnets. You have probably heard of these before, especially if you are a small, small business owner or an entrepreneur, solopreneur, what have you. They are really all the rage these days. It seems everybody’s got a lead magnet. Tips on a lead magnet. And, you might not have heard that specific term. You probably have, but there are a lot of people that potentially haven’t. But you’re familiar with the concept, I’m sure. So the basic concept of a lead magnet is someone is giving you something for free, whether it’s an ebook or a checklist, or a template or something that they are offering you on their website or through social media, and.

Melina Palmer: You have to fill out a form.

Melina Palmer: To be able to get it. You can’t just download it from the website, you have to fill out the.

Melina Palmer: Little form and it gets emailed to.

Melina Palmer: You and then you are put on their list for future contact. And as a note, for any of you who are active in this space and already have a lead magnet, or.

Melina Palmer: Who have been looking at doing this.

Melina Palmer: Or you have an email list, I am not getting into GDPR on this. If you’re not familiar, it’s rules through the UK of how you can be adding people to your list and how that all works, and new rules that went into effect in the month of May 2018, I’m just not going to go there. There are other sites about GDPR.

Melina Palmer: You definitely need to be aware of GDPR.

Melina Palmer: It’s important, but it’s not what we’re talking about here today.

The Reciprocity Principle: Why Lead Magnets Work

Melina Palmer: So assuming you have all your legal rules in order, let’s talk about lead magnets. So again, a lead magnet is when somebody gives you something for free and then gets added onto your list. And the question really at hand here is, why does it work? So, at the beginning, I’m saying the title of this episode is, do they work? So the answer to that question is.

Melina Palmer: Yes, lead magnets work, and they tend.

Melina Palmer: To work really well. Some work better than others, admittedly. And, there are reasons for that I’m going to get into a little bit later on in the episode, I’m going to talk about some tips for.

Melina Palmer: For what makes an effective lead magnet.

Melina Palmer: But first I’m going to talk about why lead magnets actually work.

Melina Palmer: And then I will talk about some types that are good, some different versions that you can be looking into, what to keep in mind, and a few words of caution if you are getting.

Melina Palmer: Into the world of lead magnets.

Melina Palmer: So in the world of behavioral economics.

Melina Palmer: The reason that a, lead magnet.

Melina Palmer: Works is the concept of reciprocity. This is essentially that when someone gives you something, you are more likely to give back to them in the future. This would be if a friend does you a favor and you feel obligated to do a favor back in the future, even if they say, oh, no, don’t worry about it, you don’t have to. You feel this sort of nagging pain or something that is kindal kind of just pulling at you, making you feel like you should do something for them, or where you might say, well, you know, Susie did this nice thing for me previously, so I’ll go out of my way and pick her up a coffee today, whatever it happens to be. Also, if you’ve ever done at the holiday gift exchange, if you’ve ever done the dance of someone giving you a.

Melina Palmer: Gift and you weren’t expecting them to.

Melina Palmer: Give you a gift, and then you say, oh, shoot, I wasn’t sure I was going to see you today, and so I left yours in the car.

Melina Palmer: I’ll make sure to go get it.

Melina Palmer: And then you actually run to the store on your lunch break and buy them something. Or I actually have known people in the past who keep sort of emergency gifts in their car that are untagged or whatnot so that they can pass that gift along in case they are caught off guard with a surprise that someone

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Melina Palmer: gives them a gift that they weren’t ready for so they don’t feel like they’re breaking that social norm. And you don’t want to look like.

Melina Palmer: The jerk who didn’t get someone a.

Melina Palmer: Gift that got you a gift. So you want to be prepped to be able to do that. But why do we feel that way? Why does that happen? You know, it’s a funny little trick of our brains that we want to do nice things for people who do nice things for us.

Sheldon Cooper and the Obligation of Gift Giving

Melina Palmer: And I don’t know how many of you are fans of The Big Bang Theory. If you know me, you probably know that it’s one of my favorite shows, potentially because I get to geek out on some of the theories and things that I then will look into some more as I’m definitely not an expert.

Melina Palmer: In physics or any of that.

Melina Palmer: But I really love the show. I think it’s witty and fun. And I was. As I was prepping for this episode, I was remembering an episode of, The Big Bang Theory, where it’s Christmas time, and Penny buys a gift for.

Melina Palmer: Sheldon and Leonard and says, oh, I.

Melina Palmer: Just got you a silly little gift. To which then Sheldon says, wait, you bought me a present?

Melina Palmer: Why would you do such a thing?

Melina Palmer: And Penny sort of caught off guard and says, well, I don’t know, because it’s Christmas. And he says, oh, Penny, I know you think you’re being generous, but the.

Melina Palmer: Foundation of gift giving is reciprocity. You haven’t given me a gift.

Melina Palmer: You’ve given me an obligation, to which Penny says, you know, you don’t have to get me anything in return.

Melina Palmer: And he says, well, of course I do. The essence of the custom is that I now have to go out and purchase a gift for you of commensurate value and representing the same perceived level.

Melina Palmer: Of friendship as that represented by the gift you’ve given me. And this is what’s happening in our brains under the surface, and we don’t typically articulate. You know, that’s really one of the things I love about the character of Sheldon in The Big Bang Theory, is he puts into word some of these concepts and things that are happening in our brains that you don’t typically say, or most of us don’t realize what’s happening. But the writers of that show do a great job of just putting a pin on exactly what is happening. And in this case, in our subconscious brain of most people, they don’t realize that that that is what happens. But with Sheldon knowing that, in this case, as he says, you haven’t given me a gift, you’ve given me an obligation. And it turns out that is sort of what happens in the world of.

Melina Palmer: Lead magnets as well.

Melina Palmer: And this concept of reciprocity. I’m going to talk about a couple of studies here, and as always, there are links in the show notes to specific studies when I talk about them. And I won’t be saying every time, you know, and, there’s a link.

Melina Palmer: In the show notes.

Melina Palmer: There’s a link in the show notes. There should be. If there’s ever anything that warrants a link, it should be in the show notes. If I missed something and you wanted.

Melina Palmer: A little bit more information, definitely feel.

Melina Palmer: Free to email me at, Melina@thebrainybusiness.com. and I would be happy to find the specific link for you if it was missing from the show notes for any reason.

Real-World Examples of Reciprocity: The Mint Study and Nonprofits

Melina Palmer: Moving into this first study, which was done in a restaurant, I’m sure you’ve gone out to dinner. So if you think about when you go out to dinner, you actually are often given a gift at the end of the meal. And you might be thinking that that’s silly and you don’t get a gift.

Melina Palmer: But this is just the very small.

Melina Palmer: Maybe a fortune cookie or a mint. So often when the server brings you the bill, it will come with this small gift. And it’s very likely that you think.

Melina Palmer: It has nothing to do with the.

Melina Palmer: Amount that you tip. However, you would be wrong. This study found that for. So they had a control group of people who did not receive mints to be the baseline of how much people would tip. And, then a second group was given one mint. So if the bill was delivered and you got one mint, the amount that people tipped went up 3%, which is still, it’s not a huge amount, but in the world of tips, it can make a big difference. And especially if you consider the cost of the mint itself, you know, it’s worth the investment in mints in order to get that 3% increase. So you might think that if we upped it to two mints, that people would increase their tips by double, right? Double the mints. Double the increase. That’s not what happened, actually. And that is, it went up 14%.

Melina Palmer: In that group over people who received no mints.

Melina Palmer: So when you got one mint, people tipped 3% more. When they got two mints, they increased tips by 14%, which is huge.

Melina Palmer: Absolutely worth the cost of

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Melina Palmer: mints.

Melina Palmer: But what about when a little personal touch was brought into the occasion? So, in this case, if somebody, if.

Melina Palmer: The waiter brings the bill with one.

Melina Palmer: Mint and then leaves, but before they get very far, they stop, turn back, and say, for you nice people, here is another mint. I bet you can guess that tips went through the roof. They skyrocketed up to 23% over the non Mint recipients. And really, it’s the same two mints as were received in the 14% group. And it makes a huge, huge difference. But it doesn’t take a lot of time, and it’s because those people felt like they were special. They were being given a gift. Maybe they were more likely to note that they were getting a gift, and it was reflected in the tips that they gave. And now this is where we get into the behavioral economics of it all.

Melina Palmer: Do you think that those people would.

Melina Palmer: Say, if they were asked, if you were to ask people, did the mints change the amount that you tipped? I can basically guarantee that they would not. Maybe. Maybe in the for you nice people group, some people would say, well, the, you know, the waiter was so nice, and it was a pleasant experience, you know, and that they felt like they gave a little bit more. But I doubt that they would then say it was 20%.

Melina Palmer: They wouldn’t say they made that much of an increase, and they don’t really know where they started.

Melina Palmer: They can’t tell you what happened without having a study like this. And it seems absolutely ridiculous if you go into it. Nobody would really want to admit that.

Melina Palmer: Being given two mints and someone saying.

Melina Palmer: Something nice, that you increase your tip by 20%, it seems crazy, but it does make a difference. It’s notable, and it doesn’t take a lot of effort.

Melina Palmer: And it would be really easy to.

Melina Palmer: Encourage people, especially if you’re in the restaurant industry, easy peasy, simple to be able to do. And people want to give back. they want to buy from you because they feel like they owe you a little bit of something.

Melina Palmer: In the case of a lead magnet.

Melina Palmer: And in the case of this restaurant example, you know, even giving a gift.

Melina Palmer: At the end, a small little token.

Melina Palmer: Can make a difference. However, do you always want to give after the fact, or do you want to be giving up front? Like I said, in this case, in.

Melina Palmer: This restaurant study on reciprocity, they were finding this at the end, so they.

Melina Palmer: Gave them mints at the end of dinner.

Melina Palmer: And, a lead magnet is something.

Melina Palmer: That you’re giving up front, you’re sending to people, often before they’ve even gotten to know you. It might be they met you one.

Melina Palmer: Time, they got your card, someone encouraged.

Melina Palmer: Them, or people listening to a podcast.

Melina Palmer: Might go and download something, but you.

Melina Palmer: Haven’t actually met me or people who have heard me speak.

Melina Palmer: I encourage them to download my ebook, but they don’t actually know me.

Melina Palmer: And so it’s very much an upfront gift that they get. So, what’s better, and how do you choose, and how does this all work? And the truth is, it depends. There’s another really interesting study that found that if you. In the case of nonprofits, so if you work for a nonprofit, if you’re on the board for a nonprofit, anything looped in there, if you have a friend that works for a, nonprofit or is on the board, you might want to share this with them. Really interesting study finding that if you.

Melina Palmer: Gave a gift after receiving large donations.

Melina Palmer: If the nonprofit then was to thank.

Melina Palmer: People and send them a gift, they.

Melina Palmer: Actually saw their donations go down.

Melina Palmer: And why?

Melina Palmer: Because people wanted to be giving, not for that type of a transaction. It felt like they were being paid off. it just brought a level that they didn’t really feel good about into that donation setup. And it’s a little bit different than in a, business setup than it.

Melina Palmer: Is with a nonprofit.

Melina Palmer: When you’re asking people for donations and then you send them a gift, it just cheapens that setup and makes people feel like they don’t want to give as much, again, for whatever reason. And again, they might not tell you upfront that that’s what they would do or that they did that. But over a study, people were able to see this. Interestingly, if you are in the practice of giving people things after they’ve made a donation, you can give them the item. Say, if it’s a piece of logo wear? Or a mug or a coffee. I really like those, the cups with the straw, the plastic cups with straw, because I tend to not drink hot beverages all the time. But those I’ve seen a lot. And if you give that out, or.

Melina Palmer: Even a small pin or something like.

Melina Palmer: That, and let people know that it actually

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Melina Palmer: boosts the visibility of the organization and ask them to wear it or use it to help the organization all the way around, you may feel like that’s a really weird ask.

The Power of Small Asks: From Yard Signs to Address Labels

Melina Palmer: I know I would have. If not knowing about this study and how this works, you know, you might not feel like you should say, hey, thanks for giving us stuff. Can you do more and use this mug? But what they found is it actually brought the numbers back up. So back up to the level before what it would have been if they hadn’t given the gift for those large donations. Interestingly, though, if they were given a gift upfront, so before they were asked for the donation, before they gave money, if they were given a gift, and in this case, including a postcard, increased giving by 17%. And giving four postcards and envelopes boosted.

Melina Palmer: The donations by more than 75% compared.

Melina Palmer: To those who did not get the gift, which is crazy.

Melina Palmer: Again, for postcards and envelopes, doesn’t cost much at all compared to what was probably the increase in donations. If you think 75% increase, that’s incredibly significant.

Melina Palmer: And in the case of the people, the nonprofits who are giving gifts after.

Melina Palmer: Receiving a donation, I’m sure it costs.

Melina Palmer: More than what they would have been.

Melina Palmer: Paying for four postcards.

Melina Palmer: So, really interesting how our brains work when you get into this social space. The.

Melina Palmer: The interesting thing here is to remember.

Melina Palmer: That you’re sort of stepping out of a market, a, strictly market business transaction sort of a space, whereas I go to the grocery store, I pay for the item I want to buy, I walk away. It’s a purely monetary transaction. But once you get into this gift giving space, you’re setting yourself into more of a friendly construct, a social construct, and getting to this friends and family sort of space, I’m going to get.

Melina Palmer: Into this a little bit more at.

Melina Palmer: The end, in my words, of caution, but knowing that if you’re giving a gift, you’re changing the dynamic of the relationship that you have, regardless of.

Melina Palmer: What type of organization you’re in, regardless.

Melina Palmer: Of the size of the gift, it changes the dynamic, and it makes a difference in that person’s mind, and there’s a lot of power that can come with that. Another study was done on, actually, there have been a lot of studies on this, but looking into things like yard signs with political campaigns, I don’t know if you are like me. I always drive around. I don’t really love seeing yard signs all over the place. And it seems like they wouldn’t be.

Melina Palmer: Very effective other than just learning a name.

Melina Palmer: Right. It seems to most of us that.

Melina Palmer: The reason that there are yard signs.

Melina Palmer: Or things like that are simply to let people know who a candidate is, what name to be looking at, getting their name in as many spots as possible, and that somebody who has the sign potentially, feels like, you know, where they’re aligned with. But what’s really interesting about this type of study is that if you ask people to take on a simple task.

Melina Palmer: A small thing like putting a yard.

Melina Palmer: Sign up or a, cling in.

Melina Palmer: A window for of a business or.

Melina Palmer: Something, that they’re not likely to refuse. A small task that you ask up front. You can keep asking for bigger and bigger things, including larger donations, and people are more likely to give a higher amount and do whatever ridiculous task you ask them for later on. And there are some interesting studies that people have done in this case, but you’re more likely to get them to.

Melina Palmer: Do a huge thing if you ask.

Melina Palmer: Them to do this tiny thing up front. Similarly, sending people address labels. Do you remember those address labels that you used to get in the mail? I’ve seen it’s, been a long time since I’ve seen an ad for these now that we don’t send as much actual mail. Giving those to people as a gift actually would increase the likelihood that they’re going to buy from you later. And asking a store owner to put the sign in a window to advertise an auction makes it more likely later that they’ll agree to donate something to the auction. Or asking someone who enjoys going to a museum to wear a button saying they support the museum will increase the likelihood that they will

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Melina Palmer: later give a donation. So you could be giving out hundreds or thousands of these things, putting up tons of flyers, and giving out all.

Melina Palmer: The buttons and yard signs in the.

Melina Palmer: World, and not have anyone do anything.

Melina Palmer: And there’s no obligation for them to do so.

Melina Palmer: There’s no consequence if they don’t take an action. But there is this feeling of reciprocity.

Melina Palmer: That is naturally placed in their mind.

Melina Palmer: Of, you did them a favor of.

Melina Palmer: Giving them this little thing that they.

Melina Palmer: Accepted, and you’re able to then bump them up to the next level without them realizing that they will give more, do more than they would have without being given this tiny token that essentially has basically no value to them. But it makes a really big difference on the organization who is receiving those donations or whatever it happens to be that they’re getting. I have, I have kind of a funny example. When I was thinking about the concept of reciprocity and how this comes up in other types of businesses, I came up with something a little bit interesting. So I want you to imagine that today you went through the drive through at, your coffee store of choice, and you, as you go up to.

Melina Palmer: Pay, you ordered your single drink.

Melina Palmer: That is, we’ll say it’s $4.25. You go through the line, you get up to pay, and they say, hello, we’ve actually changed our policy.

Melina Palmer: And now, instead of paying for your.

Melina Palmer: Drink and the amount that it is, you will be authorizing us to charge.

Melina Palmer: Your card a random amount, which you.

Melina Palmer: Can’T know in advance. We’ll let you know at the end.

Melina Palmer: Of the day when it just shows.

Melina Palmer: Up on your credit card statement, typically somewhere between two and $20. But you can’t know in advance. We’re just going to charge your card later because you’re going to take on someone else’s drink order for the day.

Melina Palmer: You don’t know who it’s going to be.

Melina Palmer: You’ll never know who it’s going to be. They won’t know that you were the.

Melina Palmer: One who bought it for them and.

Melina Palmer: You won’t know who bought your drink. You might luck out and have this smaller amount, but it could be really significant. And I’m going to go ahead and pre authorize your card right now.

Melina Palmer: Thanks so much.

Melina Palmer: Enjoy your small coffee. Do you think you would feel okay with that? Or would you be quickly calling the Better Business Bureau and maybe throwing that coffee back at the barista who is just the messenger in this case? It’s very likely that you would not feel good about that and not agree to those terms because that’s ridiculous and it’s not how business works, and no one should do that.

The “Pay It Forward” Phenomenon at Starbucks

Melina Palmer: However, have you ever participated in the pay it forward scenario at Starbucks? And I’m sure other coffee shops do this as well, but I’ve been through this in a Starbucks and I’ve heard it talked about quite a bit. So this is essentially when you get up to the window and find out that the car in front of you paid for your order, and they ask if you want to pass it on. So you get up to the window and they say, hey, there’s actually no charge today. The woman ahead of you went ahead and took care of this and there’s nothing for you to do. You can go ahead and take your drink, but if you, I don’t know if they even ask. I think they don’t ask if you want to pay it forward. Maybe they do, but let’s say they ask, do you want to go ahead and pay it forward or whatnot? And I know that they talk about how they have trends of, you know, it was like for a full hour, people were buying the drink of the person behind them. But again, if you’re in that scenario, let’s say you typically get a $2.

Melina Palmer: Drink, and you said, sure, go ahead.

Melina Palmer: And I’ll buy the drinks behind me, and you get a $20 charge for your $2 drink that you always get. Do you feel bad about it? Are you angry when you get the charge for dollar 20? Or do you feel like, wow, I must have really made their day because dollar 20 is a huge amount that.

Melina Palmer: They didn’t have to pay for and.

Melina Palmer: That I took care of that for them. And you just feel good even though you’ve never met the person, you never.

Melina Palmer: Will meet the person.

Melina Palmer: They don’t know who you are, and Starbucks doesn’t know or care. They’re getting paid either way.

Melina Palmer: Right? So why does it matter?

Melina Palmer: Why do you feel different about that situation?

Melina Palmer: And it is this concept of reciprocity, and you were able to give something. Someone gave something to you and you.

Melina Palmer: Wanted to give to someone else. And interestingly, in that case, it’s not even the person that got something for you. You’re passing it along to some other person that you’ve never met or will meet. But if Starbucks were to change their policy, like that example I talked about up front, and say, we’ve decided you have to do this, this is the only way you can pay and you can’t get a drink. Otherwise it would very quickly probably be changed as a policy. It would not go very well for them. I don’t think people would

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Melina Palmer: take very well to that setup because being forced.

Melina Palmer: Into something like that is not the.

Melina Palmer: Same as being given an option of an offer of someone gave you a gift and you feel that obligation to pass it on. And that is what happens with lead magnets.

Melina Palmer: When you give someone a lead magnet.

Melina Palmer: And specifically a good one, when you have something set up, that is this gift that you put a lot of time and effort into, typically that, and it doesn’t have to be hugely significant. Again, remember the mints and the

Melina Palmer: Cup of coffee or whatever it happens to be.

Melina Palmer: But you know, you’ve put some effort that it’s actually valuable content that’s available and you’re giving to them with no.

Melina Palmer: Obligation to get or do anything else with you.

Melina Palmer: And if nobody chooses to buy, then that’s fine, but you’re giving this away.

Melina Palmer: For free where you could be charging.

Melina Palmer: For it and you want to be giving that information away. Something that people could or would buy.

Melina Palmer: Is typically what makes a really good lead magnet.

Melina Palmer: I’m going to go through a checklist here in a minute, but there are so many different kinds. There are checklists and templates, white papers, video tips. I have my ebook, the ten Behavioral.

Melina Palmer: Economics concepts you need to know and.

Melina Palmer: How to apply them, which I do invite you to download from thebrainybusiness.com.

Melina Palmer: If you haven’t already.

Melina Palmer: But what makes a good lead magnet? I did a little bit of searching.

Melina Palmer: And researching and prepping for this episode.

Melina Palmer: And it’s funny the that there are so many so, so, so many options there. I found from OptinMonster they have 69 examples of what makes a, good lead magnet options. And that one I do. Just so you know, there’s a link in the show notes so you don’t have to go searching right now if you’re sitting at your computer or on your phone or whatnot, you can check the show notes once we’re done here and you can go to that site to look at those 69 examples of lead magnets, which might be a little bit excessive, but there, it just goes to show how many options there are.

Melina Palmer: But one of the things they did.

Melina Palmer: Include in their article is the seven things that, your lead magnet should do. And it’s a pretty good compilation combination of what I’ve seen in other when I’ve been listening to podcasts on this and, other research. Like I said, lead magnet tips are.

Melina Palmer: All the rage right now.

Melina Palmer: It seems like they’re everywhere. And I feel like this particular article did a nice job of summarizing these seven things that a lead magnet should do if you want it to be what they call absolutely irresistible. Which again, that more exciting language if you didn’t listen to the previous episode, episode two. I talk about wording mistakes. This is definitely a term like absolutely irresistible is a, ah, way to combat the too boring option that I gave on those top five wording mistakes.

Qualities of an Irresistible Lead Magnet

Melina Palmer: So what is it that the lead magnet should do if you are wanting. People want it to be irresistible, and in this case, you want your lead magnet to be irresistible so that it can break through the clutter to get people to take the action of putting their name on the list. You know you’re giving up, in this case, you’re giving up your name, you’re giving up your email, which is a really big deal to be able to get something. And pretty much everybody knows if you go through, fill out the form and put your email address, you’re gonna get something in your email box. And pretty much everybody has like a drip campaign or something where you’ll get a minimum of two, sometimes four emails and maybe you’re on a newsletter list and whatever happens to be after the fact. So you want to make sure that whatever you’re offering is enough to get people to mentally overcome the hurdle of your gift is enough that they’re willing to let you add them to the list, that you’re willing to let them be receiving more information from you, and that it can do enough to make them not want to immediately unsubscribe after they get whatever this information is. So there’s seven things that they list out are that you want to have.

Melina Palmer: A lead magnet that solves an actual problem.

Melina Palmer: As with anything you could go through and set up the most amazingly beautiful and creative lead magnet on the planet about how to more effectively watch your grass grow. And nobody’s going to get it because it doesn’t solve a problem anybody has. Nobody’s looking to watch the grass grow or paint dry or whatever it happens to be. So you want to make sure that the problem you’re solving exists. What is something that people are talking about? What do people care about? What is it

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Melina Palmer: that they need help with? What keeps them them up at night? Understanding that is important to be able to have an effective lead magnet. The next thing is having a lead.

Melina Palmer: Magnet that promises one quick win.

Melina Palmer: So a small thing, you’re able to do a quick promise and deliver that they’re able to easily have an impact in their business. And in this case, their item number four then talks about being quick to digest. And that’s where an something like mine, actually an ebook is, I would say, not optimal for all seven items on the list, but there’s a little bit of wiggle because another thing they, they talk about is having a high value. So high value in your lead magnet, it has to be a high enough value to overcome this quick to digest or promising a quick win. And you may notice that a lot of podcasts do where they have something like an ebook, and I know I’m.

Melina Palmer: Personally planning to do this as well.

Melina Palmer: But where you get my main lead magnet freebie is my ebook. And it’s significant. It’s like 2025 pages at the most. But it’s a, it’s a lot of valuable content. I spent a lot of time putting it together. And if you are able to create something that is of high enough value that people will say, wow, I can’t.

Melina Palmer: Believe this is free.

Melina Palmer: You can overcome some of that one quick win, the quick to digest, but it’s nice to then also have little freebies that you give away along the way. Like in the case of a podcast where you might have an extra little checklist or an extra little template or something that you give on a specific episode that is smaller, that does.

Melina Palmer: Those quick wins, you can kind of.

Melina Palmer: Mix it up and do maybe one.

Melina Palmer: Big one and a few small ones.

Melina Palmer: And to know, of course, that’s more of it, that’s an advanced tactic versus everybody out of the gate. You don’t need to have the perfect lead magnet or what have you. In reality, often having something that’s good enough is better than having the perfect thing that sits on the shelf until it’s actually 100% perfect. But knowing these tips to help make your lead magnet that much better before you release it, or what you have out there to be able to go in and ask, you know, is this something that’s specific? Do people know what they’re needing to do. Is it a really high value or are people able to digest it quickly? Does it solve a problem?

Melina Palmer: Those are questions you can ask yourself.

Melina Palmer: To make sure that what you’re putting out there is more effective and more likely for people to download it. And I got into a couple of the other items there of those seven that came from OptinMonster and I’ll just recap here. So they said, solves a real problem.

Melina Palmer: Promises a quick win.

Melina Palmer: Super specific, quick to digest, high value, instantly accessible. So you don’t want to have your lead magnet be something that people have to wait to get in the mail, or that if you have to manually go in and accept their email address and then resend them something back, you want to make sure people get things as quickly as they possibly can and.

Melina Palmer: Then you want it to demonstrate your expertise.

Melina Palmer: And again, some of these could be a little bit contradictory. Like I said, my ebook definitely demonstrates my expertise. It is instantly accessible. I would say it’s a high value and I’ve heard that from people. It’s quick ish to digest. But again, it’s 20 pages. It is quite specific. It’s a little bit lacking in that one quick win and it does solve a problem. However, I think it also is something where the problem that I have is that not enough people understand about behavioral economics, what it is and why they.

Melina Palmer: Need it in their business.

Melina Palmer: And that’s why I have that ebook as my freebie to give more information as well as actually this podcast. What I’m doing here is sort of.

Melina Palmer: In itself a lead magnet of being able to give a lot of information away for free. You are under no obligation to buy.

Melina Palmer: Anything from me or to pay to download and listen to this through iTunes or whatever happens to be for any.

Melina Palmer: Of you who are listening.

Melina Palmer: I’m so glad that you’re here and you don’t have to do anything else. You know, I’m just putting this out.

Melina Palmer: There into the world.

Melina Palmer: It would be great if you did get something.

Melina Palmer: I would love to work with you.

Melina Palmer: On, another level, but if we never do, that’s okay. I’m willing to put this out there.

Melina Palmer: As free content that’s available.

Melina Palmer: And if people get onto my list, then that’s great. But if not, then that’s fine as well.

Strategic Use of Lead Magnets and Words of Caution

Melina Palmer: It’s one of those things that you’re.

Melina Palmer: Putting out and understanding what is the.

Melina Palmer: Right lead magnet for you is more important than having everything on someone else’s list or, you know, checking every single box and making sure it’s perfect.

Melina Palmer: Because

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Melina Palmer: the right lead magnet for you is not the same as what’s the right lead magnet for me?

Melina Palmer: Or as your friend down the street or a competitor of yours. You know, you really need to be able to understand what you’re trying to do, who you’re trying to send it to, what do they care about and, how do they want to receive that information? You know, some people would like to get an ebook, and some people just want a really quick checklist, and understanding.

Melina Palmer: Who you’re sending it to and what they’re going to use and value is.

Melina Palmer: Important when you’re setting up that lead magnet, as well as then how you’re going to message it, where you’re going to advertise it. That all comes together when you are picking the right way to put yours.

Melina Palmer: Out into the world.

Melina Palmer: And, if you remember the questions.

Melina Palmer: In the title of the episode here are, do lead magnets work? Which I’ve already explained to you that, yes, they do, especially if they’re good.

Melina Palmer: And then do you need one? In general, most businesses, I think, have found that they do most, especially if you’re in the advice business. But if you think there are so many things that you can be giving to help people, even if your item is small, that you’re selling to people, being able to give a gift of a lead magnet or sending a gift in the mail, finding whatever that is, can make a really big difference in your sales conversions. Remember back to the mints in the restaurant example, having an item that you.

Melina Palmer: Give as a gift and using this.

Melina Palmer: Concept of reciprocity, I would say is more important than a lead magnet specifically. But understanding that when you give a gift, even something small, what that does.

Melina Palmer: For a business relationship and how it can move it forward. However, a word of caution to you.

Melina Palmer: Is that when you give gifts, it can initiate. As I alluded to a little bit earlier in the episode, it’s transitioning you from a strictly business monetary one for one relationship of I want this widget and I’ll give you $10 for the widget because that’s how much it costs. And I walk out the door versus a more social relationship or a, social contract, as Sheldon Cooper would say, and you want to open the door by giving a little something when you didn’t have to.

Melina Palmer: And remember that most of the time.

Melina Palmer: You’Re giving to someone who has not met you in person, it might be the first time they’re hearing from you. And if you execute this wrong, it can be a huge social faux pas, which can be difficult to recover from, I remember. So I worked in corporate marketing, and I, guess corporate is a term you can take however you want. When I have not been an, entrepreneur and owned my own company, I’ve worked in businesses in the past, and while working in organizations, especially in the marketing department, which is where I have been basically for my whole career, there is so much stuff coming my way. There was so many just, there are so many things that I was getting where emails every day, phone calls every day, and I’m talking, you know, tens and sometimes, you know, hundreds in a week that I was getting people asking me for things and to switch printers and to do whatever it happens to be. And I used to have people, some people would come by and drop things at my office when they were trying to get meetings with me and all of this, and it basically never worked. And for me, I actually really hated that. And to me, it was a thing where I would say, I will absolutely not do. It would take a lot for somebody to be able to overcome the way that, that felt. And I would sort of put them on a blacklist where I have an example of somebody I had never met before who had not emailed me previously.

Melina Palmer: Or anything, asking for a meeting or.

Melina Palmer: Trying to do anything, you know, that I know of, and, showed up in the lobby and would call and say, oh, hi, it’s XYZ from whatever my company is. You know, that I’m, I’m here, and.

Melina Palmer: I brought you this amazing thing that.

Melina Palmer: I just wanted to go ahead and drop off. If you want to come on downstairs and, you know, meet with me really quickly, I would be happy to give you, but I’m going to go ahead.

Melina Palmer: I’m just going to leave it down here in case you want it.

Melina Palmer: And then we’ll be able to, you know, we’ll sit down, we’ll have a conversation about all your printing needs and blah, blah, blah, which just feels gross to me. And in fairness, this must be working with

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Melina Palmer: some people. It has to work. If it’s a tactic that so many people use, I can tell you right now, I know from talking with a lot of other professionals, I never felt good about that. I never enjoyed that, and I would never take those meetings. It was just not great. It was different where, you know, holidays, people gave me things that I was already working with or something along those lines. And it’s small, like, you know, they give everybody the bottle of wine or whatever it is, but the, I’m bringing you a thing to make it seem like, I actually care, but it’s very transparent that all I’m trying to do is to get you to have a meeting with me does not feel good. And they’ve actually put themselves into a place where it would be much more difficult to be able to do business with them. So just understand that there’s a lot of responsibility with doing this right and make sure it’s authentic and it’s from you if you’re ever giving gifts out. And this is where there’s sort of this balance, again, of in creating a lead magnet. Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It’s better to have something usually than, you know, an almost perfect something that sits on the shelf. However, knowing that you want to set it up, that it’s not.

Melina Palmer: The minute somebody gets whatever the lead.

Melina Palmer: Magnet is, they are bombarded with, buy from me, buy from me, do this, do that, do this, you know, because people don’t respond well to that and you’re breaking this social construct, this contract that you’ve put out there and you’re.

Melina Palmer: Entering into this new mindset and you.

Melina Palmer: Just have to be really cognizant and aware of that. Again, you know, I have thought about this with my ebook, when you get my ebook, and that’s where people do a drip campaign, you know, so the first email is just the ebook, you get the ebook. Thanks so much. And, you know, link to the website and let people know that in that case they’re being put on the newsletter and to let me know if they don’t want to be on the newsletter list. And then you would get a series of emails after that that might be offering things. But again, you want to make sure that those offers that you’re giving are things that are of value. So it’s not like you would be offering people some huge, you know, buy.

Melina Palmer: From me, buy from me.

Melina Palmer: But you’re saying, I thought you might also be interested in this. And then eventually maybe you offer a.

Melina Palmer: Service, but some really never do.

Melina Palmer: Some, it’s just you’re giving them free stuff and then they get content and that’s good for them. And again, then they can find a way to work with you if they ever choose to, but they don’t have to. And the feeling of that gift goes on and they have this value, which can translate into the know, like trust factor that so many of us have heard about in business as well. So again, keep in mind that you’re going to be shifting the relationship and it can feel bad if you have a faux pas and if you go too far and you’re giving everyone too much, it could also get you into this sort of, turning everyone into a close relative or friendly friend to where they would be offended if you try to charge fees for your services and think, well, why should I get that? If, you know, we’re so close, why would you be giving me this or that? So again, fine lines all over the place.

Melina Palmer: But in general, lead magnets are incredibly.

Melina Palmer: Effective, especially when done well and having a lot of intention and strategy and thought behind them so that you are giving out something to your audience, your clients, your customers, potential customers and clients and members and whatever it happens to be, you’re giving something that they will actually want and find value in, whether they take another action or not.

Conclusion: The Power of Thoughtful Gifting

Melina Palmer: Thank you so much for tuning in today for episode three, where you learned why lead magnets work if you need.

Melina Palmer: One, and how to execute them effectively.

Melina Palmer: If you liked this episode, please consider.

Melina Palmer: Rating it and reviewing on iTunes or wherever you listen to and sharing it.

Melina Palmer: With a friend you think would find value. Again, I think that piece on nonprofits is particularly fascinating, and I know that nonprofits give more than some others. I’ve been on the board of multiple, nonprofits over the years and feel more of a need to be giving things away and just understanding how they’re different from, other types of businesses and how actually giving a gift at the end could be hurting them is just fascinating to me, and I think they would probably find that really fascinating as well. I hope you tune in next week for episode four, which will come to you directly. If you’re subscribed to the email list or via the podcast app, the episode is going to dig into the importance questioning and not letting your search for the perfect question keep you from finding the right answer. It’s going to be awesome, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.

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Melina Palmer: Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your day.

Announcer: Thank you for listening to The Brainy Business podcast. Melina offers virtual strategy sessions, workshops, and other services to help businesses be more brain friendly. For more free resources, visit thebrainybusiness.com.

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