How to build your list with a kick-butt “lead magnet”

I hear from a lot of would-be email marketers who know that it’s important offer a mind-blowing “lead magnet” to attract new subscribers to their email list…

But they have NO idea what they should create.

Should I write an ebook? Or do an info graphic? Maybe an email course would be better…

Most of the time, the reason they’re so hung up is simple:

They’re trying to create ONE thing that will appeal to a broad cross-section of people.

That’s really hard to do.

You’ll beat your head against the wall for hours, and whatever you come up with is so generic that it won’t appeal to anyone.

(Hint: Any time you’re struggling to come up with what to say in your marketing, it’s probably because you haven’t clearly defined WHO you’re trying to reach.)

So step 1a of creating a great lead magnet is identifying the subgroups within your audience.

Let’s look at an example: runners.

One of my past clients was a running coach, and from working with him I learned you can slice runners up into a number of subgroups:

• People who are running for weight loss
• Experienced runners training for their first marathon
• Triathletes who want to improve their race times

With these groups in mind it’s a whole lot easier to come up with ideas for lead magnets.

Just pick one burning question that your subgroup has and answer it.

The weight loss group might be interested in discovering the best time of day to run in order to burn fat.

For triathletes, they’d kill to know a simple tweak they can make to their running form that would shave 5 seconds from their mile times.

Answer either of those questions, and you have yourself a kick-butt lead magnet for that subgroup.

Maybe you’re asking, “Won’t that exclude a lot of people that would still be interested in what I have to say?”

And the answer is—

Most definitely yes.

Which is why you don’t create just one lead magnet—you create 5 or 10. At least one for each major subgroup in your niche.

You don’t have to create these all at once.

Start with the biggest subgroup in your audience, then work your way down the list.

(A side benefit of using hyper-focused lead magnets like this is they are fast and easy to create. You don’t need to write a 200-page ebook to answer 1 burning question.)

By opening multiple, focused pathways into your mailing list like this, you’ll capture far more subscribers than if you try to have one catchall lead magnet.