The Smart Recruiter’s Guide to Creating a “Lead Magnet” That Generates Warm Leads

Mark Whitby

Want to generate warm leads on autopilot, and attract a steady flow of new clients and candidates for your recruitment business? Then you need a Lead Magnet.

What is a Lead Magnet?

Quite simply, a lead magnet is an irresistible bribe that offers value to your prospect in exchange for their contact information. In other words, it’s an incentive for your potential clients and candidates to “opt-in” to your email list. 

Why Do You Need a Lead Magnet?

Building a permission-based marketing list, where prospects have specifically requested your information, is one of the cornerstones of your digital marketing campaign. It’s critical for anyone who’s serious about digital marketing.

Getting prospects to opt-in is more than just a best practice. It will dramatically increase your response rate and reduce complaints – after all, most folks hate receiving spam and you don’t want to get labelled as a spammer! If you’re based in the UK or Europe, getting explicit permission will keep you compliant with GDPR.

What Can You Give Away as a Lead Magnet?

The biggest question I get asked at this point is, “what can I use as a Lead Magnet?”  Here are some examples of potential lead magnets:

● Whitepaper

● Executive Briefing

● Case Study

● eBook

● Special Report

● eCourse

● Article

● Checklist

● Physical Book

● Live Webinar

● Automated Webinar

● Video

● Podcast Series

● DVD

● Online Tool

● Cheat Sheet

● Template

● Virtual Summit

Stuck for Ideas? Check out these Lead Magnets from Bullhorn 

And more real-life examples from LinkedIn…

In order to really “get” the concept of Lead Magnets, I find it helps to look at real examples from recruitment companies.  Check out these great looking eBooks…

If smart marketers like Bullhorn and LinkedIn are using lead magnets to drive inbound leads for their sales team to follow-up, should you?

Here’s the Major Hurdle You Must Overcome​

Keep in mind that most people are resistant to giving you their email address, and won’t do so easily. They’re already getting tons of email and typically don’t want to receive any more.

That means that to persuade them to join your list, you have to make your lead magnet really tempting!

4 Keys to Creating an Irresistible Lead Magnet

You now understand the benefit of having a lead magnet generating warm leads for your business 24×7, 365 days per year. Hopefully you’re enthusiastic about the idea of creating your first lead magnet. But to avoid running off in the wrong direction, here are four important points you must consider.

1. Before you invest any time, money or effort creating a lead magnet, make sure it’s one that your target audience will want!

A lead magnet has to be extremely well targeted to work. Not only does this ensure a higher amount of relevant leads giving you their email address, it means you don’t waste time collecting leads that are irrelevant to your line of work.

2. Choosing the right topic is essential.

If it’s not of interest to your target audience, then chances are they’re not going to want to give you their email address to see it.  Do your research thoroughly and find a topic or subject that will spur them into downloading it. (The fastest, easiest and most efficient way to find out the hottest topic is to send an email survey to all your clients and contacts.)

3. Your lead magnet should look attractive!

I see a lot of poorly designed, “mickey mouse” lead magnets. Your lead magnet should be of the highest quality, one you feel proud of, ensuring that your prospects trust you with their email address. It’s often a good idea to help them visualize your lead magnet to tempt them into downloading it. For example, have a graphic designer create a 3D graphic or “eCover” which depicts your digital download in the form of a physical product.

4. A lead Magnet must help your prospects to solve an important problem, achieve a desired outcome, or BOTH.

Remember, the lead magnet isn’t about you – it’s about your prospects, their goals and challenges. You need to press their hot buttons, tap into their motivations, fears and desires.

Proof This Works… Actual Results From My Website

You might be wondering, “Is it really worth all this time and effort?”

You bet! Just one of my lead magnets, 7 Ways to Get New Clients Fast, has been downloaded over 2000 times and continues to generate 30-35 leads per week on autopilot – many of whom have subsequently converted into paying clients.  And this is just one of several lead magnets I use to generate leads.  Check out the report below…

This is not a short-term sales tactic, it’s a long-term way of building an opted-in, highly targeted audience for your recruitment services. Get your lead magnet right, and you’ve got a marketing asset that will continue attracting a steady stream of qualified leads for a long time to come.

Want my help to create predictable revenue for your recruitment business?  You can request a free 30-minute Strategy Session here.

SIDENOTE:

I once did a joint venture with another marketer who I’m not going to name. He claimed to have 80,000 recruiters on his email list. I was amazed because at the time I had “only” 10,000 people on my list.

We both sent the same exact email to our lists. I was really excited because I expected his campaign to produce 8x more sales than mine. Guess what? My email produced 40 sales, and his produced only 2. That’s right, my email generated 20x more revenue! Given that his list was 8 times bigger, that means my response was 160x higher than his or 16000%! I was shocked. When I dug deeper, I discovered that he obtained most of his emails by scrapping websites, whereas mine were legitimate opt-ins.

The moral of the story? Permission-based marketing beats spam every time.

About the Author

Mark Whitby

Mark Whitby is one of the world's leading coaches for the recruitment industry. Since 2001, he has trained over 10,000 recruiters in 34 countries. Mark has helped recruiters to double or triple their billings and owners to increase their team's sales by 67% in 90 days.

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