Magnetize Your Marketing

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5 steps to attract high quality prospects quickly and easily.

Scott Cantrell on October 4, 2011

Imagine never having to chase leads only to find out they weren’t going to work for you anyway. Imagine dominating your marketplace, and attracting your ideal prospects virtually at will.

Developing a lead magnet can help you with each of these goals. It is the reason why a prospect responds to a call-to-action in a marketing message. (Please note: I am assuming you already know to include a specific call-to-action in all of your marketing messages and tools.)

Let me clarify this concept in your mind. Imagine I drop twenty metal needles into a large haystack and your job is to find them as effectively and as efficiently as you can. Consider how you might accomplish this.

Why not use a magnet to attract the needles to you? You could simply move the magnet through the haystack to pick up those needles.

This directly relates to your prospecting efforts. The haystack is your marketplace. The needles are your ideal prospects—those who will become your best clients. Right now, those ideal prospects are hidden, buried in a vast amount of other people who make up your marketplace. So how can you attract those ideal prospects?

Use a lead magnet. Here’s how you create a powerful lead magnet.

Step 1: Determine Your Market’s Number 1 Desire

At its core, your lead magnet should solve a problem or at least shed light on the solution. Therefore, you must know your target market’s primary desire or pain point so that you can ensure your lead magnet helps them solve their problem.

Step 2: Craft Your Call-To-Action

Your lead magnet should include its own call-to-action, which should represent the next logical step in your sales process. This next step could be an online meeting or phone conversation. Consider what you want the prospect to do next and include the proper call-to-action in your lead magnet.

For example, one of my clients decided to target small business owners so we created a lead magnet—a free report. We crafted a call-to-action that told those business owners to contact his office to receive a complimentary risk exposure assessment. Business owners would then request this free service and by the time the assessment process was over, they were already committed to working with my client.

Step 3: Select Your Media

What media will make up your lead magnet? Will it be a special report, a CD, an ebook, an online video or an article? Consider who your market is, what kind of media they normally consume, and how your message would be best presented.

For example, if you’re targeting a senior citizen, an online video probably wouldn’t be the best media choice for them—instead they may prefer a booklet or special report delivered offline.

Step 4: Create the Lead Magnet

Don’t make this step harder than it really is. You simply need to outline the information that will make up the lead magnet and then, depending upon the media you choose, you will write or record that information. It should not take long to write a short report or even record a half-hour interview or presentation.

For example, I recently suggested that an agency principal have me interview her, and this will become the basis of her lead magnet.

Step 5: Decide on the Delivery & Follow-Up

Finally, you must decide how you will actually deliver the lead magnet to your prospect and how you will follow-up with that prospect to make certain you close the sale. I recommend using a multi-step follow-up campaign. Remember the goal is to lead your prospect down the garden path, which will result in a new client.

Use a specific call-to-action supported by a lead magnet in every marketing message. You’ll see instant increases in your marketing’s effectiveness and, of course, automatic increases in your bottom line.

The lead magnet is just one of many powerful prospecting tactics. Visit http://www.InsuranceBottomLine.com/secretweapon.html to access bonus materials.

Scott Cantrell is the chief marketing strategist with Bottom Line Solutions, a sales and marketing firm providing cutting-edge methods, ready-to-use resources, and private coaching and consulting to insurance professionals across North America.