What is a Lead Magnet and How Can I Easily Create One?

Turn your readers into subscribers and your subscribers into customers with a Lead Magnet.

One of the most effective ways to grow an audience is through an email list. That list will become your people - the people who want to hear from you (look forward to hearing from you, even) and eventually will want to buy from you. Instagram is great, but the people who are serious about your business are on your email list.

But how do you even begin building an email list? How do you find your people? Through a lead magnet!

What exactly is a lead magnet?

It’s essentially a free download. Something you create to draw your potential customers to you. Something that makes the reader go “wait, this was free?” It can be a step-by-step guide, a checklist, an information packet, an ebook, templates, etc. Whatever it is that you choose to create, you want to pack it full with information. Remember, this is the way you’re getting someone in the door and introducing them to your business. It needs to be really valuable to keep them coming back. A lead magnet is a way for you to essentially show off your knowledge a bit.

Now that you know what it is, how can you easily create a lead magnet?

First, you want to give some thought as to what your lead magnet should include. What’s the topic? How much information are you giving away? What format would be most valuable? What’s your follow up offer? I.e. your course, your services, products, etc. Figure all of this out before creating anything.

Let’s say you have a course on productivity - how to center your life around creativity, or how to be productive each day, or something similar. Your lead magnet might be something like “5 Ways to Ensure One Productive Thing Gets Done Each Day.” It’s a step in the door. You’re not giving away everything you know, but you’re hinting at it. You’ve created a step-by-step list that someone can learn something really valuable from. You’ve created trust between you and your new subscriber.

I also suggest either adding an offer right to your lead magnet, creating an email series that has an offer at the end (and automatically gets sent to people who download your offer), or both. Think about it - now is the time to show them what you’ve got. They just received your offer and hopefully love it - show them your offer before they forget about you. Because trust me, they will forget! The intention is there, but life is busy and we all forget. That’s why it’s important to show them your offer when you’re at the top of their mind.

Okay, now let’s get to the point about the actual creation and design of a lead magnet. There is no reason to hire a designer - you can simply use a Canva template. There are loads of templates you can look through in Canva itself, or you can purchase a designer template that’s more strategically made.

I created the ultimate lead magnet canva template that you can use over and over again. Simply choose the format you want and discard the rest for that specific lead magnet. Make a copy right after purchase, so you always have access to the master template. This way, it’s easy to go back and create a new lead magnet when you’re ready.

The lead magnet canva template comes with 3 templates each for checklists, questionnaires, step-lists, journaling, and notes. That’s over 12 templates to choose from! You can check out the lead magnet canva template or purchase here.

Now go create your lead magnet and turn your readers into subscribers and your subscribers into buyers!