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5 High-Value Lead Magnet Examples for B2B Marketers

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31 Oct 2018 | by Ian Blake

How do you capture your audience’s attention enough for them to freely hand over their precious contact info? As a B2B marketer, you must’ve explored a range of bold lead generation techniques.

5 High-Value Lead Magnet Examples for B2B Marketers | Squaredot B2B Marketing

How do you capture your audience’s attention enough for them to freely hand over their precious contact info? As a B2B marketer, you must’ve explored a range of bold lead generation techniques. (We’d know.) Let’s talk about one irresistible, not-so-secret tactic: the lead magnet. It’s the incentive you give your audience in exchange for their contact details, most commonly their email. I’d say it’s an elegant nudge that would make your customer toss over their personal info to you.

In other words, a lead magnet is a key reason why your audience would want to keep in touch and hear more from you. That’s why it has to be stuffed with value, worth their while, and free of charge. For B2B conversations, the transaction is far more expensive and consequential than purchasing a cup of coffee. Pre-sales B2B interactions involve more back and forth. To earn the trust of a business, it usually takes time and multiple touch points. Ultimately, you have to offer educational value. This could come in the form of a video series, webinar, PDF guide, or as simple as a free consultation. (More on this in a bit…)

Due to their higher dollar purchases and focus on ROI, it makes sense for B2B conversations to demand educational content. Purchasing enterprise software or an agency service is unlike entertainment or hobbyist products. It must produce the kind of value that would eventually contribute to the buyer’s bottom line. How? Let’s look into the different types of lead magnets for B2B, including five marketer-vetted lead magnet examples you can use to attract leads.

 

 1. Product demo

Give a clear-cut walkthrough of your product with an in-depth overview. Take your potential users through a demonstration experience to entice the opt-in.

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Marketo’s 4-minute video demo reels in folks who’d benefit from their tool.

 


Let us note that adding an opt-in wall behind your demo video works best for enterprise deals. The audience is looking to heavily invest in the product, so they don’t mind a longer pre-sales process in order to get handholding from the vendor’s sales/account management teams. Otherwise, a registration form at this point creates too much friction if the purchasing decision is relatively trivial. 


2. Educational videos

Let’s explore multimedia. The educational video is a powerful lead magnet format. They are engaging and immersive. A recent study conducted by Facebook IQ discovered that participants “gazed at video content on Facebook and Instagram 5x longer than they did static content”. Educational video lead magnets are big on mobile, too. It’s an easy content format to consume on the smartphone. Check out this lead magnet example by Thrive Themes, a leading Wordpress plugin provider.

 

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Source: Thrive Themes

You can see how the opt-in wall showcases the rich video course platform inside.


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This kind of content works as the perfect infomercial. While they’re educational, the tutorials are built around the applications of their software products. They teach and sell at the same time!

Another fantastic example is Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. The internet marketing thought leader has been pioneering the use of videos as an opt-in gift. These high-quality assets are launched multiple times per year, drumming up to an upcoming promotional campaign.

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Source: Jeff Walker

 

By opting in, the audience enters a 4-part educational video series. Not all videos are available outright. You’ll have to wait for the next episodes to drip out. This continued relationship enables the brand to nurture the audience for an extended amount of time.


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Source: Jeff Walker

 3. The webinar

Got existing content that led to high engagement? Consider squeezing more mileage out of it by repurposing the same ideas into video conference calls. Webinars create high-converting opportunities to lure prospects to your product. Adobe Connect reported that webinar landing pages boast an average conversion rate of 51%, with 36% of registrants attending the webinar, and 19% viewing the product demo session at the end.

Kickofflabs.com was on to something when they gave prospects a peek into what they can expect from their webinars. They feature past live webinars on the opt-in page to address any sign-up’s fears that the webinar might actually be… well, boring.

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Source: crazyegg

Such scheduled video sessions create a more powerful and personal relationship with the audience. There’s a sense of time-sensitivity and live presence, especially whenever the audience can participate in the discussion through commenting systems.

4. Downloadable guides

The PDF toolkit is one of the most popular lead magnet formats for a good reason. While it is scalable and easier to produce, it gives the brand a reason to add an opt-in wall. Given the downloadable nature of PDFs, the brand can send a file for the visitor to download for later consumption. These guides typically include educational elements, industry insight, and fillable forms. 

Teachable demonstrates this elegantly. For example, they bundle worksheets, templates, and checklists. The downloadable guide can also come in other forms such as case studies and whitepapers.

image9Source: Teachable

5. Free consultation

A free consultation gets you time with your prospect, one-on-one. Let’s use an example from 24 sessions. Below, they do what they preach:


image3Source: 24sessions

By booking an appointment, they’ll get to show a personalized walkthrough and answer any question that the prospect might ask. This opportunity to speak with the prospect directly (on the phone or face-to-face) enables the salesperson to personalize the experience, unlike generic opt-in gifts. Plus, you’ll be able to identify and prioritize highly-qualified prospects. Consider the cons, though: more expensive, higher friction (booking an appointment is a big commitment), and less scalable.

image6Source: The Marketing Agents

The compelling lead magnet checklist

So, what makes up the perfect formula for a successful B2B lead magnet? Here is a lead magnet checklist of a few notable components that’ll help capture more leads.

Be specific

You can find broad and general lead magnets that promise vague results everywhere. Be specific to convert more leads. Particularly, you want to offer a quick win that they can imagine achieving today. Commit to giving away something small and realistic. This way, the promise doesn’t sound suspicious or overwhelming. Instead of promoting a lead magnet that suggests how to build a better business, you can narrow down to an example like how to increase your e-commerce store’s repeat purchase rate through email marketing. Being too specific with a topic, on the other hand, might only attract a handful of folks. Find the sweet spot between being broad enough to attract a number of potential leads and being specific enough to stand out.

Easy to follow 

As huge fans of readability and user experience, we suggest that you take advantage of formatting, like bullet points, visual content, paragraph breaks, and concise sentences to make your lead magnet easy to scan and follow.

Quick and actionable

A PDF checklist, for example, is instantly accessible and actionable which makes it so appealing to customers. According to Mary Fernandez of optinmonster, checklists often convert more because they are quick and easy to digest. Have your lead magnet promise and deliver something people can easily achieve. Adam Connel of bloggingwizard says, “Whether your lead magnet is a checklist, guide or a discount code – your subscribers need to get everything they need to take action right away.”

Demonstrate thought-leadership

Your lead magnet is a chance to demonstrate expertise. When someone downloads your lead magnet, you want to establish your brand as a thought leader. If your opt-in reward does not inspire trust, what’s the point of generating a lead? You want to keep contacts engaged by meeting their expectations after the opt-in.

 

 Over to you 

Educational lead magnets are powerful tools for B2B lead generation. By delivering value early, you’re able to deliver value early, enticing the prospect to pursue the sales conversation.
As B2B goods or services are often high-dollar transactions, an effective and valuable lead magnet builds customer relationships and guides them through the buyer’s journey.

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So, how does your digital marketing approach compare to Irish B2B marketers? Download our Who Leads: Irish B2B Digital Marketing Survey 2018 for a full breakdown of the results, insights revealed, and Squaredot’s hints and tips.

 
 
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