Storytime!
Back in the early 1900s, all it took to market your product or service was a basic idea that was slightly better than the competition, and some cool gimmick or a TV commercial.
For example, did you know that one of the reasons Heinz Ketchup took off versus their competition was because they chose to use glass bottles?
See back when Heinz was hitting the shelves, there were a LOT of crappy options on the general store shelves. Products were sold in opaque or dark bottles so that you couldn’t tell if the product had gone bad. You bought it, got home and found out. From my understanding, this was long before the days of being able to return the milk because it went bad before you got it home.
Food wasn’t great in those days, and sauces and condiments were often used to help mask a dish that was otherwise unremarkable. But if you poured out a condiment that had gone bad, it didn’t help! Ketchup was a pretty popular condiment and Heinz was the one you could buy confidently because they chose to display their quality by putting it in a clear glass bottle.
Man! Anyone else wishing it was that easy to win the market still?
Unfortunately, the days of “Build It And They Will Come” are long over in marketing. But the idea persists that if we have something cool, it will be enough to drive conversions and all we have to do is get the ball rolling and find our ‘transparent bottle.’
So why am I talking about this?
Because I’ve had a crazy amount of conversations lately with individuals who are building free lead magnets. Lead magnets that carry the hopes of generating hundreds and thousands of leads! Some people I’ve spoken with are putting hundreds of hours into building full scale manuals that they plan to give away for free!
Aside from the issue of a freebie that is ‘too much’ and how it can backfire and end up undervalued by the recipients, there’s a common theme here! Each person I’ve spoken with has the idea that if they build a cool enough freebie and put some money into ads, leads will start pouring in.
Damn it Russel Brunson! I don’t know if the dude oversimplified on PURPOSE because…marketing! Or if he just didn’t realize that there was actually more going on than getting a cool freebie and a landing page.
So here’s how to market your free lead magnet to generate more leads for yourself!
First, re-read the upper portion of this blog! Just because your freebie is good and free doesn’t mean you’ll get downloads. Second, just because you get downloads doesn’t mean those people did anything with the freebie and are warmed up to your brand and ready to buy!
Now for the practical steps!
1. Talk about your freebie…
A lot. More than you think you need to. The problem starts because most of the time, we’ve been talking about our freebies internally so much that we feel like we’re talking about it too much and will drive people away. That’s rarely the case.
Most often, you’ve posted about it three times over a three week period, but if we’re being honest, the algorithm only showed one of those posts to people.
This is a problem because humans need familiarity to build trust and curiosity. Do you remember how many people absolutely refused to watch Game of Thrones for multiple seasons, finally caving because people wouldn’t stop talking about it? Or Breaking Bad? Or Walking Dead? Or Once Upon a Time?
Eventually, they caved and checked it out because they heard about it SO many times. Your lead magnet will probably need to do the same thing. So talk about it.
A lot.
2. Ensure it’s universally represented!
This should NOT be a ‘best kept secret’ that’s only available when someone sees the ads you put out! Put that MFer out everywhere you can! It should be mentioned on every page of your website. On a pop-up. In the videos you’re pushing out. In posts on your social media. On your mailing list (And not just once!). If you can land free PR, mention the freebie during those interviews and encourage people to go download it. Going to a networking event? Talk about it there too!
The key here is to build on the consistency by ensuring it’s on every platform you’re on. If everywhere people turn around, your freebie is there, they will start to build familiarity as well!
3. Promote one aspect at a time!
There’s probably a ton of reasons someone would want your freebie! Maybe it helps them feel empowered to manage their finances. And it helps them understand their P&L. And it helps them figure out how to increase profit margins. And it helps them…
I mean, all of these things COULD be covered under Empowered to Manage Finances. But frankly, the more granular you can get, the better. But don’t try to do it all at once! We are constantly looking for the silver bullet in marketing, the perfect phrase that will encapsulate all the reasons someone should buy. But they don’t exist. So do yourself a favor and start focusing on one really cool aspect at a time per post, ad or shout-out.
For example, we have a freebie that I produce and send out once every quarter called the Marketing Spark Newsletter.
The Spark is intended to help spark creative marketing ideas for small business owners. But it is also intended to help them navigate what to do, or not worry about doing, in marketing their small business. It’s often overwhelming to be told that we need to be doing this, and that, and that, and that, and that to market our businesses!
The Spark started as a way to help empower small business owners to understand what they NEED to do, and what they don’t need to worry about in marketing their business.
But I don’t talk about all of those at once…or I rarely do at least!
Usually I promise one aspect at a time. And we doubled the list the first quarter, then did it again (and we’re not even to the end of the second quarter since launch yet!)
Now go kick butt in marketing your freebie!