This week on the 2nd Act Entrepreneurs Show learn how to choose the best lead magnet for your business to grow your email list and also increase sales.

In case you are new, thanks for joining me today. I’m Alisa Conner, and I help 2nd Act Entrepreneurs grow their businesses using the power of email marketing.

Before we dive into this week’s show, be sure to stay with me until the end, because I’ve included a bonus for you.

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Need some help with your email marketing so that you see sales from your efforts? The Email Breakthrough Academy gives you the step-by-step solution to supercharge your email marketing. Enrollment is open for a limited time here.
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The first question most small businesses ask themselves when they are ready to start growing their email list is what kind of lead magnet should I create?

Then they typically go to work and create a lead magnet they think would be best for their audience.

They put hours into perfecting their lead magnet idea, struggling with tech, or spending thousands of dollars to get someone to get it up and running for them.

When in reality they could save themselves a TON of time and money by doing one simple thing.

Before we dive into that answer, let me give you a few examples.

Recently a new Mexican restaurant opened near my home. I received some glowing recommendations and even tips on what to order.

Being the foodie that I am I couldn’t wait to try it out.

I usually prep by checking out the menu online, briefly selecting a few things I might like to try, and then putting a pin in them so I can keep them top of mind when I get to the restaurant.

Imagine with me for a minute – I get to the restaurant, and they seat me right away without asking how many people are with me. Outside, even though it’s 90 degrees and I’m already roasting and then delivering a selection of items that I didn’t order.
How do you think that would go over?

Yeah, like a lead balloon.

They don’t know what I want, they didn’t ask if I was hot and wanted to sit outside and they sat me by myself and I had friends joining me.

If this is how they ran their business, how long do you think they would stay in business? Not very long.

But, this is exactly what we do as entrepreneurs.

• We create a lead magnet that we think will help our customers.
• We create services that we know are in their best interest.
• We sell them what we think they need.

Do you see the common problem here?

We aren’t asking them what their problem is, what would help them out the most or what no one else is providing them in regards to their problem.

Let me give you another example. I was lucky enough to work with a few hundred entrepreneurs as a copywriter in the capacity of promoting their coaching programs, book, or services on stages.

The problem is most of the people going through this program had created their business model without doing the research to see if anyone would be interested in purchasing what they were offering.

In essence, they just spent thousands of dollars to promote something that wasn’t even a proven concept yet.

I would nearly cringe when they came to me for help in writing their lead magnet, email series, or sales page copy and they couldn’t articulate in a couple of sentences who they helped and how they helped them.
People buy solutions not suggestions.

One of the business owners that sticks in my mind to this day from that program was a positivity coach.

His experience was he pulled himself out of a negative mindset and he wanted to share his story.

Bravo and good work, but let’s be real for a minute – nobody is going to pay you to be more positive.

The internet is full of positive quotes, videos, books and audiobooks you can buy, free meditations, etc. If they really wanted to be more positive in their lives, they would just tune in to one of those resources.

But even those resources cannot force someone to be more positive. Why? Because it’s an inside job.

People will not buy the result of positivity for the simple reason that they can do it on their own.

That’s a harsh truth.

Now could you incorporate positivity into a different program that resolved a problem like mental health, weight loss, or entrepreneurship?

Abso-freaking-lutely.

But on its own, positivity is a recipe for failure.

The same goes for your lead magnet.

If you gave someone a list of 12 positive words to repeat every day but didn’t connect those words to why they are single and feeling alone and disconnected, then what good does it do?

Nobody wants a list of words when they are single. They want a date, or an idea of how to get a date, or better yet, how to improve themselves so that they are ready to date.

So instead of guessing about what to create, promote or sell – do one simple thing:

#1 – Ask people that would be your potential customer’s what they are struggling with and what they want to fix that struggle.

Then create something that helps with that.

#2 – Understand who you are talking to.

Don’t guess, but truly take the time to understand where they are, what their current situation is, and where they want to be.

If you create a 30-page e-book for your customer who is in sales, but they can’t even find time to read their emails, what are the odds they will have time to dig into that e-book? Slim to none.

If you create a record a meditation but no one in your audience meditates regularly, or they have no interest in your meditation topic – what are the odds they will download your free offer? Again, slim to none.

Give them a way to get some type of result. Even if it’s small. For example, if your audience struggles with a regular task and you create a checklist to ensure that task can be completed easily and quickly – they will gain trust in you.

Even better, brand the checklist, and every time they use it they will be reminded of you.

If you’ve stuck with me this long – thank you. I promised you a bonus at the end of this and we’ve reached that point.

Tune into the episode to listen to that bonus now!

📧📧📧
Need some help with your email marketing so that you see sales from your efforts? The Email Breakthrough Academy gives you the step-by-step solution to supercharge your email marketing. Enrollment is open for a limited time here.
📧📧📧

Until next week, be well, stay safe and take care!

~Alisa