Should giving stuff away be part of your content strategy? What makes a good lead magnet.

Why I offer free resources. And should you?

On my Free Resources page you’ll find videos on communication, content strategy and copywriting. I give away mini Ebooks that help you make your writing clear, concise and compelling. I also show you how to create a goal-oriented brief to make sure your content works for you.

But why do I give all this away, when it’s a service I could sell you?

Glad you asked. Here are the four reasons.

If you can and want to do it yourself, you’re not my target customer

If you can do it yourself and I can help you then we're both winners. Part of finding the right customers for you is identifying who is not the right customers for you. People who want to DIY it are never going to truly engage with my services. Bluntly, they are not in my sales funnel for copy or content services.  I want to laser focus my efforts on people I can help.

I want to help you choose me

There are plenty copywriters and content strategists out there. I want you to be able to work out if I'm the right fit for you. And if I am, I want to help you choose me.

My customer wants to understand what they’re buying and whether it’s going to fix the problem they have. So I need to help them with their research. My free resources give them the chance to do that.

At the same time they get to know me and can work out if I’m the sort of person they want to work with.

It’s not really free

To read my free resources, I ask for your email. I’m not asking for cold hard cash, but I am asking for something of value. We’re all rightly wary of not signing up to yet another spammy email so if you’re going to give me your email, I owe you something in return. In marketing-speak, this is called a lead magnet. It draws you in and persuades you to give me your email so I can build my lead list.

But again, I don’t’ want a list of people who aren’t genuinely interested in what I have to offer and who aren’t likely to work with me in some form or other in the future. By offering free resources, I get people who are interested in what else I have to say.

Think about the regular emails you get now. Which do you open and which do you plan to unsubscribe to? What marks one out from the other?

I want to build a relationship with potential customers

Once I have your email, I’ll send you newsletters each month so that I can maintain and develop the relationship with you. I continue to offer support and guidance as you research solutions. It might take you months to decide your path forward. I want to stay top of mind. I want to stay helpful.

Let’s also circle back to my DIYers above. Having read my free resources they still want to DIY it, but they might realise they need more help than they thought. The most cost-effective solution is to take my training and/or read my book. I now have the opportunity to highlight that to them.

Should you consider doing the same?

If your buyer needs to do research to buy your product or service, then I strongly recommend your content helps them do that. If that research is likely to take a lot of time, you need a way to keep in touch. Building a lead list and a regular newsletter is a great solution.  

But here’s the rub. It has to be valuable to your customers. Really valuable. Otherwise you’re going to irritate them and that is really not the aim of the game.

If you plan to offer genuine value, this is a great strategy.

Is this a bit of a trick?

I’ll say this again – if you plan to offer genuine value, this is a great strategy. This is not the time to cut corners. I believe free content should move the customer forward. They should be able to learn something practical from it. If they’re left cold, what have you achieved? Even if they remain on your mailing list for a year, they won’t be engaged with your message. And you’ll be paying your email service every time you click send.

Which brings me back to my newsletter. I keep them short and I make them valuable. If if you’re the right client for me, you’ll keep reading. And if you’re not, I’d like you to unsubscribe.