Let's talk lead magnets. Are they still a thing in B2B SaaS marketing, or water under the bridge as so many marketing buzzwords are?
The good news is that lead magnets have evolved a long way from the click-baity whitepaper titles that are no longer effective in generating marketing qualified leads. So what kind of lead magnets does your SaaS brand need to generate new leads?
A lead magnet is an offer that you can promote to prospective customers in exchange for their contact information. It’s most often used for building email marketing lists. The magnet itself is usually a piece of gated content – a webinar seat, access to a podcast, a comprehensive guide – that people would access after giving you their email, name, or phone number.
The new generation of lead magnets asks for more but gives more in return. They are more interactive, require more significant user inputs beyond merely a name and an email address, but they also give back more.A quality lead magnet for SaaS businesses gives back something of immediate value as opposed to a simple downloadable asset. A good lead magnet pulls in the user with something useful, or even better – with an irresistible asset.
When we plan lead magnets with B2B SaaS clients, we aim to provide users with immediate feedback or a nugget of information to help them in their business. Many people are still willing to provide their email addresses as long as there is a promise of some quick value, however small it may be.
Before you plan assets for your lead magnets in your SaaS content strategy, here are the 3 things to keep in mind to get the most value out of them.
The lead magnets your SaaS brand offers wouldn’t work unless they offer something to the user. It’s the high perceived value that draws the prospect in. A free newsletter subscription isn’t necessarily perceived as valuable. A lead magnet such as a quiz, calculator, or template would be better at getting the user engaged.
A good lead magnet solves an existing problem. For example, a guide, a calculator or a sample could offer the information your prospects need, a template or simple tool would optimize a process.
Your prospects are looking for an immediate solution, so how well your lead magnet fulfills its promise and resolves the problem is a measure of how effective they are.
A good SaaS lead magnet should play to the brand’s strengths. The more it is aligned with your Unique Selling Proposition, the more trustworthy it is. Use your strengths – your experience and your data – to deliver value.
If your prospects are struggling with something, and you offer a solution, this is already positioning your brand as a trusted, authoritative source. The brand bias you’re building will help forge a relationship with your audience.
When planning to deploy lead magnets, it helps to consider how they can attract leads in various stages of the buyer journey.
Traditionally, most lead magnets are created of this top-of-the-funnel, awareness stage, where your audience discovers your B2B SaaS brand.
For SEE Stage lead magnets, create an asset that would help qualify your audience ad marketing-qualified leads. You could have a quiz or a tool that assesses their problem before offering a solution, or an informational asset that would, in turn, give you an idea of what they are looking for.
For middle-of-the-funnel audiences, you need to provide good content that helps people make an educated decision. For example, you could offer value by comparing your SaaS solution to the competitors. Head-to-head comparison can be a strong driver for moving a marketing qualified lead into a sales qualified lead
.If you offer honest and detailed information about how you solve a problem in comparison to your competitors, you’re giving away something valuable and can only win the prospect’s trust.
For the bottom of the marketing funnel, you have to offer something of substantial value. Most B2B SaaS brands would opt for a custom-built demo or a free consult that includes a real deliverable.
A lead magnet isn’t just a way to build your email lists. It helps qualify your audience, and with that information, you can start building remarketing campaigns.
If they landed on a SEE stage lead magnet, follow up with content that nudges them further down the user journey. If they landed on a THINK stage lead magnet, send them bottom-of-the-funnel content – offers and landing pages. Want to know more on the topic? Check out our thoughts on how to do better remarketing for SaaS.
My job is to match talented, motivated marketers with high-growth companies, arm teams for success, and then get out of the way.
