Want to grow your email list and get in front of a ready-made, perfect-fit new audience? Let’s take a look at how a strategic lead magnet exchange is just the thing you need.
It’s a low-effort, maximum-impact lead generation method – what’s not to love?
The power of a lead magnet exchange
A lead magnet exchange involves 2 businesses that have the same audience agreeing to promote each other’s lead magnet.
The real power in this is that you have 2 separate audiences who trust the respective organisations they’re already subscribed to. So when they promote someone else’s lead magnet, they’re giving their seal of approval to the other company.
A lead magnet exchange is a mutual endorsement that immediately moves both audiences further along the sales funnel. Because they already trust you, if you recommend something through a promotion, they already feel like they can trust the other organisation. And vice versa!
That’s the beauty of it – both parties benefit in the same way. And no one has to get their wallet out!
Finding the right people to swap lead magnets with
The key to finding a lead magnet swap partner is knowing your audience. The main thing you need is to share an audience and:
- Solve the same problem, meet the same need, or help them meet the same aspiration in a different way
- Meet a different pain point, fill a different need, or help them reach a different target
Do your market research and get a holistic understanding of your customer and their journeys along the path to purchasing your product or service. Then you’ll be able to see where it makes sense to offer lead magnet exchanges with other organisations.
For example, imagine you’re a website designer planning a lead magnet exchange with a marketing consultancy firm. Your services, when combined, mean your customers get better results. And it’s not a direct competitor, as marketing consultancy and website designers can collaborate.
There’s the perfect opportunity for a lead magnet swap here!
- Website Designer: Lead magnet video mini-course called “Building a Scalable Website: 3 Steps to Future-Proof Your Site.” This course teaches the basics of building a site that grows with your business, with tips on performance, user experience, and scalability.
- Marketing Consultant: Lead magnet quiz called “Is Your Marketing Strategy Set for Scale?” The quiz assesses their current marketing efforts and provides a tailored report with tips on areas they can improve.
Both parties’ audiences would benefit from this information, so there’s no need to formalise this as an official ‘brand partnership’.
All they need to do is agree on a promotion date and send out each other’s lead magnet in their regular customer emails – with some sharing on socials, too.
They’re both giving their audience a valuable and fun lead magnet – with the opportunity to double their email list!
Define your value
Before you approach someone to do a lead magnet exchange, you need to be really clear on the value you bring to the audience.
Get really specific about it and consider creating a new lead magnet just for the job. Or take an existing lead magnet and develop an email nurturing stream that’s specific to them.
Value to the audience
Using the example above, businesses of both audiences are looking to improve their marketing and promotion. So it makes sense to introduce them to another business that offers a complementary service to theirs.
Value to your swapsies partner
The value you offer another business is your email list full of keen beans ready to sign up to their lead magnet and double their reach.
Getting your foot in the door
You’ve got your two key points locked down – you know your audience and the value you offer them.
Now you need to identify businesses with similar audiences, that aren’t direct competitors, and see if they’re open to the idea of a lead magnet exchange.
The way you ask is important, especially if this is a first impression. It almost goes without saying, but make sure you’re already on their email list!
The other main elements you need are:
- Personalisation: No one wants to feel like they’re just one in a long list, or are getting a replica template with the name changed. You need to personalise every message in order to connect with the person that’s through the screen.
- Audience: Get straight into how your audience is similar – that’s what businesses care about the most
- Value: Explain that your product or service is different to theirs and maybe they’d like to collaborate on something
If they signal interest by replying, explain how you both grow your email lists by doing a lead magnet exchange.
But don’t start off by diving straight in with a link to the quiz and a load of open rate stats. Imagine how you’d feel on the other end of that!
I don’t have a big email list
OK, what do you have that’s of value to their audience? Maybe you’ve got a high number of social media followers who you can promote their lead magnet to instead.
Or maybe you can run a training session for their paid community subscribers. You have something of value you can offer in exchange for their email list. Think of the audience and let your imagination do the rest!
Use this as a springboard to really ramp up your email list. It’s essential as an asset and is totally controlled by you – not the owners of social media platforms.
Making the most of the opportunity
Maximise the impact of a lead magnet exchange by considering all the angles.
- Lead magnet: Your new audience wants something more exciting than a free downloadable to give you their details. We’re talking about immediate personalised insights from a quiz, the solution to one specific issue in a video mini-course, or a webinar that moves them a step closer to realising their dreams. Make it irresistible!
- Follow up: Get that email marketing sequence ready to go before you even contact your first potential exchange partner. You’re going to take them by the hand and look after them, all the way to the till. Give them an extra offer to make them feel special, answer questions they haven’t thought of yet, and show them how your current happy customers feel. They’re on your email list now, so you can really build the relationship.
- Sharing is caring!: Yes, you’ve agreed to your ‘swap’ sharing on socials. But keep it going. Talk to your exchange buddy wherever your audience is. Get involved in their conversations – you’re sharing an audience now. This goes beyond the lead magnet promotion and starts building direct relationships with your new audience.
- Repurpose: Your lead magnet collaboration is something you can talk about in different ways. All the usual suspects: blog, social post, podcast episode, webinar, and whatever else springs to mind. You can do this from your perspective, alone, or see if your exchange buddy wants to join in too!
Create epic lead magnets for your lead magnet exchange with ScoreApp
ScoreApp is here to help you design epic lead magnets that your new audience cannot resist, including:
- Video mini-courses that solve a specific problem quickly, in an inclusive format
- Quizzes that deliver immediate value in their results
- Waitlist quizzes that give people the VIP treatment
- Beautiful landing page templates
- Email sequences that lead people directly to the checkout
Create the perfect lead magnet for your first exchange with ScoreApp today, for free!
If you’re already a ScoreApp subscriber, you can join the waitlist for our new Lead Generation Toolkit. Everything is downstream from lead generation – and this has everything you need for smooth sailing to more sales!
