Looking for a simple way to grow your business? Would you love an automated way of serving people who need what you offer?

Creating high value content for a targeted audience is a great way to grow your list, get more followers and guide people to your products and services. 

Keep reading and you’ll find the 8 steps to get your free offer up and running quickly and easily!

 

Step 1: What are People Clamoring to Get Their Hands on Right Now?

What do people who are a good fit to work with you really need? What are people looking for related to what you offer? These are important questions to answer so you don’t waste time creating something no one really wants or needs.

Think about the most common questions you get from your clients. Where are they getting stuck? Is there any “pre-work” they can do before they work with you? Do you have any checklists or guides that can help them make progress quickly? What do you help them do in a way that they can’t find anywhere else?

Once you determine what your audience needs, you can then decide what format works best to deliver it.

 

Step 2: Guides, Checklists, Webinars… Oh My!

What’s the best way to provide this free information? How does your audience like to consume information? Are they readers, listeners, viewers or doers? For example, if your audience is older, they may prefer reading, so a PDF guide is perfect. If your audience likes more of a viewing experience, a webinar or masterclass is a great option. If your audience wants quick tips, a checklist works great. And if your audience likes to be a part of the process, a challenge works best.

Now that you’ve determine how your audience likes to consume information, you can choose what format to use.

 

Step 3: Create Your High Value Content

Now that you know what you can share for free that your peeps really want, it’s time to start creating! You don’t need to create something BIG. In fact, the simpler and more actionable your free offer is, the more effective it will be.  

#1: You’ll want to keep your larger goal in mind when creating your free offer. Will this free offer lead to a low end offer? Will you use this free offer to engage and build your list? Are you using this to pre-qualify a potential client? Set the end goal first. What’s the purpose of this free offer?  

#2: Keep it simple. Your free offer should help your target audience do or learn ONE thing. You want them to be able to use it right now and see a difference. 

#3: Start with the end in mind and work backwards. Outline key points you want to share. What steps would someone have to take to implement this new behavior, idea or strategy? As you write your content for a PDF or webinar, write in a conversational tone so people get to know you in a more personal way. 

#4: Choose your title and subtitle with care! Make sure the title is compelling and is search engine friendly (meaning what someone might type in to a search engine to find the information you provide). When creating titles, it’s a good idea to type in the title in a search engine to see what comes up. This will help you come up with titles and subtitles that inspire people to take action.

Once you’ve worked through Step 3, it’s time to talk about what kind of first impression you want to make.

 

Step 4: Looks Do Matter

It’s time to wrap up that free offer in an irresistible packaging! You want to design your free offer in a way that appeals to the people who need it and in line with your brand. You’ll also want to infuse your personality or business persona in the designs you use. Are you fun and friendly? Serious and direct? Funky and wild? By embedding your own persona, your free offer stands out.

Be sure to include your logo, contact information and website URL on every page and on slides if you are hosting a webinar or masterclass.

If you love design, you can use Canva, a free tool, to create your lead magnet. If you don’t dig design, I highly recommend hiring a graphic designer to help you design this free offer.

After completing this step, let’s talk about how to let people know about your new free offer!

 

Step 5: How to Get People to Click YES

Once you’re free offer is designed, it’s time to consider how to drive people to it. This is where a landing page comes in – but don’t panic – you don’t need to write a lot of copy or know a lot of tech stuff. You can design and write copy for a landing page quickly and easily using Lead Pages. Or, if you have a website that includes a landing page plug in, you can create it pretty quickly. Or, you can hire a web developer to help you create the landing page. The cost is minimal and saves you hours of time and frustration if you don’t do tech.

Here’s what you’ll need on the landing page:

• A compelling, search engine friendly title and a subtitle that speaks to the solution your free offer provides
• A great image that resonates with your audience
• Your business logo
• Form fields and submit button for collecting first names and email addresses for those who opt-in (i.e. fill in form to get your free offer) 
• Key benefits of this free offer related to solving audience’s pain/problem
• A short bio about you and/or your business
• Thank you page once someone enters their name and email address that directs them to how to access this free offer. “Thank you for making a great decision. Check your inbox to download [Title of your free offer].“ This page should have your logo and website URL with an invite to follow you on social media.

For a free webinar, you’ll also need to provide time and date of the webinar and a webinar platform to host it on.

After you’ve set up your landing page, let’s talk about how you’ll lead people to your paid services and products.

 

Step 6: Lead the Way 

Getting people to your landing page is great! And getting them to opt in is even BETTER. But what happens after someone opts in? You’ll want to create a short email series that triggers automatically once someone opts in. Drip is a great email automation solution that’s free for smaller lists and is easy to use. You’ll need a little help integrating Drip with your website landing page or Lead Page if you are not tech savvy. ConvertKit is an all in one solution as you can automate email campaigns and create opt in pages in one place! 

Your first email is just a thank you, personal greeting and a link to download the free offer. The second and third emails can be tailored to meet your specific goals and should offer additional high value content. For people who engage (meaning they open and click links in your emails), you can send additional emails asking them to take a short survey, follow you on social media, or join you in a private community on Facebook, etc. with information and link to your first offer. 

This automated series helps you build a relationship with new potential clients. So infuse your personality. Make these fun. And keep them short and meaningful.

 

Step 7: Stay Visible & Engaged

There are so many ways to drive people to your landing page to opt-in for your free offer. You can share this new freebie on social media, or you could send an email to your current list. You can share your free offer at speaking events, podcasts and with business colleagues. The options are limitless – just remember, it’s important to get the word out about your free offer, so don’t be shy.

Check how your automated email series is performing. If you notice open rates after first send plummet, you can adjust the messaging in follow up emails. Personal, simple, short and too the point tend to work best.

 

Step 8: Test, Test, Test

Before you launch, make sure you sign up first to ensure you receive the automated email series and any additional emails you’ve set up. If, after you’ve tested all links and emails, everything works as you envisioned, you can then send people to your landing page. If you have trouble getting people to give you their email address in return for your free offer, consider revising the landing page copy or ask people you trust to review it and give feedback. It’s okay if at first you don’t succeed – just try again until you get some momentum. 

One of the biggest challenges facing small business owners is they think they have to do it ALL on their own. This is almost impossible! Don’t be afraid to hand pieces over to the experts. If you’re not a designer, hire one to help you. If you’re not a copywriter, hire one to help you write copy for the landing page. You’ll be glad you did because you’ll have more time and more energy to focus on creating valuable and profitable services and products for your business.

Want help creating lucrative free offers? Schedule a complimentary consult so we can brainstorm ideas.