2 builders who never spoke to each other
Make the free thing one finished tool
A narrow artefact that does one painful job attracts buyers, whereas a broad tips roundup attracts people collecting free things. Setting the quality bar above what competitors charge for is what turns a download into a sales conversation, and the replies it draws become testimonials.
The method
- 01
Make the lead magnet a single narrow tool for one painful job rather than a broad guide or tips roundup, because roundups collect people hunting free quick fixes instead of buyers.
- 02
Set the bar for a lead magnet at being better than what your competitors charge money for.
- 03
A magnet that fixes the exact problem your service fixes converts into sales calls on its own, because delivering a fast result positions you as the person to hire for the bigger version.
- 04
Make the lead magnet one complete, usable piece of the product, and keep the replies: they become your testimonials.
- 05
Once those posts get traction, package the basics of the skill as a one-page document or a short video and use it to collect email addresses.
What it returned
- 200
Welsh cites Nick Huber's list of 200 low-risk business ideas, cheap for Huber to write and downloaded by thousands of people every month.
The magnet was one Notion dashboard for tracking a freelance pipeline and projecting monthly income, nothing else.
Eight of the people who downloaded the template booked discovery calls about the coaching offer and two of them signed as customers.
Her capture page gave away one free classroom project; teachers wrote back describing how well it worked and those emails were used as testimonials
Sources
- 0 to 100 Email Subscribers: A 28-Day Case StudyJustin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · The Big Problem with Most Lead Magnets · 2024-11-30
- Stop Harassing People on Email.Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Stop Harassing People on Email. · 2023-09-23
- Your "Common Knowledge" Isn't Common.Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Step 3: Take it Up a Level and Learn More · 2023-10-28
- How a music teacher used Authority to make $34,500Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · What did you do to promote the book leading up to launch? · 2015-06-02
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in email
- Move the audience you rent onto a list you own7 unconnected
- Hold the schedule you promised to hold5 unconnected
- Decide whether cold email is worth what it signals5 unconnected · contested
- Settle who the publication is for before growing it5 unconnected
- Open the list before the product is real4 unconnected
- Send each subscriber the thing they told you they want4 unconnected