The “Unusual” Lead Magnet Behind the Most Popular Music Streaming Service
How One Company Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet to Succeed in the Streaming Wars
With so many major media companies entering the streaming wars, what strategy would you use to succeed?
Well, one company decided to use an “unusual” lead magnet to enter the streaming wars. What was the result?
- They reached #13 on PCMag’s “The Best Video Streaming Services for 2021” list.
- They are ranked at the #4 spot on PCMag’s “The Best Free Video Streaming Services for 2021” list.
- They made the #7 spot on CNET’s “Best free TV streaming services: Peacock, Plex, Pluto TV, Roku, IMDb TV, Crackle and more.”
- They are ranked #17 on Consumer Report’s “Guide to Free Streaming Video Services” (beating out YouTube).
- They ended up getting purchased for $440 million.
Today, I’ll share with you the “unusual” lead magnet they used and show you the path they took to achieve success.
NOTE: If you’ve read my previous articles in this current series, you can skip the next section.
Haven’t Read Previous Articles? Read This – Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned in my previous article, lead generation and lead magnets could change your business forever. Why do I say this?
Because the greatest tech companies around today have actually been built using lead magnets.
The key thing to understand is that they didn’t do that by using lead magnets in the usual way. They’ve used them in an unusual way.
In a previous article, I also shared with you my definition of a lead magnet.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
From Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
- I told you that when you see this definition, you need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than a PDF file.
- You need to realize that prospects possess something much more valuable than just an email address they can exchange with you.
In my previous two articles, I showed you how Facebook and Canva both built such successful businesses by using a very unusual way to think of and implement lead magnets.
Tubi: An “Unusual” Lead Magnet That Led to a $400 Million Acquisition
Today, I want to show you another company that has used lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
But, unlike the other two companies, this one achieved success by applying this “unusual” understanding of lead magnets to streaming TV.
By taking a look at this story, it will help you see that what I’m sharing with you can be applied to all sorts of businesses.
The company I want to talk to you about today is Tubi TV.
In case you haven’t heard of it, Tubi is a free video streaming service that enables users to watch over 20,000 movies and television shows from nearly every major Hollywood studio.
Users can watch this content in multiple ways:
- Through iOS and Android apps on your smartphone
- Through apps available on Roku, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Sony, Vizio Smart TVs, Xbox, and PlayStation
- Or even through your web browser via your laptop or tablet
Now, let’s take a closer look at what their unusual lead magnet is…
Tubi’s Lead Generation Strategy That Led to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
Stage 1: They offered a free video streaming service to anyone – no email required.
You can think of this first stage as the “free sample” stage. Because as you will notice, Tubi lets users access their content without offering anything valuable in exchange.
In other words, you don’t even need to create an account with them to view the TV shows and movies. One thing that Tubi does do at this stage, which makes them stand out, is they have some really unique categories that they list their content under.
Categories such as:
- “Something Completely Different”
- “Not on Netflix”
- “Leaving Soon”
- “Only Free on Tubi”
- “Highly Rated on Rotten Tomatoes”
- and more
The way they categorize their content makes it easier to sift through, so you can find what you like.
You might be wondering. Why would they let users view their content without asking for anything from those users? Because the main way Tubi makes money is from ad revenue. That means the larger audience they have, the more revenue they make.
If they would have just stopped at this stage, then they wouldn’t have qualified as a company that used an unusual lead magnet.
But they didn’t stop there.
Stage 2: In exchange for your email address, you can access the free content on all of your devices, sync your list, and continue watching anywhere.
They ask for your first and last name, an email address, a password, date of birth, and gender.
But actually, I hear that you can sign-up with only your first name and email address. The rest of the info is optional. You also have the option to sign-up via Facebook or Google sign-in.
Pay close attention because this is where their choice to let users have free access becomes an actual incentive for people to sign-up. You see, the more you use Tubi, the more an account becomes attractive to you.
Why? Here are three reasons:
1. You can create a watchlist.
The more you use Tubi, the more you will discover things you want to watch later. But if you don’t give them your email address, you will just have to remember these things.
In fact, when you try to add something to your list without an account, you get a prompt that encourages you to sign-up. (See image below.)
2. You get recommendations based on your viewing habits.
Once you create an account, you give Tubi a better way to make recommendations that actually match the things you like to watch. This saves you from having to manually find all the content you’d actually like.
3. You can access the free content on all of your devices, sync your list, and continue watching anywhere.
This might not seem like a very compelling reason, but it’s the reason I finally ended up signing up for an account.
The more that a person uses Tubi (the power of that first stage in action), the more this becomes a really valuable incentive for a user.
How Tubi’s Lead Generation Model Is Just a Variation of Facebook’s Model
If you remember in my previous post, Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On, I told you that Facebook offered “connection” as their lead magnet.
They did that until they gathered enough users to be able to sell other companies the chance to advertise to them. That’s how Facebook made so much money and became such a valuable company.
Now think about it.
Tubi had the same basic lead model: gather a bunch of users so that companies will pay you to advertise to them.
But Tubi implemented that lead generation model in two different ways:
- Instead of relying on users to create content, like Facebook did, Tubi relied on media companies to provide the content.
- Instead of making their content only available to people with accounts, like Facebook did, Tubi made the same content available to people with or without an account.
How Effective Has Tubi’s Variation of This Lead Magnet Model Been?
When I say that Tubi achieved success by using an “unusual” lead magnet, I don’t mean that other companies haven’t offered ad-supported TV streaming.
Other companies have used this model. Tubi has just been more successful:
- Pluto has 28.4 million users
- Vudu has 25 million users
- Crackle has 26 million users
- Roku has 27 million users
How many users does Tubi have? In August of 2020, Tubi announced that it had reached 33 million users – an increase of 65% year-over-year.
Why have they been so successful? I believe the reason they’ve been so successful is because of how well they’ve implemented this lead generation model.
The stats that I began this article with should prove that this isn’t just a personal opinion. But if you want more proof of how successful they’ve been at the implementation of this lead gen model, check this out…
Further Proof of Tubi’s Success
According to an article on TheVerge.com….
“Fox Corporation has acquired ad-supported streaming platform Tubi for $440 million, bringing more than 20,000 movies and shows to the platform.”
– From Fox buys Tubi for $440 million as it attempts to join the streaming wars
You read that right.
They’ve done such a great job at implementing their “unusual” lead magnet that Fox Corporation (no longer connected with 20th Century Fox) decided they were worth $400 million. That’s how valuable an “unusual” lead magnet, and the list of prospects it can attract, can be.
In Fox Corp’s press release, they revealed some of the reasoning behind their purchase…
“The acquisition of Tubi underscores FOX’s long-term strategic initiatives to broaden and enhance FOX’s direct-to-consumer digital reach and engagement.
“Tubi brings to FOX an expanded consumer offering with a sizable, younger-skewing and directly connected user base that spends over 160 million hours per month watching content on the service.
“Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Corporation, Lachlan Murdoch commented: ‘Tubi will immediately expand our direct-to-consumer audience and capabilities and will provide our advertising partners with more opportunities to reach audiences at scale. Importantly, coupled with the combined power of FOX’s existing networks, Tubi provides a substantial base from which we will drive long-term growth in the direct-to-consumer arena.'”
IMPORTANT INSIGHT:
I won’t get into this in this article, but I do want to point out something important that was repeated over and over in the quote above: “direct-to-consumer,” “directly connected user base,” and “direct-to-consumer arena.”
Fox Corporation, realizes the benefit of having direct access to a list or user base of consumers. That’s a benefit direct response marketers have known for at least 100 years.
In this disjointed and distracted world, more and more major corporations are coming to this realization. I’ll have to go deeper on this point in some other format in the future, but this is one of the most important reasons why you should focus on attracting leads in 2021. It allows you to speak directly to your leads.
Tubi’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Another reason I’m calling it an “unusual” magnet is because Tubi didn’t choose to go the way that many of the big-name streaming services have.
They didn’t decide to charge for their content. Instead, they decided to offer an “unusual lead magnet” in exchange for something valuable.
Let’s take my definition and plug in Tubi’s example. Then you’ll see their whole strategy at its simplest level:
- Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Tubi offered free access to TV shows and movies. (Canva offered the ability to create great designs.)
- In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: When a user creates an account, they are trading more than just their email. They’re also giving Tubi the ability to track their viewing habits. That made Tubi such a valuable asset, Fox Corp was willing to pay hundreds of millions for it.
Many More Successful Tech Companies Have Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet
I’ve now shared three examples of extremely successful tech companies that have used “unusual” lead magnet.
You’ve now seen three different businesses built off of just two different lead generation models.
Have I finally proven to you that many successful companies really have built their business models off of the second marketing fundamental (aka attraction)?
I hope so.
Because, as I’ve said, when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, the right lead magnet really could be worth millions, if not billions of dollars to you.
I still have 9 other very successful tech companies that I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
I need to decide what I will do with this information. Maybe I’ll offer another example via a lead magnet in my member’s resource area? 🙂
Then maybe I’ll later share the other examples through some paid option. I’ll let you know more once I decide.
I still need to get to my 10 other marketing fundamentals that you’ll need to succeed in 2021. So I’m going to move on to the next one next week.
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10 Irresistible Lead Magnets to Help You to Grow Your List Today
I’m sorry but I still need some more time to finish my article “How One Company Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet to Succeed in the Streaming Wars.”
It took me longer than I thought to get all my thoughts put down.
Now I want to take the time to edit and proof it. That way I can make it as helpful for you as possible.
Don’t worry. It will be ready tomorrow.
In the meantime, I want to offer you a cheat sheet to help you create traditional lead magnets (which are still very effective).
In other words, I want to offer you a cheat sheet to help you make effective lead magnets in the usual way people think of lead magnets.
For Member’s Only: Cheat Sheet with 10 Types of Lead Magnets That Will Help You Grow Your List
If you want to grow an email list of prospects, then you’re going to have to give people some reason or incentive to sign-up.
Otherwise, your efforts won’t be very effective. In fact, you will probably repel people away instead of attracting them.
To create an effective lead magnet, it must have three things:
- An attractive topic or subject your prospects see as valuable
- The topic or subject must be presented in an appealing way
- A format that your prospects see as valuable.
I’ll be honest with you. I can’t quickly show you how to do the first two things on that list. (If you keep coming back to this site, you’ll learn those things over time.)
But I can show you effective formats or types of lead magnets that you can put your content into. To do this, I’ve put together a cheat sheet of 10 irresistible lead magnets.
You can use this list to brainstorm the format you want to put your content in, so you can begin offering it right away.
If you’d like to access this cheat sheet, you just need to join my member’s resource area. It’s free.
Click here to become a free member now.
P.S. Yes, I did just offer you a lead magnet about lead magnets. That’s pretty meta of me, isn’t it? 🙂
This is Why Many Companies Ignore Lead Magnets
Why do many companies ignore lead magnets? If you surveyed the companies that ignore lead magnets, I bet you’d find they’re doing this for three main reasons:
- They’re too focused on making sales today to focus on tomorrow’s sales.
- They’re too busy taking care of their current customers.
- They’re too busy managing all of the day-to-day tasks of running a company.
By ignoring lead magnets, these companies are unintentionally missing the opportunity to:
- Build an email list they can make offers to
- Gain trust with their prospects
- Establish their company as a leader in their industry
- And more
If you don’t want to be one of the companies making this fatal mistake, keep in mind the wisdom of loggers.
Yes, you read that correctly, the wisdom of loggers.
More Trees in 2021 Than 1921?
“By 1997, forest growth exceeded harvest by 42 percent and the volume of forest growth was 380 percent greater than it had been in 1920.”
From FAO – Northwest American Forrest Commission
Did you know that for every tree that loggers cut down they plant four seedlings?
Because of this practice, there are more trees now than there were in 1921!
If you think about it, this is a very smart practice. Because without new trees, loggers have no future.
That made me think.
Lead Magnets Are the Seeds That Lead to a Harvest in the Future
As I said in my previous article, “Lead magnets and lead generation are your way to secure your future, today.”
Using lead magnets today is, in a sense, planting seeds that you can harvest tomorrow.
When you think of it like this, how many companies are wise enough to do the same thing as these loggers? Don’t get me wrong.
Many companies start by focusing on doing everything they can to get customers or clients… until they start showing up.
Then, once they start showing up, something interesting happens.
They stop focusing on getting them (or lessen that focus) and begin to concentrate on helping those customers or clients.
Now, obviously, you need to focus on your customers or clients. I would never tell you not to do that. But think about it.
What will eventually happen to you if you stop focusing on getting new leads that you can grow (aka nurture) into customers?
That’s right. You’ll end up like unwise loggers.
You’ll soon have no future.
P.S. What I just shared doesn’t just apply to companies. It applies to schools, universities, doctors, hospitals, dentists, restaurants, etc.
P.P.S. I’m still working on my next article focused on “unusual” lead magnets, but I needed more time to finish it. Stay tuned. My article will be called “How One Company Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet to Succeed in the Streaming Wars.“
The Unusual Lead Magnet Canva Used to Build a Company Worth $60 Billion
A Brief Review – Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned in my previous article, lead generation and lead magnets could change your business forever.
The greatest tech companies that are around today have actually been built using lead magnets.
But they haven’t used lead magnets in the usual way. They’ve used them in an unusual way.
In my last article, I also shared with you my definition of a lead magnet.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
From Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
- I told you that when you see this definition, you need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than a PDF file.
- You need to realize that prospects possess something much more valuable than just an email address they can exchange with you.
Then I showed you how Facebook built one of the most successful businesses around by using a very unusual way to think of and implement lead magnets.
Canva: Another Company That Used Lead Magnets in an Unusual Way
Today, I want to show you another company that has used lead magnets in an unusual way.
They used the same basic understanding of a lead magnet that I just shared with you.
But they built a different business model off of it.
The company I want to talk to you about today is Canva.
In case you’ve never heard of it, Canva is a website or an app that enables you to create graphic designs. You might be creating social media assets, website assets, or even posters or pdfs.
And you can do all of this for free.
So what is the unusual lead magnet that they offer?
Canva’s 4-Stage Lead Generation Strategy That Lead to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
Stage 1: They offered the ability for non-designers to design professional-looking graphics very easily.
This is how the first stage of their lead magnet strategy worked. In other words, this was the “lead magnet” that they chose to offer people.
Their Lead Magnet’s Promise: Give us your email address and we will make it easy for you to create graphics at no cost.
And what an amazing promise it is!
In exchange for your email address, you get:
- Access to over 250,000 free templates
- Over 100 design types such as social media posts, presentations, letters, and more
- Hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics
- You can invite up to 4 members to your Canva team for free.
- You can collaborate and comment in real-time.
- And you get five GB of cloud storage.
How Canva’s Lead Generation Model is Different Than Facebook’s Model
Now let me point out some important things.
Facebook’s purpose was to gather a bunch of leads so that one day they could make money by letting businesses and companies advertise to these people.
Canva had a different plan.
Canva’s plan was to offer you as many features as possible for free. But that’s not all. They wanted to make it as easy as possible to use these features to achieve success.
Once the user achieved success, that’s when their revenue plan kicked in.
Stage 2: Offer better or additional images, graphics, and more for a small price.
Let’s say you’re creating a graphic with Canva and you’re not satisfied with the pictures they offer for free. For just $1, you could purchase one of their better quality images.
Did you catch that?
- They aren’t trying to make a large sale off of a small amount of people.
- They want to make a small sale off of a large amount of people.
In fact, they don’t just want to make one small sale from a large amount of people. They want to make a bunch of small sales from a bunch of people.
How I Accidentally Became a Paying Customer
Originally, I didn’t sign up to use Canva with a plan to spend any money. I was just going to use the free tools, images, etc.
How did I end up becoming a paying customer? It was just too easy to spend $1.
After I purchased the first time, it made purchasing the second time easier… and the third time even easier. You get the point.
As an example, let’s use my “accidental purchase” history with Canva from 2020.
Over the year 2020, I spent $10 with Canva. That’s not a lot. I’ve spent more with them in previous years.
But let’s use it as an example because it’s from someone that didn’t plan on spending any money. Imagine how much was spent by someone who planned to spend a little extra on the graphics and pictures they wanted.
Now think about it.
Canva has 30 million users. If each of those users just unintentionally spent $10, like I did, that means Canva probably made AT LEAST $300 million last year.
Let me point something out, in case you missed it.
Canva Didn’t Do What Other Companies Selling Images Would’ve Done
Instead of just trying to sell me images, templates, or designs that I might want to use, they offered me a lead magnet.
They offered me this lead magnet in the form of a free tool, a tool to enable me to do something I desired to do: create better-looking designs.
Then, once I began using their tool and had the need for free images and graphics, they offered me some better images to purchase.
Stage 3: Offer users a chance to purchase access to a Pro Level.
Now, pay close attention. Because things are about to get good.
The third stage of their strategy was to offer what they call the “Pro Level.”
For $12.95 a month, you get:
- Everything that I already mentioned in the free version
- Plus, you can create one brand kit and upload your own fonts and logos.
- You can use a special feature that’s not available for the free members. It’s called the “One-click design magic resize tool.” If you’ve ever created a design in Canva and wanted to resize it, because you realized you needed it in a different format, then you realize how valuable that tool is.
- But wait there’s more… 🙂
- You get over 420,000 free templates with new designs daily.
- You also get over $75 million premium stock photos, videos, audio, and graphics that are free to use.
- You can save designs as templates for your team to use.
- Instead of 5 GB of storage, you get 100 GB.
- You can schedule social media content for 7 platforms.
- And all of this can be used by up to 5 members of your Canva team.
Think about the power of this additional offer.
A certain number of people, like me, signed up to try their free tools. They eventually decided to purchase a $1 image, and another, and another.
These users began spending so much on $1 images – and were getting so much value from Canva – this $12.95 offer was a no-brainer.
By implementing that simple offer, they moved people up the value ladder and locked in a guaranteed monthly revenue from a certain percentage of people.
(Listen to this “Marketing Secrets” episode from Russell Brunson and learn more about what a value ladder is: The Primary Question That Fuels Your Value Ladder.)
Do you see how adding that “Pro Level” boosted their sales and stabilized their monthly revenue?
Well, they didn’t stop there…
Stage 4: Offer more levels for larger companies to purchase.
Canva realized that there were probably users out there who required many more users – large companies.
That’s why they added higher-priced levels.
- If you have 10 members on your team, it’s $77.70 a month.
- If you have 15 people on your team, it’s $142.45 a month (and $9.50 more per person a month).
- Or if you have up to 50 people, you can pay $595.70 (and $11.91 per person more than 50).
I didn’t even realize this until I started researching, but they actually have a Canva Enterprise level.
I won’t go into all the details that come with purchasing that level, but it provides a bunch of tools that an Enterprise level company would want to have for their team.
The cost? $30 a month per member.
How Effective Their Lead Magnet Model Has Been
Do you want to know how successful this lead generation model has been?
An article on TechCrunch.com, “Canva raises $60 million on a $6 billion valuation,” revealed this surprising fact about the company…
“Sydney-based Canva, the design platform for non-designers, has today announced the close of a $60 million funding round, bringing its valuation to $6 billion, according to the company.
“The startup has raised a total of more than $300 million, including this latest round of financing, from investors like Bond, General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital China, Felicis Ventures and Blackbird Ventures.”
From Canva raises $60 million on a $6 billion valuation by Jordan Crook
In my last article, I said something that some of you probably thought was an exaggeration.
I said, “That means that when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, you’ll realize that the right lead magnet is worth millions, if not billions of dollars.“
I think after revealing Facebook and Canva’s examples, you now see that I wasn’t exaggerating at all.
Canva’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Let’s take my definition and plug in Canva’s example. That way I can help you see their whole strategy more clearly and simply:
- Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Canva offered the ability for non-designers to easily design professional-looking graphics. (Facebook offered “connection” as their lead magnet. Canva offers the ability to create great designs as their lead magnet.)
- In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: Canva got the user’s email address, but they got much more than that. They were able to build databases of people who had voluntarily shown their need for professional-looking designs and images. This gave Canva a massive amount of leads it could sell images to and eventually offer a monthly service to. This ultimately gave them access and opportunity to sell to larger and larger companies.
Many More Successful Tech Companies Have Used an “Unusual” Lead Magnet
So far, I’ve shared the examples of Facebook and Canva. I did that to prove to you that successful companies really have built their business models off of a fundamental marketing strategy.
And it’s this basic – but unusual – lead magnet strategy that has brought them such incredible success.
This second marketing fundamental (aka attraction) could also help your company achieve success in 2021 if you implement it correctly.
The thing I want you to realize is that these are just TWO business models I’ve discovered after thinking of lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
There are 10 other very successful tech companies I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
As I said before, many of them have built completely different business models off of this fundamental marketing strategy.
Others have simply added their own variations to the different models.
I don’t have the time to walk you through all of these companies and show you each business model or variation.
But, I do want to show you one final example. Because I want you to see one other way you can use lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
Here’s a hint of what I’ll reveal to you in my upcoming article.
How One Underdog Company’s “Unusual” Lead Magnet Enabled Them to Enter the Streaming Wars Under the Radar
In my next article, I’m going to share the incredible story of a company that created an “unusual” lead magnet.
This lead magnet enabled them to enter the stream wars in such an amazing way that in 2020 they were purchased by a well-known company for $440 million.
You’re going to like this next story because it will show you a very different way to use “unusual” lead magnets.
This article will go live in a couple of days. Stay tuned.
This is a Simple Way to Increase Your Leads (VIDEO)
If you read my last article, then you realize just how critical it is to increase your leads.
Because, as I also said in that article, capturing leads is the main thing you can do today to make more future sales tomorrow.
So when you increase your sales lead, you actually increase your chance for future sales tomorrow.
There are many ways that people try to increase their leads:
- They try to optimize their web design.
- They try improving their headlines.
- They try changing their forms.
- They test different CTAs.
- They analyze their data.
- And they try many other things.
These are all important things that you should test. But there’s one thing that some people never try.
And the sad thing about this is that this overlooked thing is such a simple way to increase your leads.
In this short, new video, I share an unbelievable (but 100% true) story that reveals this simple way to generate leads.
And I also share some simple ways you can be implementing it right away.
This is a Simple Way to Increase Your Leads (VIDEO)
My Apologies and What’s Coming on Monday
Some of you who have been following along with this series might have noticed that this article today is not the one I told you I’d be posting.
Last night, as I was trying to get the article I planned finished, I realized I was going to need more time to perfect it.
That’s when I decided to share this new video with you instead. I know it would be a helpful concept for you and I knew it would give me the weekend to finish the article I originally planned for today.
Stay Tuned
I think when you see the article on Monday, you’ll agree that it was worth the wait. To give you a little tease of what it will be about, here’s the title of Monday’s article…
The Unusual Lead Magnet Canva Used to Build a Company Worth $60 Billion
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Why the Average Marketing Conversion Rate is So Low and Why That’s Better News Than You Think
When I first heard the average marketing conversion rates were between 1-3%, I couldn’t believe it. Those numbers seemed so low they’re almost depressing.
That was until I later came across a piece of information that helped me see why those low numbers are actually good.
Let me explain.
The Percentage of Your Market That’s Ready to Buy Today
In his book, Sticky Branding, Jeremy Miller states that only approximately 3% of your market is ready to buy at any given time, the rest is not.
In other words, only three out of every one hundred in your market is ready to buy right now, today. The rest are not.
When I heard that a light bulb went off.
If only 3 out of 100 people are ready to buy today, and you end up with a 1% conversion rate, that’s actually a 33.33% conversion rate, right?
Because you converted one of the three people who were actually ready to buy today. And if you end up getting a 3% conversion rate or higher? That’s incredible! You’re doing an amazing job.
It’s only when we have the false assumption that 100% of the people out there are ready to buy today that we think a 1-3% conversion rate is bad.
Do you see now why the average conversion rate is better news than you thought it was?
But when we hear this info, there’s another very important question that we should ask. It’s this…
How can we make it so we don’t have to fight with so many competitors for those 1-3%of people who are ready to buy today? I’m glad you asked! 🙂
What You Can Do Today to Make More Future Sales Tomorrow
We’ve already established the fact that only a small percentage of people in any market is ready to buy today.
That means that the majority of people are not ready to buy today. They might be ready tomorrow, or the next day, or next month, over even months from now. But they’re not ready today.
Now think about this…
What are most businesses and companies mainly focusing all of their marketing, time, and effort on? Yep. They are focused only on those who are ready to buy today.
If you want to make more sales from those 1-3%, and not have to compete so hard with your competition, there’s only one way to do that.
You need to begin focusing on the people who will be ready tomorrow – or someday in the future, and begin attracting them today.
If you knew the actual percentage of people who will buy what you’re offering from someone – not today, but in the near future – you’d be trying to come up with every way possible to begin attracting them today.
And what’s the best way to do that? You guessed it. Lead magnets.
That’s why lead magnets and lead generation is so important. It’s because it’s your way to secure your future, today.
Practicing What I Preach
At some point in the future, I will want to offer you something to purchase that will help solve the marketing problems that you or your company are having.
Or I will want to offer you an easier way to achieve the marketing goals that you and your company have.
I don’t have anything to offer you today. And, even if I did, you might not be ready to buy it, anyway.
But, I don’t want to just hope that you will remember me when you’re ready to buy.
I don’t want to rely on the slight chance that you come back when I begin offering the solutions, answers, and help you want.
Instead, I’d like to offer you a simple trade.
Want to Make a Trade?
You give me something valuable to you: your real email address (not your junk one).
And, I’ll give you something valuable in return. What will I give you?
Here are just some of the valuable things I’ll offer you in this trade:
- You can have access to classic marketing books that contain the forgotten or overlooked marketing fundamentals that’ll help to dominate in 2021 (one example is the classic book Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins).
- You can have access to my 5-star book, 51 Content Marketing Hacks. (It costs $9.99 on Amazon and I’ll be taking it out of our member’s resource area at the end of this month.)
- I’ll send you a member’s only email newsletter with info and insights that I don’t offer here to the public.
- This year, I also plan to create more exclusive content that’s only available to members.
- You will get a member’s discount on certain solutions and assistance that I offer for sale in the future.
Is that a deal?
I’m not asking for your money. I’m just asking for your email and your attention.
Then, after you begin to know, like, and trust me – and when you’re ready and I’m ready – you can see if you want to make a monetary trade with me at some later point.
If you’re interested, or would just like to learn more, then click the link under the DRCM Member’s Resource Area image below.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned for my next article on the “unusual” lead magnet that another great tech company used to achieve success.
If you didn’t read my last article about how Facebook did this, you should…
Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
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Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Tech Companies Have Been Built On
If you stick with me, I’ll help you see lead generation and lead magnets in a way that could change your business forever. In fact, it could help your business to reach new levels in 2021.
Because, believe it or not, the greatest tech companies today have been built using lead magnets.
In order for you to understand what I mean, you first need to see lead magnets on a deeper level than most people do.
So, let me give you a new way to think of lead magnets.
My Definition of a Lead Magnet
Most of us have such a limited and basic view of lead magnets that we are missing out on how powerful they are and will be in 2021.
When most people think about lead magnets, they think about them on just the simplest level. They mainly think of a lead magnet as a PDF that attracts your ideal prospects and causes them to exchange their email address for access to it.
Don’t get me wrong.
This is a very effective way to use a lead magnet.
But you can think of that understanding of a lead magnet as the white belt version of a lead magnet compared to the black belt level.
Today, I want to give you that “black belt” level of understanding. 🙂
I don’t want you to think of lead magnets in the usual way.
I want you to think of them in the unusual way.
I think of a lead magnet at a deeper level than most people. ..
My Definition of a Lead Magnet: A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).
To get the most from my definition, you must understand some important things about lead magnets.
The 2 Things You Must Understand to Take Your Understanding of Lead Magnets to the Next Level
Here are the two things you must understand to use lead magnets at a “black belt” level:
- You need to realize that a lead magnet can be much more than just a PDF file.
- You must understand that prospects possess things of much greater value that they can exchange with you, besides just an email address.
When you truly grasp these two truths, you’ll start to realize that lead magnets are all around us.
Lead Magnets: The Fundamental Element Today’s Greatest Companies Have Been Built On
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, lead magnets are the fundamental element that the greatest tech companies of our day have harnessed to build their empires.
Yes, lead magnets are the primary method that successful companies employ to capture the attention of prospects (the 1st marketing fundamental) and attract them (the 2nd marketing fundamental).
That means that when you understand lead magnets in this deeper way, you’ll realize that the right lead magnet is worth millions, if not billions of dollars.
I’m not exaggerating.
Let me give you an example that I bet you’ve never noticed before, to prove it to you…
Facebook Was Built on This Greater Understanding of Lead Magnets
When you see lead magnets in the way I’m trying to get you to see them, you’ll realize that Facebook’s success was built on having an “unusual” lead magnet.
Once you see this and realize this is just one of many “unusual” lead magnets that great tech companies have been built on, you’re going to get more excited about lead magnets and their ability to help you attract prospects in 2021.
Facebook’s 3-Step Lead Generation Strategy That Led to Their Incredible Success
(IMPORTANT: Everything I’m about to share with you about their strategy is just from observations I’ve made as an outsider. I have no insider information.)
What was Facebook’s lead generation strategy?
Their strategy took place in three powerful, progressive stages.
Stage 1: The opportunity to connect with friends and family
The lead magnet they offered to us was not a simple PDF.
Here’s how the first stage of their strategy worked…
1. Give us your email address and we’ll connect you with friends and family.
Their marketing promise to us was simple but powerful.
Notice that Facebook didn’t just provide an initial connection with certain friends and family. They continued to provide new connection suggestions. But they didn’t stop there.
2. They allowed users to share pictures (information) in exchange for likes, comments, etc.
Think about this. Facebook was allowing its users to create content that they could share with other people on their platform (aka leads creating content for other leads).
IMPORTANT INSIGHT: All great lead generation strategies have a follow-up system that provides continual value – that way your prospect doesn’t just take your lead magnet and run.
Facebook took care of this need for a follow-up system by allowing their own leads to create value for each other (aka user-generated content).
3. Then they enabled their users to share videos (more information) in exchange for a chance to gain more likes, comments, etc.
This also offered a way for users to gain an audience and have a voice.
At each stage, they continued to offer users more functions/tools so that we could exchange much more than just our email addresses with them.
This first stage enabled Facebook to attract a massive amount of prospects. But they were just getting started.
Their next stage enabled them to set the stage to begin monetizing the whole thing. Watch what they did next…
Stage 2: The opportunity for businesses to connect with prospects and customers.
1. After attracting a significant amount of individuals with the offer of connecting with friends and family, they began to offer businesses and companies the chance to connect with prospects and customers.
2. To do that, they encouraged businesses to create their own pages where they could attract likes, comments, and followers. And they even encouraged businesses to create content.
Now think about how ingenious this was. By doing this, they accomplished two powerful things:
- They now had more content on their platform. This gave the users on the platform more reasons to keep coming back to Facebook and to stay on Facebook (more user-generated content for their follow-up system).
- They now had business owners who had self-identified themselves. That meant it’d be much easier to target them for the next stage – stage 3.
Stage 3: Finally, Facebook offered these business owners and companies a chance to advertise to the users (aka leads) they had gathered together on their platform.
It was at this point that Facebook began to make money on a level that they never did before.
I won’t get into this in this article, but you should also notice something important. Facebook chose to make money from the leads it had gathered in a much different way than most companies typically do.
Now don’t forget, this all began with a deeper, more “unusual” way of thinking of a lead magnet than most people do.
But even as different as it is, it’s still the same fundamental definition that I shared with you at the beginning…
“A lead magnet is something valuable that you offer to your ideal prospects in exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable (usually information of some kind).“
Facebook’s Example Applied to My Lead Magnet Definition
Let’s take my definition and plug in Facebook’s example to help you see their whole strategy more clearly and simply:
- Something valuable that you offer your ideal prospects: Facebook offered this in the form of connection with family and friends or a connection with prospects and customers.
- In exchange for something of theirs that you consider valuable: Facebook got the user’s email address, but they got much more than that. They were able to build databases of users. A database that was valuable not only to Facebook but also to other companies.
What I’m NOT Suggesting
Over the years, Facebook has done some things with its user information that have gotten some people upset. (I’m not saying that they’ve actually done anything wrong. I’m just saying that some people have gotten upset with them.)
I’m NOT suggesting that you do things that make some of your leads feel uncomfortable or cause them to get upset with you.
You can actually use this basic led gen model that Facebook used without getting people upset.
In fact, many other social media platforms have used this same lead generation model effectively without seeing their users get upset.
I shared the example of Facebook with you today because I wanted you to see that this successful company really did build its business model off of a fundamental marketing strategy.
And it’s that basic lead magnet strategy that has brought them success in the past. It will bring other companies who use the same model success in 2021.
This is just ONE business model I’ve discovered after thinking of lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
There are 11 other very successful tech companies I’ve documented that have used lead generation and lead magnets in an “unusual” way to build their company.
Many of them have built completely different business models off of this fundamental marketing strategy. And others have simply added their own variations to the different models.
If I had time to walk you through this list of companies and show you each business model or variation, you’d be amazed at how much opportunity there is for your company in 2021.
I, unfortunately, don’t have time to do that. I do want to show you another example of how you can use lead magnets in an “unusual” way.
I’ll do that in a couple of days. But first, I need to make sure you really understand why lead magnets are such a vital way to leverage the second marketing fundamental.
Stay tuned.
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