In online business, a prospect’s email address is every marketer’s most coveted piece of information. But how do you convince them to share it with you? That’s where lead magnets come in.
A lead magnet is a valuable offer or resource that you share with a prospect in exchange for their contact information. It could be anything – from product trials and free consultations to podcasts, webinars, ebooks and more.
When it comes to building lead magnets, there are dozens of apps and tools out there that can help you create a stunning lead magnet with just a few clicks. In this blog post, we’ve put together a comprehensive roundup of all the tools and software that we turn to every time we’re building a new lead magnet.
While the type of lead magnet you choose to create will depend on your industry, offering and audience, for this article, we’ll focus on the 3 most popular lead magnets:
- Webinars
- Ebooks and downloadable content
- Quizzes
Webinars
Webinars make for incredible lead magnets because they allow for visual communication and direct one-on-one interaction with your audience.
There are two types of webinars: live and pre-recorded.
Live webinars are interactive, and allow participants to ask questions and interact with the presenter. On the other hand, pre-recorded webinars are recordings of a speech or presentation. While these can still be released at a specific date and time — just like live webinars — they usually lack the interactive element.
Webinars are ideal for:
- Interacting with your audience live, establishing trust and building relationships
- Product demonstrations and mini-coaching sessions
Tools you’ll need to create a webinar
For slide decks:
Most webinars have a slide deck that’s presented on screen during the main session. The best tools for building a clean, smart and on-brand slide deck are:
Canva
You’ve probably heard of Canva before but the Terrain team really swears by this one for slide decks! Canva’s a free-to-use online graphic design tool that you can use to create all kinds of visual content – especially slide decks. Their huge template library makes it super quick and easy for you to create webinar slides. Browse through their templates, pick a style you like, customise, add content and you’re ready to roll!
Prezi
Prezi is a less popular, but equally powerful, design tool built specifically for creating slide decks and presentations. Prezi’s functionality is similar to that of PowerPoint’s, but it comes with a more extensive template library, more features and greater customizability. It’s free to use too!
For recording:
If you’re creating a pre-recorded webinar, you’re going to need an app that lets you record your speech and presentation. We usually rely on Zoom and Loom for this.
Zoom
Start a new meeting with just yourself. Adjust your video, share your screen and when you’re ready – hit the record button and start your presentation. When you’re done, stop recording and end the meeting. The processed file will reach you in just a couple of minutes.
Loom
Loom’s a personal favourite at the Terrain HQ. Built as a video messaging tool for hybrid workplaces, Loom lets you record your screen and camera, and share the content instantly via an URL. Their free plan doesn’t let you record more than 5-minute videos, but consider investing in the paid plan if you have a remote team or a hybrid work model.
For hosting:
You need a platform that’ll host your webinar and play it for you to the dozens of people who turn up at the specified date and time. Some good hosting platforms are:
WebinarJam
WebinarJam lets you create and conduct live webinars that can be streamed on YouTube and Facebook or broadcast in private webinar rooms.
EverWebinar
EverWebinar comes with the same functionality as WebinarJam, but instead of live webinars, it lets you publish pre-recorded, automated webinars that you can reuse over and over again.
Demio
Demio is an all-in-one webinar software that lets you create, launch and promote your webinars from a single platform, which can be super convenient for entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Crowdcast
Unlike the other tools listed above that are built exclusively to host and launch webinars, Crowdcast is a live video platform that lets you host all kinds of live video events – from webinars and Q&A sessions to concerts and online conferences. If you’re hosting your webinar live and want to bring together a larger audience, Crowdcast could be a good option for you.
Check out the range of events people host on Crowdcast:
Ebooks and other downloadable content
Unlike live webinars which take place at a fixed date and time and cannot be reused later, ebooks and other downloadable guides and PDFs serve as evergreen content that you can theoretically use as a lead magnet for as long as you like.
They typically provide in-depth information, guidance, solutions and strategies that your audience can learn from and refer back to every time they encounter a specific problem or challenge.
Downloadable ebooks and guides are ideal for:
- Sharing step-by-step solutions to specific problems
- Sharing easily customisable sales and marketing templates (think emails, social media posts, landing page templates, etc)
- Creating worksheets and workbooks that impart value in an action-oriented format
Tools you’ll need
For visuals:
Images:
If you need to add images to your ebook or template, head over to a stock photography platform like Shutterstock, Unsplash or Pixabay. These websites have thousands of high-quality, royalty-free images that you can browse through and download for free.
Visuals and graphics:
If you need to create any visual charts or graphics for your PDF, head over to Canva or Piktochart. Piktochart is great for creating infographics and visually representing data in the form of eye-catching charts and graphs.
For putting it together:
If you’re creating a simple guide or PDF, you can build the whole thing out on Canva (it’s free to use).
But if you’re creating something more complex with lots of different pieces, consider using Beacon – a lead magnet software that lets you create super smart ebooks and workbooks from start to finish (and saves you the $12000 you’d have otherwise paid to get this done by a designer).
Quizzes
People love taking quizzes – especially those that tell them something about themselves.
(Ever taken the one where your choice of fast foods tells you whether you should get married at first sight?!)
Quizzes play on people’s natural curiosity to learn more about themselves. They’re also fun, engaging, and interactive, which makes them super attractive to audiences all over the world.
When you’re creating a quiz, make sure that:
- It’s aligned to your product/offering
- It gives your participants information that’s new and useful to them (and which will lead them towards your offering)
Tools you need to create a quiz
Interact
Interact is the best tool out there for creating simple, interactive quizzes that function as lead magnets. Choose a template that works for you, add your content and customise it to make it on-brand, and finally, embed it on your website (or host it on Interact and get a direct link for sharing)!
Other Important Tools
While the tools listed above are all specific to a certain type of lead magnet, there are some other general tools that you should keep handy when you’re building a lead magnet. These are:
For landing pages:
Swipe Pages
Another personal favourite of the Terrain team, Swipe Pages is a landing page builder that’ll let you create a stunning landing page for your lead magnet in just a few clicks. Their pages and templates are conversion-optimized, and their drag-and-drop interface is super easy to use. Make sure you check it out!
Email service provider:
ActiveCampaign
You’ll need someplace to store all the email addresses you’ll collect with your new lead magnet. That’s where your ESP comes in. As for ActiveCampaign, if you get us started with the raving, we may never stop. Check out this love letter we wrote to them some time ago →
So there you have it – a complete list of all the tools and software you need to create 3 of the most popular types of lead magnets from scratch. We hope you have as much fun creating your lead magnet with these tools as had while curating this list for you.
Terrain 