Combining the power of your marketing arms and your lead magnet

One of the things that YouTube knows I enjoy is videos of nature. Specifically, animals and their various habits. I often get recommendations from their algorithm to watch videos that fall into that category.

The other day, I was searching for videos like that and I came upon a video that highlighted the work of those who catch and trap alligators who wander into residential areas. The video kept my attention the entire time, partly because the alligator that was featured was absolutely huge, and partly because I was impressed with the skill and the teamwork utilized by those who were trapping it so it could be relocated.

The trappers were very intentional and methodical. They began by lassoing the tail with a strong cord, then they started nudging the creature away from the home with a large pole. Once they had it where they wanted it, they lassoed its head then jumped on its back, closed its mouth, and taped it shut. After that, they pulled its front legs towards its back and restrained them. At that point, the animal could be safely removed.

I don't know what it's like to do a job like that, but the men in that video definitely seemed to like their work. In a strange way, there's a little bit of a parallel between the actions they used in their task and the activities of those who are developing and marketing online platforms.

If your platform is built correctly, you'll have several marketing arms in place along with one or more lead magnets. The goal of your marketing arms is to lead potential clients and customers to either purchase a product or more likely, join your email list which will give you the opportunity to develop more of a long-term relationship with them.

For lack of a better analogy, your marketing arms are like the pole that's pushing the alligator in the direction you want it to go while your lead magnets are like the lasso that enables you to hold onto it for a little while before it's set free.

So how can we combine the power of our marketing arms and lead magnets to help us develop long-term relationships with people who utilize our content? Let me make a few suggestions, and I'll use my platform with Platform Launchers as an example.

At present, Platform Launchers has seven marketing arms. I use these arms to deliver free content that's meant to educate and inspire listeners, readers, and watchers. My seven primary marketing arms are; landing pages, blog posts, podcast episodes, affiliate relationships, social media, YouTube, and word of mouth. If you like the content I'm creating, I have good news. I'm delivering it in many different ways, most of which are completely free.

But you know and I know that if all I did was create free content, my platform most likely wouldn't have a funding source. The long-term effect of not having a funding source is that eventually, I wouldn't be able to dedicate the time that's really necessary to continue to produce helpful content. My time and attention would have to be spent where I was able to earn a living. Common sense.

But if you're treating your online business like a marathon, not a sprint, you can play the long game and put pieces in place that will help you develop an ongoing relationship with the audience you're serving. Your marketing arms can direct listeners, readers, and watchers to various lead magnets that invite them to join your mailing list.

At present, Platform Launchers has two ways to collect email addresses. The first is through our primary lead magnet which is a 60-minute training video that I make freely available to those who join my newsletter list. It's very effective.

The second way I'm collecting email addresses is through blog posts. I release a new blog post each week, and at the bottom of each post, I encourage readers to sign up for my email list. This method is also effective, but isn't quite as effective as my primary lead magnet.

I have also heard it suggested, and I agree, that it can be helpful to have many lead magnets throughout your website. Maybe someone who visits your site won't be interested in a free video, but they'd love a free ebook. Or maybe they won't want a book, but they'd appreciate a free checklist that synthesizes your wisdom regarding a particular topic onto a single downloadable page.

Either way, if you can figure out multiple ways to generously share your wisdom through your platform, you can share that wisdom through your marketing arms and then point your audience toward some of your various lead magnets. From there, you can email them regularly and invite them to utilize one of your paid offers like coaching, courses, webinars, communities, or masterminds.

I'm a big fan of content marketing because it's effective and because it feels good to be helpful. Most of the people I serve online never become paying customers, but I still like doing what I'm doing. I like helping people, plain and simple. I'm also grateful for the fact that there is a small segment of my audience that makes a bigger commitment to me and the content I'm creating by utilizing some of my paid options. That's where deeper-level connections are made and higher-level transformation often occurs.

If you're in the process of building a message-based online platform, give some thought to the marketing arms you have in place. Do you have more than one? Is it time to add something new? And will those marketing arms point people toward your lead magnet so you can build long-term, life-giving relationships with those who connect with your message?

-John