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If you’ve been browsing the internet for a while, you’ve encountered plenty of lead magnets. A lead magnet presents you with an offer for something in exchange for your email address. Most of the time, these offers are delivered as a pop-up notification when you first land on a web page. There’s typically a form that asks for your name and email address, and sometimes a postal address if the offer is for a physical item. However, most lead magnets are downloadable files, like PDFs.
The purpose of a lead magnet is to get you to sign up for an email list so the company can send you marketing emails. While digital lead magnets are effective (who doesn’t enjoy getting a free PDF guide every now and then?), physical books can also be exceptionally effective lead magnets. In fact, a growing number of marketers are now using books to promote their offerings, and here’s why.
Books help segment email lists
While the initial offer for a physical book makes a great lead magnet, the actual book can help businesses further segment their general email list. For instance, when someone signs up for a company’s main email marketing list and receives a book in the mail for the cost of shipping, that book will help the company further segment their main list to deliver even more targeted messages.
Here’s how it works.
Companies that print hardcover books in bulk are using those books to capture a wide audience, and then as each lead reads their book, they discover more resources and information that brings them back to a different part of the company’s website where they can sign up for more offers, services, and freebies.
Targeted marketing messages increase the chances of converting a prospect. As each lead accepts more offers, the business will add them to targeted lists and send them marketing emails tailored to their specific interests.
Books are immortal
Once you publish a book, it’s going to be available in some form virtually forever. Even if it goes out of print, there will be copies laying around people’s houses and in used bookstores.
Books essentially live forever, which means people can access your content and be exposed to your marketing messages anytime without you having to do anything. As long as your company is still in existence, there is a potential benefit.
Books make it easy to provide valuable information
People love learning secrets, tips, and tricks from experts. If you can package some of your expertise in a way that provides value to your audience, they’ll buy your books. It doesn’t need to be part of a free giveaway – you can publish it to Amazon and people will buy it, whether it’s a paperback, hardcover, or Kindle book.
When people buy your book and start learning valuable information, they’ll naturally gravitate toward your business to learn more. This is one of the best ways to get more leads, sales, and other types of conversions when your book is a lead’s first point of contact with your business.
Direct mail converts
Sending prospects a physical book is a timeless component of direct mail marketing. Direct mail has an ROI of 29%, which is higher than paid search (23%) and online display ads (16%). If you’re not utilizing this marketing method, you’re losing sales.
Book marketplaces have high search volumes
The downloadable lead magnets on your website only work when you drive relevant traffic to your web pages. You can get traffic with search engine optimization (SEO) and paid ads, like pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. However, if you pause your SEO campaign, your traffic will gradually fade. If you pause your PPC campaign, your traffic will stop immediately.
When you have a published book available on a marketplace, like Amazon, you don’t have to actively market your book’s listing to keep it visible. It will show up in search results when people type in relevant keywords and the more reviews you get, the better chances you have of being seen.
Physical books support more sales
The bottom line is that books make good lead magnets because they can encourage people to do business with your company. When written with this goal in mind, a single book can be a powerful marketing tool for many years to come.
Getting a book in the mail can make prospects feel more committed to your products and services. It makes them feel like they’ve already received immense value either for free or next to no money, which can increase customer loyalty. If you aren’t using books as lead magnets, there’s no better time to start than now.