Wendy McCallum (01:58)
Hi, coach. Welcome back to the Coaching Edge podcast. I'm your host, Wendy McCallum, and we're going to be talking today about how to build a coaching lead magnet that grows your list and builds your like no trust. Now, this is something I have covered before on the Coaching Edge, but it's such an important piece of your business model that it felt like something worth coming back to. So I talked about this in the very early, early episodes of season one and
It's something I talk about all the time in my BBB and my business building bootcamp with my coaches. I'm always asking them about what their best freebie is, their best lead magnet or opt-in or freebie and how it solves a problem that their dream client has right now. So we're gonna talk about whether you call it your freebie or your opt-in or your lead magnet.
This is the thing that people will grab in exchange for giving you their email address. And ideally, it's really, it's the first moment where your potential client says to themselves, wow, she really gets me. This coach really gets me. I'm in exactly the right place. And they also say something like, this is a no brainer, duh, I need this. And they don't hesitate to exchange their email address for whatever the free
resource is that you're providing to them. Again, I wanted to come back to this one because I think this is a place where coaches are regularly underperforming is with their free valuable content. think in a lot of certifications and trainings, this is discussed, but the idea is like, let's just get something together and throw it up on your website. There isn't a lot of thought that goes into how to create a really resonant freebie that will be very, very successful for you as a lead magnet. Now, again,
Why do we need this as a lead magnet? Because we don't own our social media audiences. Lead magnet is critically important because it is the thing that allows you to collect email addresses. And those email addresses are actually an asset that you own. So you actually have care and control of those email addresses once people have consented to giving you their email address in exchange for a free valuable.
product or resource of some sort, you now have the ability to send things directly to their inbox. You own that list. You do not own your social media audience. I think probably everyone listening to this podcast can think of a story that they have heard in recent years of a small business person who has had their account shut down on Instagram, Facebook, wherever, or who has said, this is very, very common now. And again, that's constant source of conversation in the BBB.
how the algorithm is no longer serving small businesses, just not working the way that it used to. So getting your content out to your audience is very, very challenging now. A very small percentage of your following is actually seeing the content that you're creating. So for all of those reasons, building your newsletter list is even more important than it used to be. And the way to do that is with a really great freebie slash opt-in slash lead magnet. You'll hear it described with those terms interchangeably.
We have to be real here. There are a lot of freebies out there though, and people are now getting really skeptical. I think we're in a trust deficit as a society and people's inboxes are overflowing. I know myself, I am constantly unsubscribing. I just literally unsubscribe to a mailing list right before I started recording this podcast almost every day. I unsubscribe to something. So we have to figure out how to make your freebie worth downloading and sticking around for. And that's really what this podcast is all about.
We're gonna talk today about what makes a lead magnet irresistible in 2025. So how to create a really valuable free resource for people that has your dream client when they see it thinking absolutely have to have this thing, not second guessing, immediately exchanging their email address for it. And there are number of different components that go into that. We're gonna talk about why.
using video as part of your free resource is your trust-building secret weapon. And then I'm going to talk about an example of one of my BBB members, one of my coaches, Charlotte, who used a freebie with a daily video to grow her list enormously over the last year. So she created a freebie that maybe was not the type of freebie that I would normally recommend. It was very robust. We're going to talk about the details of it.
but it has been incredibly successful for her. So she utilized many of the components of what I'm going to talk about today that makes a great freebie. So we will go through that little case study as well. And then I'm going to give you some very specific ideas for lead magnets or freebies that you can create in a week or less, no perfection required. Now, I want to be really clear. If you're listening to this episode and you already have a lead magnet, some sort of opt-in offer or freebie, I want you to listen to this episode anyway.
because what you may decide to do is improve the quality or the offer of whatever that free resource is or create something completely different depending on what you've already got in place. So there's always room for improvement. I actually really encourage my BBB members to over time create a suite of free offers. So this is something that I've always done. I never just have one free resource that people can access. I have like a little menu.
little a la carte menu of free resources or low ticket resources that people can access from me. And most of those include video, which we're going to talk about in a minute for all of the reasons that we're going to talk about in a minute. for example, I have the how to get clients now masterclass that is for anybody who's looking to get some paying clients in the door before they've had a chance to build an email list or
a large social media following, which is frankly for all newer coaches. So that's a free masterclass that you can download and incredibly valuable. And that's something you can get any time from my website. I'm gonna put all the links to these free resources, by the way, in the show notes here, but you can always get them at wendymcallum.com. I also have a two times your profits masterclass, which is a goal setting revenue planning workshop that is free. You can grab that anytime from my website as well.
And I've just recently created a new resource called Smart Summer, how to use this slow season of the summer to set yourself up for a strong fall. And that's again a planning workshop where you can create a very detailed plan for all of the tasks that you want to accomplish over the summer to set yourself up for a much more efficient and easeful fall. And then I have something called the Launch Checklist, which is
the one sort of deviant from the strategy that I'm going to talk to you about today in that it is a PDF. It's a one, two page, I think downloadable PDF. It is a very, very helpful checklist though. And it solves a very specific problem that new coaches have, which is what do I actually do and in what order in order to get myself to a place where I can start charging clients for money in order to set up the very basic business that I need to start receiving revenue.
And so that launch checklist is also available for free anytime for me. So that's an example of sort of a suite of freebies and that will continue to change and grow. And obviously this podcast constitutes a very high valuable freebie. So this is something that I give out that's free to anybody. So I have a number of freebies in my freebie suite, if we wanna call it that. And so if you're listening to this and you already have a freebie or two,
That doesn't mean that there isn't going to be great value from this episode for you. And it doesn't mean that you're done with freebies. Maybe it's time to create something new. OK, so let's start with this idea that a great freebie is no longer just nice to have because it's really not. It's a must have, but not in the way people used to do it. So even five years ago, it was still sort of standard advice that you could just create a little e-book or a PDF or, you know, five things I learned about X.
download that would be enough for people to give you their email address. I think, like I said, we've become more sophisticated. I think we have become completely bombarded with all of these offers for free resources that require us to provide our email address. And I think most of us are trying to simplify our lives and reduce the amount of content that we're receiving on a daily basis because we feel really overwhelmed by that.
for all of those reasons, and I think also just the social climate right now where there is a lot of distrust out there. A lot of, you know, a lot of people are feeling like they cannot just take things at face value anymore in terms of promises that are made. So for all of those reasons, I think we have to really be very strategic and careful about the type of freebie that we create and make sure that it is very, very valuable and really effective.
for our audience in order to build that trust. So that means that the freebie or opt-in or lead magnet needs to do these things. It needs to solve a real problem that your clients are already Googling. A real issue that keeps them up at night. A real question that they are asking on the regular. Okay, so this is something that is a live issue for them right now that they're trying to solve.
So if you've got an existing freebie, I want you to look at it and ask yourself, does this freebie actually solve a problem that my people have right now? Am I meeting them where they are? I have seen on many occasions with some of the coaches in the BBB that I support, that their freebies actually meet their clients at a place that they are not yet in their journey. So they're helping their clients solve a problem that is actually like.
for their clients right now would be a good problem to have, because it would mean that they had actually dealt with whatever the immediate issue is, if that makes sense. So it's just, it's an issue that hasn't actually arisen for them or is not a priority for them right now, because there's something else that's more important to them or that is more challenging for them and keeping them more stuck. You wanna make sure you're dealing with the problem that they have right now. And for many of us, we're talking about the first time we work with clients.
it's oftentimes the first time they've even acknowledged that they have a problem. So oftentimes it's a helpful thing to think about, are my clients wondering whether they even have a problem with this particular area that I support people around? That can actually be the basis for a really great freebie. So, you know, I have lots of coaches that I support that help clients around the way that they eat or using alcohol in a way that doesn't serve them anymore, for example. And good questions there are, you know, with alcohol as an example.
Do I have a problem with alcohol? So a freebie that is actually focused on helping that client answer that immediate question, which is something that client has probably been Googling. Am I an alcoholic? Do I have a problem with alcohol? How do I know if I should cut back? That is a really great focus for a freebie for that particular audience, right? So you can see it's solving the problem they have right now because until they know whether they actually...
have a problem or this is worth looking at, they're probably not going to take the next step, which is to reach out and try to find a coach, right? So again, it has to solve a real problem that they are already Googling. It has to be specific, like very specific guys. It needs to solve that specific problem. You need to be able to make a promise as to what they are going to achieve by downloading, watching, participating in whatever this free resource is, what they're actually going to achieve from this.
problem it is specifically going to solve. And it needs to be valuable and it needs to feel like doable for them. So you don't want it to feel overwhelming in terms of the size of it. So, you know, like a 60 page ebook is a harder sell than a five day challenge with a five minute video every day, right? So it has to be specific, valuable and quick to consume.
I think it's really important also that your freebie is personal and it reflects your unique lens, voice or approach. This is important. Oftentimes, you know, this is where the chat GPT can really not be your friend. Now am a big fan of using AI, using it strategically and carefully in your business. But I think when it comes to creating a freebie like this, if you just ask chat GPT to spit out a freebie without giving it any...
you know, detailed information on who you are as a coach, your kind of special sauce, very specific details about the client avatar that you support, the coaching philosophy that you use as a coach, all of those things. You're likely to get something that doesn't feel personal. It feels very sort of boilerplate, one size fits all, and not remotely unique. You need to stand apart from the other people. And this is something that, you know, I talked about in other episodes.
I'm just going to mention it again today. Just remember that yes, who you serve and the problem you solve is definitely your niche. But I think the more important piece of your niche, what sets you apart, how you market yourself is how you coach and how you show up. So it's your special sauce. So whatever your special sauce is, you should know what that is. You should know the words that your clients use to describe you. You should know what sets you apart from other coaches. You should know
your personal style when it comes to coaching and supporting people in the area you support them in. And you want to make sure that that is really clear and comes out in a strong way in whatever the resource is that you are providing for people. This is another reason why video, which we're going to talk about in the second, is your friend when it comes to creating freebies, because it's a whole lot easier to get that special sauce across if people are actually hearing your voice, seeing your face. OK. The other piece of this, the very last piece of what makes a great freebie is
Whenever it's possible, your freebie is actually gonna put you, your face in front of them. That's what brings me to the video piece, which is the next component of this. I wanna talk about why video is such an important piece of freebies these days. If you wanna speed up the like no trust process, you have to show your face. It is the most effective way to build like no trust faster. Now we've talked a lot about like no trust on this podcast.
It's a key piece of building your brand, your personal brand as a coach. And that is just, you know, how much your audience, your potential client likes you, knows you, and feels like they can trust you. That is a much faster build when you are getting in front of people. So when people are seeing your face and seeing your face for longer periods of time. This is another reason why I love podcasts. Now, they're not, you're not necessarily seeing my face, although we do do snippets and...
you know, little excerpts from this podcast and include the video from the podcast. But you're hearing me and you're getting a sense of who I am and my personality. And I'm able to, you know, use the type of language that I normally use when I'm coaching. And that is starting to probably create for you a little bit of a person on the other end of the the podcast. Right. That happens even faster when you incorporate video with it. So
Video inside a freebie builds connection so much faster than text alone. So this is really for anyone who's listening who has a text only freebie right now. So a PDF, a downloadable checklist, an ebook, a program, and it's all just text based. There's absolutely no video or audio that goes with that. I want you to listen up. It doesn't have to be high production guys.
In fact, scrappy selfie style videos often convert really, really well because they feel real to people. So we're not looking for perfection in the video that goes with your freebie, but you do have to incorporate something more than text with most freebies in order to create that like no trust quickly. So even a short video, like a two to three minute video to welcome people into your free resource can go a long way.
It lets them hear your tone and see your energy and decide really quickly if you're someone that they trust to help them move forward. So if you already have a text-based ebook or PDF or something like that right now that is your lead magnet and you really like it, you think it meets all of the other criteria that we've talked about, it solves a problem that your client has right now. It's specific, it's valuable, it's easy for them to consume, it's personal in that it reflects your coaching style and approach.
but it doesn't have video in it. Think about adding a short video to welcome them to the resource. So say something like, thanks so much for downloading the XPDF. Here's how you can maximize the value that you get from this free resource. This is a great resource. Here's how I suggest you use it. And I would love it if when you have completed this, if you just take a minute to send me a quick note at this email address and let me know what your top
takeaways from this were ask them a really specific question and try to create some engagement there. That is a great step just to add a little more of a personal touch to an existing lead magnet or freebie. If you're thinking about creating a new freebie or lead magnet or opt-in from scratch, I want you to think about how you can do that using video content
Again, I'm going to give you an example of one of my coaches and how she did that really effectively in a moment. But, you know, if we go back to the freebies that I offer to coaches around business, most of them are video based. And it's actually a, I'd say like between 40 and 45 minute video of me teaching you through a series of, you know, slides and resources and that kind of thing. So you're getting a lot of time with me.
in that situation. The two times your profit masterclass is probably 45 minute masterclass that comes with a big workbook that you work through. And then I've got the how to get clients now, 10 ways to get clients now without a big social media following or email list. Again, I go through all of the 10 ways, give you really specific, actionable strategies, but you're spending a lot of time with me in those masterclasses. I'm getting a lot of FaceTime and hopefully that's helping to build that like no
Another good thing to think about with this is how many coaches you've followed for months on Instagram and look at the ones that you feel really interested in and attracted to. You we all follow other coaches on Instagram. Have a think, which are those coaches that when something comes out from them, when you see a post from them, you stop automatically and look at it because you know it's going to be high quality. My guess is those coaches are the ones who are creating video content regularly.
The people I follow that I'm really interested in are the ones who get in front of me all the time. I like them, I know them, I feel like I can trust them, that their content is actually gonna be interesting and valuable to me and make me think about something. And that's because they have actually gotten in front of me live a lot of times or in prerecorded video content. They sometimes produce static content, but a lot of their content is video content. And then I think about the coaches who I follow who I actually, frankly, hardly ever see their stuff, and that's
probably not because they're not posting, it's probably because the algorithm is not serving it up to me because when it does, I don't engage with it because it's static content. So it's either just a static image with a text caption and the caption might be fantastic. It might have really great valuable info in it, but because there's no live video happening with it, I'm just less likely to be, my brain is less likely to be engaged and I'm more likely to just keep on scrolling and never read that caption, right? Even the video carousels or the sorry, the carostatic carousel slides.
where you swipe across and you look at a series of static images. We know that those cause people to stay on the post for longer, but they don't build like no trust like a video post does. So think about what coaches you follow and how often you're seeing video content from them. And my guess is it's quite often. Video really shortcuts that whole process of...
building a like no trust. And when it's used really well, it will turn your lurkers into clients. So for all of those reasons, that is the last component of a really great freebie in my opinion. And that is to incorporate video into the freebie itself. Okay. So now I'm gonna talk about one of my coaches in the BBB, which is again, my business building bootcamp for coaches. It's a one year membership program with a continuing membership option after that.
Somewhere between 20 and 30 coaches usually in the group. It is a very intimate group. It is just got the most fun vibe and the coaches in there are really committed to building their businesses. So it is a very active group and we are moving forward in our businesses in there. And I have coaches trying all kinds of different things and all of my coaches are always, if I'm doing my job right, thinking about their freebie suite, what they have to offer that is free.
And if things start to get slowed down in their business and they're looking to start building their leads again, they're going to start thinking about how they can create either a new free option resource or a low ticket resource that they can bring some more people into their world with. Charlotte is an example of one of my BBB coaches who created a really interesting freebie and it has worked incredibly well. So I wanted to offer this up. Normally,
With a freebie, I'm always sort of saying like, don't spend six months creating your freebie. It should be something that solves the problem. Again, it feels really digestible. It doesn't need to be massive, but it does need to be very specific and personal and solve a problem your client has right now in a perfect world that incorporates video. So normally I probably would not endorse or suggest that a coach create a program that is as involved as Charlotte's 21 day courses.
But what Charlotte did, she trusted her gut, which is something I encourage all of my coaches to do, and decided to offer a 21 day free course for people who are questioning their drinking. And again, I wouldn't normally recommend this because it was quite an involved project to create it, but Charlotte really nailed it. What she did is she created a course that sends subscribers who opt in for this free resource a little video or
audio or like snippet from her every day. Most days there's some video content. It's very short and there might be something else that accompanies it but every single day her subscribers get an engaging email from her. It's not polished, it's not flashy but it is very personal and it's real and it is building enormous trust. So as a result of this she's added over 1300 people to her email list just from this freebie alone.
And when those people are ready to get more support, they already feel connected to Charlotte because they feel like they've been with her for at least 21 days, right? They have this like no trust that is naturally there. And so they are reaching out to her. So this freebie is not only working to get people on her newsletter list, the people are staying and they're staying really engaged. And when they need support, they are turning to Charlotte. So she's using this list that she's building to fill very effectively her small group programs and her one-on-one coaching practice.
The thing that's the coolest, I think, about Charlotte's freebie and that really speaks to the whole video building that like no trust is that people are actually interacting with her from this freebie. So she has a very engaged newsletter list, probably the most engaged newsletter list of all of the coaches in the BBB right now. I think including me in that people are consistently responding to the newsletters that she sends them and to the course. So she's asking them to share with her.
their learnings, their takeaways, the places where they're stuck. She's asking them really specific questions, both in the course and in her newsletter content, and they are sending her emails back, which is allowing her to start conversations, which again, is the basis of all trust building, relationship building, and eventually sales for us as coaches. So it's working really well because Charlotte has shown up consistently with value, with her voice, and with her face, with some video, okay? So.
Does every lead magnet need to be a 21 day video series? Absolutely not. I hope I've been very clear about that. But if you can add even one video to your freebie, an intro, a walkthrough, the resource, or a thank you, or a mindset tip, or like a bonus, it helps your future client feel like they already know you. So, you know, we buy from people that we know. It's as simple as that. And we know now that we need to get in front of people for like seven, eight, nine hours before they feel like they like
know and trust us enough to buy from us. So make sure that you're not missing the opportunity with your free resource to get your face in front of people and to build that like no trust. Okay? All right. I'm going to end this with some ideas for you. I'm really going to challenge you to go away and either up the ante on your freebie by adding some video content to it or
creating a brand new freebie and incorporating some video content in it. Make sure that you hit those things that I talked about, those key points, which are your freebie needs to solve a real problem that your specific dream client is already trying to get answered. It needs to be specific, valuable and quick and easy to consume. It needs to feel personal in that it reflects your unique lens, voice or approach. In other words, your special sauce. And it needs to, whenever possible, incorporate some FaceTime.
So have some video to it. Okay, here are some ideas that you can take away and think about. And I'd love for you to send me a note, let me know whether this episode caused you, inspired you to add some video content to your existing freebie or create something new. I always love to hear about what coaches are doing. It's really creative lead magnets and opt-ins. There are so many things you can do. Here are just a few examples.
You could do a cheat sheet for a very common struggle. And it could be like how to get through your first night without X, right? If you deal with behavioral change or it might be a really specific solution to one problem. So for example, as a business coach, I might create a freebie that are a free lead lead Magnor Optin that might be like how to create a freebie and get it up and launched in 48 hours.
and then just a step-by-step. So a cheat sheet for a common struggle, but you're gonna incorporate a video with this, remember. So there's going to be a video that introduces this resource, tells people why it's so important, gives them some more free valuable information probably, and then asks them to interact with you, for example. You could also do a reflection journal. A lot of people have success with journals on the very specific.
that they coach people through and then they incorporate a journal with that. So you'd want to have some video that goes with that, a particular mindset, for example, that you want to help coach people through, a place where people commonly get stuck. You might do a video around that and then you might provide a little journal for them to use in conjunction with that. I love, this is not video, so I'm straying a little outside video, but I love audio as well because audio, yes, your face is not in front of people, but again,
If you're somebody who is a competent speaker and has some really valuable things to say, you can build a lot of like, trust, again, case in point, this podcast, by speaking to people using audio. So a three or two, five day audio series with a little workbook is also a great idea for a freebie. So again, what's a problem that you can help people solve in a three to five day audio series? The audio is probably going to be 10 minutes or less each.
And then you could create a workbook to go with that. A lot of people use quizzes. I love quizzes as freebies. I have a coach in the BBB who just created a fabulous quiz that helps people to figure out, like I had talked about earlier, whether they're at a place in their relationship with alcohol where it makes sense for them to actively start working on making a change. So do they have a problem with alcohol? It's a really, really good interactive quiz that she created. Video content to go with that.
Remember to introduce it, to talk to people about maybe to give them their, you know, at the end of it, if you fall into this category, here's what you need to know. If you fall into this category, here's what you need to know. But make sure that your face is there somehow, that you've got some video content with that. I love a little challenge. So again, Charlotte is an example of somebody who did a much longer challenge, that 21 day course, but you can also do like a three day challenge, a five day challenge, a seven day challenge with daily videos. I think those are really great and work really, really well. A little...
training around really three, you know, for example, three very specific mistakes that people make in this particular area that you coach in and the solutions to those mistakes. You could do a little training. That would be obviously a great thing for video. Master classes, I love, as you know, I've talked about the ones that I have, and you can incorporate with those like a worksheet or a workbook. I often do that, like the two times your profit goal setting and revenue planning.
Workshop has a very detailed workbook that helps you to figure out your revenue goals for the coming year. But it also has that really great video component. And maybe like a mindset reset video. This can be helpful. Resets, everybody loves like a reset, a reboot, a kickstart, that kind of thing. Can you do a video to go with that that helps your clients get back on the page where they are ready to tackle whatever the thing is that you help support people around?
Again, deal with the problem that is keeping them from taking the next step. And you could do that with a video. like a flip the switch today video that you offer people. I also love pep talks. I have used pep talks before in my programming. My clients love them. So that's where it's like, so you had a rough weekend, here's how to get yourself back on track. And it's a video that you offer to people or a series of videos that helps people reset.
maybe shift their lens or their perspective on the problem so that it feels more doable and achievable for them. So those are just some ideas. There are so many out there that you can do. Choose one, keep it small, make it personal, don't get overwhelmed by it, but make sure that whenever possible you are meeting those four criteria of a good freebie that I have now outlined several times here, including a video component.
I hope that that helped to spark an idea for your freebie. If so, I would love to hear about it. Send me a note at wendy at wendymcallum.com or DM me at wendymcallumcoach on Instagram. I'd love to hear from you. And I will see you next time on the coaching edge. Thanks for listening.
