What these two types of magnets have in common is that they are both something that a potential customer would value, and so they should be highly desirable.

An SEO magnet is a large, well organized, written document that contains a lot of valuable content that resides on an organization’s website. The writing is created in such a way that it uses stretegic keywords that a web searcher might use if they were looking for the products or services the company offers.

The hope of the SEO Magnet is that the content will rank higher in search results when a web searcher uses the relevant keywords, and will then click on the link that takes them to the company’s web content that ranked in the search results. From there, a funnel should be set up that will help the web searcher find the solution they were looking for that the business provides.

The SEO Magnet is given away for free

All the person has to do is click on the link in the search results that sends them to the website. The business gets nothing directly out of putting an SEO magnet on a website. The hope is that whoever sees the content will

Appreciate that the SEO magnet is there.

Learn something useful from it.

Respect and trust who created it.

Be more likely to do business with the creator of the SEO magnet.

A lead magnet is something of value (such as a coupon, first month free, ebook, checklist, etc.) an organization will give away in exchange for a prospect’s contact information, usually at the very least an e-mail address.

The goal of the lead magnet is to provide “up-front” value to the prospect in the hopes that your future marketing efforts to them (such as through e-mail campaigns) will convert them into customers.

The Lead Magnet is given away in exchange for an e-mail address

And when the prospect “opts in” it usually comes with at least some kind of “soft permission to market to the person.

The big benefit of lead generation is that it helps you grow your e-mail marketing.

If your lead generation campaign collects other information, such as phone numbers or addresses, this lets your sales team use more trafitional marketing methods.

A question you might be tempted to ask is, “which one performs better?” If you can answer that, then just use that method.

But right away, I can almost hear marketers emphatically saying while they’re reading this: “You can do both! YOU CAN DO BOTH!”

I hear you. Please calm down.

Asking which magnet is right for you is almost like asking whether a handyman should use a hammer or a screwdriver. Our handyman will likely need to use both, depending on the task that needs to be completed.

49% of marketers believe organic search brings in the best return on investment.

Search Engine Journal

In a survey by Search Engine Journal, 49% of the marketers who responded said that organic search brings in the the best return on investment. In the same survey, only 14% of marketers who responded said that e-mail marketing created the highest return. (One might need to keep in mind that this is a survey from a journal dedicated to search engine performance…)

But consider this celebrated marketing statistic:

E-mail marketing returns $42 for every $1 spent

Litmus.com

The $42 for every $1 spent claim comes with a lot of qualifications, such as e-mails with GIFs perform better than e-mails without GIFS, e-mail marketing gets a better return in e-commerce than it does sports and entertainment. Nonetheless, the returns of e-mail marketing are extraordinary, which is why some marketers say they would gladly give up social media before they would give up e-mail marketing. (of course, one should keep in mind that these numbers come from a company that specializes in e-mail marketing…)

To me, the lesson here is that both can be quite effective, but not without critically thinking through the advantages and disadvantages of each. The nature of the product or service, the market segments, and core competencies of the organization are just a few of the pieces of the puzzle to consider when thinking about lead magnets or seo magnets.

For SEO magnets, it’s great that you’ve got 40 pages of content sitting there on your website just waiting for search engines to broker an introduction with prospects. But what do you do with visitors once they show up? Have you built the pathway to help them find their way to the next step once they find your seo magnet? And even more critically, is your product or service really awesome?

For lead magnets, it’s great that you’re giving away a checklist, an e-book, or even a coupon for 10% off, but what’s next? Are the leads meant to go to a sales person who will make phone calls, or will the e-mails collected be segmented by interests and behaviors and then marketed to accordingly? And again, is what you’re selling really awesome?

Shall We Dance Together?

I suppose I must confess now that the title of this piece is intentionally deceptive.

The question really shouldn’t be seen as an either/or type question. We call these types of questions false dilemmas, because it really should be a both/and kind of question. So let’s use this as the title of the rest of the article:


How can SEO magnets and Lead magnets work together?

If you are able to play the long game with your marketing, start with the SEO magnet. As a copywriter, when I’m researching and putting together the SEO magnet, I’ll likely be getting ideas for what would work as a lead magnet. Of course, the process can work in reverse as well. But having the SEO magnet on your website will let any visitor see that you are an authority and expert, and that will immediately signal value and earn trust and credibility. Visitors who show up for a lead magnet offer will likely want to know more about you, and when they see the SEO magnet, that will help gain their their trust.

If you are looking to build the e-mail list quickly, or you have some time sensitive offers that you are looking to market, then a lead gen campaign might be a good first choice over an SEO magnet.

But it is likely that both magets can work well together to help your organization become stronger.

I’d be happy to help you think through and implement either or both of these magnets on your website. If you’d like to more about my SEO services, click here. If you’d like to know more about my lead generation offers, click here. For e-mail marketing, click here.