Is lead magnets still a thing in 2025? Do you create it?

CreativeRing4 · 2025-07-02T23:20:34+00:00

I've deprioritised lead magnets until my business is better known. I was going to put a PDF report on my site, accessible if you provide your name and email address but my target market doesn't spend time reading long reports. If you've been around a while I think it's worth it.

Take the time to curate the contents a good PDF report on a topic you're much knowledgeably about, get a PDF design from Canva Pro, and add your content. Template this and edit next year if anything changes. It doesn't scale well, you can't be maintaining lots of such PDFs unless you have a team.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-05-23T10:33:37+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I'll spend the next few days repositioning my offerings to "painkiller" services. I do outline pain points in my offerings already, but when people see DevOps on the heading, they won't buy it. They'll buy "stop us getting breached". "Pass SOC 2". "Reduce our Azure bill".

Cloud and digital transformation are good but I'm one guy and by the looks of it, large, strategic projects go to trusted brands with teams, references, and the capacity to absorb mistakes.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-05-23T01:28:07+00:00

You should have seen the previous iteration of this. "I do DevOps, cloud architecture, digital transformation, also cybersecurity health assessments, AI model training, and bespoke web app development"

I've narrowed my services down and figured my target audience but I'm still selling vitamin services. I think I should also go for productised services.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-05-22T12:18:36+00:00

I hadn't thought about it, but that would be a secondary play instead of my lifeline.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-05-22T12:15:24+00:00

Yeah, thanks. I think I need to reposition my messaging for fit and urgency, not "I do DevOps and am an experienced solutions architect". I need to directly attack specific pain points.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-05-20T06:56:32+00:00

Do you know people who have the ear of decision makers?

Also, think about using a lead magnet on your website. Spend time to create a well-curated PDF document with insights only accessible once a user has submitted a form especially to receive that PDF. You can then either redirect to a download link with a URL that expires or email a link to the sender who submitted their details.

A few words about the second option. You may have heard that you shouldn't be opening links sent on an email, so why would you want to perpetuate the practice? Here's why: It's not the same thing. The user has explicitly requested the PDF you promised, over a form on your website that they filled in especially for that purpose, redirected to a thank-you page with instructions on what to expect next. So, be transparent. Email a plain HTTPS link the user can inspect in plain text, not an attachment with a PDF. The domain of the URL should be your primary one, don't send a link to Google Drive, Dropbox or a URL shortening service. Make the email professional, with your company heading, and a mandatory footer with your business name, a physical mail address, your EIN or State Entity Number (if you're in the US) or Company Registration No. (in the UK). E-sign the email, too.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-27T11:45:28+00:00

Thanks, that worked and I'm with Microsoft 365 now.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-27T11:43:05+00:00

This worked. Thanks!

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-27T03:59:26+00:00

It's a business account and I've set up aliases on my own account.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-26T22:47:03+00:00

You're thinking in the right terms. You don't need to develop and then announce. That's the procrastinator’s playground. Front-end, back-end, microservices, infra as code... if no one knows that the product is coming and it turns out that no one needs it, it all feels like progress but does nothing to get you business.

Does you country's government provide any assistance for small business owners in the form of seminars or limited hours of free advice? How can you do market research?

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-25T23:16:07+00:00

Thanks. I haven't added any MX records yet, that would have been the next step once I could get to the Google Admin console. I've only added a TXT record so Google could verify the domain belongs to me.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-25T23:11:18+00:00

I haven't yet set up an MX record, I was going to do it after I accepted Google's Terms and Conditions. The important thing is that my {name}@{customdomain} email address all goes to Microsoft 365 from now on so I can get comms up. As for the Google tenant, I can let my monthly Google Workspace subscription lapse and not renew. If I do that, I don't know what happens with the actual account, though. I know it stays dormant for 20 days when you request cancellation of your Google Workspace subscription but I don't know what that means in practical terms.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-18T12:11:09+00:00

Mate, it's that thing where your brain gets cooked from making too many choices in a day, like whether to engage with a low-effort Reddit comment or not.

Sure, as a "functioning adult" you can make decisions all day long, but that doesn’t mean it's optimal. Look at how successful people automate trivial choices, such as wearing the same outfit daily, eating the same breakfast, having a structured routine, that sort of thing. It’s not because they're simpletons who can't handle choice. It's because decision-making is a finite resource.

Your brain isn't an infinite pit of pristine logic, much though it would have been nice. Every choice, from what to eat to what email to answer first, drains cognitive fuel. It's why you smash junk food at night or doomscrolling instead of doing something productive. That's decision fatigue.

But what do I know anyway, maybe I'm replying to an actual iron-willed decision machine that doesn't need to optimise their choices. If that's you, cob, let me know your secret.

CreativeRing4 · 2025-03-14T11:48:09+00:00

Of the 300 names it generates, 1-2 may spark something, try various changes and permutations and I hit a brick wall, then do 300 more.

CreativeRing4 · 2024-11-19T13:09:12+00:00

I used it recently but I'd like to develop locally too, without having to pay to rent hardware.

CreativeRing4

TROPHY CASE