What lead magnet works for a local business or newsletter company?

One of the bigger local newsletter operators I've interviewed ran a giveaway for a Christmas-lights company: one free Christmas lights deal, live drawing, fill out a form to enter. He got 100-some leads.

"He said even if you don't win, I'm going to give you 20% off, so you win no matter what. Then he called those people and made sales."

Why does the giveaway work?

• The entry form is the lead.
• Everyone wins something. The 20% off gives the business a reason to call every entrant.

I liked it enough that I planned to run the same idea in my own newsletter for a friend's holiday-lights company.

Does a free training work as a lead magnet?

For my audience, yes. I posted once in my newsletter about a free AI 101 training, and about 100 people signed up. People are so wanting this stuff.

I'll be honest: I hadn't run it yet a month later because I had too much going on.

What lead magnet would a newsletter software company use?

A free audit. My version:

1. Enter a link to one of your newsletter issues.
2. Enter your subscribe page, which is probably bad.
3. Enter your post-subscribe survey link.
4. State your goals. Get an audit back.

About 90% of operators won't have a survey. That third question is a subtle push. And the audit form itself is built with greetform, with a line that says so.

I've also floated a training app on newsletters and AI as another lead magnet for the same audience.

What makes a lead magnet good?

It's specific to the audience and it leads straight to what you sell. The giveaway leads to a sales call, the training leads to AI help, the audit leads to a survey tool.