The Chamber Pro's Guide to High-Value Lead Magnets that Convert

Most potential members won’t land on the chamber doorstep begging you to make them a member. Business professionals need to think about joining and need to see the value behind membership. Very few view membership as a box to be checked on the to-do list. That’s why it’s important to maintain a connection with everyone who showed interest in the chamber, the chamber’s offerings, or its resources. Lead magnets are one of the ways you can identify this interest.

We know that the idea of creating and making a lead magnet may be intimidating, especially if you don’t enjoy tech. But in this article, we break it down for you, so you know exactly what to do and how you can build a lead magnet as part of your marketing strategy. We even have some examples of lead magnets that work well for chambers.

What Is a Lead Magnet?

Lead magnets serve as the initial point of contact between your chamber and potential members. They are valuable incentives offered in exchange for contact information, providing a gateway for businesses to express interest in joining the chamber. These magnets can take various forms, such as e-books, checklists, webinars, and more.

How Lead Magnets Work

Lead magnets function as a bridge, guiding prospective members through the awareness and consideration phases. By offering valuable content, you capture their attention and establish your chamber as a reliable resource. To do this, you must create compelling content, promote it strategically, collect leads, and nurture those leads into chamber memberships.

However, there’s another reason your chamber should be using lead magnets and it’s not about identifying leads and nurturing potential members. It’s about appearances.

If you are trying to position the chamber as a knowledgeable business organization and you’re not nurturing leads, you will look like you are ill-positioned to help your member businesses. That’s not to say you must be a marketing guru ready to run your members’ marketing departments for them. But a lead magnet is considered a basic marketing tool these days. If you’re not using it, you’re either not providing enough value for the community or you are providing the value but not harnessing the data. Neither of those is good for a business pro.

Do Lead Magnets Still Work?

Yes, lead magnets remain an effective strategy even in the fast-paced world of info sharing and overload. People still appreciate targeted, valuable content. And they know they can trust the information from the chamber. However, success (i.e., downloads) depends on the relevance and quality of your lead magnets. You must produce a lead magnet that is appealing to your target audience.

Additionally, this is not 2015, where we gated content and asked for three forms of identification and the downloader’s mother’s maiden name to access it. A name and email address are the standard ask today. Anything more and you better have a good reason behind the ask.

The Lead Magnet Process

Once you have a lead magnet, the process of connecting with your audience is easy. First, you need to ensure you have a few things:

Call to Action (CTA): Craft compelling CTAs that clearly communicate the value of the lead magnet. Use action-oriented language to prompt engagement. Additionally, your lead magnet should have a call to action at the end as well. That call to action should not be “join the chamber.” It’s too soon in the relationship for that type of call to action. Instead, ook for a way to continue the connection by inviting them to subscribe to your newsletter or come to an event.

Landing Page: Design a dedicated landing page with a user-friendly layout. Clearly outline the benefits of the lead magnet and include a straightforward form for lead capture. A landing page is the perfect home for your lead magnet because the visitor is less likely to get distracted. It’s singularly focused on the download.

CRM Integration: Integrate a member database system to efficiently collect and manage lead information. This ensures a streamlined approach to member nurturing. Most will allow you to see which lead magnet brought them into your nurture campaign/database.

Email Sender as Part of a Drip Nurture Campaign: Utilize an email marketing platform to continue engaging with leads post-download. Tailor your content to their interests (which you should know a little bit about based on the content in the download), gradually guiding them toward becoming chamber members. Think of this as a courtship with membership as a marriage. You don’t ask someone to marry you as soon as they show a tiny bit of interest. Instead, nurture the relationship over time for a more rewarding partnership.

Best Practices and Things to Avoid with Your Lead Magnet

Best practices:

Clearly communicate the value of the lead magnet. What will they get from it?

Tailor content to the specific needs and interests of potential members. We’ll go into some examples below.

Regularly update and refresh lead magnets to maintain relevance. If you’re using stats an data, update them periodically.

Personalize communication to enhance engagement. Make your future member feel like you are directing everything just to them.

Things to avoid with lead magnets:

Overly complex or lengthy lead magnet forms. Unless your audience is extremely technical, there is no reason to write the War and Peace version of your Chamber Manifesto. People want quick, actionable information.

Generic or irrelevant content. Know who you’re trying to reach and customize a lead magent just for them and what they’re most interested in.

Neglecting to follow up with leads promptly. When someone downloads something from you, that’s the ideal time to begin a relationship. If you wait too long, they won’t remember who you are or even that they downloaded something. Touch base no more than a few hours after the download to ensure they received it and start your new relationship there.

Failing to analyze and iterate based on performance data. When someone downloads something from you, they’re telling you about their interests and you can use that information to send them other content in the future. For instance, if someone downloaded your lead magnet on how to start a business, they probably aren’t an established business owner. They likely would enjoy an invitation to your start-up event.

Types of Lead Magnets for Chambers

There are many kinds of lead magnets that you can create. Before deciding what you’ll do, consider who your target is—new businesses, young professionals, big employers, etc. You can create a lead magnet for each group you’re targeting.

Here are a few kinds of lead magnets:

E-Books: Offer in-depth guides on industry trends, business strategies, or local market insights.

Checklists: Provide practical checklists for businesses looking to optimize their operations.

Webinars/Interviews: Host informative webinars (live or make a recording available so they can watch it on their time) featuring industry experts or chamber success stories.

Exclusive Reports: Share exclusive reports on market research, economic forecasts, or member success stories.

Toolkits: Compile resources, templates, and tools to aid businesses in their operations.

Quizzes: People love to get insights about themselves as well as compete. Creating a quiz for your audience is a great way to get people involved and engaging.

Yeah, but what about real ideas, not just hypothetical types of lead magnets? If you don’t feel like getting creative, we have a few (okay, 17) lead magnets that might be a good fit for your chamber and your target audience.

Chamber of Commerce Lead Magnet Ideas

Industry-Specific Reports. Offer detailed reports on industry trends, market insights, and forecasts relevant to local businesses in your area.

Startup Toolkit. Compile a toolkit with resources, guides, and templates tailored for startups in your community.

Networking Playbook. Share an exclusive playbook on how to get the most out of chamber networking. If you tailor it to introverts, you now know another critical piece of information about the people who download your book.

Government Regulations Handbook. Develop a handbook outlining local government regulations and compliance requirements for businesses. People who are new to the area or new businesspeople need this info and having it in one place can be very valuable.

Member Success Stories eBook. Create an eBook featuring success stories of chamber members, showcasing their growth and achievements. When you’re marketing the lead magnet, don’t focus on this being a testimonial of how awesome you are. Instead, tell the story of what these members overcame. For instance, learn how a company on the brink of bankruptcy turned it around in six months. That way people who have similar problems will get excited about learning a solution to their problem.

Local Economic Outlook Webinar. Host a webinar with economic experts discussing the local economic outlook and opportunities for businesses. You can stream it live and/or record it for future downloads.

Exclusive Discounts and Coupons. Provide a collection of exclusive discounts and coupons from chamber member businesses.

Business Improvement Workshops. Offer free workshops or webinars focusing on business improvement strategies and best practices. If you tailor these to different stages of business or business problems, you will know what that future member is struggling with or what stage their business is in or what their concerns are.

Sustainability Guide. Develop a guide on sustainable business practices and eco-friendly initiatives for local businesses. Include existing ordinances as well as cost-saving ideas.

Digital Marketing Playbook. Create a playbook with actionable strategies for businesses to enhance their digital marketing efforts. Small businesses don’t have time to get their marketing degree, nor can they hire a marketer in the beginning. You could partner with a local agency in town to sponsor and create this lead magnet and share the download email addresses.

Leadership Development Resources. Provide resources, articles, and guides on leadership development for business owners and managers.

Local Market Research Report. Compile a comprehensive report on the local market, including consumer behavior and emerging trends.

Membership Testimonials Video Series. Create a series of video testimonials featuring satisfied chamber members sharing their positive experiences and telling their business stories. Again, if you want people to download this you need to show what’s in it for them. What will they learn? What tool will they receive? What will they be able to do at the end?

Business Wellness Toolkit. Develop a toolkit focusing on the well-being of businesses, including stress management tips and employee engagement strategies. Don’t have time to create a toolkit? Then pick one area and focus on it like 15 Ways to Become an Employer of Choice in a Hot Market.

Favorite Apps (or Tech) Guide. The average small business doesn’t have time to audition tech. Share some of your favorites and what kind of business it’s best for. While this type of document is very handy, it can become outdated quickly. To make it more evergreen, talk about what you like about the tech and leave the specifics like price to be addressed through a link to their website.

Answer a Question. What is the most common struggle you hear about as a chamber pro? Write a to-do list, article, checklist, video, or e-book helping answer that question.

Local Business Spotlight Podcast. If you host a podcast, consider making additional info available to VIP subscribers. This could be an extra interview question or download from a guest.

Remember with lead magnet ideas, you want downloadables that specifically address the needs and interests of businesses, making them more likely to attract and engage potential chamber members. Don’t try to create one lead magnet for every kind of potential member you have. Instead, look for pain points within a segmented market and create lead magnets for each.