11 Ebook Lead Magnet Examples for Inspiration

Ebooks are without a doubt one of the most popular types of lead magnets.

For good reason too. Not only do ebooks tend to have excellent conversion rates according to lead magnet statistics, but they are also easy to put together by repurposing and expanding upon existing blog content.

However, there is no one best way to create this type of lead magnet. Creating effective ebooks depends on your industry, target audience, and marketing goals. That being said, it can help to get some inspiration from companies that currently practice this lead generation strategy effectively.

This post covers 11 ebook lead magnet examples from companies of all sizes in multiple industries. Here you can discover how exactly these lead magnets were promoted on their respective websites and gain insight into their ebook content strategy.

How to Run an Inbound Marketing Campaign by HubSpot 

HubSpot sells marketing, sales, and customer service software for small to midsized businesses. You could say that HubSpot is the king of lead magnets: not only does HubSpot offer dozens of free ebooks, but it offers numerous other free resources such as templates, marketing courses, and free software as well.

HubSpot’s ebook How to Run an Inbound Marketing Campaign is promoted in the post below in a slide-in box.

One of the key benefits of promoting lead magnets this way is that slide-in boxes are much less intrusive than full-blown popups, which can be bad for user experience when used excessively.

In this ebook, HubSpot breaks down inbound marketing strategy in a series of chapters to make the content more digestible. The early chapters define what inbound marketing actually is and how to brainstorm campaign ideas while the later chapters take the reader through how to create a campaign step by step. The ebook is riddled with eye-catching visuals and easy to keep readers engaged.

The Ultimate Guide to Tracking, Targeting and Driving Conversions on Facebook by WordStream

Wordstream creates software to help business owners, marketers, and agencies with their paid advertising campaigns.

The company’s ebook, The Ultimate Guide to Tracking, Targeting and Driving Conversions on Facebook is promoted through a pop-up on the site as seen below.

This ebook provides a concise but informative overview of how you can optimize your Facebook ad campaigns. Included is a series of screenshots from live Facebook campaigns to better explain the strategies discussed.

The company also offers similar lead magnets such as the interactive Facebook ads grader.

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Real Estate Investing by Bigger Pockets 

Bigger Pockets is the go-to place for learning everything you need to know about real estate investing. The company offers free courses, webinars, and an extremely active real estate forum where investors can collaborate.

One of the company’s most popular ebooks The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Real Estate Investing or the “UGB” is promoted on posts like the one below.

This ebook’s content actually isn’t gated, meaning that you can read the entire ebook on the UBG webpage without opting into the email list. The benefit of making this content ungated is it attracts visitors to the page through organic search. 

However, even though the content is ungated, many people still opt-in to the mailing list to download the ebook as a PDF. It can be much more convenient to read a piece of long-form content in PDF format rather than clicking through web pages for each chapter of the guide. 

Getting Started On Etsy by Zero to Biz

Zero to Biz is a blog created by an Etsy shop owner who wanted to share her entrepreneurship expertise. Given that this site is managed by one person, it’s certainly smaller than many other sites in this post. Regardless, the owner still uses ebooks as lead magnets as she does in the post below.

This ebook lead magnet example isn’t super lengthy given that it’s intended to be a quick guide or checklist-style resource for getting started on Etsy. By capturing leads with ebooks like this, Zero to Biz can nurture leads into purchasing paid courses offered on the site.

How to Find Social Media Influencers by Grin

Grin sells marketing software that helps to find, recruit, and manage brand influencers. As a reputable thought leader in the influencer marketing industry, Grin puts out numerous free resources such as industry reports, webinars, podcast episodes, and numerous ebooks like the one promoted below.

You won’t find any fluff in this ebook. While this resource isn’t super long, it is chock full of super actionable tips backed by hard data collected by Grin.

This data is often presented in a visually appealing way through the use of charts and graphs in order to make the content more engaging.

Music Theory: The TL;DR Version by edmprod

Edmprod is a thought leader in the EDM (Electronic Dance Music) space. The company offers numerous courses on how to produce music.

The company’s ebook, Music Theory: the TL;Dr Veriosn is promoted through CTA buttons on multiple blog posts such as the one below.

This meaty 15,000+ word ebook walks you through absolutely everything you could want to know about music theory for creating EDM music. Suffice to say the ebook is extremely comprehensive.

Generally speaking, the more in-depth and informational an ebook lead magnet is, the better the company will garner the trust of its leads.

How to Master Lead Generation with Op-in Forms by Mailmunch

Mailmunch is an email marketing tool known for its fantastic blog content. Mailmunch allows you to build out landing pages, forms, popups, and set up autoresponders for an extremely affordable monthly price. You can see how Mailmuch captures lead in order to promote its services below.

Mailmunch is good at positioning enticing free resources that are tailored specifically for its audience. For instance, this ebook lead magnet is very relevant for any readers interested in posts on how to grow your email list such as the one shown above.  

The more tailored your lead magnet is to the needs of your target audience, the better you can expect your conversion rate to be.

How to Start a Vegetable Garden by The Old Farmer’s Almanac

Founded in 1792, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is North America’s oldest continuously published periodical (a magazine or newspaper published at regular intervals). Talk about an organization with a history of content marketing huh?

The Almanac writes about fruit and vegetable gardening, astronomy, recipes, and general home and health. To build its following, the organization uses pop-ups like the one below.

This ebook gives detailed instructions on how you can plant a vegetable garden step by step. By building an email list by offering free resources like this, The Almanac has the opportunity to promote some of its paid ecommerce store products later down the line.

The Secrets to Shaving at Least 10 Strokes Off Your Golf Game by Golfstead 

Golfstead provides information about golf gear, golf tips, and golf news. Given that the content on the site is created by expert golf coach Paul Norris, you can count on Golfstead for the most up-to-date information in the golfing space.

The site offers tons of great content and gated guides such as the downloadable resource on the sidebar in the image below.

This ebook gives an excellent overview of the steps you can take to improve your golf game in 10 actionable steps.

The Guide To Outsourcing Your Bookkeeping And Accounting by GrowthForce 

GrowthForce provides accounting services for small to mid-sized businesses. Not only does GrowthForce help businesses better manage their finances, but it offers financial advisory services to help businesses grow.

On numerous blog posts like the one below, GrowthForce offers gated guides.

This guide is a detailed outline that covers everything from the benefits, important considerations, and best practices for outsourcing your business’s accounting services.

13 Ways To Get Reward and Recognition Right by Bamboo HR

Bamboo HR sells cloud-based software that’s designed to be an intuitive and affordable way for growing businesses to manage their employees. The company offers a ton of free resources such as a webinar library, a content library, an HR software calculator, and of course, guides like the one promoted below.

Given that Bamboo HR helps businesses with their HR efforts, the company knows a thing or two about how to foster a great company culture. Ebooks like 13 Ways To Get Reward and Recognition Right are an excellent way for the company to position itself as an authority and build trust with its target audience. As a result, Bamboo HR can more effectively promote its services via email later down the road.

Final words

While the ebook lead magnet examples listed in this post are promoted on company blog posts, it’s important to note that this is just one of the many ways you can promote ebooks.

Often times companies use other paid ads to promote their content as well. In fact, 84% of B2B marketers use paid distribution channels such as LinkedIn or Facebook for content marketing purposes.¹ That being said while using blog posts is a powerful organic approach to capturing leads, it’s important to consider other channels as well.

Additionally, keep in mind that ebooks are just one of the many types of lead magnets. There are numerous varieties of lead magnets from research reports to infographics to video. There are numerous tools for creating these various lead magnets as well. 

1. https://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2019/10/success-differentiators-b2b-research/