Create Your Lead Magnet in Canva

"Every day, thousands of marketers and small business owners create lead magnets to help them grow their email lists. But what is a lead magnet? And how can you use Canva to design one?"

Canva is the perfect tool for creating a lead magnet. It's simple enough that even beginners can get started without too much trouble but powerful enough that it will satisfy the needs of more advanced designers. In this post we'll provide a free template & an easy-to-follow process to start designing your next lead magnet in Canva.

Lead Magnets are an effective technique for gaining a prospect’s contact information. Even if you haven’t heard of the term, “Lead Magnet,” you’re probably already familiar with them - you may have even downloaded one at some point.

A challenge with lead magnets is that it can take quite a bit of time and energy to produce one, especially if you feel you lack design expertise. This is where Canva can come in handy.

If you aren’t familiar with Canva, it is an online graphic design platform that is used to create almost anything - social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, books, and tons of other visual content. Canva offers a version for free, as well as a Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise - each with increased levels of stock images and additional functionalities, respectively.

Before we get into Canva, though, it’s important to understand lead magnets.

What is a lead magnet?

A lead magnet is a marketing tool that generates leads by offering something of value that you can exchange for a prospect’s contact information. A lead magnet can take the form of an ebook, a template, downloadable assets like resource lists, or a guide/report.

Preparing Your Lead Magnet

Before you can start designing you have to start writing!

1. Choose your buyer persona. Figure out who you’re targeting and what they want. The entire goal of your lead magnet is to offer something of value to your prospects in exchange for their contact information. When you know who your ideal customer is, you’ll have a better idea of what they value.
2. Decide on what type of lead magnet you will offer. Keep it simple, focus on your strengths, and solve your buyer persona’s problem as quickly as possible. Your options are almost limitless. Consider these lead magnet ideas: ebooks, toolkits, templates, workbooks - the list goes on.
3. Start Writing. Once you’ve decided what your lead magnet will be, open a Google Doc, or something similar, and write everything down. We want to get the main content of the lead magnet down and on paper, so to speak.
4. Proofread & Edit. Once you have the meat of the content down, it’s time to clean it up. Check for grammar, spelling, and formatting issues and correct anything that needs to be corrected.
5. Create an intro section. Explain why you created this resource. Your new subscriber has already taken action and submitted their information, so you don’t necessarily need to sell your resource, but you can explain what this resource will do for your new lead.
6. Create a Call to Action. After you’ve created your intro section and the main content for your resource, it is now time to create a Call to Action. Think about it like you’re the new lead - they have given you their information, they’ve read through your resource… but now what? Your goal is to continue to give information so that they decide on your product or service. Your CTA could be “Schedule a Consult Call,” “Get in Touch,” “Get Yours Now,” “Sign Up for XXXX”. Your CTA helps to put a bow on your lead magnet. It helps wrap things up and guide them on what they should do next while continuing to nurture your relationship with them.
7. Proofread & Edit Again. Now that you’ve added a CTA, you should go back up to the beginning of your lead magnet and recheck your grammar, spelling, and formatting. Make sure you add your company name, address, website URL, and contact email address.

Preparing Your Design in Canva

Now it’s time for design. Canva numerous tools and templates to help you create your lead magnets. There is a free version, but you may also consider the Canva Pro version for access to more stock images and the ability to upload your brand fonts and colors to establish your own brand kit.

1. Go to Canva’s website and create an account if you don’t have one already.
2. Once you’ve created an account, click on Templates and look at different templates that might be close to what you are wanting to create. We have created a basic template you can use for an example here.
3. Once you’ve selected a template you like, it’s time to get down into the nitty-gritty. First, you’re going to want to ungroup any of the Text, change any background colors to fit your branding, and do the same with any of the text. You can also remove and replace anything you don’t like, like images and shape elements.
4. Page One should be your Title Page. Page Two starts the main content of your lead magnet (or if a larger ebook, consider adding a Table of Contents). Your last page is your main Call to Action page but you may want to consider sprinkling in smaller calls to action throughout your content.
5. Now that everything is filled out, tweaked, and on-brand, it’s time to download your lead magnet. I suggest downloading your magnet as a PDF.

The Final Steps

1. Add your new lead magnet to your media library. With HubSpot, there is direct integration with Canva making it quick & easy to add new graphics & images to your website pages and blog posts.
2. Build your landing page, set up your marketing campaigns, and show your newly designed lead magnet to the world!
3. Be sure to implement a schedule to update your lead magnet regularly. Depending on the type of lead magnet you decided to create, you may need to update it once or twice per year. Create a schedule, set reminders in your calendar, and stick to it, so that you are always offering valuable, trusted information and tools.

Congratulations! You have created a lead magnet in Canva and you are now able to add it to your email marketing software and offer it to potential clients.