Lead magnets are “irresistible free offers” that bloggers use as an incentive to encourage readers to subscribe to their email list. The subscriber gets a free resource in exchange for their contact information. Do lead magnets still work in 2024? Yes, creative and unique lead magnets are still at the top of the list for subscriber growth! No idea what to create? Here are 40+ lead magnet ideas for artists to attract prospects to your art business!
When you have your own art business along with your own artist website, you know how important it is to build an email list with loyal subscribers interested in your art.
Offering website visitors free valuable resources in exchange for their contact information should be part of every artist’s online marketing strategy.
Such free resources are referred to as lead magnets in marketing terminology.
Hence, the challenge for every artpreneur lies in figuring out what freebies are best to get people sign up for your email list in the first place.
No idea what free lead magnets work for your artist audience?
Worry not, help is near. ಠ‿↼
Here's a list of the best unique and creative lead magnet ideas for artists that your target audience will find irresistible! The lead magnet ideas and examples that you'll find below will help you attract potential customers and boost your email list in no time!
Are you ready to take your creative business to the next level?
Let’s dive straight in:
What are some examples of lead magnets for artists?
One of the best online marketing strategies for artists is to build an email list with subscribers. Why is it so effective?
Well, people don’t give out their email addresses so easily. When someone signs up to your newsletter with their email address, you can be sure they are really interested in your art and in you as the artist.
That’s why an email list is such a great tool to build loyal connections with your audience and keep in touch with prospect customers.
To encourage website visitors to sign up for your email list, you can offer them an “opt-in incentive”—also called a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is an “irresistible free offer” that contains valuable content for your audience.
In order to obtain that helpful free resource, people give you their email address and then get the freebie emailed directly to their inbox!
To make such an “irresistible lead magnet,” you’ll need to know your audience. You’ll need to be familiar with their needs and their problems, and provide them with the solutions they are looking for.
Here’s how to identify your target market as an artist in 4 steps.
That being said, some typical examples of lead magnets for artists include free art tutorials, presets for Lightroom, Photoshop and other apps, free stock images, or free digital prints to print out at home.
Here are some more lead magnet ideas for you that I offer for fellow art lovers and artpreneurs (of course, you can also download them at no cost in the Freebie Library):
Art Business Startup Checklist
Secrets of Good Composition in Art
Best Selling Printables & Ways to Sell
66+ Best Art Niche Ideas for Blogging
Photoshop Blend Modes Cheat Sheet
Using a Drawing Tablet with Photoshop
You like the idea of lead magnets for artists but you don’t have your own website yet? No problem! Here are the best website builders for artists that allow you to make a website for your art in no time!
Squarespace is one of the most popular and easy-to-use website builders for artists. You can add anything at one click: portfolio, web shop—and newsletter opt-in! To learn more, read the full Squarespace Review for Visual Creatives.
Do lead magnets still work in 2024?
The good news is that lead magnets work as well in 2024 as they did in the past. And they will most likely be working just amazing in the years and decades ahead!
Why? Because people will always have problems and they will always seek resources to solve those problems. If those helpful resources are free, even better!
That means as long as you provide good and unique lead magnets that help your artist audience tackle their problems, odds are your lead magnets will work just fine!
How do you make an irresistible lead magnet for artists?
As a rule of thumb, a lead magnet that is irresistible to your audience should have the following six qualities:
It’s relevant to your audience.
First and foremost, an irresistible lead magnet should address the interests of your audience. How do you know if a lead magnet resonates with your audience?
Well, anything that is of interest to you as an artist will likely be attractive to your readers, too.
Furthermore, the lead magnet should be related to existing content you already have on your website. That can be topics you already talked about in your blog posts, but also products you sell or services you offer.
It provides value and helps your audience solve a problem.
Every industry faces particular problems and challenges. If your lead magnet helps people solve these problems by offering practical solutions, it will work great!
Think about the issues you faced during your artist career. How did you tackle them?
Providing free resources that focus on exactly those paint points are excellent lead magnet ideas for artists!
It’s instantly accessible.
People love quick fixes. When they have a problem, they want it to be solved rather sooner than later.
That means your lead magnet should be instantly accessible. If your audience has to fill in long forms in order to get the resource, they will most likely quit before even making a single form entry.
You shouldn’t ask people for more than their first name and their email address in exchange for the freebie. The less information they have to provide, the better. That’s why many creators only ask for people’s email addresses.
Once your prospects have filled in the required contact information, they should get easy access to the free resource. Either, they receive it by email or they get clear and straightforward instructions how to access it on your website.
It’s easy to use.
Any free incentive that you offer should be easy to use. As I said above, people want quick fixes. So don’t make it too complicated.
Make sure that the problem-solving steps in your freebie are clearly structured. There’s a reason why bullet lists and cheat sheets are so popular. They allow people to follow a step-by-step approach and just tick off things from their bucket list!
It’s unique.
If you can provide a unique lead magnet with information that your fellow artists cannot find easily elsewhere, even better!
Perhaps you have found a unique solution to a problem that no one else has thought of. Then this is great idea to package it in a lead magnet.
But you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to find subscribers. Just make sure to offer content that is useful to your audience and give it a personal twist by adding your perspective or experiences!
It's visually appealing.
As a matter of course, your freebie should be visually appealing—even more so as you are an artist creating lead magnets for artists. Depending on the type of resource you want to offer, you’ll need different apps.
Creating eBooks, cheat sheets, check lists and PDFs is super-easy. All you need is some basic text processing software like Word, Excel, Google Docs or Sheets. Special desktop publishing software isn’t required. But if you already have something like MS Publisher or Adobe InDesign, it can make your life easier! ʕᴖᴥᴖʔ
A graphic program isn’t a must either, but it can definitely help with more sophisticated designs. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are powerful tools, but they come with a price tag.
Here are some free and more affordable alternatives for you to check out:
- Canva is a free tool to create all types of visuals. They offer a paid version that is still affordable but the free version already takes you a long way.
- Gimp is a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop.
- Inkscape is a free alternative to Adobe Illustrator.
- PicMonkey for $8 a month is an app similar to Canva.
- Procreate for $10 (one-time purchase) is a drawing and painting app for the iPhone and iPad.
- Affinity Designer is also a one-time purchase software ($50 for desktop, $20 for iPad) that is a more affordable alternative to Adobe Illustrator.
Then, what you absolutely need to make checklists is a PDF creator.
You can create PDFs with MS Office or Open Office for free. But if you want your checklists to be editable, so that people can tick off things, you’ll need a special PDF maker. There are several free options and one of the best is PDF Escape.
It has a clear call to action.
Finally, a good lead magnet should include a clear call to action (CTA). A call to action can be a button or a line of text that encourages people to get the freebie.
That can be something like “Get the eBook Now,” “Download the Freebie Here” or “Get Instant Access.”
In any case, the CTA should be eye-catching and include a clearly formulated call telling people what to do!
What are some lead magnet ideas for artists?
To help you find some creative and unique free resources to offer on your website, I’ve sorted out over 40 lead magnet ideas for artists that will help you attract new subscribers and grow your email list!
Here we go:
40+ Best unique lead magnet ideas for artists
- Artwork previews
- Behind the scenes
- Bonus content
- Brush presets
- Business plans
- Cheat sheets
- Checklists
- Coaching & consultation sessions
- Collection of top posts
- Compilation of inspirational artist quotes
- Coupon codes
- Digital art prints
- Email courses
- Email templates
- eBooks
- eGuides
- Discount codes
- Exclusive artwork presales
- Exclusive studio tours & tips
- Free access to exclusive content
- Free access to groups / memberships
- Free downloads
- Free fonts
- Free stock images
- Gift guides
- How to’s
- Lightroom presets
- Mini eCourses
- Newsletters
- Photoshop resources
- Planners
- Podcasts
- Presets (brushes, actions, layer styles, …)
- Printable quotes
- Printables
- Samples of products you sell
- Schedulers
- Templates
- Tutorials
- Toolkits
- Videos
- Webinars
- Workbooks
- Get the Best Lead Magnet Ideas for Artists in a FREE PDF
