The LinkedIn Mastery Newsletter #5

Most coaches, consultants and service providers massively overcomplicate their lead magnets.

40-page PDFs. Mini-courses. Fancy ‘ultimate guides’.

Meanwhile, the lead magnet that actually converts is usually:

• Fast to consume
• Fast for you to create
• Laser-specific to a problem your best clients already care about

Today I’ll walk you through:

1. How to ideate a high-perceived-value lead magnet (without disappearing into Canva for a week)
2. A simple step-by-step guide to build and deliver it in Kit (in my experience, the easiest app to deliver lead magnets)

You can create a lead magnet in less than an hour and have the whole delivery system live in less than half a day, not 'someday'.

Part 1 – Ideating a lead magnet that makes people think “I need this now”

Forget formats for a moment. Start with the outcome.

Your lead magnet only needs to do 4 things:

1. Be quick to consume
2. Solve one painful, specific problem
3. Give a quick win they can complete in 10–30 minutes
4. Naturally point towards your paid offer as the “next logical step”

Let’s turn that into a quick ideation process.

By the way, I have a Custom Gem that will accelerate the entire ideation and creation process. You can access it here.

I still recommend reading the following instructions though as they’ll give you a clearer idea of how to work with the Gem. I didn't write them for nothing... 😉

Step 1 – Pick one offer and one audience

No generic freebies like “10 tips to grow your business”.

Examples:

• “Busy CFOs in SaaS companies” for your leadership coaching offer
• “Solo financial planners in the UK” for your LinkedIn done-with-you package

Your audience should think: “This was made exactly for me.” when they see your lead magnet.

Step 2 – Write the one-line promise

Template:

“In [short time frame], you’ll be able to [specific result] without [annoying thing they hate].”

Examples:

• “In 20 minutes, you’ll map out a week of LinkedIn posts without staring at a blank cursor.”
• “In 15 minutes, you’ll know exactly which expenses to cut to improve your monthly cashflow.”

If this sentence isn’t sharp, the lead magnet will struggle – no matter how pretty it is.

Step 3 – Choose the minimum effective format

High perceived value ≠ high word count.

Use the simplest format that can deliver the promise:

• Checklist: “Pre-Call Checklist: 9 questions to qualify a prospect in 5 minutes.”
• Template / Script: “DM Script Pack to start 10 non-awkward LinkedIn conversations a day.”
• Worksheet: “Pricing Clarity Worksheet to set your new fees in under an hour.”
• Short calculator / scorecard: “Readiness Scorecard: Are you ready to leave corporate in the next 12 months?”

Each of these can be 1–2 pages and still feel highly valuable because they’re concrete and immediately usable.

Other lead magnet formats that work well:

• Custom GPTs/Gems (if you’re good at building them)
• Training videos (with a CTA)
• Canva templates

Step 4 – Decide what to leave out

Ask: “What’s the minimum they need to succeed with this promise?”

You only need:

• A short intro
• 3–7 key steps or prompts
• Maybe one example filled in for them

If it starts turning into a course, strip it back. Save the big transformation for your paid work.

Step 5 – Draft it quickly in a simple tool

Don’t overthink the design. You can create the whole thing in:

• Google Docs
• Canva template
• Notion template
• ChatGPT or Gemini

Aim for ‘clean and legible’, not ‘design award’.

Step 6 – Give it a clear, benefit-focussed name

Clear beats clever. Every time.

Swap:

• ❌ “The Alignment Blueprint”
• ✅ “The 30-Minute Offer Clarity Worksheet”

Test your title with this question:

“Would my ideal client instantly know what they get from this?”

If yes, you’re ready to build it in Kit.

Part 2 – How to set it up and deliver it in Kit

Now let’s make sure people can actually get the thing.

​Kit (formerly ConvertKit) makes this pretty straightforward: create a form or landing page, connect an incentive email, and attach your file as a download.

Here’s the simple version.

Step 1 – Upload or host your lead magnet

Optional: Export your lead magnet as a PDF (or create a simple page on your site that hosts it).

• If it’s a PDF: you’ll upload it straight into Kit in a moment
• If you just want to use the raw Notion doc, Google Doc, Google Sheets or Canva template, just add the link in the incentive email or create a page with a button on it that points to the URL. Remember to make it shareable to anyone with the link!

Step 2 – Create your form or landing page in Kit

1. Log in to Kit
2. Go to Grow → Landing Pages & Forms
3. Click “Create New”
4. Choose either:
   • Form → best if you’ll embed it on your website (Pick an Inline form so it sits nicely on the page)
   • Landing page → best if you just want a shareable link and get it done faster

Pick a simple template. We’re not trying to win design awards here either. I have one that I customised once and just use over and over as a template. This saves me hours of work designing new pages. (Just check out any of my lead magnet landing pages, they all look the same! 🤣)

If you want a 2-step delivery so that once someone opts in they go straight to the delivery page, choose a template like ‘King’ from the template library and edit it to your own branding.

That’s what I used , (for a few different reasons I’ll tell you about in another time) and just modified it with my branding and made sure the main button always shows on the first screen without scrolling (also known as 'above the fold') when someone lands on the page.

Just be aware that it’s always a better idea to send people an email first, to get them to open it and click to go to the delivery page or URL.

This helps your email delivery and ‘trains’ people that opening your emails = value, so they’ll be way more likely to open them in future.

Step 3 – Add clear copy and a strong button

On the form/landing page:

• Headline: use your one-line promise from earlier
• Subheading: 1–2 lines explaining who it’s for
• Fields: usually just First name, Last name + Email
• Button text: avoid “Subscribe”. Use something like:
  • “Send me the checklist”
  • “Get the worksheet”

Short, specific, and benefit-led works best.

Step 4 – Set up the incentive email in Kit

This is the email that delivers your lead magnet.

1. Open your form in Kit
2. Go to Settings → Incentive (sometimes labelled “Incentive Email”)
3. Turn on “Send incentive email”
4. Update:
   • Subject line: “Your [lead magnet name] is inside”
   • Email body:
     • Thank them
     • Remind them what they’re getting
     • Tell them to click the button to access it
5. Keep the confirmation/“Download” button link as Kit gives it to you – that’s what confirms the subscription on the free plan.

Step 5 – Attach the lead magnet

Still in the Incentive/Delivery settings:

• If you’re using a PDF, choose Download (instead of URL)
• Click Add Download and upload your PDF
• If you’re using just the URL, enter it directly or use a delivery page (next step)
• Save

On the free plan, sending a PDF or image is the standard way to deliver your lead magnet.

If you prefer to send people to a custom thank-you page or private video, you can switch to URL and paste that in instead.

Step 6 – Set up the delivery page (optional)

If you want to deliver the lead magnet on a page rather than directly from the incentive email (for example an embedded YouTube video), set that up as the second page in the funnel and give it a URL you can redirect to from the email.

This takes a little more time, but can look much more professional and you can even decide to skip the incentive email if you do it this way.

Another option is to use this page to tell the reader to check their email for the lead magnet, but also introduce the next logical step, which might be to buy a low cost product or book a call, etc.

Step 7 – Test the whole flow

This bit gets skipped all the time. Don’t skip it.

• Fill in the form with a test email address, for example adrian+test1@linked.coach. The part between + and @ gets ignored by your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, etc) and still goes to your inbox, but kit will see it as a unique subscriber. This is a great feature for testing things.
• Check:
  • You see the right success message / thank-you page
  • You receive the incentive email
  • The download or URL works on desktop and mobile

Once that all works, you’re ready to share it.

Step 8 – Share it in the wild

Depending on what you created:

• Embedded form: add it to a prominent spot on your website (home page, relevant blog posts, or as a dedicated “Resources” page block)
• Landing page:
  • Link it everywhere you can on LinkedIn
    • Custom button
    • Custom link
    • Featured section
    • Services page
    • Experience section
  • Add a CTA to your banner to tell people to click on it
  • Mention it in posts and add the URL or do a 2-step post telling people to ask for it in the comments
  • Add it to your email signature

And remember: the lead magnet is just the start of the relationship. The real magic happens in the follow-up emails, DMs and conversations.

“What if I’m not using Kit?”

If you’re in another tool, the steps are almost identical:

• MailerLite: create a form/landing page, upload your PDF as an incentive file, and connect it to a simple automation that sends the download link.
• Mailchimp: create a signup form, host the PDF in the “Files” section, and link it in your confirmation or welcome email.
• beehiiv: use a “magic link” or form, then send a welcome email with the download or link to a hosted resource page.

Same principles: one sharp promise, one simple form, one clean delivery email.

What to do with this now

You’ve now got everything you need to ideate, create and ship a simple, high-value lead magnet in Kit – and start turning more of your LinkedIn audience into warm email subscribers.

If you’d rather shortcut the trial-and-error and build a simple, repeatable LinkedIn client acquisition system, that’s exactly what we help our clients do.

If you’re a coach, consultant or service provider who’s already good at what you do, but you want LinkedIn to bring you consistent, qualified conversations, we’ll help you:

• Turn your profile and content into a clear, client-getting funnel
• Use email & web-based newsletters, posts and DMs together (without posting 5x/day)
• Book more quality calls without ads or spammy outreach
• Build lead magnets that deliver value and push prospects towards becoming clients
• Do the heavy lifting for you (reaching out to grow your network)
• And track every step of the system so you can measure, iterate and improve everything you do in your LinkedIn marketing
• We can teach you how to do this yourself, or we can just do it all for you.

If that sounds useful, book a short call with me here and we’ll map out what this could look like for your business.

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Cheers,
Adrian

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