Bye bye freebies


Free lead magnets are becoming huge cash drains in 2025. You’d be smart to stop using ‘em or you could see the little profits they’re still making evaporate.

Here’s the issue…

Free lead magnets have been the go-to for marketers for years.

Concept’s simple.

  1. Create something of value
  2. Put it out into the world for free
  3. Email gate that bad boy
  4. Collect leads of people
  5. Keep hounding them until they’re “ready to buy”.

There was a time when this worked super well.

Hell, I pulled 6-figures as a solo copywriter thanks to lead magnets with barely any hassle.

It worked because things were different before AI.

  • Advertising costs were lower
  • Attention was easier to capture
  • Algorithms were a little fairer and gave you a decent chance of being found

Now, though?

The amount of content out there is insane.

It feels like every MF’er has a podcast, newsletter, or is troll posting on social for cheap likes.

Being able to stand out, let alone keep people engaged, has become so much harder.

That free lead magnet you’re pushing might get some opt-ins, but most of the people never consume it.

They save it in a file and think “I’ll come back to that later” and yet, they never do.

And because they don’t consume that content, they don’t…

  • Remember who you are
  • Start to believe in your system
  • See an increase in the trust needed for them to pay you

In the last week alone I’ve spoken to 4 business owners who have lamented the old way just isn’t working for them anymore.

They have decent lists and audiences, but can’t make the same cash they used to cause it’s full of freebie seekers.

The abundance of content has turned a lot of growth from marketing into a consumption game.

You need to adapt the way you’re marketing to ensure people are consuming your content, buying into your approach, and naturally finding their way to your high-ticket offers.

I’ll be doing a webinar on Friday that details the full system we’ve been implementing to help people…

  • Attract high-intent leads at a small profit
  • Convert them to high ticket purchases 12X more
  • Manage that system in as little as 1 hour per day

The short version is that you need to switch your approach to the below.

  1. Identify the buyers in your audience ASAP with low-ticket offers
  2. Use the money from the low ticket offers to subsidise/cover your marketing spend

That gives you a way to grow your audience with actual buyers who are willing to spend money.

Next, you’ve got to…

  1. Understand the bigger problem the user’s face
  2. Build a system that systematically removes the barriers they have to buying

The way I help people build these is simple.

LTO - Solves a small, immediate issue and is priced well within the “impulse purchase” zone. This offer is basically helping them take the first step to the big transformation you provide.

Make it small, simple, and easy to implement.

HTO - This is the high-touch service you offer that helps people make the rest of that journey the LTOP started them on. You’re there to guide them to the transformation they want to achieve.

If the LTO is good, the trust is built and you have an easier time selling the HTO.

And because you’re kicking off the relationship with a BUYER, these people are way more serious and more likely to buy from you.

AnyQs, let me know.

Or just join the Webinar this Friday for the full breakdown.

Pete "buyers only" Boyle

Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Villains Ltd, Unit 16535, 13 Freeland Park, Wareham Road, Poole, Dorset BH16 6FA
Unsubscribe · Preferences

Growth Models

I've spent ~10 years helping digital brands grow. I share what I know and what I'm experimenting with in this newsletter.

Read more from Growth Models

I was the "guest expert" in a senior SaaS leader mastermind last night. It was fun. The senior leaders of SaaS brands doing $3MM+ would come in, explain an issue they had, and we'd talk about things they could test to solve it. A couple of questions were right in my wheelhouse. But there's one I want to go over with you today. Look, one of the big issues in any recurring fee business, whether that's... SaaS Consulting/Agency Community/Memberships ... is the issue of churn. You get yourself a...

I've completely stopped creating new lead magnets for my business. Why? Well, I could go over the same old ground and once again hammer you with the messages of... Freebie seekers are not buyers Payback period is key to staying alive But, there's another reason. One which is - in my opinion - more important and underpins the other two. In fact, this underpins the entire success of your growth strategy. Look, running ads or paying for any marketing for your business comes down to one thing....

I'm a firm believer that things can always be done a little better. Even when your marketing strategy is working, there's probably a few tweaks you could make to help squeeze a little extra juice out of it. And that's been my focus for the last week. I've been tweaking the sales material, funnel, and approach for the $1 Product Challenge. Now I could leave all of those changes and the reasons behind them hidden away. Secreted behind the paywall for only the most serious "funnel hackers" who...