Lead Magnet Idea Generator

A lead magnet has one job: earn the next step. The same offer cannot do that at every stage of the funnel, because a reader who has never heard of the problem needs something different from a reader comparing vendors. This generator turns a plain description of what you sell into nine concrete offers — three for each funnel stage — and ranks them against your buyer, awareness level, time budget and preferred format. Everything runs in your browser.

What this lead magnet generator does

Most lead magnet lists fail for the same reason: they ignore where the reader is. A checklist that helps somebody spot a problem is useless to a buyer who has already chosen an approach and is comparing providers. This tool starts from your offer and produces a shortlist for each of the three buying stages, then scores every eligible idea against the brief you gave it.

The output is deliberately opinionated. You get one recommended offer per stage, two alternates for each stage, a fit score for every candidate, and a build order with a time estimate. You do not get a list of forty generic ideas or a promise that any of them will convert.

How to use it

1. Describe what you sell in plain words. The tool uses your phrase to title each idea, so B2B SEO services becomes B2B SEO rather than a generic “marketing” offer.
2. Optionally add who it is for. This appears in the plan and the copied summary; it does not change the archetype library.
3. Choose the buyer type. B2B-only and B2C-only ideas from the opposite side are removed before ranking, so you are not shown a consumer planner for a B2B service.
4. Set how aware the buyer is. This is the strongest input: awareness alignment is 35 of the 100 points, and it decides which stage is marked “Start here”.
5. Set the time you can realistically spend and a format preference. Time pushes heavier ideas down the ranking; format narrows each stage to a matching archetype when one exists.
6. Read the fit ring, the three stage cards and the build order. Use Copy plan to take the shortlist into your notes.

How the ranking works

Every idea comes from a fixed library of 27 lead magnet archetypes: nine for the top of the funnel, nine for the middle and nine for the bottom. Each archetype has a target awareness level, a buyer type, a format, an effort tier and a written angle. The tool scores each archetype against your brief on four dimensions.

Dimension	Points	How points are awarded
Awareness alignment	35	Exact match 35, one level away 22, two levels away 10, three levels away 0.
Buyer type fit	25	Exact buyer type 25, “works for both” 20, the opposite type is excluded. When the brief is “B2B and B2C”, every eligible archetype scores 25.
Production effort	25	Fits your budget 25, one tier over 10, two tiers over 0.
Format preference	15	Your chosen format 15, “no preference” 15 for everything, a different format 0.

Within each stage the tool sorts by score, then by lower effort, then by library order. The top three become the recommended offer and its two alternates. The headline “funnel fit” number is the rounded average of the three recommendations, so a weak stage pulls it down and it can never exceed the strongest stage’s top pick.

That property is the point: a brilliant top-of-funnel offer cannot hide a weak middle stage, because the average drags the headline number down. The score rewards a shortlist that holds up at all three stages, not one spectacular idea and two fillers.

Why the stages need different offers

Top of funnel: give away a diagnosis, not a brochure

At the top, the reader may not have named the problem yet. Useful offers help them recognise it: a readiness checklist, a short explainer, a cost breakdown, a small diagnostic. The ask should be tiny, and the offer should be useful even if they never buy. A broad “ultimate guide” competes with everything; a specific checklist is easier to finish, and finishing is what earns the next step.

Middle of funnel: help them compare and prepare

Once the reader knows the problem and is weighing approaches, the useful offer changes. They want a buying checklist, a comparison matrix, a roadmap, a template pack, a teardown of a real setup. The job is to make you the person who explained the decision, not the person who repeated the pitch.

Bottom of funnel: remove the last risk

Near the decision, the remaining objections are practical: what happens after we sign, what does onboarding look like, what if it goes wrong, how do we justify this internally. Offers that answer those questions — a pilot brief, a kickoff pack, a contract checklist, a proof-of-concept scorecard — earn a conversation because they reduce risk rather than add pressure.

Choosing a format and a realistic build time

Format is respected inside a stage whenever the library has a matching archetype for that buyer type. If it does not — video for a B2B top-of-funnel offer, for example — the tool falls back to the closest scored option and says so on the stage card. That keeps all three stages covered instead of returning an empty column.

Effort tier	Planning estimate	Typical formats
Under 2 hours	1.5 hours	Checklist, one-page template, short recorded explainer
Half a day	4 hours	Written guide, comparison matrix, teardown, planner
A few days	12 hours	Email course, interactive calculator, tailored walkthrough

These are fixed planning figures, not measurements. A 12-hour estimate for an interactive tool assumes a simple, single-purpose calculator, not a custom application. If your estimate is wildly different, adjust the tier rather than trusting the number.

Worked example

Brief: B2B SEO services, for SaaS founders, B2B only, solution-aware buyer, half a day available, no format preference.

Stage	Recommended offer	Format	Fit
Top of funnel	What Good B2B SEO Looks Like	Written guide	87
Middle of funnel	The B2B SEO Comparison Matrix	Template	100
Bottom of funnel	The B2B SEO Proof-of-Concept Scorecard	Interactive	87

The headline funnel fit is 91, the total build estimate is 12 hours, and the middle stage is marked as the starting point because the buyer is solution-aware. These are outputs of the rules above, not benchmark results from real campaigns.

Limitations

• The library holds 27 archetypes. It is a curated starting set, not an exhaustive catalogue of every possible lead magnet.
• The fit score measures alignment with the brief you entered. It does not measure demand, originality, search volume or conversion rate, and it cannot predict whether an offer will work.
• Topic extraction is literal. Unusual phrasing, a company name instead of a description, or a sentence about your process will produce awkward titles; rewrite the description as “what you sell” and the titles improve.
• Buyer type is a single choice. If you sell to both businesses and consumers with different offers, run the tool twice rather than selecting “both”.
• Effort estimates are fixed per tier and ignore design, copy review, legal checks and email platform setup.
• Format preference is applied inside each stage when a matching archetype exists. If a stage has no match, the closest scored option is shown with a note explaining the substitution.

Frequently asked questions

How many ideas does it generate?

Nine: one recommended offer and two alternates for each of the three stages. Every archetype that fits your buyer type is scored, so the alternates are the next-best matches rather than random picks.

Why did my results change when I moved the awareness level?

Awareness is worth 35 of the 100 points and also decides which stage is marked as the starting point. Moving from problem-aware to solution-aware, for example, shifts the ranking toward comparison and preparation offers and changes the build order.

Does a high fit score mean the lead magnet will convert?

No. The score says the offer matches your stated brief. Conversion depends on the traffic source, the promise, the landing page, the follow-up and the quality of the offer itself. Treat the score as a way to shortlist, then test with real readers.

Can I use this for both B2B and B2C?

Yes. Choose the buyer type and the opposite-side archetypes are removed before ranking. If you sell to both with different offers, run it once per audience for a cleaner shortlist.

What happens when my preferred format is not available at a stage?

The tool still shows a recommendation and adds a note to that stage explaining that no archetype in the chosen format matches the stage and buyer type. That keeps all three stages covered instead of leaving a gap.

Is anything I type sent anywhere?

No. The tool is HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript running in your browser. There is no server request, account, cookie or local storage. The copied plan goes to your clipboard when you press the button and nowhere else.

Can I edit the idea library?

Yes, if you are comfortable editing the file. The library is a single array of objects near the top of the script, and the scoring weights are named constants. The article above describes the current rules; update both if you change the weights.

Related tools

• ICP Builder — define the account profile before choosing an offer
• Buyer Persona Generator — turn the audience line into pains, triggers and objections
• Lead Scoring Calculator — decide which responses deserve a sales follow-up
• Account Tiering Tool — split the list so the bottom-of-funnel offer reaches the right accounts
• Cold Email Subject Line Grader — check the subject line that delivers the offer

Next step

An offer only earns its keep when it is connected to a follow-up path. That is what mizanursguide.com builds: lead generation systems that pair the right offer with the right outreach, rather than collecting downloads that nobody contacts.