Use lead-magnets to plan checklists, templates, and reference sheets from expertise or internal documents. It focuses on solving a small problem quickly and connecting naturally to the product, rather than collecting the largest possible number of email addresses.
Install and invoke
Run this in your project terminal to install only this skill for Claude Code:
npx skills add coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill lead-magnets -a claude-code
Node.js and npx must be available. For Codex, replace -a claude-code with -a codex. In the agent conversation, explicitly ask it to use lead-magnets and supply your material. The installation command belongs in the terminal, not in your content brief.
Start with a pre-purchase obstacle
List recurring customer questions and look for existing worksheets, checklists, or instructions that help answer them. A narrowly scoped resource is easier to validate than a comprehensive ebook produced from scratch.
Example brief:
Use lead-magnets to adapt onboarding-checklist.md into a project-handoff checklist for design studios.
A manager should find missing handoff details within ten minutes. Do not create a long ebook.
Provide the content outline, filled example, public preview, capture fields, and delivery journey.
Mention our product only where relevant and do not invent download counts or testimonials.
Match the resource to the buyer’s stage. Someone discovering a problem needs explanation, someone comparing solutions needs evaluation help, and someone implementing needs practical instructions. One file should not attempt every stage. If a template requires specific software, state the format and opening requirements beforehand.
Design what happens after capture
Choose between fully open access, a preview with gated extras, or a complete gate. More friction does not automatically improve lead quality. Explain the value exchange and request only information needed for the current purpose. A preview should show useful content or the method of completing it, not only a polished cover.
Specify the actual confirmation page and delivery email: where the file appears, what happens if the email is delayed, and whether an immediate copy is available. Follow-up should remain connected to the resource and the expectations set during signup. The skill plans the content and distribution; configuring and testing an email platform is separate work.
Ask someone uninvolved in production to use the resource and check whether they can complete its intended task. Review downloads alongside actual access, relevant trials or enquiries, and unsubscribe feedback. If the audience downloads but has no product need, reconsider the topic before adding more form fields. Repository benchmarks are reference points, not a forecast for your offer.
Make the resource useful within five minutes of receiving it
Choose a real pre-purchase obstacle before choosing a format. A reader checking launch readiness may need a one-page checklist; someone repeatedly estimating budget may need a spreadsheet; a complex method might justify a longer guide. Ask the skill to state which decision the resource supports, how the first page is used immediately, and where the product naturally becomes relevant. Renaming an ordinary blog post an “exclusive guide” does not make an email gate worthwhile.
An example brief: “We have ten articles about website migration. The audience is a small team considering a tool change. Pick one decision they must make before migrating and turn existing material into a fillable checklist. Specify inputs, instructions for each field, the next step, and risks requiring human review. Do not add customer stories we have not supplied.” Test whether one person can use it without explanation before spending time polishing a cover.
Design delivery next: the landing page should show what the reader gets and who it suits, the form should request only information needed to deliver it, and the thank-you page and email should lead to a working file. Fully open, partly open, and email-gated access have different tradeoffs. Measure actual use and relevant follow-up inquiries alongside downloads, and watch for a large volume of low-quality contacts.
Example: turn an internal audit sheet into a self-serve resource
Suppose you have an internal website-audit sheet with forty checks, but only a specialist knows how to judge them. Supply the original sheet, three common customer questions, and criteria you may publish. Ask: “Use lead-magnets to make a ten-minute self-check for nontechnical owners. Select only five decision-relevant checks. Explain an observable signal, how to fill each field, and the next action. Do not ask readers to upload sensitive admin data.”
Give it to someone unfamiliar with the original sheet. Can they understand each check and distinguish what they can fix themselves from what needs a specialist? If the result merely compresses forty items into five pieces of jargon, it has not become useful. If an email gate hides the first page, consider whether visitors can still judge if the resource fits. Link to the product only where the completed self-check reveals a relevant need.
Give readers the next usable step
Before planning an opt-in, ask where the reader gets stuck after the current lesson. Designer Femke paired a video about presenting design work with an editable presentation template and placed the signup link in both the video and its description. The template supported the next action after watching. For your own offer, write three sentences: what the original content teaches, what the download helps the reader do, and how delivery works. Check that the email capture is proportionate to the value delivered.
Phoebe Fu built a real 16-point Agent Skill evaluation checklist that readers can open in full, print or save as PDF without leaving an email. The page also sketches an optional five-email learning path and minimal delivery form, but the form is a demo and collects no addresses. The lesson is to make the resource useful first and decide separately whether email capture helps. Your first version should make the full use path, save option and measurement events clear.