You Got Their Attention. Now What?
Getting found is a big deal. Someone discovers you through Google. They read one of your blog posts. They meet you at a networking event. A friend sends them your name. Maybe they see something you shared on social media and think, “Oh, I like how this person thinks.”
Great. That's exactly what all that visibility work is supposed to do.
But most people aren't going to discover your business on Tuesday and hire you on Wednesday. They may be interested. They may have exactly the problem you help solve. They may even think, “I need to remember this person.” Then they close the browser, leave the networking event, get back to work, pick up the kids, answer 47 emails, and go on with their lives.
Three weeks later, they may not remember your name, your website, or where they saw that really helpful thing you wrote.
That's the gap: the space between getting someone's attention and being the person they think of when they're ready for help.
Getting found is only the beginning
We put a lot of energy into getting people to notice our businesses. We ask for referrals, network locally, create content, post on social media, tweak our websites here and there, and maybe even work on SEO. All of those things can play an important role in helping the right people discover us.
But discovery and readiness aren't the same thing. Someone can think you're smart, helpful, and exactly the kind of person they might want to work with someday without being ready to do anything about it today.
If your marketing gives that person two options — hire me now or hopefully remember I exist — there's a pretty big gap in your Digital House.
You need something in between. And no, I'm not suggesting you need a complicated funnel with 47 emails, six upsells, three countdown timers, and a partridge in a pear tree.
You just need a good reason to stay connected.
Give them a reason to stick around
This is where a lead magnet (aka free resource, opt-in resource, free download) can be incredibly useful. Unfortunately, I think we've made lead magnets much more complicated than they need to be.
A good lead magnet isn't something free you create because a marketing person told you that you need a freebie. It's also not another PDF you throw together because “build your email list” has been sitting on your marketing to-do list for the last two years.
A good lead magnet is a useful next step for someone who has a problem you help solve but isn't ready for the full solution yet.
That could be a checklist that helps someone avoid a common mistake, a short guide that answers a question you hear all the time, an assessment that helps someone understand where they are, or a template that makes a frustrating task easier. The format matters far less than whether it's genuinely useful to the person receiving it.
So instead of starting with "What kind of lead magnet should I make?", start with the person you want to help. What do they need to understand, decide, fix, or do right now? What question do you answer over and over again? What's one small win you could help them get before they're ready for the bigger work you do?
That's usually where the better ideas live.
Getting the email address isn't the goal
This is also where many lead magnets fall apart. Someone downloads your lovely new resource, gets the automated “Here's your download!” email, and then hears absolutely nothing from you.
Until seven months later, when you suddenly appear in their inbox with something along the lines of, "Happy Fall! Here's what's new at ABC Company!”
And they're sitting there thinking, “Who the heck is this?”
Getting someone onto an email list isn't particularly valuable if you don't do anything to continue the relationship. The opportunity isn't the email address itself; it's the permission that person has given you to keep the conversation going.
You don't need an elaborate 27-email nurture sequence to do that. Your first few emails can have a very simple job: deliver what you promised, continue helping, let them get to know you a little better, and eventually show them a natural next step if they want more support.
Deliver → Help → Connect → Invite.
That's nurture. Not emailing people constantly until they surrender and buy something; just continuing a conversation they already chose to start.
So, why email?
Email isn't the only way to stay connected, and I don't think it should be treated like the entire marketing department any more than social media should.
Every part of your marketing ecosystem has a job. Social media can introduce you to someone new. Google can help someone discover your expertise when they're actively looking for an answer. Networking can create a personal connection, and a referral can bring an enormous amount of trust with it before you've even met.
Email has a different job. It gives someone who has chosen to hear from you a direct way to stay connected.
That's important because you're not relying on an algorithm to decide whether that person happens to see what you publish next. Your email list is an audience you've built a direct relationship with, and it's an asset your business owns. You get to decide how you use it, what you share, and how you continue being useful to the people who have invited you into their inbox.
Email doesn't have to replace the rest of your marketing. It needs to connect to it.
Connect the dots
This is where my whole Digital House philosophy becomes really practical. Your marketing doesn't need one magical tactic that somehow discovers people, builds trust, nurtures relationships and sells your services all by itself. That doesn’t exist. You need different pieces doing the jobs they're good at and leading naturally into one another.
Maybe someone discovers an article you wrote through Google. That article points them to a useful resource that addresses the problem they're researching. They sign up to receive it, and your emails continue helping them while giving them a chance to get to know how you think and how you work. When they're ready for more support, they already know what the next step with you could look like.
Or maybe they don't hire you at all. Six months from now, they might forward one of your emails to exactly the person who needs you. That's relationship-driven marketing working, too.
DISCOVER → CONNECT → NURTURE → INVITE
No single piece has to carry the entire load. The pieces work together as a system.
Build something better than hope
If you've ever left a networking event thinking, “I really hope that person remembers me,” this is worth looking at. The same is true if you're getting website traffic, creating content, showing up on Google, or getting referrals but don't have an obvious way for interested people to stay in your world.
Ask yourself one question: “When the right person discovers my business but isn't ready to hire me yet, have I given them a reason to stay connected?”
If the answer is “not really,” you don't need to panic and build an elaborate funnel this weekend. You just found a gap in your Digital House. Congratulations. And once you can see the gap, you can start building the bridge.
You don't need another complicated marketing machine. You need a simple way to continue the conversation.
Want to build yours?
On September 23, I'm teaching the next workshop in the Digital House Workshop Series: Stay Connected Long After They Meet You. We'll work together to identify a lead magnet people actually want, map a simple email nurture sequence, and connect it all back to the work you ultimately want to be hired for.
You'll leave with the bones of your own stay-connected system, plus worksheets and prompts to help you keep building after the workshop.
Because getting found matters. But what happens after they find you matters, too.