Gated Content: What Marketers Need to Know [+Examples]
As William Shakespeare once wrote, “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Marketers have a similar classic debate: gated versus ungated content.
While 80% of B2B content marketing assets are gated and lead generation is one of the top objectives for marketers, it’s not an open and shut case. That’s why we’ve gathered everything you need to know about gated content in this post.
Here, we’ll explore what gated content is and how it compares to ungated content. Then, we’ll dive into gated content best practices and look at some examples.
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Best Practices for Gated Content
So, how does gated content work?
Usually, users arrive at your website and see a CTA or pop-up that offers them access to a piece of content in exchange for their information. This could be their email address in exchange for a content offer, for example.
It’s important to note that gated content for inbound marketing is free and not hidden behind a paywall. Users just need to submit their information to access the content.
Now, you might be wondering, “Why would I hide my content from my audience?”
Typically, the goal of gated content is to generate leads. Marketers will create targeted content for their audience and use it to attract leads. Gated content isn’t used for brand awareness or visibility campaigns because the nature of hidden content doesn’t allow for high traffic.
Below, let’s discuss the pros and cons of gated versus ungated content.
As you can probably tell, gated and ungated content both serve different purposes. But you might be wondering what the pros and cons are. Let’s dive into it now.
Pros and Cons of Gated Content
Ultimately, gated content is meant to generate leads that you can nurture into prospects through your marketing efforts, whereas ungated content is meant to increase traffic and improve trust with your audience.
Both types of content are valuable and should be included in your content marketing strategy.
After reading this list, you might be wondering, “How do I know if I should gate my content?”
Well, it all depends on your goals — brand visibility or lead generation.
Additionally, consider the type of content. Longer form content like an ebook is suited to gated content, while shorter form content such as blog posts are better off as ungated content.
Once you’ve decided to create a piece of gated content, you’re probably curious about how to get started. Let’s review some best practices below.
1. Create content for each stage in the buyer’s journey.
When a prospect goes through the buyer’s journey, they’ll go through three stages: awareness, consideration, and decision.
Here’s a quick rundown of each stage:
During each stage, it’s important for your audience to have content that meets them where …read more
Source:: HubSpot Blog