{"id":2605,"date":"2023-02-08T23:04:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T04:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/?p=2605"},"modified":"2024-05-20T12:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T16:23:54","slug":"the-merits-of-gated-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beomniscient.com\/blog\/the-merits-of-gated-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Field Notes #030: Open or Closed: The Merits of Gated Content"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I love talking about gated content. For content folks, it\u2019s either a PITA or your silver bullet\u2014or both, tbh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(In fact, if this blog stirs up some hot takes or contrarian opinions, please reach out<\/a> and let me know! I want to learn from you.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I digress. Lately, I\u2019ve been reading and hearing about how gated content is going away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few of our clients are un-gating their content in an effort to establish trust with readers upfront, thus increasing chances of converting. (You can imagine how interesting<\/em> this makes our job, especially when the only remaining CTA is \u2018Talk to Sales\u2019…)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I can understand the sentiment, but the marketer within disagrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content marketing is all about delivering value to your customers. I know that; you know that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s also to leverage that content to gauge audience interest, understand how to better deliver value, and nurture interested folks closer to purchase. It\u2019s also to drive revenue\u2014a performance channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can’t do this without tracking and analyzing the actions that visitors take among your content. To do this, you need \u2018gates.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now, some marketers argue that a blog or newsletter subscription is a viable alternative to gated content. Perhaps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not as strong of a buying signal as a content download, meaning more readers may be willing to part with their emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what do you do with those emails? More leads don\u2019t necessarily matter if you don\u2019t know how to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

At Shopify, I worked alongside a brilliant demand gen marketer. She was responsible for creating our gated assets (we called them content upgrades) and building our post-download nurture flows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hannah wisely leveraged our content upgrades to learn more about what our readers wanted to learn from us. She created at least one gated asset for each blog category, and the blog categories were aligned with product features or audience features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This allowed us to be more predictive of our MQLs\u2019 pain points and interests, which she then acknowledged and nurtured in the follow-up emails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the folks who downloaded our content upgrade about inventory management<\/a> received a three-part email series that followed the theme of the download:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The first email was a funny \u201cthank you\u201d that acknowledged common struggles with inventory management. There were no asks, just an \u201cI see you, and I hope our guide helps\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The second provided additional resources about inventory management<\/a>\u2014top-performing blog posts, forum pages, and even external content that we thought might be of service<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. It wasn\u2019t until the final email that Hannah even mentioned the Shopify product, about which she only mentioned the inventory management-related features and offered to answer any questions. No cold handoff to Sales; no \u201ccan you hop on a quick call?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    As you can see, the key to a successful gated asset strategy is 1) great content that appeals to your audience\u2014no, not a repackaged blog post\u2014and 2) a well-designed, trustworthy follow-up series that nurtures your leads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    When discussing what types of content would perform best for clients (B2B, mind you) and what\u2019s worth the investment, I ask a series of questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What<\/strong> \u2018actionable\u2019 downloads can we create?<\/strong> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Can we provide any assets that immediately help readers do their jobs better? I\u2019m talking about top-of-funnel templates, checklists, or free tools or quizzes<\/a>. In my experience, readers are more likely to download something immediately useful, and they\u2019ll start to build trust in your brand if the asset is uniquely valuable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The risk here is that these leads may not be as qualified as they may be looking for a \u2018quick fix\u2019 asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n