Gated Content

Last Updated April 17, 2024 10:13 am

Gated content is a type of marketing content that is significant to the B2B industry, as it can generate potential leads. In this definition, learn what gated content is and its importance to inbound marketing in particular.

What Is Gated Content?

Gated content is high-value content, typically some kind of document or video guide, that readers can access only after they’ve provided their personal information. It’s usually used to generate leads because it compels users to share their names, contact details, email addresses, etc. in exchange for content they find valuable. Gated content may be informative, tutorial-based, and/or longer-form content.

What Are Some Examples of Gated Content?

Gated content helps companies to understand their audience and their interests in different topics. Here are some types of content that marketers can use as gated content:

White papers: A white paper is a company document that helps readers and prospective customers understand important features of a product, service, or methodology.
eBooks: An eBook is a digital publication that offers text and images that users can access on any electronic device. It may cover the same information as a white paper, but typically in a longer form.
Webinars: A webinar is a virtual event conducted by an organization to educate or discuss relevant products, trends, and other industry-specific subject matter.

Apart from these formats, templates, training videos, and checklists can also be turned into gated content.

How Does Gated Content Work?

Marketing teams, especially teams that emphasize content marketing, use gated content to understand their audience and to generate and nurture potential leads. They provide valuable content to the targeted audience in return for their personal information.

Marketing teams can gate different types of content depending on the target audience and goal. To gate content, marketers add a lead capture form, typically to a strategic page on their website or business application, such as a landing page. Users can then fill out the form with any requested personal information to access the content. In some cases, they may need to also provide payment information if the content is behind a paywall.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Gating Content?

Although gating content is a widely-accepted inbound marketing strategy, there are both pros and cons that come with gating content:

Pros of gating content

It can generate and nurture highly qualified leads.
It encourages teams to create valuable, customer-centric content.
It helps to identify the targeted audience and their buyer persona.
It opens an avenue of communication with the target audience.

Cons of gating content

It may decrease page traffic.
It reduces potential viewership.
It deters some potential leads that don’t want to share their information.
Most users avoid gated content as it requires extra time to gain access.

Best Practices for Getting Started with Gated Content

Here are some best practices for getting started with gated content:

Create a strong landing page: An appealing landing page helps to capture readers’ attention. It is the first thing readers will notice before filling out a form, so it’s important that the page is informative, direct, and user-friendly.
Keep the form simple: Create a brief form that won’t take users too much time to fill out. Otherwise, you will likely lose their interest.
Keep content concise and useful: Make sure that gated content is concise and informative enough to grab the attention of readers. This will keep them loyal to and interested in your brand.

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