Most professional services firms use content marketing to build brand awareness and educate buyers and influencers.
Firms distribute their content using a mix of platforms and formats. But a distribution strategy should involve more than just channels and media. A distribution strategy should also consider whether the content is openly available or gated.
What is gated content?
Gated content is placed behind a lead capture form.
To access a piece of gated content, visitors must first purchase a subscription or provide certain personal information (typically, at minimum, their name, job title, company, work email and telephone number).
Both approaches have their merits. Openly accessible content has more potential to be shared and can deliver significant SEO benefits, especially if the content is long-form and keyword-rich. If the content is gated, it won’t be found by search engines.
But with gated content, you get something (namely, data) in return.
You’ve probably experienced this in your daily life already–many digital publishers have come to realise gated content can provide an additional revenue stream.
For example, Harvard Business Review provides free access to a certain number of articles each month and then closes the gate until you sign in or subscribe.
So, how do you decide whether to gate a piece of content? It depends upon your objectives and the content itself.
What are you trying to achieve?
Your firm’s content marketing goals will (or should be) articulated in your content marketing plan but each piece of content will have a particular purpose.
Are your trying to build brand awareness? Generate leads? Sell something?
If your objective is to build brand, it might make sense to maximise exposure.
But if your objective is to generate and nurture leads, requiring visitors to fill out a form before they can download or are emailed the content could be the right way to go. Gating allows you to gauge interest and intent.
What is your priority?
How valuable is the content?
Every professional services firm routinely produces unremarkable content–content which is barely distinguishable from that of its competitors.
Virtually identical updates about the same court decision.
Virtually identical reminders about end of financial year housekeeping.
This routine content can and should be openly accessible. It’s not gate-worthy. Indeed, if your target audience can’t readily access your firm’s routine content, they’ll get the same material from one of your competitors.
But there are higher quality forms of content–the likes of research reports, white papers and e-books. Firms have every right and reason to restrict access to this type of thought leadership.
By gating a piece of content, you’re effectively asking visitors to pay for it by surrendering their personal information. Gating only works if the content is sufficiently valuable. You’re creating the perception that the content is premium.
This is where you have to be careful: if a piece of gated content doesn’t live up to expectations, your audience could be left feeling underwhelmed and even annoyed. To make a positive first impression, only gate your best quality, most valuable content.
There are ways to manage expectations, such as by giving your audience a preview of the content before closing the gate.
Using a social (ideally, LinkedIn) integration instead of a form can also reduce the friction associated with asking for personal information and improve the quality of the data you’re capturing.
Conclusion
Your firm’s thought leadership is valuable. Think twice before you give it away.
Build brand awareness and educate buyers and influencers with free routine and evergreen content.
Capture and nurture leads with gated thought leadership.
