What marketers need [+ Examples]

Imagine a weighted balance scale: On one side, fire is visibility; The other, main generation. Your job as a content market manager is using GATED and UNGATED content to balance both goals.

With GATED content, users arrive at your site and watch a CTA or pop-up that gives them access to content in exchange for their information. This can be their E -Mail address in exchange for a content offer -and a way to generate prospects for your business.

Weekly content requires no exchange of information and it has more SEO value – giving you the visibility of the brand.

Here we will examine what gated content is and dive into best practice and examples.

Table of contents

It is important to note that gated content for incoming marketing is free and not hidden behind a paywall. Users have to submit their information – not their credit card number – to access the content.

Now you might be wondering, “Why should I hide my content from my audience?”

The goal of GATED content is typically to generate prospects. GATED content is not used for brand awareness or visibility campaigns because the nature of hidden content does not allow high traffic.

Below, let’s discuss the advantages and disadvantages of gated versus Ungated content.

GATED content is usually protected by a paywall that allows the publisher to require users to sign up or pay for access.

The advantages and disadvantages of gated content

GATED content generates leads, you can care for the prospects, while the non —gated content is intended to increase traffic and improve audience scope.

Both types of content are valuable to your content marketing strategy as long as you find the right balance for your business goals.

After reading this list, you might be wondering, “How do I know if I should port my content?”

It all depends on your priorities – the brand’s visibility or lead.

In addition, consider the type of content. Longer moldings such as an e-book are suitable for gated content, while the most shorter molding content as blog posts are better off for non-fucking.

Once you have decided to create gated content, you are probably curious about how to get started. Let’s go through some best practices below.

1. Create Content for each Step of the Buyer’s Travel.

When a view reviews the buyer’s journey, the three phases go through: awareness, consideration and decision.

Here is a quick overview of each step:

In each step, your audience needs content that meets them where they are.

For example, visitors to the stage of consciousness are probably interested in reading an E book. On the other hand, a visitor in the decision -making stage prefers a product demo or webinar.

Therefore, it is important to design content offers for each step in the buyer’s journey. If your closed content is in line with their scene on the journey, your audience is more likely to convert.

2. Complete a competitive analysis.

Once you have brainstormed some content ideas for each step of the buyer’s journey, it’s time to do a competitive analysis.

In a competitive analysis, examine the types of content that your competitors offer. Activities.

Be aware of what content is gated versus Ungated – this will give you an idea of ​​what types of content is valuable enough to place behind a gate.

3. Give incentive.

As an incoming marketing employee, you know that it is very important to give value.

Your content offer should not be a quick blog post. Instead, your closed content should provide action, valuable content.

Equally important your closed content should be relevant to your audience.

When your content gives real value, it gives your audience an incentive to fill out that form and give you their contact information.

4. Build a strong destination page.

When a user clicks on a CTA for a content offer, they are usually kept to a destination page. So one of the best practices for gated content is to build a strong destination page (we have 41 examples if you need any Inspo).

E.g. Contains HubSpot’s state of marketing report page page a strong headline, compelling copy and a sneak preview of some of the most important findings.

When you decide to download, the form is simple and fast.

Source

The technical steps for gating your content vary depending on your CMS. But the chance is that your destination page will include a form where visitors can enter their contact information in exchange for your content offer. It is important that your shape is straightforward, easy to use and user -friendly.

HubSpot offers a free online form Builder that allows you to create and customize forms with a drag-and-slip form manufacturer.

5. Segment your audience.

Once your audience has downloaded your closed content and you will receive their E -mail address, it’s time to segment your E -mail lists.

This will help you develop targeted and effective E -mail marketing campaigns.

In addition, segmentation of your audience means that you can send care -e emails to move these leads to prospects.

6. Measure the analyzes.

Once you have decided that the port a specific piece of content, you can track conversions and measure your analysis.

As with any marketing strategy, it is extremely important to measure your success. This data helps you understand your audience better and improve your content strategy.

Now that you know some best practices to create gated content, let’s look at types of content and examples of what this will look like in action.

Gated content examples

There are many ways you can build gated content landing pages – here are five of the most common types of content that companies are poring.

1. White papers, case studies and other reports

White papers, case studies and other reports are good examples of closed content because they can provide targeted value to your audience.

A White Paper is an authoritative, in -depth report on a specific topic; Case studies are looking at a particular use of use; And other reports may not fall into any of the category, but still use a text -heavy format of longer form. (Think: Hubspot’s state of marketing report.)

All three of these content types can place your brand as an industry expert. And when you are a trusted expert, people will know what you have to say – which means you get more downloads and conversions.

Usually, offers long -shaped content that are interesting and valuable to your audience, like this one from IMO Health about high quality medical data and research.

Pro Tip: Give your audience a taste of the content. The above example includes a few key experiences that prove its value and entice its audience to fill out the form.

Stratabeats 2025 B2B SEO Performance Report is a good example of a closed report. The landing page is clearly called what the product is, and the description “Lock Superior Seo Sea with insight from an analysis of 300 B2B SAAS Rooms” under high quality data and even includes the size of the study.

There is also a graphic of the report that suggests a beautifully designed, thought -provoking content offering. CTA, “Get the report and increase your SEO results,” promises that giving your information will be worth your time and you can see all six information fields you need to fill.

2. E books

An E book is another popular type of gated content. Unlike a whitebook, an e -book is usually a shorter guide on a specific topic.

E -books can also establish your fire authority and build trust with your audience. They are usually used in the stages of consciousness and consideration of the buyer’s journey.

IMO Health also has several closed E books that require your contact information before you can press the “Download” button.

This one entitled AI IN HEALTHCARE: 6 Solutions Driving Efficiency and InnovationIncludes a few ball points for what you learn and ensures that it finds the right audience.

Pro Tip: Tell your readers how long the e book is so they know what they are coming in. IMO Health above includes the reading time just below the title.

3rd templates

One of my favorite types of closed content is the template. Giving a template is a tactical, actionable piece of content.

The perceived value of a template is much higher than an e -book and a whitebook, which means your audience is more likely to enter their contact information to receive it.

Templates are a good gated content offer for people in the consideration and decision -making stage for the buyer’s journey.

Slavego, which releases free templates for PowerPoint and Google Slider, gates much of its premium content:

Pro Tip: You can still preview all the slides in the template so that users know exactly what they get when they hand over their E -mail address.

4. Webinars

With a webinar, you educate your audience to learn more about a topic. You develop trust, build relationships and hopefully inspire.

For prospects in the decision -making stage of the buyer’s journey, webinars provide an excellent gated content offer.

Again, webinars have a high perceived value, making your audience more likely to fill this form.

5. Quizzes

If you are a person wearing makeup and you have been on Instagram or Tiktok for the past few years, you have probably been targeted by Il Makiage, a cosmetics company with a particularly large number of foundation colors.

After luring you with pre-and-after-pictures of models (if perfect skin somehow looks straight more Perfect after Il Makiage Foundation) the makeup company promises that its “PowerMatch algorithm” finds a shade that perfectly matches your skin coloring required color patch in the store.

Once you have set aside several minutes of your time-what is very much in a world where 30-second videos are rules-beet-beds IL MAKIAGE about your contact information before revealing your foundation color.

Pro Tip: Puts it after The quiz means the user has already invested their time and is more likely to fork over their e -mail. (And I can tell you from personal experience that it is really Hard to walk away from the promise of perfect skin.)

Gated vs. Young Content

With gated content, it is important to give your audience interesting and relevant offers. In the end, GATED content needs to be targeted and help you generate leads. Remember that scale from the start: You want to find a balance between the brand’s visibility and the lead, then gate wisely – and with your audience’s needs in mind.

The editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2017 and has been updated for understanding.