Gated Content | The Journey

WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.199 --> 00:00:12.880 Conversations from the front lines of marketing. This is B two B Growth. 2 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.879 Welcome back to the journey here on B TWOB Growth, where we're documenting our 3 00:00:19.960 --> 00:00:25.960 journey of turning this show into every BDB marketers favorite show and hopefully showing you 4 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.839 how you can do the same. So, Dan, we're talking about gating 5 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:33.960 content. This is a hot topic. We've talked about it before, probably 6 00:00:33.960 --> 00:00:38.000 gonna talk about again. You have a pretty contrarian take. I feel like 7 00:00:38.039 --> 00:00:43.719 it kind of seems like the sentiment of modern marketers is stop gating your content. 8 00:00:44.280 --> 00:00:48.520 And you disagree with that hot take. So you know this series we're 9 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:52.719 talking about, you know how we're building a media property in BtoB growth, 10 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:57.240 and so gating content is part of our journey we're having to wrestle with, 11 00:00:57.320 --> 00:01:00.280 Okay, do we gate content? Do we not get content? Talk to 12 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:03.000 us about the decisions you've made around what we're gonna get, what we're not 13 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.840 going to gate for bb growth and and uh, I think this is gonna 14 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:11.280 be a helpful, helpful conversation. Coming from the BBC world where I was 15 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.840 using gated content effectively, I came into the B two B world They're like, 16 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:15.760 oh, this is the game. These are what this is. Where 17 00:01:15.799 --> 00:01:19.400 I found out about gated content was from B two B Let's go. And 18 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:22.319 then all of a sudden, everybody was like, no, gated contents the 19 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:26.599 devil, you can't be doing that. And I was like, what why 20 00:01:27.079 --> 00:01:30.000 did it? Hub Spot like invent this game? Like what's going on? 21 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:34.239 I've always you can, I've I've looked up to you guys forever. Where 22 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:37.480 did the turn happen? The farther I've gotten into it, the more I've 23 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:42.000 realized why B two B marketers hey gated content because the people who are gating 24 00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:46.200 the content one are usually spending a lot of money to get people to, 25 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.799 you know, give them the email so they can give them what ends up 26 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.640 becoming a really crappy report, and then they follow up not with good content. 27 00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:59.599 It's at best commodity content and at worst just straight up sales like they 28 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:01.040 just sent straight to the sales team. And then you get don't even get 29 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:04.439 called by an account exact. You get called by a b DR who's just 30 00:02:04.439 --> 00:02:07.000 trying to qualify you and then get you to try to meet with an account 31 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.360 exact later for something you don't even know even what they sell here alas like, 32 00:02:10.360 --> 00:02:14.000 wait, oh yeah, it's a horrible experience, and then you just 33 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.400 get pounded in your email with sales message after sales message. Yeah, that's 34 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:22.319 a hobby experience. So I can see why people hate gated content, but 35 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:27.360 I'm here to take a stand why gated content can actually be good. And 36 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:30.639 I have a little bit of a story. Like my first experience, at 37 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:34.240 least my first memory with gated content was back when I was trying to become 38 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:38.120 a graphic designer, like early in my career, and I ran into this 39 00:02:38.199 --> 00:02:40.680 blog called just Creative Design. He was writing a lot of blogs that ranked 40 00:02:40.680 --> 00:02:44.080 on Google. It's how I found him, and I had read a few 41 00:02:44.080 --> 00:02:46.560 blog posts because I kept finding his blog on Google, and I really liked 42 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.520 his stuff. His name was Jacob Case. He's kind of retired because his 43 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.360 blog came so successful. I think he's kind of like, you know, 44 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:55.840 put that thing on autopilot now. But in the day, he was working 45 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.639 really hard, and he was only he wasn't so far ahead of me. 46 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.439 That is, his content wasn't like too too hard for me to put. 47 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:05.800 He was only a few steps ahead of me, like a few years ahead 48 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:07.800 of me. So it was really helpful when I was reading his articles and 49 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:14.879 he had a gated piece. It was this nice little designed PDF on typography 50 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.560 and how to use them, and the only way you could get it was 51 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:21.879 if you subscribe to his RSS feed. This was pre like before email took 52 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.240 over a blogging and the only way you could subscribe to a blog was putting 53 00:03:24.280 --> 00:03:29.520 your or clicking the RSS icon. And then in Google Reader he had an 54 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:31.800 unlock code to come to a page that was password protecting, of course, 55 00:03:31.879 --> 00:03:35.520 like you subscribe, and then you'd get the little code at the bottom of 56 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:38.879 the RSS reader that you can only get a few were subscribed, and it's 57 00:03:38.919 --> 00:03:44.479 like password loyal. Kind of corny, but at the same time it actually 58 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.120 worked. I not only liked the gated PC set me and I kept it 59 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:50.680 for a long time. I reviewed it multiple time because it's really handy in 60 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.360 my career at that point, but also I had already been reading a bunch 61 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:55.879 of his blog, and now he introduced me to even how to read it 62 00:03:57.039 --> 00:03:59.560 consistently. So every time you updated the blog, it ended up in my 63 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.560 reader and I would read it like a digital newspaper. I missed those days. 64 00:04:01.639 --> 00:04:05.919 The email days aren't nearly as good. Google killed the RSS reader, 65 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.360 and that's a different story for a different time. Rest in peace, RSS. 66 00:04:12.599 --> 00:04:15.400 But I ended up becoming a loyal reader of his because I was reading 67 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:17.399 now not just every reading a post every once in a while as needed, 68 00:04:17.399 --> 00:04:21.480 but now regularly. I was consuming the content, and I became a huge 69 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:25.360 fan of his for a while, until it is eventually my career, my 70 00:04:25.399 --> 00:04:28.319 objectives changed and I didn't need that anymore, and I started reading other stuff. 71 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:30.920 I started reading stuff going in and you know it's changed. But that 72 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:36.800 gated content was a step in the relationship, just like you have a step 73 00:04:36.839 --> 00:04:42.120 in the natural relationship with when you're getting on the dating scene. Eventually you 74 00:04:42.120 --> 00:04:44.959 need to get their number, right, or at least their names, so 75 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:46.319 you can go look them up on Facebook and connect with them and stock them 76 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.639 for a while, right. So there's just a natural step in the relationship 77 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:53.920 where you need to have an exchange of information so that you can start going 78 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.120 out more regularly. It's the same thing with marketing. I mean that analogy 79 00:04:59.160 --> 00:05:01.560 breaks down eventually, but it's kind of that same thing. You need to 80 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.639 have another formal step in the relationship, not just coming casually checking things out 81 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.920 as needed. It's subscribing to your LinkedIn profile, to the YouTube channel. 82 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:15.360 But I like to get it just even farther down by subscribing via email or 83 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:18.439 podcast. But you want them to take that next step, and incentivizing it 84 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:21.600 with a gated piece of content is one of the best ways to do it. 85 00:05:23.399 --> 00:05:27.600 And your point is it has to go beyond that initial gated piece. 86 00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:32.839 You have to actually follow up with more really high quality, non commodity content. 87 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:38.319 The thing that I think, the reason I think gated content has gotten 88 00:05:38.839 --> 00:05:43.480 such a bad rap is and I'm not That's why I like all the conversation 89 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:46.079 about, you know, stop getting all your content, stop getting all your 90 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:51.079 content, because what it's done is it's released much higher quality content into the 91 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:58.120 ecosystem because uh there there was just this kind of ethos and thinking that, 92 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:00.759 like you had to give up your email for everything. I even notice it 93 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.000 now with like big media companies, I don't know if it's Forbes or you 94 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:08.480 know, one of the biggest business insider, Like even when you they rank 95 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:14.040 for like a keyword, you can only search like your you can you search 96 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:15.600 for it, you see the article you type of I think New York Times 97 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:20.759 did this too. You can only view like a certain number of articles before 98 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:25.680 you like have to subscribe and pay twelve ninety nine a month to see their 99 00:06:25.720 --> 00:06:30.120 stuff. And I get it, it's a business model, Like there's harder 100 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.079 and harder to get eyeballs and attention, so they're having to monetize in different 101 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:36.399 ways. So not hitting on them for it, but the pendulum swung so 102 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:41.399 hard to where like if you wanted to get anything quality, like there there 103 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.439 was nothing quality. As we strolled our feeds, it was all like, 104 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:47.399 oh, goun sign up to my webinar or sign up to this or sign 105 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:51.600 up and it's that's not a good experience. That that's not what you want 106 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:56.160 to experience where you're scrolling your feet looking for helpful insight. And so I 107 00:06:56.279 --> 00:07:01.720 just love that this movement of like the anti eight has opened opened us up 108 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:03.800 to saying, no, we have to just we have to put out our 109 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:08.079 best insights, our best thoughts, our best ideas. We have to put 110 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:12.240 them out freely into the market. And what you're essentially saying is, yes, 111 00:07:12.600 --> 00:07:15.519 you do, like you do need to freely put out your best ideas 112 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:21.079 into the market, But there's nothing wrong with also putting stuff out that you 113 00:07:21.160 --> 00:07:26.720 put behind the gate and nurture it with more really good content that makes somebody 114 00:07:26.800 --> 00:07:30.199 want to even pay more attention to you whenever you're putting out your your organic 115 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:34.879 stuff that doesn't cost an email to access. And so that's how I'm kind 116 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:38.639 of translating what you're saying, and it goes back to what we always say. 117 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.439 I mean, there's so many ways to win. Can you win by 118 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:46.879 not getting your content and taking a hard stance on that. Probably can you 119 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:50.279 win by gating content. A lot of brands have done that too, And 120 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:55.959 I think that this doesn't make for you know, a sexy micro video headline, 121 00:07:56.040 --> 00:08:00.879 because there's nuance in it. It's both and it's it's doing gated content 122 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:05.920 well and doing undated content well. And I think that's probably, I would 123 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:09.680 say, the most effective way to do it. And ultimately I actually think 124 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.000 you should for all your gated content, it should probably be also on gated. 125 00:08:15.360 --> 00:08:18.079 Take your best performing blog posts and then send it to a designer to 126 00:08:18.199 --> 00:08:22.480 like clean up, make it more succinct, and design it up into something 127 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:28.199 really awesome. It's already proven to work really well, and resonate take it 128 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.160 another like level up that thing, and then put that behind the gate. 129 00:08:31.240 --> 00:08:33.399 It's like all the contents they're undated. So it's still doing its working s 130 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.519 e O. It's still did its splash and social it's doing its thing. 131 00:08:37.559 --> 00:08:41.720 Get some more mileage out of it by making it a gated piece. It's 132 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:43.159 not like when you it's presented as like, oh, get this here, 133 00:08:43.480 --> 00:08:46.679 like they're gonna think, oh, this is on gated somewhere. I'm just 134 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:48.440 gonna go find it. Usually they don't know, just like because it's it's 135 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:50.879 more work to do it than to just give up the email. And of 136 00:08:50.919 --> 00:08:54.960 course some people are gonna give you fake emails. That's cool. I probably, 137 00:08:54.080 --> 00:08:58.039 I don't know. Some some people like make them confirm their emails. 138 00:08:58.039 --> 00:09:00.399 So there's a debate on that. I'm I'm okay with either way. I 139 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.679 mean to give it to them on the welcome page or the confirmed subscription page. 140 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.200 But I think you're right. It's all about your intent. And in 141 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:11.399 this case, we're talking about building bTB growth into a media company. The 142 00:09:11.480 --> 00:09:16.279 goal is not to sell them on sweet fish. We will do that at 143 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.240 a different point at some time they'll hear about us. I'm not worried about 144 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:22.759 that. The goal is to build affinity. The goal is to get them 145 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:26.960 to consuming content. So I'm going to gate some content in order to increase 146 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.639 the content consumption. Now it has to be good otherwise the unsubscribed turn becomes 147 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:33.799 way more important. Into a media company, like the way we're thinking about 148 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:37.600 it, I want people to recontinue reading the emails I send them, so 149 00:09:37.639 --> 00:09:39.600 they have to be good. Right, The newsletter has to be good. 150 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:43.919 The content that gate it has to be good. Otherwise we turn, and 151 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:46.720 if we're thinking like a media company, each turn is bad. Right, 152 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:50.799 we want to keep them reading as much as long as possible, and of 153 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:54.440 course some turns gonna happen, that's okay. The way we're gonna be approaching 154 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:58.080 this a BDB growth is eventually, like when we start establishing the multiple multiple 155 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:01.720 categories of content. This is across the podcast on the website as well as 156 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:05.480 across the blog, we will come up with, you know, a gated 157 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:11.159 piece or a lead magnet per category. And they're not for m q wells, 158 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.240 they're not for s q wells, they're not for things that will be 159 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:18.360 brought over into sweet fish will just be bTB growth specific and so every like, 160 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.600 let's take the cat topic of category creation. We'll have a bunch of 161 00:10:20.600 --> 00:10:22.960 content and category and we already do from B to B growth, but will 162 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.960 add blogs around it too that are ranking. And at the bottom of all 163 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:30.480 those blogs will be advertising the lead magnet. That will be probably some of 164 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:35.840 our best performing content on category creation that's been perfected and maybe even more assistinct 165 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:39.919 to designed and as eye Candy now into a lead magnet, a greater fraction 166 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:43.840 of people will now opt in and probably see more BDB growth because they'll want 167 00:10:43.879 --> 00:10:46.759 that piece. They'll give their email for it. We'll send them that and 168 00:10:46.759 --> 00:10:50.799 then we'll follow up with them probably a few times on topics related to category 169 00:10:50.799 --> 00:10:54.759 creation. So we the gated pieces the best piece of content, but this 170 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.519 the second and third piece we follow up with, is our second and third 171 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.279 best pieces of category creation. Right just because they landed on a specific thing 172 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:05.960 of like BDB category creation examples, maybe they land on that blogs from search, 173 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:09.320 but then they see this ultimate guide as the PDF, and then they 174 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:13.960 have a two like things that people don't consider when considering category creation. Following 175 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.320 up, it's going to be highly relevant because they're thinking about it right now. 176 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:20.960 We know because they came in through this blog post or this podcast episode. 177 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:24.840 It just makes your content more relevant, and of course you can string 178 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.639 them into the newsletter later after you deliver some of that automated nurture sequence, 179 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:31.960 which is what we're planning on doing. I've done it before for other organizations 180 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.480 and it works remarkably well. You'd be surprised how many what the open rates 181 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:39.759 on these automated emails are because it's relevant, because it's timely, because you 182 00:11:39.759 --> 00:11:45.159 don't want to automate them into Kingdom. Come Like remember Digital marketer dot com. 183 00:11:45.240 --> 00:11:48.039 Dude, if you got on their list, you just it was just 184 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:52.200 you had to unsubscribe eventually because you just went for the ride. And I've 185 00:11:52.240 --> 00:11:56.440 read Bryan Dyce's book The Email Marketing Machine. It's the most impressive email marketing 186 00:11:56.480 --> 00:12:00.519 machine I've seen it. It's just too much. So where's the line though? 187 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:03.159 Like, So, if if folks are coming to a blog post about 188 00:12:03.240 --> 00:12:07.879 category creation examples, they find our lead magnet on category creation, they get 189 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:11.919 two, three, four emails about our you know, second third, fourth 190 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.879 best piece of category creation content. Do we just automatically put them then on 191 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:20.480 the B two B growth newsletter? Do we ask them like, hey, 192 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.039 do you want to join it or if you don't, if you don't want 193 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:26.240 to be on the newsletter, feel free to unsubscribe now, Like, what's 194 00:12:26.279 --> 00:12:28.759 the best way to play that? This is what I would do, And 195 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:33.200 I think I could go either way on one particular choice, and I'll I 196 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:37.919 would send them two to three automated emails again that are our best content on 197 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:41.679 this, like, hey, if you like this, check this out, 198 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:45.919 also this, you know. So it's like two to three and that's they 199 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:48.559 get those within seven a seven day period, and that's just based on the 200 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:52.480 time they download the guide. Again, I'm optimizing for consumption. And then 201 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:56.559 I put them into a different campaign that's delivering the newsletter. It's like, 202 00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:58.440 hey, if you like these, you will love this. You'll get it 203 00:12:58.440 --> 00:13:01.919 in Sunday. If if you don't want it, just smash unsubscribed before you 204 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:05.120 even get it right here, and then I want to make it easy for 205 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:09.200 people to unsubscribe to the B two B growth newsletter. Probably put it at 206 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:11.639 the top. I saw him Smashing Magazine, which is a design website, 207 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:16.519 a big design newsletter, actually put their subscribe button at the top. They're 208 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:18.759 like, you don't like this newsletter, we don't want you to get it 209 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:22.559 unsubscribed right now, keeps the list clean. And guess what, your email 210 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:26.000 delivery is better the people you know getting that list is way remark is just 211 00:13:26.039 --> 00:13:28.840 remarkably better. And if you actually honor the unsubscribed, then you should be 212 00:13:28.840 --> 00:13:31.840 good to go because now you have a real audience, not a fake one 213 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.639 that you pedal to advertisers because you have a loost of fifty and only five 214 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:41.600 thousand open, right, you have a real audience. So that way, 215 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:45.000 Yes, you're putting people in there automatically. No, they didn't exactly opt 216 00:13:45.080 --> 00:13:46.799 in to get the newsletter. I mean I probably put that in the copy 217 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:48.960 you get the lead magnet when you opt in for the newsletter, so that 218 00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.600 they kind of know there in their minds they might have decided to unsubscribed. 219 00:13:52.639 --> 00:13:56.399 If they do, then that's great. Again, It's like asking a girl 220 00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:00.200 for her number and she's like, I don't think so, no harm, 221 00:14:00.200 --> 00:14:03.120 no foul, you just you just don't go on a second day, or 222 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:05.159 maybe you go on the second day and you don't go on the third day. 223 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:07.360 It's so cool. It's cool. Make it easy for them to unsubscribe, 224 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:09.879 But I'm still gonna put them in the newsletter. I love that, 225 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.799 all right, So we hope you enjoyed this little sneak peek behind how we're 226 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:18.559 thinking about dated versus a gated content. That is it for today's episode of 227 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.960 the Journey. Remember there are a lot of ways to win commodity content as 228 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.240 the enemy. I want you to focus on affinity over awareness. You can 229 00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.120 find all things me too, be Growth tot bb, Growth Show dot com, 230 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:33.480 and make sure we connect with Dan and myself over on Lin Dan, 231 00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:37.559 Dan Sanchez, James Carberry. We're out.