How should I use gated content on my website?

This is a regular series where Oodle experts answer your marketing questions. To submit your own question, email [email protected].

Oodle partner Ryan Hughes: I’m going to make a number of folks cringe or squirm in their seats a little bit, especially if somebody at HubSpot manages to stumble across this. I loathe gated content. I suppose there are probably a few situations where I would go against how I feel about it just naturally, but by and large, I hate it. Especially in today’s day and age, when there are so many ways around it. 

Anytime somebody has something that’s gated, they’re not getting my real information. They’re getting burner information. Even if I’m actually interested in your product, you’re not getting my real information. And I might be pissed off enough that I’m not going to interact with you anymore or will potentially leverage one of your competitors. 

 Just be helpful. Share the information. And if your information is good enough, your consumers will remember that and will interact with you further. 

Oodle partner Mark Hughes: I think that’s most people in today’s era. Everybody has a burner Google account or a burner Hotmail account. Marketers need to adapt.

Ryan: Back in the day, nobody really thought about it as much. Privacy on the internet and what could happen with it really wasn’t a thought. But a lot of behaviors have shifted over time as technology has become part of everyday life. 

Mark: With the amount of content produced today, if you’re not helpful and you want to gate your content, that individual can probably find similar information without providing their info somewhere else. So you’ve just eliminated yourself, eliminated your brand, as a place of relevant information for that individual. The next time they go searching for content around your subject matter, guess who they’re going to? Probably not you. 

Today’s marketers need to be helpful. Be helpful, be relevant, provide as much information as possible. It doesn’t mean never gate content, it’s, be extremely selective.

‘Oodle Answers’ is a regular series where Oodle experts answer your marketing questions. To submit your own question, email [email protected].