Gated Content

Gated content is premium material that visitors can only access after submitting their contact information, typically through a form. This trades value (your content) for lead information (their email and data), enabling ongoing marketing communication.

Common Types of Gated Content

For financial services, common gated content includes

• Comprehensive planning guides
• Research reports and whitepapers
• Financial calculators and tools
• Webinar recordings
• Templates and checklists
• Case studies

Deciding What to Gate

Decide what to gate by considering

• Content depth and value (more substantial content warrants gating)
• Prospect stage (early-stage content should be open, late-stage can be gated)
• Competitive advantage (unique proprietary content works better gated)
• Volume needs (gate too much and traffic suffers)

Best Practices

Best practices include

• Clearly communicating value (why someone should share their email)
• Keeping forms short (name and email minimum, add fields only if essential)
• Being specific about what they'll receive
• Following up promptly with the promised content
• Respecting the exchange by providing genuine value Many financial advisors over-gate content, harming SEO and reducing reach. Consider a hybrid approach: ungated blog posts for SEO and reach, gated comprehensive guides for lead generation, and ungated first chapter with gated full guide. Balance lead generation against content marketing and SEO benefits of open access.

Examples

• A financial planner offering an ungated blog post on retirement planning basics, with a gated comprehensive '50-page Retirement Planning Guide' download
• An RIA gating their proprietary 'Pre-Retirement Wealth Stress Test' calculator to generate qualified leads
• A wealth manager testing gated vs ungated webinar recordings and finding ungated generates more awareness while gated generates more leads