Internet Marketing Digital_marketing_for_dummies | Page 59

Designing a Gated Offer
To graduate someone from the stage of prospect to lead, you need a gated offer that
requires prospects to submit their contact information to receive value. A gated offer
provides a small chunk of value that solves a specific problem for a specific market and is
offered in exchange for the prospects’ contact information. That contact information is
typically an email address, at a minimum. Returning to the dating relationship analogy
earlier in the chapter, a gated offer is the equivalent of a first date. A gated offer might take
the form of a white paper, a case study, or a webinar. For example, Figure 3-1 shows how
OpenMarket makes valuable information available in the form of a white paper that
requires contact information.
Source: http://www.openmarket.com/download/idc-mobile-security/
FIGURE 3-1: OpenMarket asks for contact information in exchange for this white paper.
A gated offer is an exchange in value. No money changes hands; instead, you
provide your new lead something of value in exchange for the right to contact the
lead in the future. Gated offers are free, and a common notion among digital
marketers is that because they’re giving the gated offer away for free, the product or
service offered doesn’t have to be of high quality. That’s a mistake. Free does not
mean low quality. When someone exchanges his contact information and gives you
permission to follow up with him, he has given you value, and a transaction has taken
place. This prospect has given you something that’s typically private, as well as some
of his time and attention. You need to return that value if you hope to build the
relationship that is required for lifelong customers. The end goal of a gated offer is to
gain leads so that you can nurture them into customers over time.
Revisit the definition of a gated offer (“a gated offer provides a small chunk of value that