Stop Just Giving It Away.

Last week, we ran an article on how important content is to anyone looking to get up the search results ladder and grow their business (https://www.jackstonemarketing.com/tips/2016/7/10/king-content).

We looked at ways in which you can massively reduce the time it would otherwise take to get a regular stream of content going - and maintained.

That's all great and everything, but you can do so much more with your content than wait for it to impact on your rankings.

Withhold it. Well, sort of. In part.

Free content is good, encourages sharing and all that - plus in today's increasingly freemium world it's expected - but that doesn't mean you have to give it away for nothing.

Data. All important to business owners. And easily captured if you're giving away content.

A lot of people still very much value their personal information and you shouldn't assume they will provide it for just anything, but there are a few caveats:

? Millennials (forgive the term) are much more willing to hand over their data, as the act is not quite as alien to them as for older generations.

? A strong and transparent data privacy policy will encourage a preliminary element of trust.

? If you can show upfront that your content has real value and won't simply provide a barrage of sales messages, you'll open the door much more easily.

? Try not to ask for too much information - the more you ask for, the less people will take you up on the offer (you can always go back for more information to plug gaps once you have at least something from them).

Ok, so what's the best way to get information in return for your content?

Try any/all of the following tactics:

? Use a simple data capture form and automatically provide access to the content for anyone submitting details, via a download link on a landing page and/or within a confirmation email. This may mean you have undesirables (think competitors) accessing your content though.

? Use that same data capture form, but deal with submissions manually, sifting through them and only sending content to those you deem a suitable fit according to your target market. This is great for maintaining control, but is considerably more work than an automated approach.

? Ask users to email in a request for the content. This is very manual and shouldn't be used if you can't guarantee quick response (efficiency can be improved using pre-populated subject lines, etc.), but will evoke a level of personal service. Be aware that it relies on the user choosing to write an email rather than fill in a generic form, which can be off-putting and it can come across as a little more unprofessional than a form, depending on how it's done.

? You don't have to give full access. If you have valuable, lengthy content, e.g. reports, and you want to make sure that the right people get free access, but you need to entice them in first, you can give the content away in part - either by releasing the first X number of pages only or by restricting viewing of certain parts of the copy.

Remember this, though - if your content is valuable, don't feel as though you have to bow to the masses and dish it out for free to anyone. If you want to ask five demographic questions because they're crucial to prospecting, but your business adviser says that's off-putting, then use your five questions anyway. Users who value what you're doing will give you their information and those that won't may well have been freeloaders anyway, so trust in what you're offering.

Got content, but need some help making the most out of it for your business? Get in touch, we'll get right back to you: [email protected]

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