Gating, or requiring a prospect to fill out a form before receiving valuable content, is touted as a way for the company to control the journey. Once the company knows who the prospect is, they can interact with the prospect more meaningfully. The company can’t do that if the content is downloaded by unknown prospects.
There’s only one problem with gating:
Gating introduces friction.
And even if you avoid long fill-in forms for your gating activity, it’s still a hurdle that your prospects have to cross. And they may not want to do it.
Let me give you an example: Assume you want to know all about Bredemarket.
So I provide a 20 page brochure entitled “All About Bredemarket.” But before you can download that brochure, you have to provide your name, email address, and anticipated purchase date.
Meanwhile, my fierce competitor offers a 20 page brochure entitled “The Truth About Bredemarket.” But my competitor is unfortunately intelligennt and offers the brochure to anyone who wants it, without requiring a scrap of information.
If you’re a prospect and don’t know what you want to do, which of these two brochures will you acquire first?
The one that’s easiest to get, which is my fierce competitor’s brochure.
In this case, this means that my competitor will shape the message about Bredemarket, not me. And I don’t think my competitor will praise me as the best product marketing consultant.
Admittedly a lot of content, especially for a non-working day. (One was scheduled.) But if your technology firm lacks marketing content, I know a guy – https://bredemarket.com/mark/
As we think about the single piece of written content that received approval 249 years ago today, I want to revisit my earlier statement about how long it takes content to convert. 4 months? 17 months?
“It takes longer than three days for content marketing to yield results. One source estimates four to five months. Another source says six to twelve months. Joe Pulizzi (quoted by Neil Patel) estimates 15 to 17 months. And all the sources say that their estimates may not apply to your particular case.”
The estimates certainly didn’t apply to the United States of America.
Put your John Hancock here.
The content approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776—namely, the Declaration of Independence—had a strong call to action.
“That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.”
So how long did it take for this statement to become reality?
And I didn’t even try to figure out how many “Chief Revenue Officers” we had during that time. CROs are often fired when they don’t bring in enough money, and during the 1770s and 1780s the U.S. Government was spectacularly bad at bringing in money.
But that topic is better suited for Constitution Day, which we celebrate on September 17.
It was Saturday, June 28, and I was looking over Bredemarket’s scheduled posts. And I saw that I had posts scheduled through Tuesday, July 1 and needed a post for Wednesday the 2nd.
That’s easy, I thought.
Since Bredemarket offers its marketing and writing services to identity/biometric and technology firms in the United States, July 2 is the perfect day for an Independence Day post.
“Officially, the Continental Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776, when it voted to approve a resolution submitted by delegate Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, declaring ‘That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.’”
“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.
“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
Well, Adams ALMOST got it right.
Then what?
So what happened on July 4, if we actually declared independence on July 2?
You see, it’s one thing to declare independence from the United Kingdom. It’s another to let the United Kingdom know about it.
As John Adams knew all too well, a committee of five was working on a declaration to address the latter. But the committee’s work still required approval. And some in the Continental Congress were troubled by one part of Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration:
“He [King George III] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.”
Delegates from Southern and Northern colonies alike objected to the clause: Southerners like Jefferson himself who profited from slaves, and Northerners who profited from transporting them from Africa to here.
Anyway, the troublesome clause was removed from the Declaration of Independence, settling the slavery issue for all time so that the country would never have to deal with it again…until 1787. And 1820. And 1850. And 1861.
After all the edits were completed to the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress followed up on its momentous July 2 act with a minor bookkeeping detail two days later, actually approving the declaration.
Except…that the printed versions of the document included the July 4 date, not the date of Richard Henry Lee’s resolution on July 2.
So no red, white, and blue soup for you today. Wait a couple of days.