One of the most effective methods of collecting customer data in marketing, is to have your content behind a barrier of entry.

But how do limit your content in a professional manner, to ensure your customers are happy to give you consent to get in touch with them in the future….

And provide you with the details before downloading your content?

Let’s start with most important…

 

Why would I apply a ‘barrier’ to my content?

Let’s ask the first question that would come to mind.

Why would you want to create a barrier for your content?

Marketing campaigns work like this:

You define your customer.

They have a problem.

You provide a solution to their problem.

They become aware of their problem.

Their awareness of their problem continues to increase, increasing their motivation to find a solution.

You provide a solution to their problem.

You may be one of many solutions.

You need them to be so aware and annoyed by this problem…

And so intrigued by your solution…

That they give you money to solve it.

Marketing is a step-by-step process.

Your branding efforts increase your awareness.

Your direct marketing efforts increase your proximity to customers…

Step by step.

And when would you ask for customer’s details in order for them to ‘download’ this content?

Almost never.

 

What is the purpose of content?

Content serves many purposes:

• Increases your authority and brand awareness.
• Showcases your expertise in your industry.
• Engages your audience with the information they need to be persuaded to make a purchase.
• Inspires trust in your company.
• Leads customers through your sales process.

90% of your content should be free to view, for everyone.

This gives prospective customers the ability to browse material that will create a connection with your brand.

Content that should be free include:

• Case Studies of Work
• F.A.Q
• Company News
• How-To Guides
• Marketing Brochures/Material

You must be asking, if all that content is given for free then…

 

When do you use this ‘barrier’?

The 10% of content that you should be asking for information for, is the premium content.

Premium content should be exactly that…

Premium.

When you ask customers for any form of interaction?

This holds even more true if you are

Ensure that when you are ask your customers for any form of interaction (especially to provide you with information or sign up to future email marketing campaigns), you reciprocate.

Reciprocate meaning that, you give them something in return.

This could be:

• E-Books (with in-depth analysis of your industry).
• Brochures & Sales Material (very specific services rather than general brochures)

The barrier of entry you create depends on your marketing objectives.

It also depends on your  customers needs during the sales process.

For business to business customers?

You may have several steps to initiating your sale.

Even for many business to consumer product or services…

People have to make large decisions that require much thought.

The more you can engage them through that sales process?

The easier it is for them to justify it logically.

When you are asking for customer information, always consider customer expectation.

When customers are giving you their personal information…

They expect premium content.

Then we have the last step…

Now you know how this ‘barrier’ fits into your content and wider marketing strategy.

 

 

How do you create a ‘barrier of entry’ for content?

You’re publishing content to engage your audience.

Within that content, you have a call-to-action.

A simple call to action might be “Call us today.”

Though this is where a ‘barrier’ to your content may be better applied.

Instead of a simple “Call us today for a consultation,” you can ask your customers to take a baby-step.

Ask them to provide you with their email address and phone number, with consent for a call…

And in exchange provided them with the access to your brochure, or E-Book.

This helps you in many ways…

Not only are you collecting the data from your customers…

You are qualifying them to take a call from you, in exchange for more information about your service.

Then when you call them, they already have a good basis of understanding about your service… and may have a few final questions ready to be answered before the sale takes place.

Imagine that over a cold-call…

How would you do this?

Three easy steps to add a ‘barrier of entry’ to your material…

 

Step one:

Install Contact Form 7 on your WordPress website.

This is a simple contact form that allows you to collect customer information.

Create a new form called ‘Brochure Download’ (or whatever you want, actually).

Within the form, add the fields for the information you want to collect.

Remember to add a ‘tickbox’ for the ‘opt-in to allow us to collect your details and consent to privacy policy.’

 

Step two:

Install Contact 7 Redirect on your WordPress website.

Contact 7 Redirect is an easy way to send customers to your brochure upon them filling in your form.

Once your form is filled in, simply create a new page and have this as your destination.

 

Step three:

Upload your material as a PDF in your media.

Display a “Thank you for your interest.”

You can either then display a button, or a ‘Download Now’ media.

Give them a direct to download your PDF, or a direct link to the PDF on your website.

It’s the same.

 

How do you measure your results?

This will allow you to connect results from your Google Analytics.

Tracking your page-visits on that particular page to measure your results.

It might seem as obvious as, “if people fill in the form, I’ll get a contact email from the form, so I will know.”

But what if you are advertising in many different areas?

What if you are directing traffic from Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and other sources?

How about if you have the same brochure displayed on fifteen different articles?

How would you know where people are coming from, when they do download the brochure?

That is the key question.

Measuring your results through Google Analytics will tell you all that, and more.

It will give you access to:

• Where your traffic to your website is coming from (what platform)
• Where specifically your customers are clicking through to ‘download’ your material
• Where your customers are leaving your website (allowing you to make changes)

Analytics are only recommended for those who are actively advertising their website and utilising the data.

Installing analytics and not advertising your website may yield underwhelming results.

 

What should you be aware of when it comes to collecting data?

We understand that GDPR is a highly discussed topic, which we visit in this article (read more).

But there are several things you need to be aware of when collecting your customer’s data:

• This must be stored on secure servers
• Get permission to contact on contact forms
• Give your visitors the option to opt-out and have data removed from your server
• Safely remove of data once it has been used
• Have a standard privacy policy

Read more on GDPR and data collecting for small businesses in our GDPR article.

 

 

In conclusion… you should be using ‘barriers’ to create engagement and follow-up with sales-qualified leads

Don’t put too much content behind a ‘wall.’

Have a lot of content freely available to guide customers through the sales process..

Use this to method to give customers sales brochures and specific marketing material that increases their engagement in their brand…

Collect viable data (email, phone number) and have a ‘tickbox’ that states your customer gives you permission to contact them.

Content is the one thing that separates you from your competition.

What you say to your customers?

It is everything.

Collecting this information from your customers and following up once your customers download your premium content?

That could be the difference between a sales and a missed opportunity.