July 07, 2015

Whitepaper, Case Study or eBook-Which Gated Asset Should You Get Started With?

For many marketers, the concept of content marketing tends to primarily constitute just blogging. While there’s certainly no harm in honing in on blog creation—80 percent of B2B marketers blog, according to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2015 Benchmarks Report—it’s important to remember that content marketing is its most successful when it accounts for an integrated marketing strategy. This means that it’s imperative to strategically create a number of complementary content assets that educate customers and promote a bigger-picture agenda.

Among this myriad of assets are longer-form gated pieces such as case studies, whitepapers and eBooks. Research shows that more marketers are leveraging these assets in order to accomplish a number of objectives. In fact, according to a new study from Starfleet Media, whitepapers, case studies and eBooks were listed within the top four content assets that companies have put to use within the last 12 months:

  • Case studies/client success stories (67 percent)
  • Whitepapers (62 percent)
  • eBooks (52 percent)

Such content pieces come with their own inherent benefits. For example, a five-to-seven-page whitepaper can allow a brand to do a deep dive into a particular concept and, in so doing, establish thought leadership and proof of concept. Similarly, companies can utilize case studies as third party validation of their offerings and services.

Furthermore, they types of assets are sustainable. For instance, your team can roll out a podcast series or create several eBooks that all build upon one another. What’s more, these assets have long shelf lives—that is, the content is usually evergreen and, as such, can remain downloadable on your website for years. All the while your company can continue to generate and nurture leads.

Overall, in creating these long-form gated assets, marketers set out to accomplish the following goals, according to the aforementioned Starfleet study:

  • Generate more leads (92 percent)
  • Increase brand visibility (90 percent)
  • Generate better leads (87 percent)

Clearly, the benefits of integrating these long-form gated assets into your content marketing strategy are plenty. If you’re interested in learning more about how to generate leads with these marketing pieces join the Content Boost team Wednesday, July 15, for a special Content Marketing Crash Course presentation. The event, which is free of charge, starts at 9 a.m. in Room 1E06 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Click here to see the full event schedule as well as to register—we hope to see you there!







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