Up until a few years ago, most marketers shied away from explicitly mentioning their product in the content. They wanted to focus on providing value to the readers, which meant that any mentions of the product in the content can end up sounding a little too sales-y. But what if you could get the best of both worlds? – You could put your product front and center and still provide value to your readers. That’s product-led content marketing for you!
If you want to stay competitive in today’s environment, you can’t keep relying on age-old marketing techniques. It’s time to embrace the product-led revolution. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about product-led content, from the benefits to the step-by-step process of building product-led content.
Let’s begin.
What is product-led content marketing?
Product-led content marketing is a content marketing technique in which you position your offering front and center, by guiding your readers through the benefits of using your product. You would first address a problem that is commonly faced by your target audience, and then present your product as the solution to the said problem. The key is to weave a story around your product so that it naturally fits into the content. The focus is always on providing the audience with content they can relate to, and then discreetly adding your product into the mix.
Benefits of Product-Led Content Marketing
If you’re thinking of using the product-led content marketing technique, it can come with a lot of benefits –
- Educating your audience on your product: If the features and functionality of your product are a little complicated to explain, contextualizing with the help of product-led content marketing can help. With this content marketing technique, you can show your product in action, which helps the reader better understand how it can help them.
- Helps increase brand awareness: While every content marketing technique can aid in building brand awareness, product-led content marketing can help you create “mindshare”. Here, you’re not only pitching your product but showing how it can make a difference in the lives of your target audience. By creating a positive mindshare, you’re essentially changing the way the audience feels about your brand.
- Addressing customer pain points: Solving industry problems through content has been a go-to marketing strategy for a long time. It’s a great way to showcase your knowledge and expertise, and provide a solution to audience issues and pain points that need to be addressed. It’s a win-win for both you and your customers.
- Decreasing churn rate: When you employ product-led content marketing strategies, customers come to your products already knowing what to expect. This can help prevent onboarding frustrations and reduce customer churn, which is often caused by customers not getting the outcomes they want. This can also help save the time and resources of your customer support department.
- Converting customers becomes easier: Product-led content aims at attracting quality traffic, which means quality leads for your sales team. Since the piece of content has already addressed customer concerns, the sales team would have an easier time converting prospects into paying customers.
How to create product-led content?
Here’s a basic step-by-step process of creating product-led content –
Step 1: Identify audience issues and pain points
The first thing you have to do is find out the common problems and pain points of your customers. The key is to focus on keywords that specifically address your audience’s needs and pain points. Only when you know your audience’s problems will you be able to address them in your content and show your product as a solution.
Step 2: Define your product
Before you can pitch your product as a solution, you have to explore the different ways it can address customer concerns. Your job here is to define the product in terms of how its different features can help a prospect overcome a problem.
Step 3: Develop a content core
Creating unconnected pieces of content is not the best approach. You need a holistic content marketing plan that’s in line with your product-led strategy. Finding the focus of your content is essential to put together a strategy that works. This focus should be rooted in issues that matter to your target audience.
Step 4: Create the product-led content piece
After you’ve completed all of the above-mentioned steps, you can start the content creation process. It’s a good idea to create a content outline and decide beforehand how you would incorporate your product into the content.
Step 5: End it with a strong CTA
When creating product-related content, you should always include a call to action. Guide your customer to take a specific action, such as learning more about a product or making a purchase.
Wrapping Up
Product-led content marketing isn’t just a passing trend; it has emerged as a powerful and effective strategy that is helping businesses achieve greater ROI. By prioritizing the product and pitching it as a solution to customer problems, businesses can create meaningful connections with their target audience. And the audience is empowered to make informed decisions through informative and engaging content. It’s a win-win for both.
