Friday Deep Dives (Product-Led Content Creation Mistakes You’re Making. And How to Fix Them)

Welcome to the 5th issue of Friday Deep Dives, a monthly newsletter by Dozie Anyaegbunam, where an industry expert or I go all in one question on content marketing from you all. I'm glad you're here. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, you need your own: Subscribe here.

Hey folks,

The year is almost over.

Well, on today’s deep dive, I have Masooma Memon, one of the best content writers and strategists I have worked with, go all in on creating great product-led content.

Product-led content creation mistakes you’re making

Hey everyone, Masooma here.

Ever taken the time to evaluate how your product-led content reads to your audience?

Do they shake their head and think, ‘Wow, this product can do this too?’ Or, do they think, ‘Ugh! Can you just stop talking about your product all the time!?’

The thing is: we look at product-led content as content that weaves our tool into a blog post’s narrative.

What we forget, though, is that it has to be a natural and helpful product slip-in. Because if you keep talking about wayy too many features in one content piece, you’ll come across as nothing but salesy.

So what helps?

For starters, knowing where your reader is in their journey helps. If they aren’t aware of your brand, you’re better off creating purely educational content to get their attention.

If they’re familiar with your product, you can easily mention it.

There are a few mistakes that you’re probably making here, though. These include:

• Mentioning your product — not specific features

• Telling, not showing how the feature helps solve the problem being discussed

• Posing your product as the ONLY solution that can solve readers’ problem

Curious? Let’s look at these mistakes in detail:

❌ Mentioning your product — not specific features

✅ Talk about 1-3 related features.

When planning your content calendar, look for how relevant it is to your tool.

Then select the features that’ll help and include them in the brief you send out to your writers (or if you write yourself, highlight features you want to mention in the outline).

Doing so makes sure your content is focused. It also helps you create a better, more conversational narrative that naturally mentions the product feature in a helpful way.

❌ Telling, not showing how the feature helps

✅ Walk people through how to use the feature in question.

A great way to convince people that your product is the solution they need is to stop talking about it. Instead, show how it works.

Write down the steps they need to take.

Even better if you use the feature yourself and can tell people how it weaves into your strategy. Ahrefs does that best.

❌ Posing your product as the ONLY solution

✅ Help the reader — tell them all the possible ways they can solve their problem including how your tool can help.

Full disclosure: you can tell the story of how your product helps. Example: How to use [OUR PRODUCT NAME] to solve problem [X].

In real life, that could be something like How to use Notion to create a content calendar, for example.

But this angle of creating product-led content is best suited for middle funnel (MOFU) content — not very early-stage, brand-building, top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) pieces.

For TOFU pieces, it’s best to offer all the best solutions the reader can try. Depending on the piece’s nature, you can also create a narrative that tells why your solution is the best — but without being salesy.

This works because readers always appreciate genuine help.

But, wait, that means my reader won’t choose my tool, isn’t it?

Maybe they won’t (though I believe that when you’re not selling your software, you’re actually selling it because your reader appreciates the helpful approach). And they might even go to a competitor if they’re a better fit. But know what?

They’ll always:

• Refer others to your

• Return to you should other solution(s) not suit them down the line

And come to think of it: you want best-fit users too — not just every other person, isn’t it?

About me: Freelance writer for SaaS and a rookie bullet journalist. My newsletter, The Content Workshop, breaks down what ridiculously good content is made of every Tuesday in 2 minutes.

And that’s it, folks.

If you found it helpful, let me know in the comments or by replying to the email. If you have a question you would like me to explain in-depth, send it in. And even if I don’t have the answer, I’ll find someone who can answer it properly.

Thanks for reading this far. I am grateful!

Be good out there. If you can't be good, be careful.

Dozie

P.S: If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it on LinkedIn or with a friend! I would be grateful.