Product-Led Content: What It Is, Why Use It, and How to Get Started

A fewer years ago, I worked astatine ReferralCandy, a referral programme SaaS company. 

The ReferralCandy blog was popular. We were publishing tons of contented and getting important traffic. But nary of our contented mentioned the merchandise oregon immoderate of the product’s features. 

Looking back, I deliberation it was possible—at slightest successful my opinion—to devour each nonfiction connected the blog and yet inactive person nary thought what ReferralCandy did. 

Don’t get maine wrong. This is not an indictment of my erstwhile workplace’s content selling strategy. In fact, if you see the timeframe, it wasn’t adjacent “wrong.” Back then, the prevailing sentiment was that contented wasn’t expected to “sell,” lone educate. 

Many companies were doing the aforesaid thing—creating content, generating tons of traffic, yet failing to beforehand their products oregon features.

But this each changed aft I watched Tim’s Blogging for Business course.

I discovered product-led content.

• What is product-led content?
• Why is product-led contented important?
• Is product-led contented close for you?
• How to make product-led content
• Product-led contented examples

Product-led contented is contented that helps the scholar lick their problems utilizing your product. 

This is not a hard sell. It’s not an assertive transportation either—we’re not pulling radical to the backmost of the country to bargain our products similar a idiosyncratic improvement seminar. Instead, it’s done people by strategically weaving your merchandise and its usage cases into the communicative of your content. 

Here’s an illustration of however this works. We precocious published a database of ways to get backlinks.

Under each tactic, we explicate however you tin find antithetic nexus opportunities and prospects you tin pitch. But to bash that, you request a instrumentality similar Ahrefs. So, arsenic we explicate each step, we besides amusement the scholar however to usage our instrumentality to execute them.

And this is however we people insert our merchandise into the problem-solving narrative. 

What is not product-led content?

Not each portion of contented you make astir your merchandise is product-led content. 

Some content, similar assistance articles, product-related announcements, and landing pages, has different purposes similar straight promoting your product. This is not product-led content. 

Below are 2 reasons wherefore product-led contented is important.

1. Acquire caller customers

A large contented for imaginable customers is that they usually person nary thought however your merchandise works oregon however it helps lick their problems. This is particularly existent for software.

This is compounded by the information that galore companies bash not notation their merchandise successful their content. So, adjacent arsenic prospects are consuming content, they inactive extremity up successful a authorities wherever they cognize thing astir what the institution sells. 

They whitethorn often adjacent person to ticker a demo video to fig retired however everything works. That’s each good and dandy, but fixed that demo videos are usually generic, they whitethorn not recognize if and however your merchandise works to lick their peculiar acceptable of problems. 

However, if you make product-led contented and it ranks precocious connected Google, customers really question retired solutions to problems themselves and mightiness commencement to spot however your merchandise solves their issues.

This makes it easier for them to determine if they privation to enactment with you. It besides keeps your marque top-of-mind since they cognize everything astir however your merchandise works. Later on, erstwhile they determine to buy, familiarity with your merchandise helps them person to a paying customer.

2. Retain customers

Even if customers person bought your product, they whitethorn not afloat utilize it. 

Product-led contented helps proceed their acquisition and ensures your customers usage your merchandise to its afloat potential—keeping your customers happy. 

Content selling is yet a marketing channel. Its extremity is to assistance you acquire much customers and clasp them. 

So, portion contented selling is astir creating large content, you should besides beryllium mindful that it should assistance beforehand your product. 

Think astir it: If your merchandise tin genuinely assistance idiosyncratic retired with their problems, you’re doing them a disservice by not letting them know.

Furthermore, by not daring to transportation oregon notation your merchandise successful your content, you’re besides signaling to your assemblage that your merchandise is not bully capable to lick their problem. 

Ready to get started with product-led content? Here’s however to make it. 

1. Know your merchandise really well

There’s nary mode astir it: To make fantabulous product-led content, you have to cognize your merchandise wrong out. And this isn’t conscionable for product marketers. All marketers should cognize their merchandise well. 

You should cognize your product’s features, usage cases, and however it solves your people audience’s problems. 

Put simply, you person to eat your ain canine food.

For example, galore years back, the Shopify selling squad famously created multiple lawsuit studies connected however they utilized their ain ecommerce level to acceptable up a concern and commencement selling products. (And they really made money!)

At Ahrefs, caller selling squad members are expected to implicit our academy courses (especially the Certification course.) Plus, they don’t actually articulation the selling squad directly. They enactment successful our lawsuit enactment squad for astatine slightest 3 months earlier “graduating” to the selling team. 

Not lone does this guarantee that everyone connected the squad interacts with customers straight and understands their symptom points, it besides turns each of america into Ahrefs experts. 

2. Find topics with hunt postulation potential

The contented you make volition not get readers close away. It has to beryllium promoted. And portion determination are galore ways to promote your content, SEO is the transmission we focus on. 

For arsenic agelong arsenic your contented ranks precocious connected Google, you’ll beryllium capable to get postulation continuously implicit the long term. 

How bash you do this?

To get postulation from Google, you person to people topics radical hunt for. You besides person to look for topics wherever your people assemblage wants solutions to problems, i.e., looking to learn, not buy. (After all, if they’re looking to buy, past you’re nary longer creating product-led contented but simply a income oregon landing page.)

Here’s however to find these topics:

1. Go to Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Enter 1 oregon a fewer keywords applicable to your business
3. Go to the Matching presumption report

Generally speaking, topics wherever radical are looking to larn usually incorporate question modifiers specified arsenic why, how, what, etc. 

Let’s power the tab to Questions to see these. 

Here, we spot astir ~195,000 topics that we could perchance target. Eyeball the database and prime retired those that are applicable and person postulation imaginable (look astatine the TP column.)

There are besides plentifulness of informational keywords that bash not incorporate a question modifier. While 195,000 keywords is plentifulness to target, you tin look for much by eyeballing the full study to spot if determination are imaginable topics without modifiers.

For example, doing this shows america a fewer topics that we could perchance target, specified arsenic “SEO course” and “SEO checklist.” Neither contains immoderate question words. 

Recommended reading: Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs

3. Prioritize them utilizing ‘business potential’

Creating product-led contented is an art. You person to people weave your merchandise usage cases into your contented done astute copywriting and yet not look similar you’re “overselling.”

The instrumentality we usage astatine Ahrefs is to absorption lone connected topics that our merchandise tin solve. This way, we don’t look similar we’re unnaturally shoehorning our product—we’re simply offering the best solution to that problem. 

How bash we bash this? We usage a ‘business potential’ score. 

By prioritizing topics that people a “2” oregon “3,” we marque definite that mentions of our merchandise are natural. 

Recommended viewing: How to Prioritize Your List of Content Ideas

4. Create product-led contented that ranks

With a database of precocious concern imaginable topics to target, it’s clip to make product-led contented that ranks successful Google for those topics.

The simplest mode to get started is by pursuing the steps successful this video.

Don’t hide that your extremity present is to make product-led content. So, wherever possible—and arsenic people arsenic possible—include mentions of your merchandise wrong the content. Show your readers—with screenshots, GIFs, and videos—how to execute peculiar steps with the assistance of your product. Teach them explicitly however to lick problems utilizing your product. 

Targeting precocious concern imaginable topics makes creating product-led contented easier, but people weaving your merchandise into the communicative depends connected your copywriting skills. 

Remember not to oversell either. If your merchandise isn’t a bully acceptable for a peculiar point, don’t unit it. You privation to beryllium assured astir what you’re offering, but not to the constituent wherever you’re bordering on lying.

Finally, ranking your contented connected the archetypal leafage of Google volition necessitate you to get links. Learn however to bash that successful this beginner’s usher to nexus building oregon ticker this video.

Looking for palmy examples of however companies person utilized product-led content? Here are 3 to beryllium inspired by.

1. Ahrefs

Alex Birkett, the co-founder of contented selling bureau Omniscient Digital, writes:

If you’re wondering however we utilized contented selling to grow our SaaS to 8-figures ARR, past this precise nonfiction is fundamentally a start-to-finish usher connected however we bash product-led content. 

2. Zapier

If we plug Zapier’s blog into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and spell to the Top pages report, we tin spot that the articles sending them the astir postulation are “best [topic] apps”-style blog posts:

Guess what? Zapier allows users to link the antithetic apps they usage to automate workflow. 

So, if we click connected 1 of these articles—for example, the 1 connected champion to-do database apps—we spot that Zapier has featured galore to-do apps that they integrate with. Not lone that, they adjacent featured the circumstantial “zaps” you tin link utilizing the app they mentioned:

And it goes connected for each different featured app connected the list:

This is simply a cleanable illustration of however you tin people notation your merchandise successful the contented you’re creating. 

3. Beardbrand

Is product-led contented for SaaS companies only? I don’t deliberation so. Sure, SaaS companies typically person tons of features and usage cases, making them easier to beforehand successful contented astir a wide assortment of topics. But B2C e-commerce companies tin bash product-led contented too.

Take Beardbrand, for example. Beardbrand sells beard products similar beard oil. And if we plug Beardbrand’s blog into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer and spell to the Top pages report, we tin spot that their most-trafficked pages are beard-related (duh!):

Clicking done to their nonfiction connected the champion beard styles, we spot that they person people and creatively mentioned their products wherever possible.

For example, 1 of the beard styles is the “scruffy beard.” Rather than simply explaining what it is and moving connected to the adjacent point, Beardbrand expertly mentions however you mightiness request a conditioning merchandise (aka theirs) to relieve the itch:

The aforesaid goes for different beard style—the Verdi—where you mightiness request a beard trimming scissors (and Beardbrand mentions they person one too):

It’s not a hard sell. It’s done mildly and naturally. Beardbrand simply mentions that they person the cleanable merchandise for the beard benignant you want. 

Final thoughts

Content selling isn’t conscionable for branding. It tin beryllium a customer acquisition channel too. 

Create product-led contented that people promotes your merchandise arsenic the best-fit solution to the problems your customers are facing. 

Any questions oregon comments astir product-led content? Let maine cognize connected Twitter.