How can a content-first approach improve product marketing?

Content can drive ARR, especially product related content. The goal in content first approach should be to create the demand we want to sell to. So in aligning product with marketing we can avoid wasting valuable resources by selling to people who are not within our ICP definitions. Content also drives awareness, consideration, acquisition, retention and monetization goals as we help people move along their journey in ultimately making the decision to purchase.

In my experience in betting product management and marketing, Content-First approach: 1. Has helped build our credibility and increased our brand awareness. In the long run, we have positioned ourselves as thought leaders. 2. Has helped us have more engagements with our existing customers as well as our prospective customers. I have seen customers on our competitor platforms engaging one another based on the content we have. 3. Has helped us differentiate our products from the competition at levels that others have not achieved. Ultimately, we have attracted new customers. 4. Has helped us meet our customers' FAQs and leave our customers satisfied and we reached new levels of support for our products.

Better alignment with your target audience: By focusing on creating content that resonates with your target audience, you can better align your messaging with their needs and interests. Improved search engine optimization (SEO): By creating high-quality content that is optimized for search engines, you can improve your website’s visibility and attract more traffic. Increased brand awareness: By creating and distributing valuable content, you can increase your brand’s visibility and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. More effective lead generation: By creating content that addresses your target audience’s pain points and challenges, you can attract more qualified leads and improve your conversion rates.

Creating and testing content ahead of, or in parallel with development affords us the luxury of time for revisions and iterations, resulting in tighter targeting and more clearer value proposition.

Saving time on mockups and placeholders is valuable in the fast-paced environment (and most of us find ourselves being fast-paced :) ). Iterations costs, while not the highest ones in comparison, can also be avoided helping the overall P&L. Valuable feedback can also be used not only to refine the value prop of the current product, but also for future features/roadmap contributions.

I believe that understanding user personas is a fundamental exercise in product marketing which requires time and diligence. The content-first approach makes it easier to fulfill the critical 'user-first' requirement by tailoring the messaging to the personas, their pain points, and decision points.

By ensuring content-first approach when launching a product: ?? SEO can start early because it has some months of gap before it starts driving results ?? Run tests or gauge interest by sharing the content with potential buyers and use the results to make decision on further development ?? Ensure a 100% consistent communication about certain feature or product to create credibility and build trust

Creating content alone will not create brand awareness, but distributing your content in places with established audiences will. You may write a blog about Sales Software that you post to your own website. However, if you don't have a lot of organic repeat traffic, then you will not build awareness. Using snippets of your content and posting it to social media networks such as LinkedIn, or posting 40% of your blog to Medium enables you to find audiences interested in your topic, and then drives them to your website for the full piece. Additionally, you'll increase your credibility when others like and reshare your content on those platforms.

This approach affords us time to invest in quality content: find the best communication tone, and presentation, experiment with the product vs payoff focus, and deliver the best fit with brand value and mission. It is very important to document all the findings as they will most likely provide a solid foundation for the next phase.

Co-creating content with clients is one of my favorite parts of product marketing. Listening to them and addressing their needs opens the door to content collaboration beneficial to both sides. Our products or services make them heroes, so let them feel like heroes and showcase themselves and our products with pride and appreciation. Well-written cases and client references, in my opinion, are more convincing than many presentations or FAQs we create internally.

Not everyone will agree with what you write. Not everything you write will be brilliant or useful to others. At some point, you will write something that you fall in love with and someone else will suggest an edit that breaks your heart. That is ok. Get used to criticism and learn how to accept the feedback without letting it destroy your motivation. One person's opinion can be useful, but it can also derail you if you let it. So decide to not let it and keep writing.