Issue 108: Beating the curse of product knowledge [A quick tip]
You’re reading The Content Workshop — a weekly newsletter featuring a 2-min tip for building a robust product-led content engine 🤓
Earlier on LinkedIn this week, I talked about being mindful of the curse of (product) knowledge in content production.
The skinny on it:
You know your product (one that you’re marketing) so well that you either forget to or find it hard to budget information-sharing about it 😬
The result is content that’s so product-focused — it leaves readers confused = unable to take (suggested) action = reduced conversions.
So how do you keep yourself in check?
I’ve this one simple mindset tip for you that has helped me (and my clients) tremendously:
➡️ Instead of ‘value’ in content, focus on ‘actionable value’ ⬅️
Basically, ‘actionable’ value is soda with the right amount of fizz ✨
Because ‘value’ alone can be pretty subjective and hollow (I bet you just nodded at this)
A slight reframe can make a helluva difference though:
Make sure all your deeper funnel content offers value geared toward empowering readers to take action.
That is: your answer to readers’ query should be actionable enough to help them solve their problem on their own.
This means:
✅ Listing all tools — even alternative tools — that’ll help scratch the itch
✅ Going into details on each step involved, not just steps where your tool is involved
Take this piece from Hotjar, for example.
It lays out the full plan including gathering post-its to creating a customer journey map.
When you read it, you’ll leave with the feeling that you can now almost create a CJM.
That’s exactly the ‘empowered’ feeling your readers need to leave with.
In contrast, other ranking pieces on this topic cover the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of customer journey mapping. They then throw in some superficial advice on the ‘how.’
But Hotjar shares the exact steps to take — featuring not only how their tool can help but also what other tools are involved (including their alternative).
They earn this right to talk about their product by sharing ‘actionable value’ that works as a trust-building magnet — easing readers’ sensitive-to-a-sales-pitch minds into learning how Hotjar can help.
So you know what to do, right?
As you strategize, always focus on ‘actionable value.’
To follow my own advice, here are the tactical questions to ask yourself to this end:
How can each piece of content be actionable enough? Useful enough?
How can I arrange the content to accurately capture the step-by-step workflow in a way that readers can easily understand and apply it?
Am I the in-the-weeds, done-this-before expert on the topic? Or should I be interviewing/connecting writers with internal or external niche experts on the topic?
Bonus tip: Get an external set of eyes to review your product-led content ✅
Content heads, VPs of Marketing, and founders that I speak to often make content in a silo.
For the former two, it can be challenging to cover the product in a balanced manner.
Where there’s an opportunity to talk about the product, you might easily miss it — thinking it can come across as salesy. In other places, you might overdo it all.
For founders though, it can be even harder to talk about your product in a budgeted, easy-to-understand-for-the-reader manner (given you’re so close to it).
The good news is: in the coming weeks, I’m launching a solution that can help you — keep an eye on this space 👀
Until then, catch you next week with another quick, 2-min tip to power your product-led content engine.
Ciao,
Masooma