Letter #41: Working with writers on product-led content
A behind-the-scenes expert interview on the content production process.
Hiiya! 👋
First, some clarification (for those of you who noticed): I didn’t mean to press pause on last week’s issue. But a handful of culprits like flu and a heavy-rains-caused massive power cut got in the way.
And trust me, I felt bad. Like I had broken a promise.
Also, I missed seeing your replies and tracking who had read my email throughout the week (hey, no judging, okay?) 😄
Anyhoo, for today’s letter, I’ve got Ash Read, the Head of Content at Wayflyer who’s building a side project called Living Cozy, a home and furniture brands review site.
Since he runs a review site, I was curious to learn how Ash creates authentic content. The answer? Product-led content ✨
After Ash reviews their content strategy and figures out which products to test to successfully execute the strategy, he reaches out to brands. “In some cases, brands will gift the product(s), other times we’ll buy pieces for our writers to review,” Ash says.
The aim? “Getting first-hand reviews of furniture pieces so our content has more authenticity and credibility.” A.k.a product-led content.
Based on this process, I asked Ash our regular three questions:
A mistake that Ash made when trying to create product-led content
An actionable tip to get more people to create credible, product-led content
And, a secret tip for producing the best product-led content
Here’s what Ash had to share:
👉 Learn from Ash’s mistake: “Not getting great imagery to go alongside our written reviews.”
“I’ve not always been the best at briefing writers on how to take photos of products in their home and what makes a good product image,” admits Ash.
If you’re in the ecommerce field, you can always outsource this bit.
And if you’re in the SaaS industry, this part is a tad bit easier. As you give access to writers to your tool, share notes on what makes great screenshots (example: specify the dimensions, share the plug-in to use to optimize the image size, etc.).
Alternatively, tell them to add placeholder screenshots. Then, add screenshots on your end. This way, all screengrabs in your content are going to be consistent (think: same-colored arrows in the image, same-sized rectangles, and so on).
👉 Do this today: “Give clear briefs.”
Ash suggests you use the brief to answer the following questions:
“What do you want the writer to focus their review [content] on?
What parts of the product [read: product features if you're in the SaaS biz] should they go into detail about?
What do consumers care about the most?”
“Giving a writer a product and a blank slate, probably won’t result in the content you’d hoped for. Be very detailed and precise with your briefs in order to get the most from your content.”
👉 The secret tip for producing epic product-led content: “Understand what consumers care about.”
“Your content should be designed to help consumers to understand if a product is right for them or not. And to do that you need to understand their purchasing process and what factors influence their decisions.”
In short:
Create and share notes on what makes good product-led images/screenshots
Create detailed briefs for writers outlining which product features to focus on
Understand what the target audience’s purchasing journey and concerns look like so you can create better content that earns their trust
That’s it for this week folks.
Take care,
Masooma