Treat Product Marketing Like a Product Journalist

We might be in the same boat.

Founding product marketer at a small startup. Sole product marketer on a team. Or someone with an entirely different job title performing product marketing duties.

Something we all have in common? We’re one person with a BIG job.

Want to know my formula for creating effective launch messaging at scale?

Conduct product journalism.

What is Product Journalism?

Product journalism focuses on storytelling over selling, framing content as a narrative with the customer as the hero and emphasizing the problems they face and how the product resolves them. It relies on the customer as the source, drawing on interviews, case studies, and real experiences to create authentic, relatable stories.

By providing context and education, it situates the product within its industry or cultural moment, showing not only what it does but why it matters now. Treating messaging this way also emphasizes editorial quality, using thought-leadership style writing, strong headlines, clear narrative arcs, and high-quality visuals and quotes to build credibility and engagement.

Plus, you get the added bonus of efficiency and repeatability, coupled with the ability to use shortcuts such as transcription tools and AI writing assistance to superpower your output.

• Interview Experts

  • Identify subject matter experts, customers, or internal stakeholders who have firsthand knowledge of the problem, product, or industry trend.

  • Prepare open-ended questions that dig into challenges, motivations, and outcomes rather than just product features.

  • Listen actively and capture direct quotes, anecdotes, and data points that bring the story to life.

  • I typically record these sessions and use automatic transcription tools like Otter.ai so that I can actively participate as a journalist while also capturing all of the content

• Synthesize Learnings

  • Review interview notes to identify patterns, themes, and unique insights.

  • Distill complex information into clear takeaways that connect back to the product’s value and relevance.

  • Highlight the most compelling stories or examples that will resonate with your target audience.

  • Utilize tools ChatGPT to draw out insights and themes from your transcripts that you can utilize to build messaging

• Report on Findings

  • Craft a narrative that frames the customer or expert as the hero, the challenge as the conflict, and the product as the resolution.

    • My free Narrative Design Worksheet

    • My free Messaging Framework

  • Use an editorial style: strong headlines, engaging leads, and storytelling techniques rather than sales copy.

  • Incorporate visuals, quotes, or data to build credibility and make the content engaging.

  • Share across channels (internal teams, blog, social, email, sales collateral) in formats that match how your audience consumes information.