Yes, you can plug your product in blogs without being sleazy

I recently edited an article by a content marketer who had far too much in common with a slimy used car salesman. The writing was pushy, one-sided, and didn’t have an ounce of empathy.

It felt like I was parsing through a sales brochure rather than a blog post.

Most content marketers are taught early on that their job isn’t to sell, but rather to educate, engage, and inspire. Some brands go as far as removing “marketing” from these writers’ job titles in favor of the more tame “brand journalist.”

I remember talking to editors early in my career, anxiously asking “Am I being too salesy here? Are these product plugs too heavy-handed?”

This is a healthy instinct to have, but left unchecked it morphs into a new problem: brands that are scared to promote themselves.

I’ve seen SaaS companies write 3,000-word guides to customer retention, data security, and email marketing without making a peep about what solutions they offer, much less why the reader should consider them. I’ve seen DTC brands write comprehensive articles about nutrition, grooming, and cooking without mentioning how their products fit into the equation.

These writers (along with their strategists and editors) have been conditioned to believe it’s not their job to convert readers and that plugging products is sleazy. But the truth is that it’s possible—and important—to weave product benefits into content without sounding like an infomercial spokesman.

A common piece of advice for novice writers is to simply “add value” and not worry about marketing the product. But sometimes “adding value” means telling the reader there’s a better way to automate their payroll system or wash their hair.

Anybody with an internet connection can explain a concept. But brands have an opportunity to teach people and direct them to tangible solutions. 

One of my favorite ways to subtly promote products is with in-line screenshots, GIFs, or videos that illustrate a concept. Here’s an example from Privy, an ecommerce marketing platform, where they explained how to add a popup to a Shopify store.

Part of that process involves setting “targeting rules” for the popup—but rather than telling readers how that’s done, Privy showed how it’s done with a glimpse into an actual user dashboard.

This is a smart alternative to nauseating sentences like: “We make it easier than ever to set trigger rules with an intuitive interface…click here for a free demo!” Not to mention images are a nice way to break up giant walls of text.

Aside from visuals, you can nudge readers towards product pages with text blocks that add context to your articles. In this article from Ritual’s blog about diet vs. exercise, they included a blurb about the importance of a multivitamin to fill nutritional gaps. 

Notice how it complements the article, doesn’t interrupt the flow, and doesn’t rely on aggressive, direct-response language like “Click here to try our all-in-one multivitamin!” 

I could spend days talking about the art of the soft sell, but that’s beside the point. I wrote this article to remind content marketers that you’re not going to infuriate readers by helping them solve problems with whatever brand you’re writing for. 

In fact, if you plug a product in the right place at the right time, it might be the best thing they read all year.