Product Interface as Content
Publish remarkable content through the product’s own delivery mechanism.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
Product Interface as Content turns a product’s native output into an owned media format. Rather than merely explaining what the product can do, the company publishes jokes, stories, education, or serialized narratives through the same mechanism customers would use. Each content item should be entertaining or useful enough to share, while remaining visibly connected to the product that delivered it. Shareability can come from screenshots or from mapping each output to a public web page. The campaign creates a tight loop: people subscribe to experience the content, shared outputs introduce others to the product, and the quality of the experience demonstrates why the product could improve their own work. Success depends on editorial quality and sustained publishing, not simply using the interface as another promotional channel.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain as Kipp Bodnar’s campaign idea for Wisp, a website-notification provider.
Core principles
- 01The product’s delivery mechanism can become a media format.
- 02Content distributed through the product demonstrates utility immediately.
- 03Remarkable output encourages screenshots, sharing, and word of mouth.
- 04The audience should understand that the product made the experience possible.
How to run it
- 1
Select the Native Surface
Identify the product output that prospects can directly receive, view, or share.
Pro tip Choose the surface most closely tied to the product’s distinctive value.
Watch out Do not use a conventional blog if it bypasses the product experience.
- 2
Design a Content Format
Develop jokes, stories, education, or a serialized narrative that fits the surface’s technical constraints.
Pro tip Use repetition and recognizable structure to build anticipation.
Watch out Content that feels like routine promotional copy will not earn subscriptions.
- 3
Recruit Editorial Talent
Assign a capable writer or creator to maintain quality and consistency.
Pro tip Consider specialist comedic or narrative writers when the concept requires them.
Watch out A clever channel cannot compensate for weak content.
- 4
Make Outputs Shareable
Allow recipients to distribute screenshots or link each output to a public page.
Pro tip Preserve enough context that new viewers understand the source.
Watch out Sharing without attribution may create attention but little product discovery.
- 5
Connect Interest to Product Use
Give visitors a clear path from enjoying the content to understanding and trying the product.
Pro tip Show how customers could create similarly effective experiences.
Watch out Do not interrupt the content so aggressively that the campaign becomes an advertisement.
- 6
Sustain the Series
Publish consistently long enough for the format to acquire an audience and reputation.
Pro tip Plan an editorial calendar before launch.
Watch out A few isolated messages will not become a recognized content property.
In the wild
Wisp publishes jokes and multi-day narrative stories through its own browser-notification system. Subscribers share screenshots or linked versions, introducing new people to both the content and the notification product delivering it.
→ Notifications become a viral content format while simultaneously demonstrating Wisp’s utility.
Common mistakes
Treating the Surface as an Ad Slot
Recipients will disengage if every output promotes the company instead of delivering standalone value.
Neglecting Editorial Quality
The product demonstration becomes negative proof when the content is forgettable or annoying.
Forgetting Attribution
Widely shared content cannot drive discovery if viewers cannot identify the product behind it.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for products that deliver messages, reports, notifications, designs, or other audience-visible outputs.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the product surface is private, safety-critical, or too restrictive to carry meaningful content.
From the transcript
“I think they should have their own notifications for their own website be content and basically make different jokes and stories out of their own…”
“And I think they should turn notifications into content.”
“I have always thought actually having a comedic writer as part of your marketing team, even as a contractor, is a good thing to do.”
From the episode
‘Half-Baked Marketing Ideas’ with Kipp Bodnar and Kieran Flanagan
Kipp Bodnar