We recently had a chat with a colleague who had a familiar dilemma: how do you make LinkedIn posts engaging when you have to talk about a product?
The colleague’s concern was valid — they didn’t want to bore their audience by focusing only on features and specifications. They wanted to post something more engaging, something that resonated. And they were right to think that way. In the world of press releases as well as social media, people will switch off if you start talking about products for which they are not searching.
Whenever possible, content — whether for LinkedIn or the press — should be built around issues and client pain points, not the product itself. That’s what connects.
But in media relations, things aren’t always that simple. Sometimes there is a product launch that needs attention, and unless the client happens to be Apple, Samsung or Google (where “a company known for making phones is going to make another phone” is apparently thrillint), it can be difficult to make that story sparkle.
Or so it seems.
Issues with wheels
To illustrate the point, one of our trainers tried to think of the dullest but most useful product imaginable — and searched for a picture of a wheel.
Thousands appeared. Car wheels, bicycle wheels, haycart wheels, even the London Eye. It turns out that a wheel isn’t dull at all — it depends entirely on the story you tell about your wheel.
If you’re trying to attract a journalist’s attention to a new wheel, you need to explain what makes your wheel in particular matter. What problem does it solve that other wheels don’t? Who benefits from it, and how? Is there a bigger market trend around wheels that you could comment on?
Of course, even then, not every journalist will be interested. That’s where Plan B comes in: stop talking about the product altogether, and start talking about the issues it solves — the problem it fixes for your audience.
A wheel, after all, helps people travel farther than they can walk. A bicycle wheel adds exercise to the equation. A car wheel might improve safety or reduce costs if it’s more durable. Each story is different because each audience is different.
And that’s the key.
Whether you’re writing a press release or a LinkedIn post, the focus should always be on the reader, not the writer. The best messages are about the audience’s challenges and aspirations, not the speaker’s achievements.
A useful exercise is to review your own content — LinkedIn posts, website copy, even pitch emails — and ask: Is this about us, or about them? If it’s too much about you, reframe it around your ideal client’s needs and concerns.
Don’t expect instant results — the payoff is in the quality of the engagement you attract, not the quantity.
In both media training and communications, the same truth applies: the message that resonates isn’t about what you sell — it’s about the issue you address. And if you’ve read the market right then your target readers will recognise themselcves immediately you start talking about those issues.
