#28 | Three Simple Words (“Content Product Fit”)

I was listening to a podcast earlier this week with Samir Chaudry from Colin and Samir.

The interview is nearly two hours long and dissects the current and future state of the creator economy from a bunch of different fascinating angles.

I loved it from start to finish.

But it was a simple three-word phrase Samir said at the 1 hour and 10 minute mark that has had my mind racing ever since…

“Content product fit“.

That’s it. I told you it was simple. But it’s beautifully simple.

An obvious play off of “product market fit”, generally defined as a unique product offering that people desperately want.

There’s a saying in the startup world that goes something like “if you’re wondering if you’ve reached product market fit, you haven’t”.

In other words, demand will be so overwhelming, you’ll know.

So, what does Samir mean by “content product fit”?

Here he’s referring to a process by which a creator does not have to change their content to seamlessly integrate a product offering.

It’s product placement in its most efficient form.

He went on to give some great examples…

Like Amanda Rach Lee who started bullet journaling back in 2017 and sharing her experience and process on YouTube.

*If you don’t know what bullet journaling is that’s ok, I didn’t either! It’s pretty much a system to organize scheduling, reminders, to-do lists, brainstorming, and other organizational tasks into a single notebook. Think productivity diary fused with some elements of scrapbooking.*

My first thought was ‘that sounds like a pretty small niche’. But it turns out she has has over 2 million subscribers (!!) who tune in weekly to hear about her new and creative ways to journal.

So what did Amanda do? She created her own journal and started selling it on Shopify.

Or like Emma Chamberlain, who on a much larger scale, amassed a YouTube base of 12 million subs, with her love of coffee being the star of the show.

So what did Emma do? She dropped her own coffee brand back in 2019.

Amanda and Emma didn’t have to change the focus or spirit of the content they had be creating and sharing for years to get their products to “work” with their audience.

Instead, their products integrated seamlessly with their content.

All week long it seems like I’ve been encountering more and more examples of creators who have discovered or are in the process of discovering content product fit.

It’s like the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon when you’re thinking about buying a new car and then all of the sudden you can’t stop seeing that same make and model EVERYWHERE.

Here are a few of my favorite examples…

Danny Miranda. After nearly three years of grinding away, Danny recently reached 1 million plays for his podcast at the end of August. And based on the elevated profile of his guests over these past few months, it’s clear he’s just getting started. Why? Because when it comes to background research and preparation, Danny stands alone. He’s branded himself as the deep research guy and he has the receipts to prove it. Danny’s now in the process of creating a paid resource on interviewing and podcasting, with the common thread of *you guessed it* deep research.

Content product fit.

Kieran Drew. Burned out dentist turn online creator, Kieran has been writing about writing for a little over three years now. He’s grown his Twitter follower base to over 185,000 and he’s pushing 30,000 subs to his Digital Freedom newsletter. In the past 3 months, Kieran’s made over $320,000 with 2 launches. The product? A course on high impact writing.

Content product fit.

Syed Balkhi. This man is a beast. Organic traffic to his free WordPress resource website “WPBeginner”, exploded fairly quickly following its 2009 launch. By 2013, Syed had launched OptinMonster to help businesses convert website visitors into email subscribers and customers. A few years later in 2016, he launched the WPForms plugin and acquired the largest Google Analytics plugin for WordPress that he renamed to MonsterInsights. To date, Syed has acquired over 30 WordPress and website related businesses that now net over $100 million in revenue annually…and he’s only 32 years old.

Say it with me now…content · product · fit.

The typical creator path is to create content and sell ads.

And that’s ok. There’s nothing wrong with that approach. Plenty of creators make PLENTY of money that way.

But where things start to get really interesting, is when creators find their true content product fit.

Ok. That’s all for this week.

Chelsea and I are off to Austin, Texas to celebrate our friends Travis and Vanessa’s wedding (we love you guys!!).

Have a weekend. ✌

-Keith