Furrowed brows. Confused glances. That uncomfortable silence that stretches just a beat too long.
It’s never a good sign when talking to a client.
We had been working on their content marketing strategy for weeks. With support from their internal team and validation from stakeholders, I felt confident in the approach we’d developed. But as I started talking about the content angles we’d selected, I could feel something wasn’t clicking.
“But where’s our product in all this?” one executive finally asked. “There’s nothing about what we offer or what makes us different.”
And that’s when I realized my mistake.
I had failed to explain a crucial distinction that’s natural to me but not always obvious:
Product messaging and content angles are different elements with different purposes—but they need to work together to create marketing that truly resonates.
Messaging vs. angles: What’s the difference?
Product messaging is you talking about yourself.
It’s your differentiation, your value proposition, your features and benefits. It’s the carefully crafted language that explains what makes your solution special and why customers should choose you over competitors.
​Content angles​ are you talking about what matters to your audience.
They’re the broader perspectives, the deep-rooted beliefs about your industry, the deeper truths. Content angles give you a relevant reason to start conversations your customers actually care about—beyond just your product.
The first helps you present what you offer in the best possible light. The second gives you a reason to show up in your audience’s feed in the first place.
The Basecamp example
Here’s a favorite example of mine. Think about Basecamp versus competitors like Asana or Monday.com. All operate in the crowded project management space.
Asana and Monday.com excel at product messaging—they clearly communicate features, benefits, and how their tools streamline workflows. But outside of people actively searching for project management solutions, their content rarely breaks through.
Basecamp takes a different approach.
While they certainly have product messaging, they’ve developed distinctive content angles around creating calm work environments and speaking against hustle culture.
The result? People who aren’t even in the market for project management tools engage with Basecamp’s content. They share it. They talk about it with peers.
It’s about a philosophy that resonates beyond the product itself.
Why you need both
If you rely solely on product messaging, everything you put out sounds like a sales pitch. Your audience is smarter than that.
But if you focus exclusively on content angles without ever connecting back to your offering, you’re creating interesting content that doesn’t drive business results.
The magic happens when you use them together:
- Start with content angles to earn attention and demonstrate you understand the market your customers operate in.
- Connect your beliefs to your product by showing how your perspective on the industry directly shapes your solution.
- Then introduce your product messaging which becomes more powerful because your features and decisions are now clearly values-based, not just functional.
When you lead with your beliefs about the industry, your product messaging transforms from a list of features into the embodiment of your values. Suddenly, choosing your solution isn’t just about capabilities—it’s about aligning with a perspective that resonates.
***
In a world of endless sales pitches, powerful marketing begins with well-crafted content angles.
The brands that truly break through start by addressing the bigger industry questions and perspectives. Only after building this foundation of relevance do they introduce product messaging that connects the solution to the broader company philosophy.
This transforms marketing from interruption to insight. And that’s when your audience actually starts to listen.
Puzzle pieces matter,
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OK, I’m cheating a little bit here and including a resource of my own. But the letter at the start might have motivated you to work on your angles with nowhere to go next. As luck would have it, I’ve developed a set of trigger questions that will help you find your angles. I’d love to see what you come up with!
​​Get the remarkable content angles worksheet →​​
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