I see a lot of sites writing articles about related subjects, then at the end there’s something like “if you like this topic, check out our product” or they find some way to tie the article into their product. (Some sites have “Top 10 Solutions to _____”, of which their product is recommended as #1, but I find those kinds of articles disingenuous because they’re trying to give the impression of neutrality where it doesn’t exist.)

IMO it’s impossible to build a serious business on word of mouth alone, but if you create genuinely useful content people will want to link to it. I have discovered many products this way.