The Three Fs: Creating a Successful Appliance Content Strategy

As an interior designer, remodeling contractor, appliance retailer or appliance service, repair and maintenance provider, you probably have a distinct focus or specialty. Your readers and potential clients don’t; they’re likely interested in the three Fs form, fit and function. Knowing how to tailor your content to appeal to that interest while delivering your key message can develop your own form, fit and function to help you drive more traffic to your site — and your business.

Understanding the Importance of Form, Fit and Function In Your Appliance Content

When potential customers, clients and consumers consider purchasing, maintaining or repairing an appliance, they generally think about:

Form – Does the appliance have the aesthetics, design, and features desired? Homeowners look for appliances that offer all the latest bells and whistles while integrating with their interior design style.

Fit – Whether for home or commercial use, the appliance needs to fit their lifestyle, physical dimensions required, energy use and budget. A family of five will definitely be looking for a different washer/dryer combo than a single new homeowner, and HVAC selection may depend on roofing suitability.

Function – From industrial air conditioning that requires specific ventilation to mastering complicated new smart appliances, ease of use, maintenance requirements, longevity and capacity are all factors that concern people about their appliances.

What’s New with Appliance Writing? The Three Fs!

You can apply form, fit and funtion to your marketing strategy, too. For example, consider the form of the content you deliver to your potential customers. From designing an accessible and compelling site to presenting an active blog with engaging content to establishing a social marketing presence, each is a different form with multiple opportunities to reach out. Are you providing constant opportunities for connection through website content, Facebook updates and other social platform interaction? You also need to consider how well you fit with your targeted audience. Are you providing local or informational content they need and value? Finally, how is your content production functioning? Is it helping your company achieve your goals? Assess your current content production, find out which content your readers are responding to, and then give them more of that. A really great way to find inspiration for content is the BuzzSumo Insights Tool.  The powerful online tool allows helps users identify popular content by topic website. By entering “appliance trends” in the search box, I was able to find information from Sears (posted below) about the hottest trends in appliances. “Appliances” lets me know that Vogue is reporting that Dolce and Gabbana have collaborated with the Italian appliance design company Smeg to create a beatiful like of brightly patterned appliances and that NPR revealed that President Trump threatened to slash the Energy Star Program completely in March of this year. These are all interesting facts that you can use to create interesting content.

Pay attention to other successful companies in your industry for valuable appliance writing insights, too. A great case study is Yale Appliance, a regional retail appliance store in Boston. They utilized the concept of maximizing form, fit and function to make their inbound marketing efforts really pay off. By maximizing their online presence with valuable content, they grew their traffic flow from 18,000 visitors per month in 2011 to 500,000 by October 2015. One of their key tricks? Posting an average of one blog post per day delivering content that grabbed reader attention and inspired them to share it.

Appliance Writing Tips

• Focus on education. The most common quality successful companies share regarding online content is that they put client education first. For example, Yale Appliance’s most-shared blog post was a review of the least reliable appliance brands. The reviewed brands themselves weren’t too happy, but readers loved – and shared it. They continue providing personal update of their own service experience on appliance brands each year. Consider your brand to be a teacher, mentor and thought-leader!
• Provide non-promotional, honest, educational content. When you hire appliance writers to produce content, it’s easy to consider it advertising, and that can be a bad thing. The internet is filled with “educational” content that is nothing more than an excuse to advertise a product, industry or service, and serve as promotional and boastful content. The focus should be the content, not just a method to announce that you’re best at XYZ. Your goal should be to gain the trust of the reader, not brag. You’re trying to create a long-term relationship, not make your readers feel like they’re on a bad blind date! A successful inbound marketing strategy depends on a reciprocal basis of trust between your brand and your buyer.
• Create content readers want. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to create the content you want, because what you really want is for your company to be successful and flourish. It’s not likely that a potential reader is looking for ways to help you do that. Companies that are the best at inbound marketing create content the consumer wants, not what their company wants to give them. Start explaining instead of persuading, informing instead of selling, and providing answers and solutions instead of dodging questions, and you’ll build consumer trust.

Provide Appliance Content Marketing News

Your potential readers aren’t just looking for information about your specific company; many are surfing the internet looking for news and information from community goings-on to the latest trends in appliances to troubleshooting their current appliances. So, give them what they want! Provide content that educates them about their three F concerns. Then make sure that you add relevant information about local events and interests, as well as news of current appliance trends and innovations such as:

• Get Smart! Appliances have always been geared at saving time, and hooking up with smart innovation is geared toward doing that more efficiently. Do we really need to be able to pre-heat our oven from our smartphone? Do we want our refrigerators interrupting a board meeting to nag us by text that we’re out of broccoli? Apparently, we do! Sears reports that smart ovens and smart refrigerators are among the two of the hot appliance trends in 2017; Samsung’s Family Hub touchscreen fridge allows users to order groceries online, watch TV and connect with the entire family, while LG washers and dryers with SmartThinQ™ promise to allow you to do app-based laundry on the go. Now, if only they could load and fold too!
• All in the Family! The shape of today’s modern family has changed. Many household are welcoming three generations under one roof. With that in mind, many appliance manufacturers are catering to different life stages. Bosch offers appliances featuring large letters or numbers and back-saving features like side-opening oven doors. While multi-generational families may be sharing on roof, they aren’t necessarily sharing living space. With that in mind, several appliance manufacturers are responding to the living “separate but together” movement with appliances designed for adult children in the renovated basement, the elderly parents in the in-law suite as well as the appliance needs of the hub house where they frequently gather. Forget about dorm-room miniatures; manufacturers are shrinking appliances but keeping the chef-quality features. For example, BlueStar offers a high-end 24-inch professional range that fits easily into the smallest spaces, and Blomberg’s 22-inch-wide refrigerator/freezer combo can squeeze into the tiniest kitchens.