Content marketing lessons from a household disaster

I went on my own content marketing journey today.

My AC went out during the heat dome that blanketed large parts of the U.S. over the weekend. Unfortunately, I need a whole new unit—not really surprising since this one is 25 years old.

The technician alerted me to the fact that there are different types of refrigerants on the market right now with more climate-friendly upgrades, and I did a quick search to read up on them.

There were a LOT of results, with the "410a vs 454b" comparison articles being the most helpful. I also checked out some Reddit threads (social proof!).

Am I going to buy from any of the HVAC companies with those articles on their websites? No, I'm going with the company I've used for years. But the content was really helpful.

So what good does investing in that content do for those companies?

It comes down to user intent.

My intent was information gathering only. But other users might be looking for an HVAC company they can trust. That content might help them feel more confident that a vendor knows what they're talking about or that they're serious about their business, not just some kind of fly-by-night company.

Plus, those articles could be repackaged or linked to in a newsletter, an email campaign, or an ad. In fact, smart HVAC companies might do something like that right now—based on how long it took me to get an appointment, a lot of people suddenly discovered their unit wasn't up to the task last weekend.

By the way, I went with the 410a, which is an older type. It's being phased out, but the technician said there's a 10-year warranty, and parts and service will still be available beyond that. 454b is more environmentally friendly, but the company didn't feel like there was enough performance data on those systems to offer them yet. I don't use my AC much (I like having the windows open), and my condo is not big, so the difference will be minimal.

In the meantime, the cats and I just have to sweat it out another week. 🥵