Brand strategy + web copy
“Reframe this expensive HVAC alternative not as an appliance, but a values-driven lifestyle choice”
Context: Brought in to write website copy for this cleantech startup, I saw that we needed to zoom out to brand strategy first.
Challenge: Stow heat pumps were an expensive, unusual alternative in an inertia-driven HVAC category. People thought about buying a new heater or A/C like buying other appliances: price, features, done. All functional.
Process: helping a mission-driven team speak to values-driven customers
Interviewing the founders (engineers) revealed the disconnect between why they were doing it (saving the planet through clean energy) versus how they were thinking about messaging (engineers talking to engineers about technical features).
Solution: unlocking an untapped brand resource (their name)
To start, I took the principals’ bright-eyed enthusiasm about clean energy, and brought that sense of higher purpose to light on their About page. The “why we exist” statement acts as an additional invitation to values- rather than price-driven customers.
Solution: framing features with brand values
The website copy had to translate complex, technical features into conversational, understandable benefits, and equally important, help the right eco-conscious customers self-select in.
“Nate helped the team think beyond the HVAC category and position Stow as an aspirational, values-based lifestyle choice, rather than a functional choice. ” — Rachael Harvey, Workplace Experiential Design Producer, Crusoe