The First Step to Getting Better Media Coverage
I recently wrote a series of articles on decarbonization for a new energy platform, EnergyTech, that caused me to get out of my utility lane and interact with corporate energy managers at commercial, industrial, and institutional organizations, such as healthcare centers, manufacturers, schools, and government agencies. Scheduling those interviews typically involved sending an interview request […]
Buzzwords, Message Discipline, and Annual Reports: EEC’s Best-Read Content from 2021
Gifts for Energy Communicators: Our Best-Read Content from 2021 We’re winding down another year like no other. Nearly all of our workplaces, if not our lives, continue to be roiled by some aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many readers, their employers continue to debate working from home, working in the office, or a hybrid […]
Utility Communications and Marketing Tips from the Trenches
Roughly 60% of subscribers to EEC Perspectives are women, and many of them are in a relatively early stage of their careers. For that reason, we asked three women at NorthWestern Energy to share their views on skill sets and career paths in communications and marketing within a utility, internships, innovative approaches to organizational design, […]
Three Steps to Writing Better Annual Reports
Congratulations! You have won the departmental lottery and now get to write this year’s annual report. Don’t panic! When confronting the (potential) enormity of the task before you, remember the timeless advice shared by practitioners of long-format writing: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” All kidding aside, you have a […]
Utility Marketing: Are You Looking for Zebras in the Right Place?
Shortly after I launched Egan Energy Communications, I had the good fortune to work with a business coach. When I asked her how I could find prospective clients, a perennial concern of all businesses, she replied, “If you want to see Zebras, you need to go where the Zebras are.” Her wise advice has shaped […]
Employee Engagement: Guest Blog on Ways to Improve It
Employee engagement continues to be a high-interest topic among our readers. As a more contagious and deadly variant of COVID-19 emerges, utilities and energy companies are trying to decide when office workers will return to the office, and under what conditions. What work policies need to be updated? How shall we perform work going forward? […]
Utility Customer Messaging: Leaders Go First
My town, like many in the West, faces an ongoing imbalance in water, where demand exceeds supply. Going into the summer of 2021, the water conditions in Lafayette, Colorado, a Denver suburb, are not nearly as bad as they are in California, Arizona, or even other parts of Colorado, but they are sub-optimal. Lafayette’s “Leaders […]
Storytelling: Show, Don’t Tell (!) in Your Utility Communications
Utility communicators looking to boost their storytelling skills might want to check out eulogies. Not trying to be morbid here, but the best eulogies offer a master class in storytelling. Earlier this year, as you may know, there was a mass shooting in a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, about 10 miles from EEC’s office. […]
Utility Rate Case Communications: Do It Right
Among policymakers, there’s a lot more talk about energy infrastructure these days, following the catastrophic Texas power blackouts and the Biden administration’s $2.25-trillion infrastructure plan. That means rate cases and rate case communications. U.S. electric utilities invested about $40 billion to build new transmission projects in 2019, a sharp increase over earlier years, according to […]
Customer Outreach: You Reap What You Sow
Ever wonder why some companies emerge from crises faster, with more of their reputation intact, while others die a death of a thousand cuts? The answer can be found in the adage, “As you sow, so shall you reap.” You can find all kinds of validation of that simple premise. Recently, I was reminded of […]
