Blog, Effective, Messaging, Utility Communications
Repetition, the Secret Sauce of Message Discipline
One of the cornerstones of effective communications, a former presidential adviser once said, is message discipline: “Right about the time the communications staff is about to throw up from repeating the same message,” he said, “th...
Blog, Creative, Effective, Utility Communications
New Year’s Resolution: Ban Buzzwords!
Credit: iStock Take a look at that wall of Post-it notes. How many of those buzzwords and meaningless phrases have crept into your vocabulary (and hence your writing)? I will own up to using a few of those phrases, including “client fa...
Blog, Effective, Utility Communications
Gifts for Energy Communicators: Our Best-Read Content from 2020
Gifts for Energy Communicators: Our Best-Read Content from 2020 We’re finally winding down a year like no other. Nearly all of our workplaces, if not our lives, were roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. A record number of hurricanes hit th...
Blog, Customer, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing
Boost Your Marketing ROI with Hero’s Journey Storytelling
When developing content to market customer programs, there are several options for energy company marketers and communicators. One approach is straightforward, fact-based and quantitative: “You will save about $250 per year if you enro...
Blog, Customer, Customers, Utility Communications, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Stakeholders
Getting Outside Yourself: Customer Communications
Maybe you’ve heard the phrase, “Get over yourself” sometime in your life. Today I’m going to adapt that and say, when writing for customers or other external stakeholders, “Get outside yourself.” Years ago, when I was a commu...
Uncategorized
Writing Better Content: Three Tools to Help
Ever hear the phrase, “right tool for the right job”? Today we’re going to discuss how three free tools embedded in Microsoft Word can help you improve your writing. How? By making your sentences and paragraphs easier to read and u...
Blog, Efficiency & Conservation, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing
Marketing Electric TOU Prices: The Time is Right
The proliferation of electric vehicles, rooftop solar and other strategic forces afoot in the industry are driving a growing number of electricity providers to implement, or investigate, time of use (TOU) pricing. For some, this is a big...
Effective, Messaging, Utility Communications, Utility Media Relations
How to Write a Press Release: Tips from Both Sides of the Laptop
Millennials are not easily frightened. When stumped by a question or assigned a task they don’t know how to perform, they Google it. I am sure members of the Boomer, Gen X or Gen Y generations would have done the same thing, had Google...
Blog, Utility Communications, PowerPoint Rules
PowerPoint & Video Conference Calls: The Rules Haven’t Changed
Someday (hopefully soon) life under COVID-19 will end. When that day comes, many of us will be able to leave our home offices and return to our company’s corporate offices. We will swap video conference calls for real face-to-face inte...
Blog, Customer, Utility Communications, Utility Customer Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction: Fixing Small Problems Before They Become Big Ones
Denial, the old saying goes, ain’t just a river in Egypt. That rattling sound you hear when you drive your car? Ignore it — maybe it will go away. That pain in your back? Probably caused by sleeping in an awkward position last night....