March 3, 2023
How to Keep Your Utility Brand from Becoming Toxic
Blog, Customer, Customers, Utility Communications, Utility MarketingWhether your company delivers electricity or natural gas, your customers’ bills have shot up, which damages your utility’s brand. Analytically, we all understand why bills have shot up: Natural gas costs have skyrocketed. Colder weat...
February 8, 2023
A Few Thoughts on Fear, Gas Stoves, and Freedom
Blog, Customer, Effective, Programs & Services, Utility Communications, Utility Marketing“Are Your Gas Appliances Killing You?” That’s the way I began a piece of marketing collateral I wrote, well, back in the waning years of the 20th century. Back then, I worked in marketing for an electric utility, Salt River Project...
January 12, 2023
2023 Resolutions: Lose Weight, Exercise More, Ban Buzzwords
Blog, Effective, Utility Communications, Writing“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance,” goes the old saying, “baffle them with bulls***.” A scan of almost any business communication — printed material, email, job descriptions, even social media — shows an undue relia...
December 2, 2022
Community Relations, Rate Case Communications and Women’s Career Advancement: EEC’s Best-Read Content of 2022
Blog, Utility CommunicationsYet another tumultuous year is coming to a close. Some of us are swapping our sweatpants for dress pants as we return to the office. Costs are up, stress is off the charts, and “me” time seems like a quaint relic of a much simpler ti...
November 8, 2022
Rate Case Communications: Why This Time It’s Different
Utility Customer Satisfaction, Utility Marketing, Utility Rate Case CommunicationsNatural gas prices are up sharply. Coal prices are also up. The long-term declines in costs to build renewable energy seem to have paused. Skilled craft labor is in short supply. Supply chain bottlenecks persist. Transformers have a thre...
September 30, 2022
Media Relations 202: Have a Good Story
Blog, Utility Media Relations, Utility StakeholdersIn a previous blog post, I drew on some recent work as a contract reporter to share two tips to help utility media relations representatives win better coverage by the news media: diligently answering messages left by the news media and ...
September 2, 2022
Public Speaking: 6 Tips, 6 Sins and 1 Golden Rule
Blog, Face-to-Face, Utility CommunicationsI recently attended several in-person energy conferences, where I was able to see the best and worst of public speaking. Perhaps that’s been your experience as well? Recognizing that it’s easier to talk about giving a great speech th...
August 3, 2022
Promoting Energy Safety to Your Customers? How to Breathe Life into Your Marketing
Blog, Customer, Effective, Messaging, Safety, Utility CommunicationsWhen I began my career in energy journalism at The Energy Daily, my mentor and editor John McCaughey gave me a tip: “Your readers will die soon enough — try not to bore them to death!” Energy Safety: Good Copy and Provocative A...
July 7, 2022
Three Steps, 15 Minutes and Presto — You’re on Your Way to Becoming a Better Writer!
Blog, Effective, Utility Communications, WritingThe best writers never stop practicing their craft. For those of you interested in becoming a better writer, I can recommend three easy steps. Tomorrow morning, when you’re fresh and while you’re waiting for your coffee to cool down,...
June 3, 2022
Returning to the Office? Simple Tips for Better Employee Communications and Performance
Blog, Employee, Employee Communications, Utility StakeholdersAs more of us shift from remote work to hybrid work schedules or even a full-on return to the office full time, it may take us a while to fully reconnect with colleagues — or even connect with new ones who were hired during the COVID-1...