Content Marketing Archives - Page 3 of 3

Building blocks of customer satisfaction

Instead of just promoting programs or services, content marketing is a strategic approach focused on using high-quality and relevant content that customers want and need. Content marketing positions your energy utility as a trusted resource in customers’ lives.

“Content marketing is the lifeblood of the Internet,” Lindamood says. “Content is what Google finds when it searches your website, what your customers share on social media, what you deliver to customers in emails. Without useful content, that customer relationship becomes transactional and your digital marketing is essentially just sales, not about building a long-term relationship.”

In traditional marketing, there is always a gap between what your company has to say and what your customers want to hear. You can reach a broad audience with a traditional push marketing strategy, especially if you have a large advertising budget. But it’s all too easy for customers to tune out information that doesn’t interest them. Using content in a pull marketing approach, utilities can close that gap by connecting with customers around their interests.

The art and science of content marketing

As an art, content marketing helps to build connections by delivering content that’s informative, entertaining and engaging. The key is finding out your customers’ wants, needs and interests and building content around them.

As a science, content marketing allows you to track the success of any given campaign. You can get measurable results and see how you’re engaging with a particular target audience.

Content can take many different forms, including articles, infographics, videos and social media posts. Energy utility customers are increasingly looking for visual and interactive content. However, text-based articles are still effective for explaining in-depth technical content, especially for a business audience.

There are a wide variety of digital platforms to distribute your content, including:

Blogs and websites

Mobile apps

Social media platforms

SMS/text

CRM/marketing cloud platforms

Voice-activated speakers

The 4 Ps of content strategy for energy utilities

How do you turn quality content into an effective content strategy? Your content must have purpose, reach the right people, use the right platforms and deliver measurable performance metrics.

Determine your purpose. Your content must have a goal. For example, is your energy utility looking to drive enrollment into a program or build customer satisfaction?

Identify your target audience. Who are your customers and what are they interested in? Keep in mind, you might have a different message for each customer segment.

Choose the right digital platforms. What platforms will be most effective at reaching your target audience? A successful content strategy typically includes a mix of web, email and social media.

Measure performance. How do you measure your goals? Performance metrics are essential to determine if your content is successful. If there isn’t a way to measure your goals, it’s just content, not a content strategy.

An essential investment

While it takes time and money to invest in high-quality, relevant content, this investment pays off. Content creates an emotional connection with customers, which builds a relationship with your energy utility over the long haul. Plus, customers are more likely to share engaging content with friends and family on social media. It’s also essential for your content to be professional, accurate and useful, as your customers view your energy utility as an energy expert and helpful resource.
With content marketing, you’re not pushing a message out to your customers. Rather, you’re pulling them in with content that they find valuable and interesting. When it comes to improving customer satisfaction and meeting program goals, content marketing has a big impact.

Learn more about Questline Digital’s proven approach to content marketing for energy utilities.

In the energy utility industry, connecting with customers is a notoriously difficult challenge. Like every brand, energy utilities are vying for customer attention in an overwhelming, oversaturated digital landscape. In fact, a majority of American consumers are exposed to between 4,000 and 10,000 ads every single day. For brands of all shapes and sizes, content marketing is a powerful tool to break through the digital clutter.

A consistent content strategy positions your energy utility as a trusted source of information that works to improve your customers’ lives,” says Brian Lindamood, Questline Digital’s Vice President of Marketing & Content Strategy. “It helps you build a strong, long-lasting relationship with customers. Then, when they sign up for a program, it’s based on trust and familiarity, not a one-time sales message.”

List of ingredients that go into content marketing strategy

Making connections

Instead of a one-time sales message, content marketing provides useful information that resonates with a specific audience. It’s also three times as effective as paid search advertising. To maximize engagement with energy utility customers, content has to be impactful, whether answering a question, responding to a pain point or providing actionable information on a relevant topic.

Growing consumer interest in solar power, electric vehicles and smart home technologies are great avenues to explore in content marketing. According to a Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative study, utilities emerged as the entity consumers relied on the most for accurate information about new technologies like solar power and EVs.

For example, Questline Digital recently launched a solar energy content marketing solution to help energy utilities become a resource for customers interested in adding solar power to their homes and businesses. This solar content helps energy utilities answer customer questions and provide useful advice.

“Energy utilities are competing with every other brand for the time and attention of their customers,” Lindamood says. “That’s why it’s so important to build lasting, meaningful connections with customers. When customers know they can rely on their energy provider for helpful advice, they will seek you out for that information.”

5 benefits of content marketing for energy utilities:

Improve customer satisfaction: Content marketing positions an energy utility as a trusted source of information that improves customers’ lives.
Increase program participation: Customers who see their energy utility as a trusted resource are more likely to engage with program promotions.
Reduce call center demand: When your content answers customers’ questions, they rely less on telephone calls.
Boost new technology adoption: Informed customers understand how their smart home and smart grid benefits their community.
Decrease paper bill costs: Engaged customers are more likely to have a digital relationship with their energy utility.

Know your customers

The first step to a successful content marketing strategy is understanding your audience. Before diving into the content creation process, you need to find out what topics resonate with your customers. What are the challenges and pain points among a particular customer segment? What are growing consumer trends? What are common questions received in your call center? Your content marketing strategy should speak directly to your customers’ specific needs and interests.

In addition to the right messaging, the type of content is also important. Customers engage differently, and retain different information, whether they are reading an in-depth article, scanning an infographic or watching a video.

“The key to this approach is a solid foundation of consumer research,” Lindamood says. “It is critical to know what interests your customers have, what questions you can answer, and what type of content has resonated in the past.”

According to Questline Digital’s Energy Utility Benchmarks Report, residential customers prefer eye-catching infographics, videos and quizzes. In comparison, small and medium-sized business customers, who are traditionally short on time, engage most with infographics, videos and slideshows. For Key Accounts business customers who seek out rich information, in-depth articles remain the most popular content.

Despite higher production costs, video and interactive content are proven to deliver a higher ROI based on the level of engagement. Access to a large library of content, like Questline Digital’s over 4,500 assets, can help deliver a successful content marketing strategy.

Educating and empowering customers

As consumers continue to be inundated with digital ads, content marketing will become a vital strategy to drive engagement and build lasting relationships with customers.

Learn how Questline Digital can help your energy utility break through the clutter with a targeted content marketing strategy.

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Tag: Content Marketing

Webinar: A Winning Content Strategy for Energy Utilities