Customer Segmentation Archives - Page 4 of 5

Marketing vs. Advertising: What is Right for Your Energy Utility?

Many people use the terms “marketing” and “advertising” interchangeably when, in fact, they are quite different. To put it simply, marketing promotes a business and its products or services, while identifying customer needs and how best to meet them. Advertising, however, is the act of calling attention to products or services, specifically through paid methods. You can market without advertising, but your energy utility shouldn’t advertise without marketing.

As digital engagement technology continues to evolve, it’s important for your energy utility to understand these differences in order to know which strategies are best to reach customers and achieve program goals. Read on to learn about the specific differences between marketing and advertising and how to use both to your energy utility’s advantage.

What is marketing?

Marketing is the practice of expanding your business by identifying how to best align a product or service to your customers’ needs. Effective marketing helps you understand how best to reach a target audience while increasing revenue at the same time.

In business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, a business is reaching customers directly, such as what your energy utility does to reach your residential or business customers. In business-to-business (B2B) marketing, efforts are directed to reach other businesses. Often, a marketing strategy is broken down into four phases called the four Ps:

Product: A company’s offerings (products or services) that meet customer demands.
Price: A pricing strategy could be built around profit margins, perceived value or opportunity costs.
Place: How and where your products are distributed, such as a physical stores or ecommerce websites.
Promotion: This can include advertising, public relations, content marketing and sales efforts.

Types of marketing

Marketing is not one-size-fits-all. There are several types of marketing available, including:

Content Marketing: A strategic approach based on creating and delivering valuable information, such as blog posts or infographics, to educate your target audience about your business.
Inbound Marketing: A focus on attracting customers to your website. Instead of pushing sales messages on customers who may not be interested, inbound marketing offers solutions that customers are looking for — inspiring them to seek out your business. Tactics often include a combination of content marketing, social media marketing and search engine optimization.
Social Media Marketing: The use of social media channels (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to maintain a conversation with your audience.
Digital Marketing: A “catch-all” for online marketing, leveraging search engines, emails, websites or blogs on both desktop and mobile devices. Digital marketing includes digital advertising as well, such as search engine marketing or paid social promotions.
Traditional Marketing: The opposite of digital marketing, using offline sources, such as print, radio, mail or billboards.
Relationship Marketing: A strategy that relies on both traditional and digital tactics. This strategy focuses on customer retention and satisfaction instead of new sales.
Brand Management: Uses techniques to increase the perceived value of a brand over time. This is achieved through initiatives that manage brand equity, consistent brand messaging and new product pushes that effectively showcases the brand and increases customer loyalty.
Product Development: Filling a gap in the business for a product or service to meet customer needs.

What is advertising?

Advertising is the process of making products or services known to customers, mostly through paid channels. An advertising campaign must be creative, timely and strategic. When executed well, advertising can educate customers, convince them a product or service is superior, improve brand perception, publicize new products, attract new customers and upsell existing customers.

A successful advertising campaign can use a mixture of traditional and digital media to deliver its message and align with the wants or needs of the customer. Advertising is just one component of a marketing strategy; while marketing helps you develop and position products based on customer needs, advertising communicates those products’ existence and influences customers to make a purchase.

Types of advertising

As with marketing, there are numerous types of advertising available. The most successful advertising campaigns uses a mix of these methods:

Digital Advertising: This includes ads paid for on social media, online publications, apps, sponsored content, search engine marketing and programmatic display ads.
Traditional Advertising: This includes advertisements in traditional media, such as newspapers or magazines, billboards or bus stops, direct mail, TV commercials or radio spots.
Retail Advertising: Featured point-of-purchase advertising within stores, such as product placement on displays or carts.
Product Placement: Paid advertisement to have a product emphasized in a TV show or movie.

Marketing or advertising: What should your energy utility focus on?

The short answer to this question is both. You need marketing and advertising efforts aligned to create a well-rounded strategy and connect with your energy utility’s customers. Marketing needs to be the core of what you do — researching customers, understanding their needs, segmenting target audiences to address those needs — but advertising needs to be an aspect of your marketing strategy to fully promote your programs and solutions.

Begin by creating a marketing plan that encompasses your energy utility’s goals. This should be an overarching strategic plan detailing which products, programs or services you want to focus on. In this marketing plan, think about plans for market research, public relations, product development, segmentation, customer support and pricing. Once these items are figured out, add advertising to the mix. While this is often a large part of a budget, it’s necessary to extend your brand’s reach.

Through thoughtful research and implementation, your energy utility’s combined marketing and advertising strategies will help your energy utility achieve its program goals and conversions.

Let Questline Digital’s experts help you craft a marketing and advertising strategy to connect with energy utility customers.

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Webinar: Segmentation for Small Business Customers

Segmentation is a critical tool for energy utilities to effectively reach customers, especially small business customers. SMB customers are often hard to reach for numerous reasons, including lack of time and lack of interest in information they think is not relevant to their needs.

In this webinar, Kurt Hansen, Questline Digital AVP of products and partnerships, discusses how to use segmentation and content marketing to not only reach business customers, but create long-lasting relationships with them as well.

Business is booming with content marketing

Content marketing is all about finding the overlap between customers’ needs and your energy utility’s goals. Your strategy should focus on sharing valuable and relevant content with customers. This requires much more than an individual promotion or email — rather, it’s a way to create trust through ongoing and targeted communications.

The first step in creating content that benefits your energy utility’s business customers is research. According to Hansen, when it comes to effective content, “It’s not just about does it look good? Does it sound good? Does it tell the story? It’s also about is that story the right level of technical depth?” Different customers require different levels of technical expertise. C&I customers, for example, are going to be at a much higher technical level than residential customers.

How do you segment small business customers?

Segmentation can be a challenge, especially if your energy utility doesn’t have sufficient data to categorize customers. For example, it’s often difficult to identify the best industry segment for small business customers.

To start the segmentation process, you should see what data you currently have and what data your systems team might be able to get. Your existing information can then be supplemented with self-segmentation.

With a self-segmentation tool, business customers can visit individual pages your energy utility has created for them with targeted industry content. We encourage energy utilities to personalize these pages, with content and program information, to drive participation with your local services.

“The idea is you’re giving that industry a designated page to turn toward for updated content specifically for them and information that drives them back to your energy utility’s website to convert them to other programs,” Hansen says. Your energy utility would then have that customer’s account captured into their specific industry and interests. This creates an opportunity to start a dialog with these customers.

Self-segmentation strategy for small business

A segmentation strategy and a content marketing strategy should join forces for maximum impact. These strategies should act as the backbone of your energy utility’s digital communications strategy with customers.

“It isn’t just an individual email or promotion,” Hansen says, “it is building an overall strategy of how you want to engage with customers on a consistent, systematic and strategic level and having the content and strategy behind it to do it.”

When it comes to segmentation for small business, let your customers help do it for you. Self-segmentation is a great option when your energy utility doesn’t have the information to accurately identify which industries your SMB customers are in. Combining content marketing and segmentation, your energy utility will move in the right direction to create long-lasting customer relationships.

Learn how Questline Digital can segment and target your small business customers to increase engagement and build stronger digital relationships.

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Go Green or Go Home: The Truth About Ecofriendly Messaging

Many energy utilities turn to an eco-friendly or green marketing message when promoting paperless billing, electric vehicle rebates, electrification, energy efficiency and other programs. But how effective is a green message when it comes to customer engagement and conversions? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of green messaging to find out if this approach is right for your utility’s marketing strategy.

Buzzword or brand builder?

Research by digital agency Specific Media finds that some consumers are apprehensive and even skeptical about green messaging. Over the past five years, sustainability has become a marketing buzzword, inundating advertising and marketing campaigns, from car manufacturers to beauty companies. Consumers are continuously bombarded by green messages, which undermines the effectiveness and authenticity of that marketing.

Many marketers are now hesitant to make sustainability a focus, worried about misleading consumers or causing a social media backlash for overstating a product’s sustainability. A green message can be successful at building a brand and showcasing your utility’s community initiatives, but it is less effective as the primary message in a marketing campaign. For example, when promoting an electric vehicle rebate program, the focus should be on the cost savings, with a secondary message about the environmental impact.

Keep in mind, many customers are not motivated to take action by a green message, even if they want to positively impact the environment. According to Harvard Business Review, one survey found that 65% of consumers had a desire to purchase sustainable products and services, but only 26% actually followed through with it.

What does this mean for energy utilities? An environmental message has the power to emotionally connect with customers, but it is not always successful at driving conversions or achieving program goals.

Enhance your energy utility’s green message

In a Journal of Environmental Psychology study, social influence has been shown to encourage customers to take action with ecofriendly messages, even when “the current norms for purchasing green products are low.” In other words, customers are often motivated by what their peers are doing.

For example, instead of promoting the green benefit of reduced paper consumption in a paperless billing campaign, highlight how other customers are making the switch and how going paperless is becoming common in today’s society. When promoting LED lighting for residential customers, consider this message: “Your neighbors are saving energy with LED lights — are you?”

For green messaging to be successful, customer education is key. Many customers simply aren’t aware of the environmental benefits of a particular program. For example, if your energy utility is creating a campaign to promote a community solar program, provide customers with information about the energy-saving benefits and the impact on their energy bill. Instead of simply describing community solar as green, “walk the walk” by combining education with marketing.

Connect with purpose-driven customers

Demographics are changing, and energy utilities are increasingly marketing to younger generations. Both millennials and Gen Z are passionate about advocating for sustainability and climate change, especially on social media. In fact, 75% of millennials will pay extra for sustainable products.

These purpose-driven customers are passionate about the environmental impact of the products and services they use. According to a Gallup poll, millennials and Gen Z are “highly worried about global warming, think it will pose a serious threat in their lifetime and think news reports about it are accurate or underestimate the problem.” Another recent study finds that 87% of millennials believe companies should be addressing environmental issues.

To reach these customers, sustainability messaging makes sense on your social media platforms as a way to encourage conversations and sharing. For example, highlight your energy utility’s midcentury carbon emission reduction goals and showcase local partnerships that make a difference for the environment. Also, try segmenting your customers to include more green messaging with younger audiences.

Keep in mind, millennials and Gen Z aren’t the only generations to care about the environment. Although younger generations love to express their passion for sustainability on social media, Gen X and baby boomers have greater purchasing power to seek out ecofriendly products and services. Customer insights data by Forrester Analytics finds that baby boomers are the generation that feels most empowered to reduce their environmental impact.

With climate change a hot-button topic, messages about the environment certainly resonate with today’s energy utility customers. However, a green message may not be enough to drive customer conversions. With the right research and marketing strategy, your energy utility can decide if a green message is the right direction to enhance your program promotions and build your brand.

Is your program messaging connecting with the right customers? Learn more about a targeted marketing strategy for your energy utility.

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Homeowners and Renters: The Right Message for the Right Segment

Infographic explaining why homeowners and renters are different customer segments

Homeowners and renters are very different audience segments. Your energy utility needs to know how best to communicate to these customers based on their needs and interests. While homeowners are often focused on long-term energy savings, renters are more concerned with quick ways to save that don’t require a huge upfront investment.

Read on to learn about the energy utility programs and services that resonate with these distinct groups of customers.

Energy savings

Renters often don’t have the means or desire to invest in improving their rental properties. However, they still want opportunities to save energy and money on their bills. Communicate energy-saving tips for small, inexpensive things they can do that will make a big impact on their bill. For example, recommend LED lighting, water-saving showerheads or smart power strips.
Homeowners want to save energy and money but are also willing to make an investment in their property that will increase its value in the long run. Your energy utility should recommend energy efficient products through rebates and incentives. Showcase the latest ENERGY STAR appliances, smart thermostats or EV chargers on your online marketplace and help these customers transform their homes.

Renewable energy

Community solar programs are a valuable option for renters who may not have the finances or permissions for installing their own PV panels. These programs, also called solar gardens or shared solar, offer a way for renters to benefit from renewable energy. Community solar provides participants with the opportunity to positively impact the environment and save on their energy bill.
Solar panel installation is an effective way for homeowners to create a more energy-efficient home. Despite the upfront costs, help customers see PV installation as an investment that will add long-term value to their home.

Energy efficiency

Help your renters make their homes more energy efficient while they live there. Share DIY videos, workshops or classes on how to effectively install faucets, weather-seal their doors and more. Any opportunity to save money and energy on their rental home is a win for these customers.
Promote your energy utility’s energy efficiency assessment to homeowners. Let them know this is a unique opportunity for an energy expert to assess their property for energy efficiency upgrades like insulation or a new HVAC system.

Electric vehicles

Renters may be interested in, or have already, purchased an electric vehicle. But how do they charge it? Renters don’t always have the option to install EV chargers at their rental property. Offer solutions such as a map with the nearest EV chargers in their area or tips on consulting with their property owner about adding smart chargers. Your energy utility can also offer more information on purchasing hybrid vehicles as another efficient alternative to electric vehicles.
Homeowners who have purchased or are considering purchasing electric vehicles also need to be aware of the charging options for their home. Level 1 and 2 smart chargers are acceptable for home use and can be installed in a garage. Offer smart charger promotions to customers to persuade them to make this purchase and to showcase your energy utility as a trusted resource on this topic.

Make sure your energy utility has a plan in place on how to segment and market to these different audiences. Focusing on specific needs and interests for each group will lead to greater customer engagement and long-term satisfaction.

Is your energy utility reaching the right audience with the right message? Learn more about Questline Digital’s proven approach to digital engagement.

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3 Ways to Add More Customers to Your Email List

Infographic listing ways that utilities can grow customer email lists

Email is an extremely effective channel for energy utility communications. You can quickly reach a lot of customers and also deliver personalized messages to specific segments. You can maintain a consistent customer touchpoint with an email newsletter and then leverage that engagement with targeted program promotions.

However, you can’t accomplish any of these things if you don’t have email addresses for your residential and business customers. That’s why list growth is often the first step of an email marketing strategy. Here are three ways your energy utility can use other channels to acquire customer email addresses.

Call center

One of the best ways to acquire a customer’s email address is to just ask for it! Add intuitive questions to customer service rep scripts that demonstrate the benefits of receiving email from your utility. For example:

“Would you like to be notified of storm alerts and potential outages in your area?”
“What is the best way to reach you via email to share cost-saving energy tips for your home?”

Website

Customers are already visiting your website to learn about their energy use or seek out cost-saving programs. Take the opportunity to remind them that you can deliver this content directly to their inboxes.

Add simple email signup forms to your website that correspond to the content on each page. For instance, on an energy efficiency program page you could suggest, “Enter your email address to receive energy-saving tips and rebates.” The call-to-action on a safety education page might be, “Sign up to get more home safety and energy efficiency advice.”

Social media

Your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram followers might not realize they can also get relevant updates delivered via email. When you post on social media sites asking customers if they are interested in receiving updates, make sure you emphasize convenience and interests that appeal to social users. For example:

“Never miss an update. Get the latest energy-saving tips sent straight to your inbox.”
“Sign up to learn more about sustainability and renewable energy.”

With these tips you can add to your list and reach even more customers, taking advantage of the power to deliver targeted promotions and content with email marketing.

Is your utility welcoming new customers by asking for their email address? Learn how to build a strong relationship from day one with a Welcome Series.

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