Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 8TH - 14TH FEBRUARY 2019 | 7 how can they communicate this and redress the balance? Build your brand Public image is difficult to change. It takes more than one good turn to throw off a nega- tive reputation. Fridrik Larsen – chief execu- tive of consultancy Larsen Energy Branding – insists that a positive image "must be earned", and building a strong brand is a good place to start (see opposite page). "Public image is sketched in the minds of the public in seconds, with the sketch affected by everything people know about the brand," he says. "In a split second, people judge a brand by everything they know about it – from their own personal experience, from what other people have to say about the brand, and from coverage of the brand." So what should utilities do to improve their image? The best way of creating a positive public image, Larsen suggests, is by developing a brand that "communicates effectively and builds last relationships with the public". Ben Quigley (le‡), group chief executive at brand and creative agency D.fferent, says that while price is an important factor for custom- ers when choosing a utility provider, putting the corporate focus on cost disregards the power of a strong brand. "It's an error that many companies make," he says. "Finding a distinctive voice in a functional market such as utilities and becoming memorable across all stages of the customer journey is vital." What's more, companies with a clearly defined purpose are likely to be a great deal more successful than those without one, especially if they can get consumers and the public to buy into that purpose. Talk to your customers Having a good relationship with customers is key to a positive reputation. Abbie Sampson, Energy UK director of external affairs, says: "A good reputation is hard to earn but easy to lose. So while the energy industry is working hard to increase trust, it also knows that this won't happen overnight and can only come from doing the right thing consistently." Greg Jackson, chief executive of Octo- pus Energy, agrees. He says that people's personal experience of a company is what shapes their perception of it. "Many people say 'if only they knew the real me,' but that's a myth – the 'you' people experience is the real you. It's the same in business. I o‡en hear people from legacy utility companies bemoaning their public perception. But the reality is that people's experience of compa- nies shapes their perception. continued overleaf P rice is, of course, a key fac- tor for customers choosing a utility provider, but put- ting the corporate focus on cost disregards the power of a strong brand – it's an error that many companies make. Finding a distinctive voice in a functional market such as utilities and becoming memora- ble across all stages of the cus- tomer journey is vital. Therefore, when marketing efficiency is the focus, cutting the market- ing budget, which is a common occurrence among big brands with high market share, destroys the foundations for brand suc- cess. In order to be successful, you need to target everyone who buys into the category, custom- ers and non-customers alike, with creative ideas that will appeal to them. Campaigns that include paid media are three times more effec- tive than those with only earned or owned elements. Contrary to popular opinion, owned content generally demands paid media exposure to gain attention. Customers' preferred touchpoints are the spaces that brands should be seeking to occupy. Programmatic adver- tising allows brands to reach audiences with different mes- sages at scale. By identifying audience splits and triggers, and developing specific messages for each split, brands can customise aspects of the creative within a central campaign without the need to run multiples. Face-to-face research and customer data analysis are pivotal in identifying common motivations, goals, behaviours and preferences that collectively form a persona. In order to truly effect behavioural change, utilities need to identify their customers' motivation and trig- gers, allowing brands to better understand their customers. Taking the energy sector's own research as an example, older people feel that utilities companies don't know what they want. A shi‡ in marketing strategy is therefore required to reach these consumers and help change their perception of brands in the category. This means getting a better understanding of what channels matter to them and what kind of content will help them. This, in turn, will allow brands to target them with the right messag- ing at the right time, through the right channel. Whether it is through analysing the links that customers click on emails, the tonality of social media con- versations, or browser activity, brands can gain valuable insight into making the customer jour- ney as friction-free as possible. What it all comes down to is helping your customers. Creat- ing a communications strategy that deploys the right message at the right time through the right channel across the entire customer journey is pivotal if utilities wish to remain relevant and connected to their target audience. Understand people's triggers to know when and where to target them; start con- versations rather than merely telling them what you think they should know. Marketing Ben Quigley Group chief executive, D.fferent Listen and learn from customers "While the energy industry is working hard to increase trust, it also knows that this won't happen overnight." ABBIE SAMPSON, DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, ENERGY UK "Many people say 'if only they knew the real me,' but that's a myth – the 'you' people experience is the real you." GREG JACKSON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, OCTOPUS ENERGY

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