Council members will describe and discuss, in two to four minutes, the marketing approaches they are taking—for a single program or campaign or an overarching technique—that have improved overall marketing return on investment. This will give all attendees a quick, valuable snapshot of the variety of approaches others that are taking to increase marketing success. In addition, we’d like attendees to articulate the biggest marketing challenge their company is facing. We’ll allow time later in the day for the group to help address those challenges.

We know that in many utilities the marketing department is not well understood. Even in utilities with established marketing endeavors, integration with other important departments is, shall we say, “interesting.” We’ll go through a series of department relationships and share stories about how we have learned to interact most effectively. We’ll cover departments such as Demand-Side Management (DSM), Corporate Communications/Advertising, Market Research, Customer Care/Customer Service, the Executive Office, Regulatory Affairs, and any other group the Council wants to discuss.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and blogs continue to grow in popularity within the general population, and more utilities are participating in this rapidly evolving marketing and communications channel. In this session, we’ll talk about where we were six months ago, where we are today, and what’s in store for the future. Questions include:

• What have you learned about the social media and new media space over the past six months?
• What challenges are you facing as you work through your social media strategy?
• What advice would you give others who are just starting out?
• What have been your social media wins and losses? What can we learn from real-world situations?
• What internal and external implementation challenges have you seen?
• What metrics are you using to track and assess social media?
• What has social media meant for your interdepartmental relationships, communications, and collaboration? Any pitfalls to avoid or advice to share with the Council?

The recession is affecting everyone. Limited budgets have created restricted resources, but performance expectations remain high. We’ll talk about how to succeed in the new economy when money and staff are scarce, workload is increased, organizations are in flux, customer attitudes are evolving, and much more. How are utilities and other marketing organizations adapting? What new techniques are being used to reach customers and what are the internal implications—staffing, morale, productivity, and budget—of all this change? Questions include:

• How have you shifted internal priorities or tactics?
• What are the staffing and hiring adjustments you have been forced to make?
• How are utility budgets continuing to be affected?
• What new, low-cost marketing techniques have gained traction?
• What new messages are you using for different programs and services?
• Are some marketing channels cheaper than they were before?
• Is morale an issue? How are you keeping your team focused?

Compared to just two short years ago when E Source held its first social marketing event, the buzz and activity about behavior change has really accelerated. In this session, we’ll review what the Council members’ companies are doing with specific social marketing campaigns, and we’ll investigate how behavior change can be integrated into DSM marketing approaches.

• Do you have a campaign in progress or in planning? What is it?
• Who has used OPower or a similar program? What are results?
• What programs have you been following? What do you like or dislike about them?
• Who is using the framework of community-based social marketing?
• What are the challenges of getting a behavior-change marketing program up and running? Getting management on board? Getting the public utilities commission on board?
• How are results being measured?
• What are the plans for the future?

A market-potential study can look at technologies, but much of the real DSM work comes down to convincing customers to actually participate. Many programs fail, not because of poor program design, but because of poor marketing plans and weak execution. In this session, Council members will share war stories about successes and failures.

• Be brave and have some fun. Tell us what hasn’t worked, such as failed campaigns.
• What advertising or promotional approaches seem to have the most impact (residential, small businesses, etc.)?
• What are some of the channels that seem to work best in each sector?
• When are rebates not necessary, or when can they be substantially reduced?
• How are utilities tracking the success of various marketing approaches?
• How does segmentation fit into the marketing mix?

Most utilities are still driven by supply-side concerns. However, it’s becoming increasingly important to create a utility culture that not only tolerates marketing, but embraces it as a core success factor. We’ll discuss how to achieve that culture.

• Is marketing a truly credible asset throughout your utility? Why or why not?
• What factors create a positive environment for marketing efforts?
• What utilities have driven marketing to the point where it has become a seamless part of the business?
• How can marketing executives help their own cause by promoting the marketing agenda effectively to upper management, supply-side departments, lawyers, and financial officers?
• Do managers understand the positive link between marketing effectiveness and customer satisfaction?

Utilities always want high customer satisfaction and a strong, positive reputation. Historically, this has been derived by achieving high reliability, keeping prices low, and having adequate customer service. But customers are expecting more from their utilities these days. They want utilities to be clean and green, to offer them ways to save money, and to be their energy partner.

• What is your utility’s brand?
• How does marketing influence this brand?
• How dominant is energy efficiency in your corporate communications?
• Do you have market research that gauges your customers’ desire for energy-efficiency programs and renewables?
• How integrated are you with corporate branding?

Organizing Communications, Marketing, and Advertising; Benchmarking and Goal Setting for 2010; and Smart Meter Deployments

During our final session of the day, we’ll cover topics identified as areas of concern or interest during our Fall 2009 E Source Utility Marketing Executive Council. We’ll share ideas about organizing communications, marketing, and advertising; share benchmarking concepts and data; highlight goals for the remainder of 2010; and touch on the latest happenings in smart meter deployments and smart grid infrastructure investments. Questions include:

• What are the different ways that utilities are monitoring and managing their communications, marketing, and advertising?
• What big projects and programs are putting pressure on your marketing and outreach planning?
• What are your goals for 2010? How do you realistically set targets in this uncertain and seemingly unstable environment?
• What have you learned from management, staff, and industry leaders that you can share with the Council?
• How are utilities marketing and communicating about smart grid?
• What big events occurred in the past six months, and what do the current trends suggest for the remainder of 2010?
• What adjustments can be made to effectively market programs and position them for success in 2011?