As an electric co-op employee, have you ever found yourself uttering these words? “We have a regulated customer base; we don’t need marketing!” While it might be true that you don’t need marketing to expand your customer base, there is tremendous value in communicating to engage and educate your member-owner community. Engaged and informed members are happier members who show up when you need them most.
Here’s how you can position your electric co-op to gain the trust and support of your member-owners:
Demonstrate Productivity
We hear it repeatedly — members complain about their electric rates, but there’s nothing you can do to change them! We know there isn’t much you can do about your rates, but you can demonstrate to your member-owners how efficiently you are running your office and spending their money. Each year, we design annual reports demonstrating budgets are being spent wisely and administrative costs are being kept to a minimum using eye-catching, data-driven images. Transforming nitty gritty data into aesthetic reports makes the information more approachable for member-owners. We like to compare our clients’ spending to the national and state averages, helping member-owners understand that their co-op is doing better than the rest. If member-owners understand where their money is going and how it benefits them, their trust and loyalty grows.
Show You Care
Giving back to the community builds trust with your member-owners, helps retain employees, and keeps your organization on top of mind. We’ve worked with electric co-ops to ensure member-owners understand how much they are giving back to the community by amplifying community sponsorship and scholarship programs alongside other charitable initiatives. Effective communications campaigns help keep this goodwill top of mind for years to come. Another way to show your member-owners that you care is through rebate programs. Communicating how you put money back into members’ pockets will make them more likely to think of your electric co-op positively.
Get To Know Your Members
People are wired for human-to-human connection. That’s why in-person Q&A sessions and member appreciation events are some of the best ways to engage your member-owners. We love promoting a good event that gives electric co-op executives and BOD members the opportunity to foster real connection and cooperation. We’ve helped launch and promote successful member engagement events such as Coffee With Your Co-Op, Brews with the Crews, and member appreciation events for multiple co-ops. In 2021, we helped promote a member appreciation food truck rally that over 800 members attended. Continually nurturing face-to-face connection leads to an engaged member base that you can turn to for initiative approval or board election engagement.
Free Up Time With Effective Education Campaigns
From educating members about electrical safety to communicating the importance of vegetation management, multi-platform informative campaigns are some of the most important marketing you’ll do as an electric co-op. We’ve helped co-ops across the country educate members about vegetation management programs through integrated campaigns encompassing social media, direct mail, email, PR, events, and more, which helped create social capital and decrease concerned members and calls to the customer service line.
While marketing for electric co-op might look a little different than marketing your average B2C company, it’s still one of the most important things you can do to build trust, goodwill, and engagement with your member-owners. Learn more about how we help electric cooperatives inform and engage member-owners through strategic marketing and communications.
