In the spring of this year, solar installations in the US surpassed two million, just three short years after the solar industry completed its millionth installation, a milestone that took 40 years to reach.

Policies spurred by ambitious state renewable energy commitments have helped speed up the adoption of renewables in general, but the growth of solar is also driven by enormous consumer demand. 

At KSV, we have seen this firsthand.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Data and Analytics, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Innovation, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Audience Segmentation

According to the USDA, the number of farmers markets in the country has nearly doubled in the past 10 years. And the number of U.S. households growing food at home or in a community garden has increased 200 percent from 2008 levels, according to the National Gardening Association.

Why? 

Consumers’ purchasing decisions are being driven by their key values. 

Independence. Resilience. Self-reliance. Local. Sustainable. These values are shifting consumer behavior and increasing demand for specific types of goods.  

Why should utilities or solar providers care? Because we see these very same values come into play when we talk to consumers about solar.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Data and Analytics, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Innovation, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices, Audience Segmentation

We’ve talked previously about how customer expectations and demands are rapidly changing—customers expect a modern and easy-to-use experience when they interact with energy providers’ digital products and services. We know that keeping up with evolving customer expectations and technology trends can be difficult and overwhelming. Oftentimes, it’s hard to know where to start.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices

If you find that question hard to answer, you’re not alone. For many energy companies, establishing a distinct personality through social media often seems like a pipe dream, especially when they have enough trouble establishing a regular presence or a consistent content marketing strategy on their social media channels. When tasked with so much else, creating a brand personality via social often feels like the extra sprinkles on a sundae—nice to have, but does it make a difference in the quality of the product?

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Clean Energy, Social Media Strategy and Best Practices, Inspiration, Branding and Brand Value

We have mentioned a few times that the voice revolution is coming, and today we’d venture a guess to say that it has arrived. For one in five U.S. adults, voice assistants are a regular part of their daily routines, providing solutions, offering advice, and acting as a go-to resource for doing everything from turning off lights to scheduling playdates. Your company needs to embrace voice technology as a customer engagement tool, or risk losing out on countless opportunities to provide key customer touchpoints with your brand.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Smart Technology

Customer expectations and demands are rapidly changing—customers expect every interaction they have to be as good as if not better than their most recent experience. When an energy or utility customer pays their bill, for example, they expect the same experience and level of personalization that they had purchasing a new product on Amazon or Target. An experience that is often authentic, intuitive, easy-to-use and mobile.  

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Digital Transformation and User Experience

A postcard from New Orleans: Harrison Grubbs, our Director of Strategic Partnerships, is attending the annual DistribuTech Conference and Exhibition this week. The conference gathers the latest disruptive and innovative energy technology products and experts in one place to network, collaborate and share best practices. In between sessions, Harrison has shared a sneak peek for the rest of us here at KSV.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Innovation, Clean Energy

 

 

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Innovation, Clean Energy, Smart Technology

 

As marketers, we have been friends with data for decades. As the conversation has evolved and capabilities have grown, we have experienced excitement for data’s potential yet concern for both actionability and privacy, which is inherent to data’s increased sophistication and collection.

At KSV, we believe in being thoughtful, careful and 100 percent customer focused in terms of how we collect and activate data for our clients. The North Star for us with respect to data is customer centricity. How can we help our clients improve satisfaction for their residential and commercial customers via data-driven interactions? This is the key question that guides our team and its strategic use of data.

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Data and Analytics, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Clean Energy

 

Topics: Customer-Centric Marketing, Utility Communications, Data and Analytics, Digital Transformation and User Experience, Innovation, Energy Efficiency, Research, Clean Energy, Media Strategy and Best Practices, Smart Technology, Marketing Strategy and Best Practices