Four energy communications constants in a world of climate chaos

By Claire Wych, Content Director on the energy team.

According to Bloomberg the world is “hurtling toward $1 trillion in weather-disaster damages” by the end of 2023. The culprit?  La Niña. The yin to El Niño’s yang.  

For the uninitiated, El Niño, and the lesser known La Niña, are atmospheric phenomena which cause extreme weather globally. This isn’t necessarily new, however, its combination with climate change is. Disruption and destruction from the resulting floods, wildfires, droughts and intense storms are becoming more frequent, prolonged and intense as result.  

Communications to stand out in the crowd

While tens of thousands of energy companies are already innovating sustainable solutions to accelerate the energy transition, the additional impact of La Niña adds yet more incentive to the fire. But, in what has fast become a crowded marketplace, how can communications help energy innovators increase brand awareness, generate meaningful engagement, build trust and accelerate sales? Here are four communications constants that all energy brands should employ: 

• Firstly, clear, concise messaging is a must for all energy PR. It lies at the heart of what helps businesses to grow, letting your audience know exactly what you’re about, while differentiating you from the crowd. While being realistic, it should captivate, energise and excite. Done right, it’ll draw people to your door who are ready to accelerate the energy transition together. From multi-billion pound green hydrogen projects to omnidirectional rooftop wind turbines, the energy transition is stacked full of unique innovations your audience will love to hear about. 
• After supporting over 500 sustainable energy innovations since inception, InnoEnergy asked us to redraft its messaging to reflect it becoming the largest sustainable energy innovation ecosystem in the world. The new messaging celebrates its successes while also attracting thousands of likeminded potential partners that it could catalyse and accelerate the energy transition with. We executed a similar project for Aquaterra Energy, refining its messaging to reflect its ESG commitments and repositioning them to help increase sales in the renewables space.

• Brand awareness helps put your business in front of potential customers, investors and collaborators. Whether boosting your profile with existing audiences, or introducing you to new ones, PR strengthens your network and attracts people to engage with you. This is most successfully achieved using an integrated, multi-channel approach, boosting engagement by layering proactive communications across owned, earned, borrow and paid media. 
• For our energy analytics client, Innowatts, we paired our media relations work with social media amplification campaigns. Over six months we secured over 40 pieces of coverage including in trade media such as Current+, reNews, Smart Grid Today, T&D World and Utility Week. We achieved a 42% increase in LinkedIn followers and an average CTR of 0.94% for lead generation – nearly double the industry standard.  

• Thought leadership – where your business uses its expertise to offer valuable insights on a specific topic or debate – builds trust and credibility. With a touch of considered creativity – a creative spark that is distinctive, relevant and rooted in a deep understanding of your business, its audience and their wants and needs – you’re guaranteed to get noticed.  
• Verkor came to us as a small start-up with big ambition; to fast-track low‑carbon battery production in Europe and raise capital to build the Verkor Innovation Centre. After securing 60 pieces of coverage for its launch including in Bloomberg, we kept its name in lights through a discrete news, commentary and thought leadership campaign. Leveraging its senior spokespeople, we drafted several thought leadership articles to make the case for investment in its novel business proposition. Using communications to build its credibility and boost their profile across Europe, Verkor successfully raised €100m in funding.
• Finally, be a beacon of hope. While the old saying goes that ‘bad news sells newspapers’, that’s not to say that we shouldn’t celebrate our successes. With climate change hanging over our future like an ominous black cloud, a little light will go a long way in attracting supporters – be their customers, investors or collaborators – to you. Those successes need not be grandiose; let the fantastic results speak for themselves.
• Aquaterra Energy came to us to help them launch Project Haldane, a milestone collaboration that would see them pioneer an offshore green hydrogen jack-up rig production concept. For the launch we secured 45 pieces of coverage in key trade media including ENDS Report, Energy Digital, Offshore Technology, Wind Power Monthly and reNews. After receiving several enquiries following launch, Aquaterra Energy signed a joint development agreement with Seawind Ocean Technology to create the world’s largest offshore floating wind and green hydrogen production project – another beacon of hope for the energy transition!  

And that’s just some of the ways that energy communications can supercharge your next stage of growth. Want to know how we can create a campaign to achieve your goals? Get in touch.