From development and planning to execution, monitoring, completion, evaluation, and final reporting—we’re ready to help you implement end-to-end, brand-aligned programs that improve safe behaviors of contractors, excavators, tree and agricultural workers, emergency and public officials, teachers and students, and customers.
Our experienced, multidisciplinary team will work with you to identify your unique target audiences based on risk profile and program goals. We’ll deliver an effective, expertly executed program grounded in proven research and meticulous data collection, and totally in sync with your brand.
Program Design
Our unique program development process offers value at every step. It generates data, benchmarks, and assets that support a continuous improvement cycle.
- Research: Focus groups, surveys, and interviews, as well as established studies, add depth and context to situational analyses. This learning helps to develop meaningful program objectives, and informs subsequent phases of program development.
- Design: The resources associated with an outreach program must be strategically designed, taking into consideration the media, audiences, learning styles, work environments, and more. All elements—from the copy and photos to infographics and animation—need to be carefully thought out and must work seamlessly together to reinforce the communication. Finally, the design has to integrate with your company’s brand standards and visual guidelines to enhance your brand recognition, message, and public impact.
- Implement: Program implementation is a series of properly orchestrated communications that reinforce each other to maximize impact. Multiple channels of communication are used to create awareness, encourage action, educate audiences, and change behaviors. Equally important, these systems are designed with built-in feedback loops and data collection that provide valuable information for ongoing analysis.
- Effectiveness Research: How will you know if your program is successful? This is where measurement comes in. Impact studies such as testing and surveys gauge effectiveness, establish benchmarks, and help to guide future improvements. The data generated from these studies is also of great importance to regulators, insurers, and legal departments.
- Next Steps: Post-program data analysis, insights, and recommendations let you build upon what’s working best to sustain a successful outreach program. The reports become a major asset to public safety planning, as well as an important component in your organization’s overall strategic business plan.
Damage Prevention
Drawing on a broad and deep knowledge of industry best practices, we can help you build a damage prevention program that addresses the uniqueness of your served stakeholders—including geographical and commodity differences, population characteristics, and their most pressing challenges.
Our brand-aligned approach not only delivers excellent damage prevention results, but also serves to enhance your utility’s reputation as an energy expert. Damage prevention programs also build a valuable reservoir of goodwill that helps protect your image and reputation in the event of a publicized incident, whether it occurs in your service territory or elsewhere.
Strategic Advantage
Best-in-class utilities have learned this lesson well: Safety outreach that goes beyond mere compliance is not only safe business, it’s smart business. Effective public safety programs deliver a measurable strategic advantage in the marketplace.
According to the 2019 J.D. Power Utilities Satisfaction Outlook Survey:
For residential gas customers, perception of the utility’s helpfulness in preparing for a safety issue drives a 121-point increase in customer satisfaction; awareness of efforts to increase electrical safety is associated with a 112-point satisfaction rise. Both of these represent a 10% gain. (Water utilities see a more dramatic difference: customers who are aware of their water utilities’ safety efforts demonstrate 20% higher customer satisfaction than those who are not.)
An earlier JD Power study found that a 10-point increase in customer satisfaction translates into a 0.04% increase in return on equity.
The takeaway is clear. Investments in customer satisfaction can yield rewards as significant as capital investments.
Public safety engagement taps into customers’ expectations of utility safety communication, a known satisfaction driver.
Program Implementation and Management
Why not let an experienced multidisciplinary project management team manage the entire process—from development and planning to execution, monitoring, and completion?
We start by scoping out your project in detail and providing comprehensive proposals and timelines. Upon project initiation, we diligently manage costs, resources, and quality, and ensure your program’s effectiveness by dealing with any issues or challenges that may arise.
We also make it easy to regularly communicate project milestones, reviews, and reports with your management team and key stakeholders. Responsive project coordination, electronic dashboards, 24/7 reporting websites, and dedicated account management keep you up to date on progress and alert you to any internal action steps. Each project wraps up with a comprehensive summary that includes support data, analysis, and recommendations for continuous improvement.