Breaking down silos and embracing innovative strategies to turn small business outreach into action.

If you oversee small business outreach for a regulated utility, you operate at the intersection of pressure and complexity. Regulators demand results. Leadership wants metrics. Customers expect relevance. And your team? They’re working harder than ever—yet response rates may be dropping, program participation is likely sluggish, and satisfaction scores are barely holding steady.

Sound familiar? We get it. Small business customers are notoriously difficult to engage. They’re busy, distracted, and often skeptical of anything that feels like a sales pitch, especially from their utility. Even when programs like “time-of-use rates” or “energy efficiency incentives” offer real value, they often fall flat. These customers don’t have time to decode jargon, chase down emails, or navigate a portal to figure out what rebates apply to them.

At the core is a trust gap. For many small business owners, utility outreach feels transactional—designed to check a box, not solve a problem. Building or rebuilding trust means showing up differently, with communication that’s timely, relevant, and aligned with customer needs.

But that’s nearly impossible when outreach is fractured across departments:

• Regulatory sends compliance updates
• Energy efficiency promotes rebates
• Marketing pushes seasonal tips

To your teams, it’s business as usual. To your customers, it all comes across as disjointed and confusing.

It’s time for utility leaders to rethink outreach, break down silos.
And adopt more innovative strategies that move small businesses
From passive recipients to active participants.

The silo trap. Most utilities still operate with legacy communication models—department-driven, message-specific, and internally oriented. In a regulated environment, that may feel necessary. But to small business customers, it’s noise. They don’t see roles or mandates, but only a stream of disconnected messages that lack clarity, consistency, or purpose.

As a result, trust erodes, engagement stalls, and internal teams spend more time defending performance than delivering outcomes. Frustration builds, budgets are questioned, and leadership demands to understand: “How are we spending this much and still falling short?”

From Fragmented Outreach to Unified Strategy: What Success Looks Like

Breaking out of the silo trap starts with alignment—backed by the right strategy and support. It’s not about an organizational overhaul that burdens internal teams. It’s about bringing the right people to the table early, defining a shared message, and delivering it consistently across teams and channels.

The goal is smarter, streamlined communication that speaks with one voice,
Meets regulatory requirements and earns your customers’ trust.

You don’t need to become a marketing expert or a tech strategist. But you do need infrastructure that’s built for your world: a comprehensive engagement platform designed specifically for regulated utilities, one that replaces fragmented communications with integrated outreach tailored to small business behavior. It should be turnkey, scalable, and IT-light.

Imagine this:

• Campaigns coordinated across departments, delivering one clear and consistent message
• Targeted outreach based on usage, business type, seasonality, and behavior
• Small businesses receiving relevant information at the right time through the right channel, with a clear reason to engage
• Stronger participation, proactive customer interest, and clear metrics to back it all up
• Regulatory requirements not just met but exceeded
• Leadership recognizes your team as a model of performance

A Partner in the Process

ARTÉMIA Communications partners with regulated utilities to move beyond fragmented messaging and into integrated, future-ready strategies that drive real engagement. We understand what’s at stake when public trust is fragile, when regulators demand results, and when delays have a downstream impact.

Our team works as an extension of yours—accelerating alignment, strengthening message consistency, and helping you lead with clarity even in high-pressure environments. Whether you’re relaunching a program or rethinking your entire approach, we bring deep utility experience and strategic insight to help you communicate purposefully, with results that matter.

Let’s discuss how we can help your team break through the noise and lead with impact.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our award-winning Chief Strategist.