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At Pioneer Utility Resources, our story is your story. As a communications co-op owned and led by community-owned utilities across the nation, Pioneer’s team helps:
- Grow your brand
- Strengthen your staff
- Share your stories
We call our members Utility Pioneers because they are not afraid to forge new paths, build innovative ways to share their stories and connect with the communities they serve.
At Pioneer’s Cooperative Member Meeting on May 25, 2023, we shared how Utility Pioneers are using cooperatively created solutions to meet common challenges across the nation. Our annual report videos showcase the voices of Utility Pioneers and Pioneer’s team of utility storytellers.
Pioneer Utility Resources’ 2022 Member Report
Growing Your Brand
To grow your brand, we help you listen to your community and find creative ways to get your story in front of the people who benefit most.
- Based on member requests, we successfully piloted two new solutions: focus groups and community surveys.
- Pioneer introduced marketing calendars and content cadence boards in 2022, creating strategic storytelling support throughout the year for new and existing brands.
- We helped Utility Pioneers launch and then build marketing and branding campaigns around five new brands.
Our co-op helps utilities do more with less, from making every dollar stretch farther — which is especially important as the U.S. Postal Service raises mailing rates — to supporting your team with critical training and extra hands when you need them most.
- Our team attended and led training sessions at more than 65 conferences in 2022, and we welcomed a record number of Utility Pioneers to the StoryConnect Conference.
- Free professional headshots were introduced and are becoming a hallmark of Pioneer’s event sponsorships.
- NewsData celebrated 40 years of making Northwest energy news accessible. Energy education took center stage. Online events and a revamped “EnergyWest” podcast help utility staff understand the evolving energy landscape.
- The educational webinars, podcasts, blog posts, case studies and e-books on our website — pioneer.coop — won two national awards for their focus on inspiration and solutions.
- Leadership changes at Efficiency Services Group ensure utility staff across the nation can easily continue to create, market and roll out energy-efficiency programs. Online rebate forms and smart thermostats join an already hefty portfolio of efficiency solutions.
- Utilities enrolled in Pioneer Social saw a total of 104,000,000 impressions, an increase of 26% over 2021. Pioneer Social’s 5.1% engagement rate far outpaced the national average of 0.07%.
- Pioneer’s TwoFourSeven social monitoring and response team responded to 97,254 messages in 2022, growing fan bases for our subscribers by 7.9%.
Sharing Your Story
Every day, in print, online and on the airwaves, Pioneer’s team of utility storytellers shares your story.
- Pioneer partners with our members to write, design and edit 124 custom magazines, mailing 11.5 million magazines in 2022.
- Our 2022 reader survey found a strong preference and loyalty for printed storytelling.
- Rural Telco Magazines celebrated a decade of storytelling connections in January.
- Our Powerful program helped 47 utility and broadband organizations launch dynamic websites last year.
- Pioneer’s digital campaigns drove 6.7 million impressions in 2022, creating more than 23,800 clicks for our members and clients.
- Our award-winning podcast production team now offers podcasting support to Utility Pioneers.
Our Story is Your Story
We’re growing to meet your evolving needs, leveraging economies of scale and technology to increase our team’s efficiency and help you manage communication and efficiency projects. And we’re checking in with you, our members, every step of the way.
- Pioneer added 20 utility storytellers over the last year, staffing up to meet the growing design, writing, editing and energy efficiency needs of our members. Meet your team.
- Each month we hold staff-selected and led webinars on topics including branding, industry terms, cybersecurity, magazine printing and best communication practices.
- Our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts continue, highlighted by another successful summer internship program. Building on our internship’s success, we partnered with The M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust to launch a DEI Rural Storytelling Fellowship in 2023.
- The 2023 Pioneer Pulse survey helps us track satisfaction and find ways to improve our solutions. Overall satisfaction with Pioneer remained a steady 9.1 out of 10, and we thank everyone who shared their thoughts.
- Pioneer’s board expanded, adding two seats to better represent Utility Pioneers in the Atlantic and Midwest regions. See who represents you on Pioneer’s Board of Directors.
“As members, Pioneer’s story is our story: your story and my story. I’m a Utility Pioneer.”
