One of the many things we’re working on at the moment at Lition is our marketing and brand messaging. We want to spread the word far and wide about who we are, what makes us different, and what the benefits are to consumers who join our platform.

But how do you market something like electrical energy which is intangible, invisible and supposedly an undifferentiated commodity (either it’s there and it works, or it isn’t there and it doesn’t)?

Photo by Stuart Guest-Smith on Unsplash

Compared to “sexy” consumer products like smartphones, cars, movies or dating apps, electrical energy is something which most marketers might euphemistically call a “low engagement category.” Yes we all need it, but we don’t want to constantly have to think about it. And this is traditionally what many of the incumbent energy providers have told us for so long. Basically: “You can count on us and don’t have to worry.” “We’re big and we’ve been here forever.” Pretty generic messages.

Yet electricity in our homes represents probably the only thing we pay for which we are literally consuming 24/7/365. Even when we’re not home and all the lights are off, some amount of power is keeping our fridge cool, keeping our alarm clock running, or keeping our internet router powered. I’d argue that something so essential to our daily life and well-being, while maybe being technically invisible, should certainly be appreciated as tangible- or at the very least as providing us with very tangible benefits.

Given our constant consumption of something so essential to us, it’s a little surprising that we don’t think more often about our energy- perhaps with the exception of when the substantial fees hit our bank account each month.

One thing that most of us probably do think about more often, though, is where our environment is headed. Whether it’s images on TV of trash in oceans, smoggy air in our cities, or predictions about global warming, we’re exposed on a daily basis directly or indirectly with the state of the environment and our role in its future.

It’s with the introduction of green considerations into our energy choices that a lot of confusion and misinformation suddenly come into play. We’ve often been falsely led to believe that there is a natural trade-off between cheaper energy and greener energy (spoiler: there actually isn’t). And sometimes what we’re told to believe is green energy, really isn’t nearly as green as you might think. We’ll have a lot more to share on these topics in later posts, and we think you’ll be surprised at some of the insights.

With the deregulation of energy markets and increased competition, we as consumers now have more choices than ever for where we source our energy- hydro plants, bio mass, wind and solar- not to mention choices about how far away the plant is from us (that, too, plays a real role in cost and environmental impact).

The bottom line is that electrical energy is neither as intangible nor as much of a commodity as the entrenched players might like us to believe. You have real choices, including verifiably green choices that are also less expensive. And these choices don’t have to be difficult for you to implement.

As a consequence, there’s much more nuance to marketing electrical energy than might be obvious at first. Our job at Lition will be to share the stories, insights and knowledge to create a truly greener energy ecosystem at superior value. And we’ll give you the tools to make your own energy choices in an “I-can’t-believe-it’s-that-simple” elegant online interface. Bottom line: we’ll help you make smarter, cheaper, and greener energy choices, easily.

So to answer the original question of whether we can really market an ‘intangible commodity’, I’d argue that electrical energy is actually neither intangible nor a commodity, and the real question is not can we market energy, but which of the many relevant messages should we start with first?

We’re looking forward to getting started and hope to have you along for the ride.