Marketing for a Sustainable Environment

Since joining Enersponse in July 2021, Director of Marketing Nicole Ricouard methodically reconstructed the marketing department from the ground up with strategic, innovative insight based on her long history of upstream and downstream marketing. As a modern marketing leader, she is a rare combination of transformational pioneer and hands-on go-getter with the ability to navigate business strategy into the C-suite while also rolling her sleeves up to execute where necessary in order to maintain a successful brand.

Joining Enersponse was a pivotal choice based on her desire to make a positive impact on the environment. The mission at Enersponse is to provide a simple solution for companies of all sizes and across differing industries to participate in energy conservation programs. “I knew that conserving our natural resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions was important. Working with Enersponse has allowed me to help companies reduce energy usage or even offset energy usage during high-demand periods to have a powerful environmental impact.”

Nicole understands the needs of the customer and how the organization can best shape communications to clearly outline why Enersponse programs are important, the long-term benefits and how easy they are to adopt. “Most businesses want to reduce their carbon footprint but don’t realize how simple a solution can be. We help them to understand how they can reduce their energy consumption to avoid volatile prices and help them get incentivized to do so. At the end of the day, it makes the work my team and I engage in worthwhile and meaningful in so many ways.”

In the last year, Nicole prioritized rebuilding the company website based on a voice-of-the-customer foundation and structuring it with valuable content to not only answer customer questions, but to also reap the benefits of a strong SEO strategy. Overseeing the entire project meant being directly involved through all aspects – the overarching messaging strategy, copywriting and design, and coordinating with agency talent to bring the vision to life.

The importance of working closely with the VP of sales to help marketing effectively speak to customer pain points and maintain the brand message is one area she focuses on with a data-driven approach and a prioritization of two-way communication. Establishing and maintaining annual marketing KPIs that can be tied directly to meaningful sales improvements is just one of her many enhancements to the marketing department. The Salesforce dashboards she created early in her tenure with the organization have created alignment among teams, drive better decision-making and clearly showcase the impact of her work on the organization’s bottom line.

Within a fast-moving and ever-growing organization, it pays to be a nimble marketer with strong experience across verticals. Nicole easily navigates high-level strategy planning, agency management, tradeshow coordination, competitive intelligence and budgeting, as well as production across social community management, email strategy and more. She also manages a growing marketing team with a goal to continually develop and nurture new talent. “If you invest in your team members, they feel valued and are more efficient. Leading means listening and hearing out my team members, which allows me to translate their big ideas into action.”

Nicole has had the grounding benefit of two strong female role models to mentor her during her successful career. One is Leslie Licano, co-founder of Beyond Fifteen Communications, Inc., who has steadfastly supported Nicole with encouragement and support as she navigates her high-level leadership goals. The other is former VP of marketing and operations Beth Biron, who guided her early on in her career with best practices and exhibited what a strong female leader in the industry looked like.

Despite her demanding leadership role, Nicole finds time to prioritize continuous learning and self-improvement. She knows it’s the best way to stay current and competitive, not only as an individual, but for the benefit of the entire organization. “If we aren’t pushing ourselves, we aren’t growing,” she says. “In the end, isn’t that what life is all about? Becoming a better person – in every aspect.”