About Us
As a full-service public relations and advertising firm, we offer services that help strengthen your business, whether that means improving awareness of your brand or services, increasing participation and sales, or informing key audiences.
At G&T Communications, we bring an attitude of excellence to every project. As five-time national award winners, we strive to bring you the best. Whether we work with you on a single project or on an ongoing basis, it’s our goal to make you and your organization succeed. You’ll also find that we are extremely cost-effective.
Case Studies
2021 PRSA Silver Anvil Finalist
Crisis Communications – COVID-19 Challenges
Client – Blue Ridge Energy
2021 Telly Award Winner
TV Spot
Client – NOVEC
2021 Spotlight on Excellence
Best Total Communication
Client – PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
2019 Edgar F. Chestnutt Award
Best Total Communication
Client – GreyStone Power
Services
Strategic Planning
for public relations and advertising.
Writing & Design
for external and internal traditional communication pieces.
Creative
for digital & electronic pieces.
Ad Development
for traditional and digital communication outlets.
Annual Report
writing and design.
Logo & Image Development
for customized branding.
Crisis Communication
planning and support.
Social Media Support
with strategic content and visuals for all your channels.
The #GoTo People
By using G&T Communications on a per-project basis, you can keep your staff lean, while achieving the excellent results and benefits of having a fully-staffed communication department. Even if you’re located in another state, working with us is easy. We have multiple clients from all across the country. Firm founder and president Maggie Tilley, APR, CCC, has more than 35 years of experience in working with energy utilities and service providers and a proven track record of results. She and her team know what it takes to help you achieve your goals.
Testimonials
2021 Telly Award Winner
Client – NOVEC
This TV spot highlights the ways NOVEC, an electric cooperative owned by the people it serves, helps keep life bright by keeping service high and rates low. The ad was part of an ongoing Keeping Life Bright campaign.
2019 Best Total Communication Program – Advertising Campaign – Spotlight on Excellence Award
Client – GreyStone Power
GreyStone Power had been pursuing the #1 spot among cooperatives as ranked by J.D. Power. for quite some time, and Communication is one of the six key metrics for achieving that.
The Making Life Better ad campaign, which kicked off in late March 2018, helped GreyStone Power achieve the top spot in overall Customer Satisfaction, ranking them as #1 among cooperatives by J.D. Power for 2019-2020. Plus, the campaign was named the 2019 Edgar F. Chesnutt award winner, the highest honor in cooperative communication.
The ad campaign included TV, print, social media and digital advertising, as well as ads in the utility’s member and employee publications.
© G&T Communications, Inc.
2021 PRSA Silver Anvil Finalist COVID-19 Crisis Communications – COVID-19 Challenges
Client – Blue Ridge Energy
This power company set up a funding assistance program to help consumers struggling to pay energy bills during the pandemic.
Blue Ridge worked with G&T Communications to develop a strategic campaign that promoted awareness of the significant need for energy assistance, connected with those who needed help and motivated other consumers to contribute to the In This Together Relief Fund.
Outreach efforts included communication in the cooperative’s newsletter and magazine, information on bills and payment area, as well as the utility’s website and social media channels. Emails to consumers, advertising and news media coverage all helped spread the word.
Through these combined efforts, Blue Ridge Energy exceeded its goal of $225,000, raising close to $270,000. Almost 2,400 families in western North Carolina benefitted from assistance.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) annually names a select group of Silver Anvil Award finalists, recognizing these organizations for outstanding achievement in addressing challenging issues with professional skill, creativity and resourcefulness. Other finalists include General Motors, FedEx, Duke Energy, Clorox and Mazda. Among the competing international public relations firms are Edelman, FleishmanHillard, Hill+Knowlton and Ketchum.
To date, the campaign has helped recruit about 45,000 S.C. members to help Beat The Peak.
Community Solar Sellout
Client – Blue Ridge Energy
In response to requests for renewable energy options, Blue Ridge Energy launched a community solar program. The cooperative tapped G&T Communications to help them launch the program and sell subscriptions for nearly 1,500 solar panels.
We helped promote the program with targeted and lead-generating social media campaigns and digital ads, social media content, and wraps around Carolina Country magazine.
We also developed a targeted letter to those who would benefit financially from solar subscriptions and sent e-blasts and thank you cards to those who had already signed up enticing them to create testimonials and encourage their friends to participate. Window clings mailed to participants helped spread the word, too!
Blue Ridge succeeded in selling out their solar subscriptions in only 10 months, and the effort helped increase member satisfaction scores from 9.27 to 9.38 (on a 10-point scale).
Spotlight on Excellence: Best Total Communication
Client – PowerSouth Energy Cooperative
When PowerSouth launched a manufactured home heat pump upgrade promotion for member cooperatives throughout Alabama and northwest Florida, we worked with them to develop and place a comprehensive digital marketing plan. Venues included social media promotion, digital display advertising and email marketing to drive consumers to member websites for more information and to fill out interest forms.
Advertising was targeted to those likely to own, rent or purchase a manufactured home within the participating co-op’s service area zip codes.
The campaign delivered more than 2.6 million targeted impressions and had an average click-through rate of 5% on emails and 0.3% on ads. More than 50 rebates were issued during the campaign period, surpassing their goal.
“Maggie and her team do a superb job helping us to strategically message to our customers. Their work product is always first class, regardless of the communication channel we are using. I attribute a lot of our success in being number one in customer satisfaction among cooperatives in the most recent J.D. Power survey to the work Maggie and her team did in helping us communicate with our customers.“
Gary Miller, President/CEO
GreyStone Power Corporation, Ga.
“Working with G&T’s skilled professionals is extremely easy and allows our existing and limited Member Services staff to focus on daily challenges and workflow. With the two groups working together, our newsletters, annual reports, and other communications pieces are always better than they would have been singularly. I consider Maggie and her team a partner with Central Electric and heartily recommend them for your team, also.”
Morris McClelion, General Manager (Retired)
Central Electric Membership Corporation, N.C.
“I am extremely pleased with G&T Communications. Since our initial quote they offered prompt, courteous, responsive and personal service throughout the process of editing, formatting and finalizing our Cooperative’s history pamphlet. Their suggestions and assistance were invaluable. At no point did they rush our progress; in fact they came to the rescue with an extremely aggressive timeline to get the project completed to the level of flawlessness we sought. I recommend G&T Communications to anyone, without reservation.”
Ann M. Lewis, former Director of Communications & Public Relations
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, Va.
“I have known Maggie since the 1980s when she worked for Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation. She is a personable professional who manages her own very successful marketing and public relations firm today. We hire Maggie to complete two or three projects per year for Flint Energies. Most every project touched by G&T Communications provide the results we are looking for AND they win national awards in the process.Her firm has a keen creative eye and they do what they say they will … on time and on budget. I can recommend Maggie without reservation.”
Jimmy Autry, Fellow PRSA, APR, CCC, Senior Vice President of Member and Community Relations (Retired)
Flint Energies, Ga.
“Working with G&T Communications is the definition of synergy. The spirit of cooperation, the level of professionalism and the quality of creative work is beyond compare. I can rely on G&T to execute my projects with style and substance while being on target with the right message and within my budget. It’s refreshing to work with a company that has the same work ethic, attention to detail and quality standards as I have. You would be remiss if you did not hire G&T for your public relations or advertising needs.”
Marian Douglas, APR, CCC, Vice President of Corporate Communications
Flint Energies, Ga.
“Maggie and her firm, G&T Communications, have proven to be excellent caretakers of NRECA’s Spotlight on Excellence program. Under her guidance, the program has grown and developed into one of the largest and most respected communications awards programs in our industry. Maggie and her company expertly handled all the details of administering the program – from developing communications pieces to promoting the awards program, to keeping track of the entries, overseeing the judging process and notifying the winners. They also developed the awards presentation at NRECA’s national CONNECT conference and worked closely with program sponsors to provide the finishing touches on the conference awards luncheon. If you need detail, expertise and a creative partner, you can’t go wrong with G&T Communications.”
Karen Combs, CCC, Director of Public Relations (Retired)
(former chairperson of the Council of Rural Electric Communicators) Jackson EMC, Ky.
“Like many I have wondered what the ‘G’ and ‘T’ stood for in this company’s name. After several years of benefiting from their services, I have concluded it must be for the Go To people. Whenever the communication has to be beyond even top notch, I immediately call G&T. The copy, the layout and the timeliness of their productions have prompted me to nickname Maggie the ‘homerun queen.’ When she steps up to the plate, good things are going to happen!
Likewise on the occasion when a potentially damaging public relations problem has arisen for our organizations I have immediately called Maggie Tilley. Her calm and wise counsel have provided guidance that has even transformed problematic publicity into positive exposure. The best advice I can give to anyone that has communication problems or an important public relations opportunity is to go to G&T.”
Rev. Dr. Alan Rice, Pastor of Crossfire UMC Biker Church
& Director of Rural Faith Development, CDC
“Maggie and the team at G&T are tremendous partners in the world of communications. The design work is exceptional, and I really appreciate the desire to create marketing and public relations materials that inspire people to take action. The Watauga Education Foundation, is most grateful for the professionalism and enthusiasm of the G&T staff. Being a non-profit, we must watch every penny. They help us do that and we always get excellent work.”
Melanie Bullard, former Executive Director
Watauga Education Foundation, N.C.