Broadband Approach – Three Paths, One Principle
- Stacie McDonald
- Sep 30
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 1
By Stacie McDonald, VP of Strategic Communications
At Harry Marketing, we’ve learned that there’s no such thing as a “typical” broadband provider. Some run municipal fiber networks with regional reach. Some are rural ISPs where the customer service rep might also be your neighbor. And some are in the middle of rapid growth, straddling wireless and fiber builds while juggling government affairs across three states.
Our job? Meet each client where they are and tell their story in a way that feels authentic, current, and effective — no matter the size, scale, or geography.
Take UTOPIA Fiber, the nation's largest and most successful Open Access network in the country. Since 2019, we’ve been by their side as they’ve grown across Utah and into Montana, eyes still on the horizon, helping folks get connected to the fastest, most reliable internet in the nation. While longevity means a more easily collaborative work product, long-term partnerships bring their own challenges. How do you keep campaigns feeling fresh, quarter over quarter? For our work with UTOPIA, it’s meant more than just cycling through graphic templates. Each campaign is based on research, understanding the local market, listening to customer feedback, and an overall strategy aligned with the client's business goals. We’ve reinvented concepts, layered in animation and video, and leaned into community initiatives that keep their open-access message visible on the ground. Staying relevant is not about recycling the same talking points; it’s about evolving content to retain customers, reduce churn and keep people coming back for more.
Now, let’s head across the country to the other end of the broadband ecosystem: Haefele Connect, a rural ISP in New York’s Southern Tier. Since beginning our partnership in March, we've helped elevate this small but mighty player by spotlighting its unique differentiators to stand out in a saturated market, building brand awareness, and driving targeted customer acquisition across both fiber and coax offerings.
Their challenge wasn’t longevity — it was visibility. They needed to solidify their “good neighbor” brand identity and expand their digital presence, not just broadly but in highly targeted ways. That meant precise geo-targeting, ad messaging, and social media engagement tailored to their specific service areas. Promotional e-blasts, helpful blog posts on offerings and managed services, signage, and community event participation also ensure their name — and its correct pronunciation (“Hey, Haefele!” easy to remember) — resonates in the towns they serve, even in places where they don’t reach every street.
The payoff has been tangible: more calls, more email inquiries, and a more authentic, relatable digital voice in the communities they care about most.
Somewhere between those two sits Vistabeam, a medium-sized Nebraska-based hybrid ISP expanding further into Wyoming and Colorado. Their story isn’t just about transitioning to more fiber; it’s about navigating the complexity of government affairs, community dynamics, and being a thought leader in the industry space. Vistabeam is big enough to be part of state and federal policy conversations, but close enough to their customers that they need to maintain a neighbor-first identity. Our role has been to help them strike that balance — building credibility with PR, amplifying their voice in key conversations, and tailoring their message for audiences that range from regulators to ranchers.
Three clients. Three very different scales. One common thread: relationship.
Whether we’re brainstorming with UTOPIA’s leadership team, collaborating with Haefele’s staff on a local photo shoot, or positioning Vistabeam in the local or broader broadband conversation, we start with listening. We meet each client where they are: actively listening, learning about their customers, identifying common pain points, key differentiators, aligning strategy with business goals and budgets so that collaboration feels seamless and impact comes quickly.
And that’s where broadband marketing is headed. Toward its own hybrid of being visible in the places that matter most, whether that’s at a county fair, in a state hearing, or inside an AI-driven search result. With Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) shaping how customers research and discover brands, a compelling and relatable story has to be told and also made machine-readable. Structured facts, consistent narratives, and clear digital footprints will determine who gets surfaced when someone asks, “What’s the best internet in my area?”
Whether the audience is a neighbor down the street, a policymaker in Denver, or an algorithm scanning the web, we make sure our clients’ stories are seen, understood, and trusted.
Because broadband isn’t one-size-fits-all. And neither are we.
