Marketing for solar companies is hot. Last year, 46% of all new electricity generating capacity came from solar. This year, solar’s grown for the 6th consecutive year.
The solar industry expects the expansion to continue. A combination of rising public demand and growing government support means this is likely to happen.
This is good news for consumers and for solar companies. For consumers, solar panel prices are falling; both for residential and commercial customers. For businesses, growing demand means new business opportunities.
The problem?
Growth has made the market crowded. In Australia alone, thousands of companies compete for B2B and B2C business. As demand increases, we’re only going to see more – not less – competition.
That’s why growing your online marketing for solar business is imperative now before the marketplace becomes saturated. It’s still early enough to carve out your share of the solar marketing pie.
Let’s take a quick look at seven effective strategies for solar niche marketing. Then we’ll dive into how your solar business can get ahead of the online competition in the hot solar products market.
Why Market Your Solar Company Digitally?
Solar energy is still a new, untried technology for most consumers. They keep hearing about how beneficial solar clean energy is, but they also know it’s expensive.
Complexity is another problem in the niche. Solar panels, batteries, and inverters can be confusing. And then there’s disinformation spread by fossil fuel interests making things even harder to figure out.
A solar marketing campaign helps overcome a lot of these problems, clearing the barrier to prospects buying from you. Your sales team will sell to prospects who already know and trust your solar business.
In terms of marketing – it can help drive home that solar energy is simple and cheap. This lets you…
- Reach a wider audience — everybody is online these days.
- Build trust and credibility — people trust companies with a solid online presence that generates social proof in reviews, testimonials, and case studies.
- Have an increased flow of highly interested prospects — if they click through to your website, they’re interested enough to market to.
- Enjoy reduced customer acquisition costs — digital marketing for solar companies is proven cost-effective.
The many benefits of digital solar marketing make it the natural choice for companies seeking solar marketing success.
7 Marketing Strategies for Solar Companies
Here are the top ways to improve your solar marketing sales effort. Use them to generate more business and make your sales team’s job easier.
1. Market Yourself as Low-cost or No-cost
Source: EvergreenSolar
Going solar becomes a no-brainer when your customers can install a solar system for little or no cost. This is especially true as fossil energy prices keep rising worldwide.
The good news is that local, state, and federal governments have impressive incentive programs available for solar systems. Interest-free, delayed repayment loans often cover the amount grants or tax credits don’t.
Make sure to let your target audience know about these incentives. Emphasise that your offer is either cheap or free with these incentives.
Australia has programs in every state and some territories that enable qualified homeowners to get back up to half the installation costs. Payments can go directly to the installer.
In the United States, the federal government recently passed The Inflation Reduction Act, which contained important incentives for clean energy. This nationwide effort complements the many existing state and local green energy programs.
2. Create a Website that Converts
Your website is the heart of your marketing effort. When designed for conversions, it becomes a marketing machine that funnels hot leads to your solar marketing business.
The idea is that you create digital assets that convert visitors into leads, and leads into customers. This means creating things like…
- Conversion-optimised content that encourages people to convert after engaging with your website. This could be a brochure like, “7 ways to get a solar panel for free”.
- Landing pages that encourage visitors to take a step further along the customer journey, usually by joining your email list or contacting the sales team.
- Off-site marketing messages like ads, Google listings, and even physical content like brochures and QR codes.
You need to optimise each stage of your sales process to move prospective customers from becoming aware of your solar company through off-site material to educating themselves on the landing pages that guide them to buying your solar products.
3. Pay-per-click Ads Are an Excellent Solar Marketing Start Point
You can have traffic hitting your solar products landing pages in hours with pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google and Facebook.
On Google, PPC ads appear above organic solar search listings so that people searching for a term like ‘solar panels’ see your ad first. On Facebook, PPC ads can appear in people’s newsfeeds or in the right-hand column.
75% of people clicking on ads expect to find an answer to their problem, so tailor each landing page to provide these.
Visually, it’s best practice to have landing page colours and text congruent with your ad. This will keep the customer’s experience consistent, reducing bounce rates. Ads also get cheaper when landing pages work better (and this factors into Google’s optimisation scores).
4. Investing In Content Is Smart
Source: SolarQuotes
PPC ads get customers fast, but they’re an ongoing expense. Evergreen content that ranks high on search engines is a one-time investment that keeps giving.
In a brick-and-mortar store or office, people answer questions, demonstrate products, and explain processes. Online, your content performs these critical functions. Many content types have proven their effectiveness, including:
- Blog posts work well for educating visitors.
- Videos are great for demonstrating products.
- Interactive quizzes are suitable for segmenting your market.
- Case studies show how other customers have solved their problems with your help.
- White papers demonstrate your knowledge and expertise.
- Infographics work well for product comparisons or for presenting technical information fast.
- Customer testimonials and reviews provide social proof.
5. SEO Is Still Relevant
Search engine optimization (SEO) gets your content found by prospective solar customers without you paying for ads.
Some search terms are commercial, like ‘buy solar panel,’ which should link to a product sales page for solar panels.
Other terms are educational, like ‘how much can I save with a solar system?’ which should link to an educational landing page with information about installation incentives and how much customers can save on monthly bills.
Educational content guides visitors to take the next step and contact your sales team. Your site needs a good mix of sales and educational keyword types so you present balanced content.
You can find high volume, low difficulty keywords using keyword tools like Ahrefs. A combination keyword planner/SEO writing platform like Surfer SEO will help you optimise for keywords, enabling your content to rank high in Search.
6. Email Marketing Brings You the Highest Returns
Source: SolarQuotes
With a return on ad spend (ROAS) of up to 42x, email marketing can be immensely profitable. Also, your email list the only channel you truly own. Everything else, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Youtube, etc can kick you off or take your list away.
Get people to join your list by offering them free content, like an ebook or video series. Then nurture prospects with regular emails. Make your emails a mix of informative and sales-oriented content, sticking with a single topic for each email.
Many subscribers will buy from you because as you build trust and educate them, you’re also staying top-of-mind. When they decide to go solar or you present your offer, they’ll give you the sale.
7. Get Solar Customer Reviews
Source: EvergreenSolar
Checking your solar company’s reviews only takes a couple of clicks. So, it’s no surprise 93% of consumers say online reviews influence their buying decisions.
Anecdotally, consumers who see anything lower than a four-star rating think twice about buying from you. The same applies to customers who see strong negative reviews. This is a problem; bad reviews can ruin a solar company.
The good news?
You can give your business an edge with positive reviews. There are also review monitoring tools that help you find and reply to new comments quickly.
There is a direct correlation between responding swiftly and rising ratings because review readers see that your solar company cares enough to answer. More people start posting more positive reviews.
Actively solicit reviews in texts and emails, on thank you pages, and at physical locations like the checkout counter.
Bonus Strategy: Identify the 4 Types of Solar Customers
You can get ahead of the competition by identifying who your customers are and where you can reach them. Because this solar marketing strategy enables you to increase marketing return on investment (ROI), you get your customers cheaper than your competition. You can out-spend competitors to gain more market share.
- Investment consumers are interested in solar financial returns. They want to know how long it will take to recoup the investment, added home equity, and the solar system’s lifetime. Target them with keywords like solar investment, solar home equity, and solar panel lifetime that bring them to landing pages filled with solar financial information.
- Independent consumers want self-sufficiency and freedom from utility companies. Create content around keywords like independent solar living and home energy self-sufficiency to inform independents about how your solar products align with their dream lifestyle.
- Environmentally aware consumers want to live in a clean environment and protect it for the future. Keywords to use are solar green energy and green solar energy.
- Solar technophiles wish to have the latest gadgets and are willing to pay premium prices. They may be looking for high-efficiency solar panels, long-term solar panel warranty, and the most efficient solar system. Landing pages and infographics with technical details and comparisons keep them on your site. Chat offering more technical detail is an excellent way to get them deeper into your sales process
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Now Is the Time for Solar Marketing
The solar energy industry will only continue growing strongly as solar technology improves and solar cell prices keep falling while public awareness and support grow.
The best time for a solar energy company to establish its marketing strategy is now while the solar industry is young and growing.
Want to get started today? Talk to Megaphone’s experts and get a free $1,200 strategic marketing consultation. To take advantage of the first-come-first-served offer, just use the link below.
