With more consumers switching to solar energy it is more important than ever to differentiate yourself from the competitors through solar marketing to make sales.
An essential way in differentiating and making your presence felt is through how you market your product and company. Especially in a field as saturated as solar, where few factors determine which vendor a customer is eventually going to choose, how does one stand out?
Now more than ever, solar marketing, when done correctly, can be your best tool to increase your customer leads and get more sales.
When it comes to marketing solar, there are many strategies and tactics to display your messaging through various channels. Sometimes, companies are simply overwhelmed and come to us at Verse, asking “where do I start?”
We are here to help! Here are some tips for how to market your solar brand and get ahead of the competition.
Have a Standout Website
Your website is the face of your business. It’s also where solar marketing teams collect the highly coveted prize of their efforts: warm leads.
This is the first thing that your customer is going to see and will be their main source of information regarding the service provided by your company. Make your presence felt with unique UX design and make sure to have plenty of opportunities for lead capture including, but not limited to, chatbots, form fills, and contact forms.
Along with having a beautifully designed website for desktop, it is crucial to have a mobile-friendly website. According to Statista, 54.8% of the world’s internet traffic comes from mobile users. Capturing those leads with an optimized website that is designed for mobile users as well is a requisite. Otherwise, you’re falling short from the competition.
Be a Thought Leader
With the internet and information at their fingertips, consumers are smarter and more informed than ever and understandably want to go with the best providers! Show them that you are the most knowledgeable company in the field by sharing your expertise. Educate your customers about the reasons to make the switch to solar and why they should come to you.
Create blogs, start a podcast, be informative on social media, get articles published, create insightful videos. You want to make sure that your customer knows they are making the right decision in doing business with you, regardless of the price. 80% of people appreciate learning about a company through custom content. So, get creative and educate your audience!
Always Be Generating
Being visible to your customers and generating leads is one of the most important parts in making sales. You can’t convert leads if you don’t have any! 2021 has already seen a 58% increase in solar marketing leads over 2018 levels. Having the opportunity to be in front of your customers’ eyes when they are most likely to purchase is the biggest chance to convert this market demand into sales. The lead generation stage is one that many companies struggle with.
When it comes to the best practices in generating and capturing leads, there are two routes:
- Buying leads: You can set it and forget it. It is easy to get pre-qualified leads by buying them from third parties, and it usually ends up being cheaper. Buying leads helps you grow your database faster and allows you to run cold email campaigns laterin.
- Running your own ads: This can be very effective and allows for a more tailored messaging if you are searching for a specific kind of leads, but can be very tedious and requires expertise and dedicated time.
Conventional Solar Marketing
Although sometimes companies place traditional solar marketing tactics on the back burner, it is still an important avenue for businesses to invest their time and money in. In fact, response rates for direct mail, free-standing inserts, print ads, and coupons have risen 60% over the past 10 years!
Here is where you can really shine and make your message even more present. The following are just some of the many ways you can craft your message through traditional (non-digital)marketing tactics:
- Direct mail
- Radio and TV campaigns
- Billboards
- Trade shows
- Swag giveaways
This is how your business can build a strong brand and differentiate itself from the competition, use this as your chance to shine and create one of a kind messaging.
Incentivize Customers
Sometimes customers are hesitant to take a meeting or are unsure as to who to purchase solar from. A great way to let leads know you care about them and are going to be a great partner is through incentives.
It can be as simple as offering a special limited time offer to new customers, a holiday special, or a unique gift. Customers will see this as a value proposition and are more likely to purchase from you than from your competitors.
Standing out from the competition can impact your company’s bottom line. If you follow these marketing strategies you will be sure to generate and convert more leads, and, ultimately, make more sales!
