With a lot of energy spent on technical issues in the solar industry, few analysts are discussing driving the industry’s adoption through sales and marketing savvy. The road ahead for the growth of solar is complex. How can we make progress to advance adoption of residential solar?
Start With The Basics; Advance Methodically
So many solar companies are not even getting the really basic stuff right like using their logo in a consistent manner, having their business cards match their website, having a website that is easy to find (or having a website at all), having effective local search marketing presence, or understanding how to engage customer with an appropriate value proposition. If companies start with getting the simple things right, it makes it easier to move methodically through the planning and implementation processes of more sophisticated and complex marketing programs.
Choose Listening over Communicating
Too much of the social media discussion revolves around the tools; be they Twitter, Facebook, blogging, community portals, or some other engagement strategy (online or offline). It’s important to realize that the key in social media is the “social” part, not the media part. The social part is about customer engagement and driving referrals that reward your customers for being your ambassador. Referrals are still overwhelmingly driving business as we are still a niche market with less than 1% adoption (US).
Consider common psychology; good communication springs from listening. Marketing, especially for a niche product, is about listening to the concerns of a key demographic your product is trying to reach and crafting a service and value proposition that meets that need. How do you determine what those needs are? Market research, focus groups, and reading marketing studies already completed. Business owners should invest in these tactics to help develop their solar company’s business plan if they expect long term successful growth.
While a fair number of more established solar installers understand who their demographic is, a lot of bright-eyed upstarts are confused about who is actually buying solar and continue to market with ineffectual guilt-based messaging (i.e. climate change, environmental concerns, etc). If you set up a negative situation that your product has to overcome, you are artificially creating a roadblock to customer engagement.
How does a company determine its messaging and unique value proposition?
Planning, market research, focus groups, continued testing, and measuring results. Good marketing is consistent in its message across all media. Great marketing is nimble, responsive to customer needs, and relevant to the local and global world situation.
Business owners need to put good systems for measuring metrics also need in place to make this possible. There are still so many solar companies operating out there who have haphazard systems for managing leads and keeping track of projects. Lack of tools to measure marketing effectiveness, sales pipelines, and other business goals will stimie business growth.
Let Changing Buyer Personas Lead Your Efforts
Many of solar companies fall into the “we need to be on X” trap without considering a strategy. The major marketing problem I have experienced working with solar companies is the overwhelming obsession with the technology. Today’s solar buyer is less likely a solar tech-geek than even a few years ago. Let your customer tell you who they are; don’t try to jam them into a buyer persona that they are not or they will walk and look down upon the entire solar industry based on that interaction.
Solar companies need to be responsive to this market change. It’s become more critical to express marketing and sales savvy than technical aptitude to customers. Let your technical aptitude shine where it is most relevant- in installing and designing quality systems that generate no callbacks and the least amount of customer-facing hassle possible (i.e. change orders, complex local or utility agreements).
There is a lot of room for improvement. The best solar companies will rise to the challenge and open up new market demographics.