By Silas Ellman, executive vice president, and Matty Byloos, SEO/content king, at RGR Marketing
The fundamentals of marketing for the solar industry aren’t terribly dissimilar to the marketing fundamentals of any other industry these days. While marketing can be second nature for some, it can be challenging work for many others.
Understanding how to market effectively and putting in the effort to execute a solid marketing strategy can make the difference between having a full sales pipeline and more work than you can handle, and sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. Here are five fundamentals to get you on the road to success in solar marketing.
1. Know your industry and become a thought leader
Thought leadership comes from a position of authority within any industry or given field. It involves producing and sharing content that is at the forefront of market trends, industry trends and associated areas of interest to both those in the industry and the markets they currently serve, as well as those they have potential to serve eventually.
Understanding your industry and positioning yourself on social media, in industry publications and your market as an authority willing to share your wisdom is beneficial to your industry as a whole, but more specifically, to your business in particular.
2. Keep your leads pipeline full at all times
Through a combination of effective content marketing, social media marketing (see below) and traditional marketing and advertising efforts, you will continually be building community and word-of-mouth recognition around your brand.
This community will serve you by disseminating your original thought leadership positions, sharing the content that you share via social media and driving leads to your funnel through the strongest form of advertising there is—word of mouth.
3. Use social media to your advantage
It’s almost a cliché now, but no less true for it: what people say about your brand on the Internet in reviews and on social media is your brand, whether you like it or not.
Establishing and maintaining a positive, responsive and welcoming social media presence allows you to communicate directly with both your customers and your potential customers, while driving and enhancing the perception of you as a thought leader, and giving you a quick and responsive way to track developing trends in your market.
4. Promote your strengths
Playing to your strengths is an age-old strategy that has stood the test of time for a reason. While constantly braying about your finest points may be off-putting on a personal level, understanding your company’s strengths and playing to them through content marketing and other traditional forms of marketing and advertising is a definite key to success.
5. Address customer needs and concerns as often as possible
Through social media, customer review websites and more traditional forms of communication, you have the opportunity to interact with current and potential customers on a level unparalleled at any other time in history.
Take advantage of this fact. Even if a customer has a less than ideal experience with your company, any opportunity to communicate with them is an opportunity to convert potential customers or to drive more leads to your pipeline. Taking every communication as an opportunity to build the community around your brand while filling the funnel is a key to contemporary business success in any field.
Authenticity in solar marketing is key
These five fundamentals to marketing excellence in the solar marketplace all rely on the same thing that marketing fundamentals in any field do: authenticity. Understanding your brand, your market position, what you have to offer, your strengths as a company, your industry and the community you serve, and then engaging with your customers and potential customers in a meaningful, honest and authentic manner should be the core of any marketing strategy.
Honest and direct communication, providing excellent content that is of value to your consumer base and authentic engagement through social media, on review websites and in the real world are all essential to the success of your marketing efforts.