As Americans increasingly adopt solar energy, competition among installers has surged. The solar marketing strategies that once facilitated rapid customer acquisition have become inefficient and costly, making scalability difficult. At RELLO, we operate at the forefront of large-scale customer acquisitions for solar companies nationwide. Over the past few years, we’ve adapted to the evolving marketing landscape, consistently delivering results for our clients. Here are the lessons we’ve learned while evaluating solar marketing efforts:
Old-School Solar Marketing
The cornerstone of any solar company’s business is finding and converting customers. However, with the rapidly changing marketing landscape, evaluating which channels and tactics to pursue can be challenging. Traditional solar marketing channels often rely on paid lead providers like SolarReviews.com, HomeAdvisor, and Angies List. These platforms have been perceived as essential for solar companies to access potential customers at a reasonable cost.
Disadvantages of Paid Lead Providers
While paid lead providers offer an easy way to access new leads, they come with several disadvantages:
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Unreliable Lead Quality: Paid lead providers offer leads of varying quality due to the nature of their acquisition process. For example, SolarReviews.com has significantly increased its prices, making it impossible for solar companies to sustain the same level of leads at the same cost.
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Leads Haven’t Interacted with Your Brand: Potential customers acquired through paid leads haven’t interacted with your brand before. As a result, converting them into customers becomes more challenging.
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Increasing Cost: Paid lead providers often increase their prices over time, leading to fewer leads at higher costs. Moreover, many providers require long-term contracts, limiting your flexibility.
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Need for a Large Call Center: Effectively managing leads acquired through paid providers requires a large and sophisticated call center. This entails significant investments in staff and resources, with overhead costs potentially exceeding $1 million annually.
Alternative Options
Despite the drawbacks of relying heavily on paid lead providers, alternative options exist:
Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing focuses on creating valuable content and experiences tailored to customers, attracting them to your brand. By diversifying their marketing efforts and focusing on building sustainable inbound marketing channels, solar companies gain several benefits:
- Generating Quality Leads: Inbound marketing draws in high-quality leads at costs that fit your budget.
- Gaining More Control: Companies have more control over their lead pipeline and how marketing dollars are spent per lead.
Below, we’ll discuss the different types of inbound marketing channels that solar marketers should consider:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO helps your website rank higher in search results, increasing visibility and driving organic traffic to your site. By optimizing content around relevant keywords and phrases, you can attract high-quality traffic to your site without paying for ad space or click costs.
2. YouTube Videos
YouTube provides an excellent platform for creating engaging video content to market solar products and services. With precise targeting options, you can reach your ideal customers effectively.
3. Paid Social Media Advertising
Paid social media advertising allows you to set specific budgets and durations for your campaigns. Detailed analytics reports help you track performance and optimize your ad campaigns for maximum results. Moreover, precise targeting options enable you to reach specific audiences with laser-focused precision.
4. Programmatic Display Advertising
Programmatic display advertising is an automated process for buying and selling online advertisements. It offers speed, efficiency, precise targeting, and access to numerous networks, allowing you to maximize conversions and ROI.
An Invitation From Solarize
At Solarize, we understand the importance of building inbound marketing channels to reduce reliance on paid lead providers. Our solar marketing strategies encompass SEO, PPC advertising, YouTube videos, paid social media advertising, and programmatic display advertising. By leveraging these strategies, solar businesses can save money while generating quality leads and claiming ownership of their marketing efforts.
Seize this opportunity to get ahead of industry trends with Solarizes solar marketing strategies. Our team has worked with many leading companies in the solar sector, and we can help bring results for YOUR business! Fill out the form below if you’re interested in talking more about how we could work together. Don’t miss your chance – it starts here!
