Generating leads is the toughest part of a solar business and one of the least favorite tasks. But it is essential to get quality leads if you want to survive the solar industry competition.
Here are some effective tactics that help you generate quality leads and grow your solar business by spending less to no penny!
Many people are attracted to friendly environments and green energy, so the demand for solar power has noticeably increased in recent years. That’s why the solar industry has become among the most growing industries across the world.
The volume of solar photovoltaics has reached 302 GW in 2021 and as per estimates, it will cross 1 TW by 2030. Such big figures are enough to get engaged in the solar business. But the market is densely populated, so it is tough to crack this field.
Like any other business, generating potential leads in competitive markets is getting harder than ever. No matter whether you buy solar leads or opt for different techniques to get them free. The most important part is to survive in this competitive market by any means.
With the increasing competition in online businesses, digital marketing is becoming costly. That’s why the cost of buying leads is increasing day by day. With this post, you can learn some tactics to grow your business with quality leads and also save money on buying leads.
Let’s get started!
12 Best Lead-Building Practices to Grow Your Solar Business
As already mentioned, survival in this cutthroat competitive market is nearly impossible without enough leads. If you have enough sales and installations then only you can make a profit under this business.
Also, this is only possible if you can generate enough leads that end up in closing the deals. You can convert prospects into customers in many ways and some of them are given below.
Lead generation is undoubtedly difficult but it doesn’t have to be boring. Go through each of the following tactics that help in increasing conversions for your solar company.
1. Optimizing local SEO
Most homeowners start their solar panel installation journey by going to search engines and typing ‘solar installers near me’. So, you should have a strong local SEO for your business website. If you take care of this aspect, your website can be among the top ranks to catch the customer’s attention.
For this, you can take the benefit of a Google My Business profile. Try to create engaging and informative content that can solve customer’s queries. As per experts, your website should have a FAQ section and blog section to solve the queries of the solar industry. This is where search engines can help your pages appear in the top results.
Different blog posts can help attract prospects to make them your customers. If you are not aware of all this, you can have content writers to market your products and services effectively.
That’s why many growing businesses, like home remodeling services or solar installers, are investing in SEO techniques to get exclusive home improvement leads or solar leads.
2. Start referral programs
Another important way to generate high-quality solar sales leads is to start referral programs. Such programs are a good way to market solar services and get potential leads. Such a tactic is based on a simple reward basis. There are many ways to execute it.
For example, your existing customer can give a referral to other interested customers. This cycle continues to grow further. Then these interested customers can sign up for your services and you can reward them with a significant offer, discount, or coupons.
This way you can start a considerable chain of solar customers that will ultimately convert leads for you.
The best thing is you will no longer need social validations as referral programs work as word-of-mouth marketing for your business.
3. Keep an eye on your competitors
Keeping an eye on your competitors is good to ensure your solar marketing strategy is working well. You can consider the following to do deeper research on your competitors:
- The way they are promoting their solar services, whether online or offline.
- Their positive and negative points.
- The strategies they are using to get potential solar leads.
- Try to visit their social media platforms, like, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.
- You can even sign up for their monthly newsletter to get a closer insight. This will help you to receive all the promotional emails regarding their services and offers that they use to lure their customers.
But “Why should you do all this?”
Such competitive analysis can help you to pinpoint the areas of strength and weakness. Also, you can adopt their appealing strategies that enable you to watch for the market demands.
4. Personalize your solar marketing
Voiceovers for the content with stock images and human-less videos can help you stand out from the crowd. But your leads like to see real people, so this may not be the correct approach. Try to keep it real as such people include previous clients. You should include images and videos of your solar installers’ team and a list of satisfied customers.
You can also make intro videos for Google ads to personalize solar marketing. Such baby steps can help your solar leads to know about your business and your team. They will gain trust with it as you are also displaying the satisfied customers which makes a great chance of conversion.
5. Utilize social media platforms to run targeted ads
Now, you must know about the deep insights of your customers and the type of content you need to make your solar business easier to find. It’s time to get down to your business.
For this, you can run targeted ads on various social media channels to reach out to people who are searching for solar services. You can also use Google ads to display in search results. Such ad campaigns may cost you a bit, so to make the most of them, try to follow these:
- You can also re-target your clients who have ever contacted you with your ads, web platforms, or social media handles.
- You should display the ads to prospects who are searching for similar services.
- Try to showcase advertisements with focused and targeted keywords in search engines, like, Google.
- You can also target specific pages about solar panel installation to display your ads.
- You can also promote ads on significant websites that your prospects may visit.
6. Try to make the client’s solar journey simple and personalized
Many homeowners may feel overwhelmed by adapting to solar as they are contributing to the environment. That’s why, try to make every step easier for them. For this, you can modify your approach or adapt it to per customers you serve. For example, you can follow these:
- You can ask about their health to add a personalized touch that your clients may appreciate.
- You can choose the most preferred communication channel that your customers opt for.
- Try to include a link in SMS to assist your customers to connect with you as per their comfort.
- The solar decision and installation are bigger, so don’t overwhelm them by discussing all the steps at once or in the first interaction. You can also ask for a utility bill, and then move to installation.
All such steps can help you to make things easier for your prospective customers to pull them closer to closing the deals.
7. Technical recommendations for generating leads
Apart from following marketing tactics to generate high-quality solar leads, you can use the given tools as recommended by many solar lead experts:
Podium: It will allow businesses to handle incoming messages and conversations effectively and hassle-free.
Hubspot: It is one of the popular customer relationship management tools for scoring and nurturing leads. It also provides strong content marketing programs.
Aurora: This platform provides well-structured blogs in the industry. It offers clear sales presentations and designs.
These are just examples of some of the best tools. You can use many other tech platforms to generate leads.
8. Inbound advertising
Inbound ads are one of the effective ways to generate leads. This lead-generation tactic works for almost every industry. With this method, you can attract leads to your company by offering relevant content to your target audience. With this, you can become a trustworthy source in your field or industry.
When it comes to generating high-quality solar leads, this tactic is one of the best ones as it makes your sales foreseeable in the long run.
If you want to get the best results, you should create appealing and engaging content, like, offering, quality landing pages on your website. You can also share it with qualified customers by different social media platforms or Google paid ads.
9. Do thorough research
If you want to escape from buying costly solar leads, you should do deep research. With this, you can search for homes or commercial properties that are fit for solar installations using free tools. Like, you can search for homes on Google Maps that get a good amount of sunlight.
You can also choose an area that is facing South. You can use street view to get details and address of interested houses. After this, you can create a list of prospective customers that are interested in solar energy. You can further take this process by sending quotes.
Most importantly, search for houses already having solar panels and you can pitch their neighbors for having solar panels. As per surveys, neighbors are more likely to have things that others already have. You can capture them by telling them the benefits of solar for their property as solar panels increase property value.
10. Product illustrative videos
People are more interested in videos as they speak a thousand words more. They are capable of explaining complex concepts easily. You can help your audience to get all the information and answers to their doubts. Appealing videos is one of the best tactics to convert interested customers into actual paying customers.
You can use videos to give the following:
- Explain about the products.
- Solar technology is difficult to understand for many people, so give information about it.
- Different types of solar installations and their advantages.
Apart from hosting videos on your company website, you can also start a YouTube channel. Videos are more interesting than text-only content, so utilize the most out of them and generate leads through them.
11. Get testimonials
Maximum people check reviews before they buy anything in this digitally competitive market. As solar panel installation is a big decision, people are more inclined to check reviews. That’s why testimonials and positive reviews are important to generate high-quality solar sales leads.
If you have a good list of positive reviews and feedback. It shows credibility in the industry. If anyone is interested in your solar services, checking for testimonials and reviews is the last step before making a purchase. But how can you get testimonials?
- By taking innovative follow-ups.
- Requesting your clients to give good ratings and reviews.
12. Have a strong sales team
No matter how much money you invest in a marketing campaign, all your efforts can go in vain if you do not have a robust sales team. If you have an experienced team, they can help you to understand the reasoning behind the customer’s mind. It will help to persuade them to purchase your services.
Also, you should have a team that is active and intelligent enough to solve customer’s queries quickly. If you don’t give quick solutions, people can go to other competitors as they don’t like to wait. Also, a strong sales team can contribute indirectly to the marketing team’s thinking about strategies.
To conclude
That’s all for now!
There are many obstacles in the way of solar companies as this field is growing and has much competition. As digital marketing and buying leads is a costly process, solar companies need to work intelligently. With such tactics, you can follow a similar path with less effort and money.
Try to do diligent research that starts with looking for customers and finishes with secure transactions. One of the best methods to get leads is by making your existing customers happy. Once they are satisfied with your solar services, they will share their experience with others who can become your customers in the future.
Try any of these methods and get quality leads flooding in!
Read Also:
- How to Start a Solar Energy Business
- Know-How Solar Panels Increase the Value of Your Property
- 101+ Best New Business Ideas 2024 For Entrepreneurs
About Bio: Aryan works for Solardynamics Company, one of the fastest-growing Solar companies in the USA He is passionate about SEO, marketing tactics, and solar lead. He has helped many solar businesses to gain quality leads in a short period.
