Sick of Installs Going to Your Competition? Here’s What They’re Doing and You’re Not

It’s frustrating to watch another local solar company winning project after project, taking over your market while you’re struggling to get a meeting with a prospect. 

You might be wondering what they’re doing that you’re not. You want to know what their secret is to a packed pipeline and consistent installs.

With more than 15 years of experience in the solar business, I can tell you the biggest success factor in solar: a lead generation machine.

What’s a Solar Lead Generation Machine?

A lead generation machine is more than just buying a list of leads or door knocking. Lead generation for solar needs to operate independently of people. That means leads coming in while you sleep. That means an omnipresence in your market, getting your name in front of interested parties at the right time, in the right places.

While there are both traditional and digital marketing strategies that help you generate more leads for your solar company, today, we’re going to focus on the digital aspect, because digital marketing is typically faster and more last-focused, allowing you to get right in front of exactly the right people.

To create a lead generation machine that acts as a perpetual motion device, you need three things. 

And all wildly successful solar companies invest in these areas:

Laser-targeted paid advertising, search engine optimization, content marketing.

Paid Advertising for Solar Companies

Paid traffic does more than serve ads to your prospects on Google. Paid advertising can help you A/B test your offers, retarget people who have visited your website or social media channels, or collect leads by driving traffic to a lead magnet.

But there’s more to paid traffic than selecting the right target keywords. Paid traffic has the potential to be exceptionally powerful when done with laser-precision, and your website has to be completely ready for you to run any paid ads. That means having an optimized user experience, the correct tracking, the right offer, and the right ad copy to earn clicks.

SEO Strategies for Solar Businesses

A common misconception in solar lead generation is that you should choose either paid traffic or search engine optimization, but the truth is that these two powerhouse strategies work together in synchronicity. 

Search engine optimization for your solar company means giving yourself the best possible chances to rank highly on sites like Google, Bing, or Yahoo. Optimizing your solar website for search includes both technical SEO, optimized content, and both on-page and off-page strategies. 

In 2022, search engine optimization is highly dependent on the content on your website. Google is ranking high-value, informative, and well-written content that serves as a one-stop shop for the user. 

Search engine optimization is hard to do and easy to mess up; if you don’t have the skills or tools to properly execute a search engine optimization strategy for your solar business, this is an area where outsourcing is crucial.

Content Marketing for Solar Companies 

A content marketing strategy for your solar business works in tandem with both paid traffic and search engine optimization. When prospects visit your website or your social media channels, you want them to think wow, this company is already giving me so much value, and I haven’t even bought anything yet.

Content marketing is an extension of good customer service and showcases your industry expertise, building the know, like, and trust factor that earns you business.

Blogging, article writing, video, audio marketing, and social media are all pieces of a successful content marketing strategy for your solar business.

Lead Generation is Just the Beginning

Once your lead generation machine is kicked into high-gear and you’ve got a consistent flow of interested prospects, you need to know what to do with them.

What’s the point of having a lead generation machine if you can’t effectively convert them into paying customers?

Not only is your competition killing it with lead generation, they’ve also got the right systems, processes, sales training, and closers.

Think: what’s the customer journey once they enter your funnel? Is your process automated where it can be, and streamlined where it can’t be? Is your sales team trained to handle closing high-ticket sales? Do they know how to effectively handle objections, touch on pain and pleasure points, and position your brand as an industry leader?

If the answer is no, solar sales training or revamping your sales process should be your first priority.

Perpetual Lead Generation Means Consistent Business

Stop losing business to your competition! You now know the secrets to generating leads 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays. A streamlined, digitized, and automated lead generation machine works when your team is off the clock, and is the core of consistent revenue in your business.

Now, go implement these solar lead generation techniques and go sell somethin’!

-Anthony