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How Can Solar Power Companies Benefit From Content Marketing?

8/11/2015

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PictureCredit: Pinterest.com
With all the optimism surrounding solar power, it is easy to think that the venerable PV and solar thermal systems have come of age. 

But despite the breakneck speed at which solar power is gaining ground, most people out there still have no idea how affordable solar power has become, or in what ways it can help them.

In fact, a survey by Harris Interactive in 2012 found that US based solar power companies have a lot of catching up to do as far as reaching (or educating) residential or commercial prospects is concerned.


As it turns out, 97% Americans overestimated the cost of purchasing a solar power system by a HUGE margin; many of them thinking they need to cough out twenty thousand dollars or more in order to get their share of the sun.

The most interesting revelation was that 77% also admitted they won’t mind going solar if price was not a factor.

Another study conducted by San Jose State University  found that 63% could not even recall one solar company offering products to residential customers.


The same findings were echoed again in a study commissioned by SolarCity, and carried out by Zogby Analytics in 2014.

Vice president of SolarCity, Jonathan Bass says - "We think people just don't realize how affordable solar has become. Less than half homeowners surveyed said that they realize solar power is less expensive today than it was three years ago, when in reality the costs have fallen dramatically."

So what’s going on?

Anyone working in the solar industry knows that solar power system can be purchased at no, or next to no upfront cost. Clearly there is a big information divide between solar power companies, and their customers.


What can solar power companies do to overcome the information gap?

Marketing more is the simplest answer. There is no getting around the fact that people out there need to be told more often about the benefits that can be reaped from going solar, and that power from the sun has become affordable enough.  

Now spending more money on advertising and marketing is easy when you are a blue chip company with mile deep coffers to reach into, but what if you are one of the newer guys who are just getting started with a far more modest marketing budget?

Fortunately, you don't have to look far. The internet is the great equalizer for small and medium sized businesses, and publishing, then sharing great content online is how you can get leverage back on your side. With a little bit of ingenuity, you can easily secure you piece of the solar market pie, maybe even beat the big guys while you're at it!

Content marketing - persuade, don't interrupt

Let's face it, as much as you will like to sell, people just don't like being sold to. Today, consumers are more ad-averse than ever before; they use a DVR to out- maneuver TV ads, can close a popup on a website without even looking at the close button, and are virtually blind to banner ads.  

Fact is, you really cannot make much of a dent in the universe if all you are planning on doing is repeatedly telling them how great your product is, and what all features it has. This just doesn't work anymore.

Content marketing gets around this problem by focusing on engaging prospects with informative entertaining content, rather than blatantly selling to them. The idea here is to offer information that adds value to the lives of your audience, and has real world solutions which they can either learn from, or act on.

This isn't a new concept either. Stop selling if you want to sell more is one of the oldest pieces of advice repeated in the sales world. 
Engage with your clientele, add value to their business, and try to help them out instead of just pushing products onto them. This applies perfectly to what content marketing also tries to accomplish.

For example, a blog post on 5 common ways people waste power at home will help your audience bring down their monthly electricity bills. A well narrated video on how coal mining has damaged communities, flora and fauna in its immediate vicinity will allow people to understand just what it takes to maintain that low kWh rate they are paying.

Regularly creating and publishing content such as these will draw in people to your website, and position you as an authority in their minds, so that whenever they are ready to make a purchase, your company's name comes up first.

Since content marketing is all about educating your audience, it is also the perfect tool to solve the consumer education problem which solar power as an industry is currently facing.

But it does a LOT more than just that...

Content marketing helps you bridge the advertising dollar divide

Now no doubt it takes investment to create top notch content, however typically, it still beats traditional advertizing by a huge margin. Consider the stats...

Demand Metrics conducted a study which found that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional advertizing but helps businesses generate 3 times as many leads per dollar spent.

91% B2B marketers out there are already using content marketing, and 78% CMOs see it as the future, which makes sense because 68% people spend time reading about brands which interest them.

Check out Demand Metric's infographic for more on this.

Good content is search engine friendly

High quality, well thought-out content is what search engine giants such as Google and Yahoo have been screaming for all this time, in vain I might add! People often think SEO or Search Engine Optimization has more to do with keyword alchemy and crafty linking tactics which could magically propel any website to the top of a search engine results page for any keyword that tickled your fancy.

While this worked a few years back when search engines were using keywords and back-links as one of the primary qualifying factor, it doesn't anymore.

For instance, the much talked about Panda update taught Google's search engine how to tell a thin, low quality site from a better one. Their Hummingbird update can even understand the context behind a user's query, so that synonyms are taken into account before showing results.

As if that wasn't enough, Google also pulled the plug on their incredibly popular external keyword tool in 2013. The message they have sent is loud and clear - focus on content, not keywords. Here is an excerpt straight from Google's quality guidelines:

  • Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
  • Don’t deceive your users.
  • Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
  • Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

This does not mean that keywords are dead, they still carry weight, and keyword research remains important for creating targeted content. However, know that your competitors out there also have the same data available to them. There is a very good chance all the simple ideas you can immediately think of like 10 reasons why you should go solar, or how solar power combat climate change will have been done to death by now.

Creating content which is similar to everyone else's will only doom your site to the what's-that-page of the search engines. But if you presented a unique solution, or came out with a different take on a pressing issue, your content will shine, and automatically stand out.

You can also become creative with keywords by focusing on creating content around ideas which aren't directly related to solar power, but are relevant to your business never-the-less. 

Good content is social media friendly

We are beyond the point where companies can indulge in the luxury of thinking about making social media a part of their marketing programs. In fact, for a business committed to promoting solar power, social media is god-sent!

Why you ask? Think about it this way, issues such as climate change, carbon emissions, global warming and energy independence are hotly debated topics today. The sheer amount of passion people express themselves with while talking on these issues is almost palpable; and social media is where these conversations are happening everyday!

By joining your audience on sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, you can increase visibility for your brand, and build up a following very quickly. This is not only important because people who follow you on social media have a very high probability of converting into customers later, but also because every time they like, share or comment on your posts, they expose your brand to their friends and following.

Besides, studies have shown that having a large social media following can result in greater brand equity across the spectrum. People trust brands which are popular online as it offers social proof that you are credible and trustworthy. This in turn can help increase sales from non-social channels as well.

Social media is also your best bet at having your content go viral. You can reach audiences of great sizes with a relatively small budget using regular good old well thought out content. Facebook's Data Science division published a post called The Anatomy of Large Facebook Cascades which explains how posts go viral in great detail.

The paper takes two examples which took two different paths to going viral. The conclusion drawn is that content cascades either because of large followings, or because it inspires people to share in continuous chains (called depth of sharing).

Social media cascades are possible when you tap into present trends and create content which is immediately relevant, entertaining and value-driven. Bundle this with best practices such as reposting your content on relevant groups, entering into JVs with other business pages, or run targeted ad campaigns and you will be on your way to social media greatness!

Of course, this does not guarantee your content will go viral every time, however even regular likes, shares and comments will help you gain online traction at a good clip. The key to increasing your following is posting consistently, not only content you own and curate, but also on posts made by members of your audience, and other authorities in the renewable energy space.

Closing thoughts

Solar power businesses are already faced with the monumental task of making their products more competitive against traditional non-renewable sources of energy. This becomes all the more difficult when you factor in the amount of money you have to spend on acquiring new leads.

Green Tech Media for instance carried out a study which stated it cost $0.49 per watt to purchase a lead in the US. This adds almost $3,000 to the cost of a typical 6 kWh solar power system. A plethora of reasons have been given why this is the case, however the writing's on the wall as well, solar power companies need to come up with better ways to find and qualify leads to bring down the soft costs of solar power systems.

Many solar power companies like to buy a list of leads from third party companies, however this presents various problems as well. The leads maybe too old to matter and if the list has been sold to multiple contractors, then you can be rest assured the person you are going to reach out to with an offer will be fed up to the teeth with sales calls by the time it's your turn. 


With an effective content marketing strategy on your side, you can repeatedly get high quality leads all on your own. This can also be accomplished on a shoestring budget when done right. 

Want to know how you can use content to your advantage? Contact me and let's find the best fit for your business requirements!
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5 Plug And Play Solar Power Website Widgets To Supercharge Your Online Lead Generation Efforts

7/22/2015

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Picture
Leads, what would a business do without them? Nothing quite beats that feeling of glee and hopefulness when you see a spreadsheet full of contacts, amongst which hide your next few accounts! But getting qualified leads is easier said than done.

In fact, a survey conducted by the B2B Technology Community found that 61% of B2B marketers thought generating high quality leads was the biggest challenge they faced. You might even agree if you have tried lead-gen before.

So how can you go about getting quality leads for your solar power business? For starters, you can turn as many of the casual browsers who are hitting your website into prospects. They have already expressed interest by looking for more information on your site, so why not ask them to subscribe to your list as well?

MarketingProfs ran their own survey to find out the most effective avenues for B2B lead-gen, and declared that company websites rank 6th in getting high quality leads amongst 26 popular methods, right behind emails and electronic newsletters. So there is already great potential in all the web traffic you are getting! The real challenge is capturing their contact details, which brings us to lead generation widgets...


But what is a widget anyways?

A widget is essentially a piece of code which you can instantly install on a platform, such as your website. It either displays a program or a part of it, and can be tailored to virtually any requirement, including lead generation.

Solar power widgets usually come in the form of rate calculators which allow a person visiting your website to understand how much they will have to spend to purchase a solar power system based on their current energy consumption habits.

These can also help your audience understand how much savings they can expect from a solar power system. The widgets will ask the user to leave their contact details in return for this information, thereby creating a pre-qualified lead for you. Compiled below are 5 of the most popular lead generation tools you can plug into your site, and start getting qualified leads from tomorrow!

By the way, I am not trying to promote the products, and none of the listings below have any affiliate links embedded in them. I am only compiling all the widgets I found in one page with their respective features as a resource, which hopefully will help you find the best solution to your requirements.

OK then, let's take a look at those solar power widgets now...

Energy Periscope

Link: http://www.energyperiscope.com/?page=lead-widget 

Geographical area: USA, Caribbean, Canada, Central America

Pricing: Free trial for 30 days, starts at $59.99/month after that.

Provided by Energy Matters, Energy Periscope is a complete sales solution for renewable energy businesses which you can use to both generate leads, and follow up with them.
Energy Periscope Solar Rate Calculator
Credit: EnergyPeriscope.com
Their widget can be customized with your company logo, color, pricing model, estimation options, inflation value and system modeling parameters before it is installed onto you site.

The widget will also allow you to customize the lead information which you intend to collect ranging from a simple zip code submit, to name, address, telephone number and email address.

Leads which are generated from the widget are automatically recorded into your Energy Periscope user account.

A person browsing your site can use the widget to get a ballpark estimate on the kind of costs and savings that will result if they go with your solar PV system/solar water heater/solar pool/wind turbine.
Energy Periscope Rate Calculator Results
Credit: EnergyPeriscope.com
The users can select if they are residential, commercial, non-profit or government entities; they can choose from net metering, feed-in tariffs or gross metering. The widget also takes their income tax bracket into account before giving them the estimate. 

The best part is it can provide estimates to people living in USA, Caribbean, Canada and even Central America. Most widgets out there only give estimates for mainland USA.

Energy Periscope offers a free 30-day trial, and if you find it worth your time, you can go for one of their subscriptions.

Pricing starts from $59.95 per month after the free trial ends, however their OEM/Distribution modules which come with more features are costlier. You will need to get in touch with their support team and discuss your requirements before being quoted a price.

SizeMySolar

Link: http://sizemysolar.com/

Geographical area: USA

Pricing: Free trial for 30 days, $2.99/lead after that.

Unlike Energy Periscope, which offers a complete out of the box sales and customer management system, SizeMySolar only has a simple lead generation widget, but don't let it fool you into thinking their product isn't worth your time!

The best thing about SizeMySolar widget is its graphical user interface. Most people aren't really familiar with energy speak such as kW, kWh, feed in tariffs, etc all of which are important pieces of information needed by solar rate calculators to give an accurate estimate.

SizeMySolar Rate Calculator
Credit: SizeMySolar.com
SizeMySolar gets around this problem by using Google Earth Geo-location API as part of the widget. The software automatically locates the user's area when they input their address. Once they see their home on the satellite image, they can mark out an area such as their roof or backyard where they wish to install their solar panels using a cursor tool.

The widget then extrapolates the savings which will result by comparing the area allocated for solar panels by the user against their monthly electricity bill. The results include both the financial and environmental savings that will result if the user goes for solar power.

Results are then mailed to the user, and the lead generated is provided to you, complete with name, address, phone number, email address, monthly electricity bill and comments made by the user. 

RateMyCalculator Rate Calculator Results
Credit: SizeMySolar.com
Like Energy Periscope, SizeMySolar also has a 30 day free trial period, however you do not pay them a fixed price every month. Instead, they collect the leads from your site, and then sell them back to you at $2.99 per lead. If your site generates a large volume of leads, then you can expect discounts as well.

SizeMySolar explicitly state they do not share your leads with anyone. While I am reasonably sure none of the other services will share your leads, the fact they have not mentioned it anywhere easily accessible on their sites does leave some room for jitters.

ModSolar

Link: http://www.modsolar.net/lead-generation-widget-for-your-website/

Geographical area: USA

Pricing: Starts at $295/month.

ModSolar is hands down the most holistic online solar sales solution currently available. Not only do they offer a solar lead generation widget which is very easy to configure and install, but, they also provide a thorough backend lead processing service that permits you to develop a proposal in mere minutes instead of hours.

For starters, their widget uses Google Map geo-location API, much like SizeMySolar. However, it takes in more information such as kWh rates as well. ModSolar understand their audience may only know how much their monthly bill is, and not the kWh rate they are paying, so they keep this field at a lower priority.

A person using the ModSolar widget on your site starts by inputting their address with which Google Earth locates their home. They can then zoom in to their property and use the widget's cursor tool to highlight the area where they wish to install the panels. 


ModSolar Rate Calculator
Credit: ModSolar.com
Once they have finished, the widget asks them to specify whether their roof's slant is steep, shallow or medium. This is a pretty cool feature, and rather important as knowing how many solar panels may go on a roof is not possible without understanding its orientation, so ModSolar definitely scores big here.

Furthermore, important user information such as user contact details are asked after they can see the solar panels installed on their property in Google Earth, just before they are shown the savings they can expect.

Again, ModSolar really nailed it here as most people will be uncomfortable parting with their email and phone number on the first step. The widget eases the user into the process by asking for their contact details on step 3, before showing them the "payoff" rather than the beginning.

Once a lead is created, it is automatically recorded into your account. You can log in and create a proposal for the lead using their software. ModSolar can help you perform credit checks on your leads before contacting them as well. Their software comes with a built in seamless solar specific workflow that helps you manage your leads with great ease.

ModSolar Leads Dashboard
Credit: ModSolar.com
While ModSolar is no doubt the most feature rich solar lead generation and management tool out there, it is also the most expensive starting at a monthly subscription of $295. Their basic offering labeled "Professional" allows 3 users and 1 office to access the software. 

You can generate as many proposals as you like, however the Professional version is not white label, so you will not be able to customize it with your company logo. This feature is available from Enterprise 1 Edition onwards which costs $995 per month.
Bonus Stuff

While all the aforementioned are great tools, if you will like to test the waters before diving in, then here are 2 solar rate calculators you can grab for free. They do not ask for a user's contact details, so they cannot be used for lead generation, at least directly. 


But you can still use them to help your audience get an idea about how much they can save by going solar, after which they may contact you via email or contact form on your website for more details if they feel like it.

Solar Guide Calculator

Link: http://www.solarguide.co.uk/solar-calculator-yoursite

Geographical area: England

Price: Free.

Solar Guide's calculator is a good option if you are based in England. You can choose from 3 different types of calculators to install on your site including price estimates, £/kWp estimates, or you can just design your own pricing matrix.

Solar Guide Calculator
Credit: SolarGuide.co.uk
The calculator allows a user to run calculations based on the size of their roof, size of the system, or system price. The report generated is fairly detailed, giving them an idea about overall investment payback over 20 years, earliest investment payback, and greatest annual income possible. The user can also change the assumptions on which the calculations are based to get a more accurate estimate.

Calculator Pro

Link: http://www.calculatorpro.com/calculator/solar-power-calculator/

Geographical area: USA

Price: Free and $29.99 (one time)

You can find all types of calculators on Calculator Pro, ranging from those designed for health to finance. Their free version is good enough, but it requires you to link back to their site, and you can only run 100 calculations a month.

The paid version is available at a onetime payment of $29.99, and can be customized with different background, border and text colors, font size, and text. 

Calculator Pro Solar Estimator
Credit: CalculatorPro.com
Users need to enter last power bill, Cost per kWh, the size of the solar power system they want to purchase, hours of peak sunlight their area receives, and feed in tariffs per kWh available. The report generated includes daily savings on a kWh basis.

Closing Thoughts

Your company website is no doubt an indispensable business tool; however giving it the ability to actively engage with the audience via a solar power widget can put it on steroids! The first thing someone hitting your site wants to know is if they can even afford solar power; having a rate calculator permits them to do so quickly and effortlessly. 

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    Author

    Parth Misra is a copywriter and marketing consultant who specializes in connecting solar power businesses with their audience. 

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