How To Generate Solar Installation Leads

How do you know if your solar installation business generates enough leads? If you have to pay for every lead you receive, it’s time to generate more!

Professional solar installation companies know they can’t just sit back and wait for clients to come to them. Rather, they must go out and find potential customers on their own.

If you’re looking to start a solar installation business, know that you can get people interested in your products in various ways. Many have found success using social media sites like Facebook to increase brand awareness and reach prospects. Others have turned to online lead generation tools or printed flyers as part of their marketing strategies.

This article will discuss some of the most effective methods to generate solar leads, whether as a startup or a growing enterprise. We’ll share best practices, go over some advertising campaigns from the industry’s top businesses, and look at the most effective features of Facebook Lead Ads.

With these tips on how to generate solar leads, you’ll be able to get more customers than ever before. In time, your reputation will precede you!

First, Understand Your Audience

Are you working in an area with high density and disposable income (say, downtown Boston)? In that case, it might make sense to use Facebook Lead Ads to target local shoppers.

On the other hand, if you’re in a location where most people aren’t online (think rural America), Facebook probably won’t deliver enough leads to justify the cost of the ads. But flyers and direct mailers would.

Profiling your target market may not be as difficult as it seems.

Start in your own backyard. That is, take a good look at your existing clientele. They will provide valuable insights on the demographics of your prospects.

A little sleuthing will go a long way, too. Solar installations require local and federal permits (as you already know). These documents may or may not be public, but it won’t hurt to try getting access to them. That would be a treasure trove of information on  areas, households, and establishments most interested in solar power.

What to do with all that valuable info?

Once you have a clear picture of your potential customers, take some time to investigate how they interact with marketing and advertising campaigns.

Are they tech-savvy? If so, how much of their lives are devoted to social media? Do they tend to make purchases using mobile devices?

On the flip side, they might be more responsive to traditional media, e.g., door-to-door, word of mouth, and local events at the mall, market, church, or park.

Either way, the most important question to ask is: What kind of marketing messages do they respond to?

By knowing your audience well, you’ll be able to determine which lead generation tactics are a good fit for your business.

Next, Know Your Product And Help Potential Customers Understand It

What type of solar installations do you offer? Residential or commercial? Perhaps a combination of both?

List all the products and services you offer, highlighting your strengths and acknowledging your weaknesses.

Be aware as well that you’re selling big-ticket items for long-term use. Both home and business owners appreciate visual representations of such fixtures. That’s why real estate and construction companies invest in high-quality images and photos of their offerings.

More on that later.

Finally, Research Your Competition

Take a look at some of the popular brands or companies in your industry and see what they’re doing to generate leads. Visit their websites, subscribe to their email and mailing lists, and attend their events. If they’ve been successful in generating leads, you can use their tactics!

Now you have all the information you need to build your lead generation strategy: what you’re offering, to whom you’re selling, and which brands you’re up against. The next step is execution.

But before that, some inspiration…

Examples of Successful Solar Installation Ad Campaigns

In recent years, solar installation companies have ramped up their advertising efforts through both offline and online channels. These ads take many forms, as you can see below.

Arizona Public Service – Radio, Signage, Celebrity Tour

In 2010, APS took to the ring and signed up Arizona’s most popular sports star, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, as its endorser.

The marketing campaign aimed to promote the use of solar panels in both residential and commercial establishments. It included radio ads and solar signages inside the Phoenix Suns’ stadium. A tour of the entire state involved a contest wherein the winner got a chance to get up close and personal with Nash in the Suns’ locker room after a game.

Eventually, APS established a radio show in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity.

If you are a local solar installation company, these off-the-grid marketing ideas may be more effective for lead generation. After all, every town boasts its own homegrown celebrity.

SolarEdge – Marketing and Advertising with Video

Known for its quirky, upbeat video ads, SolarEdge has built a library of audio-visual content on its YouTube channel. From installation demos to instructional how-to’s, this solar company takes lead generation to the highest of heights.

Here’s one of their ads that captured the hearts of believers and non-believers alike:

Emulating this strategy is an ambitious undertaking. As a global brand, SolarEdge has the edge in terms of resources. But you can apply their techniques, albeit on a much smaller and local scale.

Not only is video marketing effective in attracting new leads, but it’s also a unique opportunity to showcase your expertise in an engaging, memorable way. You can do it with three simple steps:

1. Make simple videos at no cost (or low cost) by using free programs like Canva Video Maker or iMovie.
2. Use popular sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo to promote your company’s channel and content.
3. Leverage social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to drive more views.

A recent study found that over 80% of B2B companies now use video for lead generation purposes—and that number is growing every year! The bottom line? Video marketing should be part of any effective solar lead generation strategy.

KB Home – Facebook

The nation’s leading builder of solar-powered houses (11 thousand+ and counting), KB Home actively engages its more than 120K Facebook followers with before-and-after photos of those residences.

Similarly, KB Home recently ran an ad campaign in which they promoted their solar installations by showing the same images. This is a great example of using visuals to tell a story. When people are exposed to images, they can quickly understand why going green is important.

Like KB Home, you, too, can harness the power of Facebook Lead Ads. They’re designed specifically for businesses looking to capture contact information from prospective customers. By including creative graphics along with descriptive text, you’ll be able to grab the attention of even the most finicky FB scroller.

Tips On Using Facebook Lead Ads To Generate Solar Leads

Facebook’s lead ads, first introduced in 2015, can be a huge asset to companies that want to generate new leads quickly. The process of creating these ads is simple and intuitive. If you’re not using them yet, it’s time to start.

Here are some best practices you would be wise to adopt:

1. Be sure to add your contact information at every stage of your funnel

Whether it’s on your website or posted on your social media page, let people know how they can reach out to you.

2. Be detailed in your targeting options

Choose the 40-65+ age range because they’re the ones who can afford your products and services. You may also conduct AB testing with all demographics (option 1) and keywords like Solar Energy and Solar Power (option 2).

3. Use custom audiences for retargeting

One of Facebook’s most powerful features is its ability to target users based on their activity outside the platform—visiting your website, watching your videos, or downloading your ebooks.

When someone takes action on any of the above, you can create a custom audience for retargeting campaigns. That way, when they come back onto Facebook, they see ads around what got them interested in the first place.

4. Set up conversion tracking

This method allows you to track specific actions on your site and tie those actions back to conversions on Facebook. For example, if someone downloads a white paper about solar panels through one of your Facebook ads, then clicks through to your site and submits their email address, that person would count as a conversion.

5. Understand how dynamic products work

If you have products that change price depending on factors like size or color, then dynamic product ads are right for you. These allow you to show different prices to customers based on their preferences.

6. Utilize lookalike audiences

Lookalike audiences allow you to find potential customers similar to your existing customers. This makes it easier to expand your customer base without any additional legwork.

7. Don’t rely solely on Facebook for traffic

Diversify your channels by advertising across different platforms such as Google AdWords and Instagram Ads.

8. Use the Facebook Lead format

To reduce the friction for people responding to your Facebook ads, try setting up Facebook lead ad campaigns.

A Few More Tips

After seeing the myriad ways of how to generate solar installation leads, we know you’re excited to buckle up and get down to business.

While you’re at it, keep these things in mind to ensure the success of your lead generation campaigns:

• Whatever medium or platform you choose, always have a clear call to action (CTA). When users land on your ad, they should immediately understand what action you want them to take next.
• Create a landing page for your ads where visitors will end up after clicking on your CTA button. Make sure it’s clean and easy to navigate. You may also want to create separate landing pages for different types of leads—one that’s geared toward homeowners and another aimed at businesses. That way, you can test which one works best.
• Test out various CTA buttons — including button size and color and text prompts, like I want to go solar! or I’m ready for solar—and then monitor which one encourages customers to engage most.
• Use high-quality images and pair them with compelling copy.

Lastly, set a clear objective for your campaign. Are you trying to create awareness? Get people to sign up for a free consultation? When you know what your objective is, everything else will fall into place.