It is no news that the commercial solar industry is developing quickly. Between the benefits of going solar and the pressure to go green, there are many reasons for business owners to utilize solar power. But how can you target those businesses looking to install solar panels? Lead generation.
Sounds complex, right? Yeah, it does. Generating commercial solar leads can seem like a difficult and sometimes daunting task. But don’t fret! Converting a lead into a customer doesn’t need to be challenging.
We’ve compiled a tested and trusted 4-step strategy that can help you generate commercial solar leads in real-time
Curious to find out? Let’s get right into it!
The first step in this 4-step strategy is value creation. One of the first things you learn in business is that value attracts people. It is nectar to your audience. They will come to you because of your offerings. And when that happens, turn them into viable leads.
What does value creation do for you in this step?
It creates a rapport between you and your audience. It provides a space where you can both interact without them being on guard. But this only works if you give customers a reason to engage with your company.
Now, how can you create this engagement? Through content creation, that’s how!
Here comes the challenge: what type of content do potential commercial solar buyers want? Remember, the content you create should educate or reward your audience – that’s value, right there!
There are many ways to do this, but some useful starting points are…
These can be general information about solar energy and how it works. Determine what your commercial solar buyers want to know and provide answers to their questions through educational articles or blog posts.
Pick a particular area of commercial solar and cover it thoroughly in an electronic lead magnet PDF or E-Book. In this case one of our value content offerings is “How To Build Commercial Solar Lead Pipelines That Generate Significant ROI”. One advantage of using lead magnets is that you can offer it to potential business owners in exchange for their email addresses.
Showing a video of what you do (in our case we demonstrate our appointment setting, cold email process, case studies, or client testimonials) and how it works will educate your target audience and help build trust. Videos can influence buying behaviors and convert a lead into a customer!
I believe that you now have a ton of value created on your website, and you’re itching to break into the cold market of social media.
Well then, come along now, I’ve got one word for you – promotion.
No, this isn’t the promotion that gives you a higher paycheck. It’s the one that makes sure that people know that you exist and have a product to sell.
Social media is a gold mine. The average adult American spends about 5 hours a day on social media. You can’t afford to ignore such a powerful tool in your commercial solar lead generation strategy.
One glaring advantage of generating commercial solar leads from social media is that these leads are already interested. Your job is to convince them that they need the product you are offering.
Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are great places to promote your content.
There are many ways to generate commercial solar leads, but nothing beats the effectiveness of Facebook Ads. And why not? Facebook has excellent features that make it fitting for effective commercial solar marketing.
First, Facebook marketing begins with a professional business page. Also, make sure you put a call-to-action button at the top of your Facebook page. You can customize this button according to your offerings. For instance, “Learn More,” “Contact Us,” or “Book Service.“
Second, your visual impression is also crucial. Your thumbnail, profile image, and top image should be clear and of high-quality.
Third, select a memorable and detailed username that bears the business name or carries your brand’s main message. Sprinkle search and location keywords potential leads will use in the “about section.”
You can also use content to engage your commercial solar leads. More engagement with prospects implies more exposure for your company.
Finally, write a compelling copy!
You could use a generic “calculate how much solar will cost you,” but remember, we’ll be targeting two audiences with the same tool. So, you have to get creative and direct.
Use a copy that addresses your audience’s pains, and how you can offer solutions
For instance, you can use a heading like “Carl just realized his business lost $45,857 to grid energy since 2009. Calculate how much you’ve lost.”
For commercial and C-level executives, you can use this caption…
“XYZ saved $345,987 in 4 years with this tool.”
If you’re targeting a hospital, you can say: “Northside Hospital saved $345,987 in 4 years with this tool.”
And perhaps a supermarket: “Sweet Auburn Grocery saved $107,987 in 3 years with this tool.”
No doubt, LinkedIn remains one of the best social platforms for generating commercial solar leads. But how can you leverage LinkedIn?
It’s simple
Create a LinkedIn profile that comes across as knowledgeable and explains your wealth of expertise.
Post content. We can’t emphasize the importance of content for lead engagement. Your content should explore trends, give analysis, and must be educational,
Network. There’s no better medium to connect with decision-makers than on LinkedIn. Reach out and make connections. Contact influencers and approach them sensibly.
Next, use a few paragraphs to tell your audience about Carl, how he lost so much until he started using your solar tool.
Also, include other client stories or reviews these organizations can relate with. Don’t forget to add social proofs or reviews to show them your credibility.
You’ll always find an audience on Twitter. However, you’ll need to apply similar tips as we did on Facebook to target your commercial solar audience.
You can also create and promote several tweets around your selling point, so your audience can interact with them organically. When you successfully promote your company on social media, you’ll drive traffic to your website, which would convert to leads.
The goal here is to get noticed by your target audience and convert them to leads.
I bet you’re excited. You have a significant number of leads right now, and it’s time to implement the next step. Lead Nurturing.
The idea behind lead nurturing is to build a relationship with a lead with the hopes of eventually turning them to paying customers.
Lead nurturing is akin to planting a big farm, and taking care of the crops until harvest time. Some of the crops would yield a bountiful harvest while others would not, but you, as the farmer, must nurture all seeds well.
Just like the precision of agriculture, there is a precision that works perfectly in leads nurturing.
The lead nurture process involves giving your commercial solar leads the right messages to guide them through the sales funnel until they are ready to buy your product.
You might be thinking… “That’s a lot of work….” Well, you have a point. Leads are a bit like kids; they have to be coerced and cajoled into seeing things your way (purchasing your product) even if it is beneficial to them. That’s what the lead nurturing process is about – letting them know they need that service and why they should get it.
Lead nurturing is only useful when it is targeted and timely. But how can you do this when you have leads numbering in hundreds or even thousands? Lead nurturing automation, of course! There are tools designed to make the automation process as easy as possible.
If you aren’t working with marketing automation software, you won’t be able to follow up on your leads and guide them effectively to the sale point.
How do you automate your lead nurturing process?
Multi-channel lead nurturing is an excellent way to target more people through a series of targeted marketing messages. To do this, you need to leverage integrated marketing tools such as social media, paid retargeting, sales enablement, dynamic content, and marketing automation.
This is the first step in automating your emails. When a potential business subscribes to an offer by filling in their contact details, the lead nurturing workflow often begins with a follow-up email.
For an automated process, you’d need to have all the emails in their right sequence ready.
Remember that the messages and their sequence depend on what stage of the sales funnel the lead is in.
When you are done creating the content, you establish a workflow that is dependent on reactionary moves. A lead gets a particular email if they do action A and a lead that doesn’t take action A gets a different email.
You would feed these triggers into the marketing automation software and let it nurture your leads.
Here, you can divide your audience into several segments according to data like age, interest, profession, location, where they are in your sales funnel, and so on.
This will help you customize your content to their needs. Understanding your audience will improve your conversion rate drastically.
Without personalized emails, you can lose as much as 39% of your leads. But if you do it right, you can improve your conversion rate. Use short and personalized content that encourages a lead to take action.
Keep them up to date on your product updates or any other useful tips that can help them.
There’s always room to improve. This statement has never been more apt. As the lead nurturing process passes through a rinse and repeat, your work isn’t done yet.
You still have to study the workflow to determine what moves are effective, less effective, or not effective at all.
In this step, you fine-tune the entire marketing process by picking out successful patterns from your marketing strategy.
You’d need to start from the top, but don’t be scared, there are great tools to help you study the efficacy of your strategies.
For your website, analytical tools help you analyze how potent your content is. Do blog visitors interact more with some content than others?
If so, Why?
What is so special about those contents?
Knowing this helps you create valuable content that aligns with your audience’s needs.
On social media platforms, analytics would help you know which of your ads is doing better. It’ll give you an insight on how to be more targeted than before.
When it comes to the lead nurturing process, did a particular email produce the desired response more than others?
This stage is simply a repair stage that keys you over the marketing sales funnel and helps customize it to fit your audience even better.
Highlighting highly effective patterns is only half of the task. You still need to optimize those patterns and repeat the process for optimal lead generation.
These four steps are tested and trusted to generate and convert commercial solar leads to paying customers. Remember that not all lead generation processes will yield results. But if you apply these steps, you’ll notice a marked increase in inbound prospects and conversion.
Are you interested in building a commercial solar lead pipeline that generates significant ROI? Outsourcing your commercial solar lead generation to the Royal Energy team will provide you with a ready-made team that can deliver the results you are looking for and delivers them quickly. Book a call with us today
