By Melissa Cavanagh, Marketing Manager, Trina Solar US

Welcome back to Part Two in this two-part series on marketing best practices in the solar industry! In Part One, we covered Tips 1-4, including defining your audience, developing a content calendar, leveraging a variety of formats, and optimizing for search engines. Be sure to check that out. Here, we’ll wrap up with Tips 5-10 for residential solar installers to create a cost-effective content marketing strategy.

5. Consider Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising
Most of the strategies on this list fall under the category “organic content,” meaning you (or your team) do all the legwork and heavy lifting to drive traffic and engagement to generate leads without directly spending on the campaign. However, PPC advertising offers another relatively inexpensive way to help you achieve results.

With PPC, you create ads and host them on platforms like Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, or Facebook Ads Manager. You can also refine and filter who sees your ads by using your keywords/key-phrases and data from your customer personas.

Then, you only pay if and when someone clicks on the ad.

PPC advertising is a good option for solar lead generation because when someone does click on your ad, it indicates an interest in your products or services. PPC ad platforms also provide additional metrics to help you further optimize and improve your campaigns. Plus, even if someone doesn’t click on your ad, it can still appear in search results or social media feeds, helping build and maintain brand awareness.

6. Measure Your ROI
Aside from being a more cost-effective approach, digital marketing lets you track your results and measure your ROI much easier and more accurately than traditional advertising. On average, a good ROI will be around 5:1, meaning for every dollar you spend, you should make $5. While this is a “good” ROI, it’s only a benchmark. Different variables, such as local market saturation and competitors’ efforts (or lack thereof), can impact your results.

Most digital marketing channels and platforms — whether direct emails, Google ads, social media outlets, or sponsored or hosted content sites — provide real-time granular engagement analytics. This data can reveal which ads are performing best so you can immediately adjust the campaign or reallocate resources if necessary.

Not only can you track and measure your direct spend, but by using Urchin Tracking Modules (UTMs) for your content, you also gain access to a wide range of customer data on who visits your website and their behaviors while on the website. This tool can help you understand the customer journey for prospects and further refine your customer personas for even better audience targeting.

7. Repurpose and Promote Your Content
Maximize the value of your content by repurposing it across different channels. For example, you can turn a blog post into a video script or an infographic, or compile a blog series into a single ebook. Repurposing allows you to reach new audiences and extend the lifespan of your content at little to no additional cost.

Additionally, actively promote your content through social media campaigns, email marketing, influencer partnerships, and collaborations with industry publications. By amplifying your content’s reach, you can attract more qualified leads and increase your chances of converting them into customers.

8. Become a Thought Leader
This approach might only work for some, but becoming a thought leader, even locally, can supercharge your digital marketing campaign and position your company as a trusted solar expert. Establishing trust with your audience can often be the most influential factor in building new customer relationships. A recent survey revealed that 81% of customers won’t conduct business with or buy from a brand if they don’t trust the company, while 89% will disengage from a brand that loses their trust.

Becoming a thought leader involves researching, developing fact-based opinions, and sharing intelligent strategies to help answer your customers’ questions and solve their problems. For solar installers, this might be publishing blog articles that explain how new PV technology, like n-type TOPCon, can provide homeowners with more rooftop solar system value.

9. Stay Active to Drive Engagement
One often overlooked aspect of digital marketing is staying active and engaging with your audience and networks. Interacting with your audience demonstrates a human touch from your company, potentially incentivizing prospective customers to return to your website or online channels. Staying active can take various forms, from simply “liking” or sharing customer posts on social media to more interactive approaches such as setting up live events with audience Q&As.

10. Promote and Sell What Customers Want
At the end of the day, even the best digital marketing strategy will only go so far unless you have the PV panels, services, and warranties that residential solar customers are seeking.

With Trina Solar’s residential modules, installers can access industry-leading technology, value, and support. The new Vertex S+, with N-type TOPCon technology, generates up to 430W power output with up to 22% efficiency in an all-black aesthetic that looks stunning on any style of customer’s roof. The industry-leading TrinaProtect 25-year product and 25-year power warranty program provides additional piece of mind for homeowners.

For installers, the lighter and smaller panel design has widespread compatibility with balance-of-system (BoS) components to make your job easier, faster, and more efficient. Even after the project is complete, Trina Solar US Advantage maintains a robust local support team for all the assistance you need when you need it most.

Reach out to Trina Solar US today to learn more.

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