Insight on Effective Marketing Tips for Solar Energy

 

The 2013 Green Tech Media Solar Summit Conference provided great insight on marketing strategies from marketing professionals in the solar industry. The conference set up presentations and a panel of marketing experts to discuss what improvements and changes the solar market needs to make.  The following topics were the panel’s main focus of conversation; global solar market in 2014, PV modules: cost, technologies and market strategies, inverters and balance of systems, emerging solar markets, and the U.S. solar market.

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Helena Kimball, head of marketing at Yingli Solar (YGE) represented for the company. The Chinese marketer of solar panels is among the world’s largest solar provider. They didn’t enter the U.S. market until 2009. Kimball explains that the breakthrough was the companies’ sponsorship of the 2010 World Cup. Although China did not participate in this year’s World Cup however, Yingli Solar did become the first renewable energy and the first Chinese company in history to sponsor the FIFA World Cup. Kimball explains how “it really created a catalyst for other companies (in the solar industry) to launch into sport marketing.”

Kimball also touched on the importance of giving back to the community through corporate social responsibility. She words, “Low income families who weren't able to go solar.”  She further explains that “Solar at that time (2010) was only accessible for middle or upper class Americans.” Yingli Solar made a strategic partnership with GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit solar installer whose mission is to empower communities. The two companies worked together to install one megawatt of solar energy systems for 1,000 low-income families. These solar energy systems will generate $10 million worth of renewable energy over their lifespan, while eliminating 40,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. GRID Alternatives has now been named one of the fastest growing residential installers. 

SolarCity's Jonathan Bass spoke for the company and was asked if there will be any changes from 2013 compared to the past years in SolarCity’s marketing? His response to the questions was “the demographics for solar are changing a little bit. Solar is growing much faster in lower middle income than it is in upper class homes.” Bass noted the younger generation demographics are coming into play in terms of the market because of the explosion of social media among solar industries.

Danny Kennedy of Sungevity says his companies’ success has to do with customer satisfaction which led to 70% referrals to Sungevity. In Australia there has been an increase to its base of now a total of 1 million solar homes which counts for 10% of Australia’s population. Kennedy states “how they did that scaling was through word-of-mouth.”  The “solar snowball” is also a key component which he explains is the mass benefit people have received and have been touched by solar. Sungevity customer service team motto “shine from the inside out” is what Kennedy says is the reason for their good reputation for service business and customer satisfaction.

Misty Benham, Head of Operations and Marketing at REC Solar, explains that with the solar industries record losses there is multiple ways to scale the market of your consumers. Two ways she mentioned were the shotgun approach and the sniper approach. In the perspective of marketing the shotgun approach, is more of the traditional marketing strategy, where a promotional campaign for products or services targets a large area and population. Some of these strategies include paying for advertisements on popular televised events, buying ad space across multiple websites, and sending out mass mailings and emails. Sniper marketing is a non-traditional marketing technique in which a campaign is designed to increase brand awareness, initiate trial or purchase and strengthen brand loyalty. In the sniper approach, campaign strategies and promotions are based on the understanding perception of the target audience. Benham states that Rec Americas are using the sniper approach to maximize on their dollar through return on market spending. She emphasizes that business-to-business marketing is changing as the industry evolve and that partnerships are more important than print ads.