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Covid-19 has changed the fundamentals a lot for solar businesses in terms of lead generation. Solar installers, in particular, have been affected a lot by the change in times. Gone are the days when door to door sales was the best form of lead generation and conversion for solar installers. Prospects who were once interested in solar are now scared to even open their doors to solar salesmen. It is, therefore, important for installers to invest their time and money towards other viable options. In the quest to embrace what the rest of the world is doing and go completely digital, let's look at 4 ways how solar installers can generate leads amidst the COVID pandemic. Aside from Search Engine Marketing (Google Ads), which, by the way, should be the go-to option, there are also other simple and almost free methods that solar installers can look at, to generate leads remotely.
A basic requirement for any solar installation company that is looking to generate leads remotely is to have a well-functioning website. Having a good looking website and a functioning website are two different things. If you manage to have both, then you've hit the bull's eye. Most installers/developers already have websites, but many aren't user friendly. A solid website has the potential to convert prospects into clients on its own without a sales rep. Imagine how much one saves with that.
Lowering acquisition costs is ultimately what matters and having a good website goes a long way in doing just that. Think about your target audience and imagine what they would want to see in your website. Since costs are a major factor, It would be better if you have a solar calculator right on the home page that shows production analysis and solar savings. Don't just use your website as a tool for explaining your service, use it as a tool to position your company as a resource that gives abundant value just like the sun itself.
Cutting down the load time of your website helps. If you don't want to spend too much on your website development and still want a fast loading website, remove all the extra plugins and try to compress the images on your site as far as you can without pixelating the images.
Also, roughly one-in-five American adults are smartphone-only internet users. Therefore, make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
Try to decrease your prospect's pain points as much as possible. As you may already know, having a potential client land on your website is probably the toughest part, (and you will see in the next point as to how to do that too), you do not want these leads to close your website after just one page. You have to try your best to convert the prospect into a client with proper CTA (Call to Action).
A Call to Action, in simple terms, means an option that convinces prospects to act. The best place to have a call to action button is right after you pitch your product/service. Place it right after you've motivated your potential client enough to choose you.
Google roughly has 246 million unique users in the US alone. Make use of it when it is available to you for free. Ask your existing customers to give reviews on google. It gives credibility to your solar business and again has the potential to convert prospects into potential clients.
Another advantage of having good google reviews is it enables your company to rank higher on local search results. This is especially helpful for small to mid-level solar installers who run businesses in a particular area. Imagine being on top of the search results. That is literally free promotion to increase brand trust.
Prospects are 10 times more likely to convert into clients if they see social proof. Therefore, create a Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn page. It is a great way to connect with potential clients and keep them warm at all times. This doesn’t outrightly mean you’ll never generate leads if you don’t have a massive presence on social media; it just means you’ll increase your chances provided you have sufficient social proof. Similar to google reviews, ask your customers to give reviews on social media platforms about your solar installation work and re-share them on your page. Also, post information that is useful to your target audience.
You can, in fact, increase your website traffic by being active on social media. The call to action rule also applies to social media. For instance, when you post about your company or your solar installation service, add a link to your website at the end of your post.
Most of the above methods are free. Therefore, they are efficient and provide the best ROI (Return on Investment). So, COVID or not, as a solar installer these should probably be the first few things that you should be looking at when you plan on how to invest your time in marketing in the next few months.
