With an impressive 23.53% CAGR and 15.1 GW cumulative solar capacity, the UK’s solar market is a fertile ground for solar lead generation of all types and scales. And you can get your piece of the pie too, whether you manufacture, install, or maintain solar panels.
Chances are the only thing separating you from exponential growth is the right lead generation strategy. If you have one, congratulations: you’re already in the winning spot. And if you lack one…then read this solar lead generation guide to bridge the gap.
In the following chapters, I’ll dig deep into the three fundamental solar lead generation strategies:
- Solar lead generation using earned media
- Solar lead generation using paid advertising
- Buying solar leads from third-party providers
The Three Solar Lead Generation Pathways
For those willing to get the gist of it without digging deep into the matter, I’ve created an overarching table to put all three lead gen methods into perspective.
Here you go:
| Earned Media | Generating solar leads using earned media is the most sustainable strategy, as the same content piece can keep driving customers for months and years. However, acquiring organic traffic requires significant time and effort, which is beyond the capabilities of most aspiring solar companies. |
| Paid Advertising | Paid advertising is simpler, as you “only” have to know what platforms and paid ads can drive traffic. That said, the customer flow will run dry shortly after your advertising campaign ends. |
| Buying Solar Leads | Buying solar energy leads is the path of least resistance because you immediately get the leads you want. However, you should still be able to convert enough of these leads to make profits. |
All these solar lead generation strategies are viable under specific circumstances, but it’s usually better if you combine all of them instead of relying on a single traffic channel.
For example, if you’ve generated a decent number of organic solar installation leads but can’t drive enough maintenance leads, you can leverage paid ads or buy these leads from lead generators. The advantage of buying solar leads is that you can narrow it down to specific demographics and psychographics, maximising your conversion potential.
Chapter 1 – How To Generate Solar Leads Using Earned Media
Solar lead generation using earned media is the only way to get solar leads for free and guarantee yourself a steady flow of customers in the long run. However, attracting a significant organic audience requires compelling content, sharp marketing acumen, and timing.
Here are the 5 pillars of organic solar lead generation:
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Referral marketing
- Offline marketing
Before I elaborate on these aspects, let me introduce the common challenges most solar companies face on their way to sustainable organic lead generation:
| Location | Not all locations in the UK have the same solar potential, so you must research your target geographies in the first place. Even though solar panels can operate without direct sunlight, panels in the sunny southeast of the UK will likely be more popular than those in cloudy West Midlands or Yorkshire. |
| Competition | Locations with more natural sunlight are typically more competitive, but not always so. Consider looking for discrepancies to find your niche and target customers. |
| Legislation | As a solar panel business, you must comply with regulations in the countries in which you operate. This means you must research the legal field of every target country, which may not be cheap. |
And now let’s get back to our 5 pillars of organic solar lead generation.
Organic Solar Lead Generation Pillar #1 – Email Marketing
Not only is email marketing on the rise – 50.8% of email marketing professionals doubled their ROI recently – but it seems a natural fit for solar products. From general educational content to personalised emails, you can cover every target lead group with various email formats and even impress recipients with AMP emails that enable instant purchases.
Here are some specific emails you can send to different solar leads:
- Welcome emails to users who have just signed up for your website
- Follow-up emails to users who have installed an app or downloaded a guide
- Engagement emails to users who have browsed your pricing page
- Reengagement emails to users who have abandoned the cart
When it comes to email marketing, the best idea is to personalise your emails as much as possible so every recipient gets a unique resonating message factoring in who they are, what they want, and their previous experiences with your company and possibly other companies.
Here are the solar lead generation email examples for different stages of the sales funnel:
| Awareness | Subject Line: Your Solar Future Starts Now Hello Michael, Can solar panels make a difference? Here are some solar facts no one can argue with:
Want more? Download our latest case study about the environmental effects of solar panels.
Best retards, Nicolas Aurelius CMO at SolarEClean |
| Consideration | Subject line: Do not Let These Myths Stop Your Solar Journey Dear Anthony, As increasingly more people fall for the anti-solar propaganda, we’d like to debunk some of the most notorious myths about solar panels:
Still lack confidence? Schedule a free consultation or call us for an objective assessment of the impact of solar panels on your household.
Best Regards, Den Greene CEO at GoSolar |
| Decision | Subject line: Your 25% Discount on Solar, Expires 20.05.2024 Congratulations on your choice, Linda, You’re about to change your life and make a positive environmental impact by going solar. We’d like to grant you a free installation, 3 years of warranty at a 50% cost, and a 25% discount on all solar panels purchased before 20.05.2024. Best Regards, Alex Kovalsky, CMO at SolarFuture |
Email marketing perfectly synergises with SMM, amplifying your efforts across channels. For example, you can include successful social media posts in emails, offer incentives to sign up for your newsletter, or reinforce your emails with user-generated content from social media.
Organic Solar Lead Generation Pillar #2 – Social Media Marketing
With 73% of the population in the United Kingdom using social media daily, many solar brands are doubling down on SMM to win their customer share. Even though solar products may not suit every social media platform, chances are you’ll successfully promote on these seven:
- YouTube
- X
- TikTok
Here’s more about how to generate solar leads on the mentioned social media platforms:
Solar Lead Generation on LinkedIn
The 9th most popular social media platform in the United Kingdom, LinkedIn is an unambiguous leader in B2B solar lead generation and a knowledgeable user base.
You don’t necessarily have to take away all the fun from your content, but it might be a good idea to double down on case studies, guides, and research papers. You might not grab leads as easily as on Instagram, but those you get will be more likely to buy from you.
LinkedIn solar lead generation example:
Solar Lead Generation on Facebook
Home to over 3 billion monthly users, Facebook allows you to tap into the most diverse demographics, which is especially valuable for global companies. You can use almost any type of lead gen materials on Facebook, including posting in groups, capitalising on user-generated content, and collaborating with other solar brands and companies from related industries.
Facebook solar lead generation example:
Solar Lead Generation on Instagram
Instagram may not be as good as YouTube when it comes to attention span, but you can drive lots of leads if you manage to squeeze your main ideas into relatively short video presentations. Your best weapons are high-quality photos and field footage.
Instagram solar lead generation example:
Посмотреть эту публикацию в Instagram
Solar Lead Generation on Pinterest
The world’s best digital scrapbook may be the platform where you want to prioritise the female audience. This is easy to leverage, though: with their environmental impact and saving potential, solar panels are appealing to women’s hearts.
Pinterest solar lead generation example:
Solar Lead Generation on YouTube
Everyone watches YouTube, so finding and nurturing your leads should be a problem. Shoot educational content, guides, interviews, and anything that can educate, nurture, and eventually convert your solar leads.
YouTube solar lead generation example:
Solar Lead Generation on X
X is all about news and trends, so the content should resonate with the burning issues of the day or reflect the latest changes in the market. X is superb for personal engagement with solar leads – here, you can build your reputation and boost customer relationships like nowhere else.
X solar lead generation example:
Solar Lead Generation on TikTok
Solar might not be a fun industry per se, but you can benefit galore from TikTok users if you show your flavour to audiences spanning their 20s and 30s.
TikTok solar lead generation example:
@future_explored Where would you put one of these? #futuretech #ecofriendly #sustainability #solar #tech #technology #ecotok ♬ original sound – Future Explored
Organic Solar Lead Generation Pillar #3 – Content Marketing
While it’s obvious that high-quality content is a must, you may wonder how to match it with their expectations.
To create high-quality content, you need three things:
- Unique selling proposition
- Segmentation
- Search engine optimisation
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Every major content piece should contain an irresistible selling proposition that explains why your solar products or services are one step above the competition. Whether your panels are cheaper or more durable, you should articulate it in your USP and content.
USP examples for solar lead generation:
| Urban apartment owners | “Our compact, high-performance solar panels will maximise your urban space while saving you at least 25% on energy bills per month, even on cloudy days” |
| Rural property owners | “You don’t need direct sunlight to cover your growing electricity needs with our large solar panels for expansive properties” |
| Retirees | “Secure your retirement by selling electricity back to the grid with our low-cost, easy-to-maintain solar panels” |
To craft a USP, you should know your target buyers and what you can offer them. In other words, you must segment your solar leads by demographics, psychographics, previous interactions, and anything else you find appropriate. The rule of thumb is that the more granular the segmentation, the easier it is to hit the bull’s eye with specific buyer personas.
Segmentation
Segmentation is key to targeting both organic and paid leads. However, to segment your leads, you need to generate them first, and this is where things get tricky.
How do you generate leads if you don’t know who you want to generate?
Your saviour is marketing automation software, which can minimise the number of solar leads you need to create profitable marketing patterns. A well-thought-out lead management system like Phonexa will uncover your solar leads on the fly, giving you an overarching view of your sales funnel.
More specifically, here’s what Phonexa offers when it comes to solar lead tracking:
- LMS Sync – comprehensive lead management software suite for lead tracking, distribution, analytics, and real-time reporting
- Call Logic – call management software for processing solar call leads
- HitMetrix – customer behaviour analytics, including heatmaps and session recordings
- Lynx – click tracking software to attribute and measure clicks and conversions
United into a single system, these solutions can help you quickly develop solar buyer personas and minimise the trial-and-error phase before you are ready to cater for different groups of leads with a wide range of marketing strategies.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
While segmentation addresses solar leads, there’s also a way to address search engines so your content ranks higher: search engine optimisation. Content-wise, SEO boils down to selecting the right keywords alongside optimising various on-page attributes (URL structure, meta descriptions, title tags, etc.) and off-page attributes like backlinks and social signals.
Selecting the right keywords means choosing the keywords you can realistically rank for. Extremely competitive keywords won’t work for brands with a small online presence.
Here’s an example of a highly competitive keyword:
Hitting the top-3 or even top-5 for this keyword is nearly impossible unless you have a stellar online presence. On the other hand, there are plenty of less competitive keywords to capitalise on.
Here’s an example of a potentially profitable keyword for small solar companies:
If “used solar panels” fits your niche – if you sell solar panels or provide maintenance services – then this low-competition keyword can bring you tons of leads. There are more keywords of this kind – just use Ahrefs or similar tools to reveal your golden opportunities.
Organic Solar Lead Generation Pillar #4 – Referral Marketing
Referral marketing is one of the best ways to get free solar leads because you appeal to your existing customers who have already developed some loyalty towards your brand. Referral marketing is equally good for B2B and B2C, giving you the best of both worlds.
There are two ways to generate leads for solar with referral marketing:
- Run a referral programme. Satisfied customers are eager to share the news with their family and friends, but even more so if you incentivise them with bonuses, discounts, and perks. I recommend tiered rewards and two-way incentives (rewards for both the referee and the referral) to make your referral programme shine.
- Ask for referrals. You can ask your l customers for recommendations even without incentivising them. This will be harder, though, as most customers need a little nudge to act. But then again, it’s all about asking for a favour at the right time with the right words.
Here’s an example of how to get solar leads with a referral programme:
| Solar Energy Referral Programme: up to $25,000 for Referrals |
| Help the world go green with Solar Energy Referral Programme – earn $100 for every successful referral*, capped at $25,000 per referee. |
| How To Join |
*A successful referral is a referral who spent at least $1,000 in our shop |
| Additional Benefits |
| For every referee who has invited 10 or more referrals, we add a 50% bonus for every subsequent referral, making it $150 per referral |
Organic Solar Lead Generation Pillar #5 – Offline Marketing
Last but not least, you can generate high-intent solar leads via offline events like workshops, trade shows, exhibitions, and more. You won’t reach as many solar leads as with online marketing, but the quality of these leads will be much higher.
Organising events will show people that you’re a real company that embraces personal connection. Moreover, such events are a great source for shooting unique content for months ahead, killing two birds with one stone.
Chapter 2 – How to Generate Solar Leads Using Paid Advertising
Now that you’ve finished Chapter 1, you are almost ready to generate solar leads using pad advertising, as you have the lion’s share of the knowledge you need.
Here’s the deal: many aspects of organic lead generation apply to lead generation with paid ads – creating a USP, segmenting your audience, customising your ads, etc. – except that you must also know about paid ads and platforms.
Speaking of which, I kindly direct you to the mortgage paid ads lead gen guide, where I’ve dissected paid advertising. Don’t you worry that it’s about mortgage leads – all the principles hold water for solar leads as well.
Chapter 3 – How to Buy Solar Leads
I feel like there might be too much content on your plate for now, so I would suggest you pause before digging further into the complete guide to buying solar leads. I strongly recommend this guide for anyone seeking in-depth knowledge about purchasing solar leads.
As of now, it’s time to wrap things up by reminding you of the necessity to automate processes in the ever-growing solar lead acquisition market. Today’s lead management software leaves you no alternative simply because it does things faster and more accurately than humans.
Generate More Solar Leads with Phonexa’s Lead Management Automation Suite
At the risk of sounding pompous, I tell you this: Phonexa’s lead management software is a ticket to your lead acquisition Promised Land. The unique eight-in-one software package will cover your marketing needs from top to bottom without juggling different tools and systems, starting at only $100 monthly.
Get it all at one price now, or schedule a free consultation to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are solar leads?
Solar leads are potential buyers of solar products with a confirmed interest. For example, a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) may be a customer who has filled out a form, asked for a quote, subscribed to your newsletter, or engaged with other marketing content.
How do you generate solar leads online?
There are only three approaches to solar panel lead generation: you can generate solar leads using earned media (your website, blog, social media channels, webinars, offline events, etc.), paid media (for example, social media ads), or buy solar leads from lead generators.
How do you get more solar leads?
– Expand to other traffic channels. Companies go omnichannel to maximise exposure, draw attention from multiple markets, and tap into diverse audiences.
– Improve your marketing and services. Lead acquisition is about combining the right marketing strategy and quality services. If you don’t generate enough solar leads, you might want to revamp your solar lead funnel, unique selling proposition, or quality of field services.
– Buy cheaper leads. Cheaper solar leads aren’t worse than, say, exclusive solar leads by default. Buying cheaper solar leads might be a superior marketing strategy if you convert enough of them.
How do you buy solar leads?
After identifying your best place to buy solar leads, you must register with the provider and specify the type, price, and number of leads you need. In most cases, you must also specify how you’d like to get your leads and track their performance.
Get in touch! We are available 24/7.
