SELLING SOLAR

Where the Rubber Hits the Road: Effective Marketing for Solar; “Southwest isn’t an airline; it’s a service business. That’s how we have to think about solar.”—Danny Kennedy of Sungevity

Eric Wesoff, April 30, 2013 (Greentech Media)

“Is the solar industry marketing itself successfully? Are solar firms reaching consumers? Is branding important? Can the average consumer name even one solar panel manufacturer?...In a 2011 survey performed by San Jose State University in cooperation with Solartech, 63 percent of respondents could not accurately recall any solar company that provides solar systems for residential use. Those that could name names came up with SunPower and SolarCity. Only 11 percent of the survey's respondents believed solar to be affordable, while 82 percent perceived solar as expensive.

“…Yingli Solar (YGE)…which is the world's largest solar supplier…didn't enter the U.S. market until 2009 and created a large effort to build brand recognition with its sponsorship of the World Cup…Yingli's own global brand survey indicated that half of U.S. consumers cannot identify a single solar module vendor…[As] the first Chinese firm to sponsor the 2010 FIFA World Cup…it reached out to millions in the European market. This type of sponsorship deal does not come cheap, but it must have been worth it, as Yingli is sponsoring the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.”

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“…[The SolarCity “Steal our contracts”] campaign…made its solar service agreement available for download earlier this year…3,000 people have read and downloaded those contracts…[D]emographics are changing in solar with much faster growth in low- and middle-incomes…[but solar still has] an image problem with Wall Street... [Solar has an education problem, according to SolarCity. Everyone knows that solar power is better for the environment than fossil fuels, but most people don't realize that it can be less expensive than electricity from the grid. The differences between various panels are too subtle to matter to most consumers. They care about dollars and cents]

“…[Sungevity’s] goal is to lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) and keep the firm's referral momentum going…Australia went from 900 PV roofs to 300,000 rooftops in six years -- and that scaling was all due to word-of-mouth…[Sungevity believes aesthetics] are more important to the customer than brand…[REC Americas sees business-to-business marketing] changing as the industry evolves…[P]artnerships are more important than print ads…for REC bringing installers to its vertically integrated facilities to show them what goes into a module…[Its marketing is more focused on helping its partners promote themselves…”

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