Beware of Solar Fred's 5 Horsemen of Solar Marketing!

Do you hear their voices around the office? Can you see them? Lo! Beware the 5 Horsemen of Solar Marketing Hell!

The First Horsemen: The Jackal of Low Priority. This animal puts everything else in the solar business in front of marketing, rather than having a balanced approach. The result is anemic sales and performance because even though the solar product works, nobody knows or cares. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it…does anyone care or buy that tree for kindling? Probably not.

The Second Horseman: The What Was I Thinking Donkey of No Strategy.  This beast does not have a number or an 800 number even. It doesn’t even have a decent brochure, and even if it did, it wouldn’t know who to give it to or what targeting language to say in it.  Budgeting and creating a strategy is your first weapon against this puppy…or donkey. Whatever. It’s a metaphor. Just go with it.

The Third Horseman: The Half-Hearted Aardvark of Non-Engagement. In some ways, this is the most innocuous and the most dangerous. This half-hearted demon avoids direct contact with customers via Twitter, blogs, Facebook, Linkedin, and other social networks. The fear is that there is no control in social media land, and therefore, better to keep that branding and lead generating power hidden. And so, it is.

The Fourth Horseman: The Hyena of Can I Avoid Helping You?  Related to the Aardvark — by marriage. Long story — this Hyena wants to just sell, sell, sell, close the sale, and not worry about the customer care after the sale. To him, it’s just more work for little or no commission, so perhaps you should address that since ongoing beyond-the-call service leads to more referrals and reputation building. Sadly, this Hyena is only interested in building up the current sale price, not the long-term business — and that’s frightening to the marketing department.

The Fifth Horseman: The Sleepy Eyed Moose of Safe, Ho-hum Marketing. This one is last because it’s lazy and goes for the first slogan off the top of its moose head instead of going deeper and doing something different, fun, or never-seen-that-before. He’s always bragging about spinning meters backwards and shows off sunflowers like nobody has ever seen those two symbols before. To this moose head, if it’s working for everyone else, why not for Five Horsemen Solar.

Now, obviously, this is a bit of fun and exaggeration. In the last year, I’ve actually seen some of these horsemen start to leave a few solar companies. Hopefully they’re going back to the oil, gas, and coal industries.

However, especially in larger “established” companies, I still see them far more often than I’d like to. It’s why I’m always encouraging you and your company to “UnThink” or “undo” what’s been done and to start fresh with some new marketing horses and ideas.

So, if you see any of the above horses in your solar businesses, beware. You can defeat them by committing yourself to UnThink Solar.

Tor Valenza a.k.a. “Solar Fred” advises solar companies on marketing, communications, and public relations. Contact him through UnThink Solar or follow him on Twitter @SolarFred.