Ruben Ugarte Discusses Solar Advertising on Panel at the TX Solar and Storage Expo

The 2019 TX Solar and Storage Expo held in Austin on July 4-5, 2019 was a local hit. It gave ActiveProspect, which is based in Austin, an opportunity to connect with current and new clients as well as to hear about emerging trends and topics within the Lone Star State. 

The event is four years running and helps bring industry leaders and professionals together from all cross-sections of the Texas energy industry. Each year, the event has grown and now includes energy storage, electric vehicles and community solar as focal points of discussion. 

I had the pleasure of contributing on a panel entitled, How Effective Messaging Can Win Over Audiences, which was moderated by Colin Silver, Director, Digital & Internal Communications at SEIA. The panel included representatives from ActiveProspect, CPS Energy, EDP Renewables and a local journalist from the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.  

The group discussion explored advertising within the solar industry and how to best communicate the value of solar power to the end user. With branding and messaging overlapping in both residential, commercial and utility, the conversation focused on how to develop a more active and engaged public network that will lead to higher renewable adoption rates.

My focus was on how installers should discuss messaging guidelines with their lead vendors at the start of the lead buyer/seller relationship. The lead vendor should be seen as a trusted partner who can help scale the business. 

This is critical as the lead vendor is representing the installer’s brand. The effect of the vendor’s advertisement can be positive or negative so to prevent damage to the installer’s brand, the installer and vendor should be on the same page from day one.

There were a number of real banner ad examples that were obvious click bait or either misleading or outright false. Those were compared to examples of positive customer journey ads, where the imagery and messaging were focused on savings, equipment quality and the pending tax credit expiration. 

The positive imagery shown at the beginning of a customer’s journey can impact conversions and be a major indicator on how that vendor’s campaign will perform long term for your organization. The key takeaway is to engage your lead vendors as long term partners and not on a cost-per-lead basis on a single insertion order. 

We look forward to attending next year, and continuing to learn and communicate ways in which installers can safely grow their lead generation efforts here in Texas and throughout the US.

If you’d like to know more about how ActiveProspect can help eliminate tedious, manual processes associated with buying and distributing leads while increasing conversion rates, check out LeadConduit, our lead optimization platform. 

Highlight of TX Energy Stats:

• Texas produces more electricity than any other state, generating almost twice as much as Florida, the second-highest electricity-producing state.
• The Lone Star State ranks 6th in the nation for solar installations, with 2,465.75 MW installed and over 282k homes powered by solar.
• Texas is poised to become a nationwide leader in solar energy, with more than 4 GW of capacity expected to be installed over the next 5 years.
• Texas leads the nation in wind-powered generation and produced one-fourth of all the U.S. wind powered electricity in 2017.

Source: seia.org