Solar Marketing: The Future of the Residential Solar Industry

Student

Tyler McDonough

College(s)

Mendoza College of Business

Faculty Advisor

Mitchell C. Olsen

Class Year

2022

Abstract

The spark for this project began with the intention to better understand the residential solar market in terms of current marketing strategies being employed as well as evaluating the top players to see what is or isn’t working in the industry. After some initial research and finding little information on U.S. residential solar marketing strategies, the goal of this project became to create a marketing analysis with actionable insights and recommendations that solar companies can utilize in their own marketing plans. In accomplishing this goal, the project includes existing research on residential solar marketing, some current strategies by solar companies, an interview with a solar professional, key demographic trends, and finally specific insights on how to accelerate growth. The outcome of this project is a general marketing analysis of the residential solar industry with information and recommendations that any solar company could use to drive growth and further comprehend emerging demographic trends specific to purchasing solar panels.

Introduction

From my research, I have not found much information on U.S. residential solar industry marketing strategies that can drive growth and better target various demographics. By doing research independently of any one residential solar company on some of the best marketing currently available, it will be easier to cover a wide range of strategies and identify specific elements that are successful in accelerating growth and capturing targeted demographics. Several articles have broadly suggested ways for solar companies to employ marketing strategies including basic things like content creation, SEO, pay-per-click, email marketing, social media marketing, etc. These are vital components of a successful marketing strategy, yet many of these articles do not evaluate specific residential solar marketing tactics and the successes or failures that ensue. The goal of this research project is to become much more specific and targeted not only in evaluating marketing strategies used by current residential solar companies but also in identifying the marketing that needs to be done to acquire a range of different customers from various demographics and backgrounds.