Developing legislation, energy consumption growth, and increasing competition make innovative marketing a requirement for energy services companies.
Legislative actions like the Clean Energy for America Act and the enacted Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 contribute billions of dollars of investment in renewable energy. Simultaneously, these acts create high levels of competition within the energy sector.
With the global energy industry set to grow from $70.46 billion in 2022 to $147.56 billion by 2029, there’s plenty of reason to jump into the fray and compete with other companies for a corner of this valuable market. Successful marketing in this field is based on a deep knowledge of top-of-the-funnel and bottom-of-the-funnel mindsets, as well as a formative skill set in new-age digital marketing.
Read on to discover expert guidance on targeted marketing for energy services.
Digital Marketing Strategies for Energy Companies
These 4 strategies will help any energy company in its marketing journey to make informed decisions and compete at a higher level for a larger client base.
Gather Customer Data
Data is queen. Without customer data, making tough decisions on where to spend on marketing and development efforts are just hopeful guesses. Ask yourself some questions:
- Does your site have functioning lead forms? If so, where are these forms placed, and are they used by consumers?
- Does your industry sector use a chatbox? Do you have one?
- Do you have a high customer turn? Do you know why or why not? Are surveys used?
- Do you have or collect customer emails? Do you use these emails for successful marketing campaigns?
No matter which sector of energy as a service (EaaS) a company operates in, there are always identifiable variables indicating a customer group is (a) ready for a pitch, (b) about to switch vendors, or (c) open to upsell. Gathering the right data, staying tuned in to market developments, and using tools (or a marketing team) to organize data will reveal helpful patterns.
Develop Customer-Facing Brand Identity
A brand identity is more than a logo and a mission statement. Further, in the global (and local) EaaS market, the same consumer messaging is played over and over again.
“Dependable energy for industry.”//”Powerful. Dependable. Global.”
“Technology. Networking. Solutions.”//”Innovative ideas. Integrated solutions. Global vision.”
“Solar powering a green future.”//”Powering a greener tomorrow.”
“The powerful alternative.”//”For a powerful future.”
Stand-apart messaging is challenging to develop with such a similar product line; however, most companies’ products are unique in some capacity. More importantly, the trust a client develops for a brand, their history of success with a brand, and their belief in a good product is all enforced by a single client-facing brand identity.
Use identical cross-company designs to enforce a single message. If your main message is improved clean energy efficiency and low energy costs, then spread that brand point from paid media to content. If your energy solution is powerful enough for anything a client needs, then ensure that’s reflected in every email and landing page. If your company is sleek, modern, and agile, then the appropriate palette and design should be reflected across your website. Search Engine Optimization goes hand in hand with successful branding, so be mindful of the load times of a site and the content used.
Branding Tips
Consider where you are in the brand identity journey and whether a complete branding audit/SEO audit is necessary at this time.
- Invest in graphic design services
- Let customer data inform any design decision
- Develop an internal sales document to inform on brand identity guidelines
Identify an Effective, Lead-Catching Strategy
Choosing a marketing strategy based on informed customer data stacked with clever branding results in gaining more targeted leads and conversions. Across the energy landscape, from geo energy marketing to oil energy marketing, targeted strategy can heavily impact company image and financial performance. By selecting the ideal marketing method, a renewable energy company stands to grow quickly and see consistent progress. Consider the following options as they relate to selecting a strategy:
Email marketing remains one of the best ROI-producing marketing strategies. In order to successfully launch an email marketing campaign, an energy supplier needs to have its marketing team develop a
- Custom Email Template Design
- Strategy Development
- Email Automation (consider engaging vendors)
- Content Creation
- Monthly Reporting and Analysis
- Subscription-Based List Building
Done correctly, email marketing puts a company’s product directly in front of a customer while highlighting their individual pain point.
Paid media is a powerful avenue for bringing in leads, and with the right strategy and content, it can build a steady source of conversions. Paying for clicks can lead to getting high-quality ads in front of qualified audiences. The trick is in the strategy. First, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you interested in promoting specific energy plans? Do you know where these new customers are online?
- Are you targeting all of North America or just North Carolina (for example)?
- If you’re a direct energy business where is your target audience going online when they need, say, more affordable energy options?
Then, focus on identifying the best placement for these ads, monitoring ad success daily and preparing to pivot a campaign quickly, and choosing between paid social, pay-per-click (PPC), programmatic advertising, or all of the above.
Content creation is a powerful tool that impacts every aspect of marketing.. Where to use specific SEO-powered content tools, methods, and services depends on overall strategy and goals. Targeted content marketing can range from blog development and maintenance to creating gated white papers and case studies.
Partner with an Expert Agency
At Elevato Digital, we guide and launch effective marketing for energy services. Our teams know how to quickly gain a full understanding of niche markets and diverse customer bases. We stay up to date on changing clean energy infrastructure and are appraised of changes in data-driven energy news. From marketing to engineering to design — we are a full-scale digital marketing powerhouse ready to learn about exciting new projects.
Let’s get started. Sign up for a free consultation.