Strategic Priorities for Solar Businesses
Solar businesses regard their sales and marketing efforts as critical to revving up the U.S. growth engine. In this young and highly competitive marketplace, solar businesses must generate awareness, spur customer knowledge and differentiate themselves, according to Sebastian Goeres, Renewable Energy Specialist at Droege & Comp and Brian Hall, Managing Supervisor at Gibbs & Soell.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (March 8, 2010) – In anticipation of strong demand and harsh competition in 2010, strategic activities to tackle the market will be applied with force. Favorable legislation, operational efficiency, customer knowledge and heightened marketing will be keys to the expansion of the U.S. solar businesses.
Competition is fierce, and although players compete mainly via cost, solar businesses regard their sales and marketing efforts as critical to revving up the U.S. growth engine. In fact, 82.9% of those who participated in 2009 U.S. Solar Industry Monitor, a poll of nearly 100 solar industry executives in the U.S.A. conducted by Droege & Comp., an international management consultancy offering an energy/utilities competency and Gibbs & Soell, an independent global public relations firm with communications expertise in advanced manufacturing and energy, reported that sales and marketing will be stepped up in the coming year. Again, this speaks to the lack of knowledge customers have about solar products, services and prices.
As America’s focus on renewable energy continues to grow exponentially, the expectation is that so too will the adoption of solar PV and solar thermal technology. As
such, leading solar companies around the world are looking to establish production facilities in the U.S. Approximately half of those polled will increase their assembly and production. 60.2% will increase their U.S. supply; while 38.6% will go about expanding market share through transactions such as joint ventures, mergers or acquisitions.
According to more than half of the respondents, there is a great need for leading companies to improve their operational efficiencies (75.3%) and to place more emphasis on their strategic plans.
Moreover, available funds for fewer projects have given installers and developers power that they did not have before. They are placing pricing pressure on the client side to their suppliers and the rest of the value chain. Thus, it is not surprising that nearly two thirds (63.2%) of the respondents state that material cost reductions are important within their supplier negotiations, according to Sebastian Goeres, Renewable Energy Specialist at Droege & Comp and Brian Hall, Managing Supervisor at Gibbs & Soell.
PR & Marketing Efforts
Awareness and differentiation are important in the nascent solar industry. Increased communication was cited by survey participants as a strategic priority and references were made to a wide array of traditional, digital and social media techniques and platforms. Solar businesses regard their sales and marketing efforts as critical to revving up the U.S. growth engine. Geores and Hall say, in this young and highly competitive marketplace, solar businesses must generate awareness, spur customer knowledge and differentiate themselves. Interestingly, respondents said they favor more indirect methods to gain visibility including Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that unlocks value from existing content, as well as media coverage earned from outreach to professional journalists and industry bloggers.
While people certainly agree that SEO and media coverage are critical, this may indicate an opportunity for channels like mobile marketing, corporate blogs and microblogs such as Twitter. A next step is to strategically integrate these types of digital and social media tools into the mix, which can help companies establish clear voices, engage in more interactive conversations and build deeper relationships with their business-to-business and business-to-consumer audiences.
Challenge of Solar Industry
The solar industry is a challenging place to be. It is yet to be seen whether this young industry will be able to apply growth and operational strategies that proved successful in other industries. Geores and Hall agree that the solar industry, if compared to a company’s lifecycle model, is in the research and development phase. Therefore, companies compete generally based on innovation and then at a later stage on price. However, what is challenging about the solar industry is that both levels of competition are occurring at the same time.
In order to find out the latest information on market trends and policies in the PV industry, it is more important than ever for solar professionals to watch the market closely and have access to best-practice ideas and technology. EXPO Solar(www.exposolar.org) is the best single-source opportunity to have this access and commensurate networking. Across three days, February 16-18, 2011, over 500 market leading companies will be on hand at EXPO Solar 2011 to discuss your specific requirements, and offer tailored support and advice.
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Source: EXPO Solar
Contact: Ms. Jeanny Lim
PR & Communications Executive
EXPO Solar
Tel: +82-2-719-6931
E-mail: swied@infothe.com
Mr. Jimmy Cheong
International Marketing Executive, Europe & Middle East
Tel: +82-2-718-6931
E-mail: interexpo@infothe.com
Mr. Sydney Suk
International Marketing Manager, North America & Asia
Tel: +82-2-718-6931
E-mail: interexpo@infothe.com
