(“Digital Media Marketing” Image courtesy of Marketing Eye Global)
Quick Summary
How do you survive as a business and keep
engaging with your customers? Our marketing expert Oluoch Were has been looking
at solar business in this article. Here are the keys points discussed:
Do you want to find out more, we are inviting you to join our webinar looking at: How to STILL engage with Solar customers in the era of social distancing?
Sign up HERE.
The corona virus (Covid-19) has disrupted the way in which we work and engage as a society. Cities, states, and countries are shutting down, slowing the economy. During times of crisis, it’s important to adapt your marketing and lead generation strategies to ensure your business continues to bring in revenue and thrives post pandemic.
How does the situation look like for Solar companies?
How are Solar companies doing their marketing during this Covid-19 period? We’ll look how solar companies can maximize on the current situation by:
Gone are the days when digital media was considered by
some as a passing fad. As a business tool, digital media is no longer optional.
It’s an important channel for reaching your customers. The likes and the
following the business gets on the digital media platforms translates to more
visibility and potential for business.
The internet and digital media has become an important market to reach potential clients and sell solar products and services. Globally, there are more than 3 billion internet users – and more than 2 billion of them have active digital media accounts. Popular digital media platforms have become marketing giants, offering businesses valuable data about their customers and a viable channel to reach them.
What can we learn from marketing surveys
Survey by Eskimi DSP team on how the current Covid-19 pandemic impacts marketing decisions shows that most resilient brands are changing messaging, moving more spends to digital marketing. The same direction that solar companies should take.
Digital media traverses borders and connects business
with people you would otherwise not reach through the traditional means. The
various social media platforms reach different groups of people. Many forms of
social media such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, will allow businesses to target
specific groups often in particular locations.
As an off-grid solar company, when you have presence
on digital media platforms, you make it easier for your customers to not only
find, but also connect with you. And by connecting with your customers on
digital media, you are more likely to increase brand visibility, customer
retention and brand loyalty.
One of the biggest reasons start-up off-grid solar companies get involved in digital media is to get to know their customers and potential customers, and begin to form relationships that can lead to new opportunities. In Many cases, this translates into providing customer service and support via social media. Off-grid solar companies which are open to this level of interaction with their customer base often find it can be a powerful way to promote their business and strengthen their brand.
Benefits of social media in digital marketing
One of the biggest benefits of social media in digital marketing is to increase website traffic. Not only does social media help you direct people to your website, but the more social media shares, likes, views, comments, retweets and replies you receive, the higher your search ranking will be. In Africa, Facebook is by far the most popular network. Many people are already familiar with it from their personal use and it often makes a great starting point for business use, too. There’s often a great deal of confusion among new Facebook users about the difference between Facebook profiles, pages and groups. The most important point to keep in mind is that profiles are meant to be for individuals only, not businesses. Creating a profile for a business is against Facebook terms of use, and it can be deleted at any time. Facebook page offers an opportunity to build a community around your business and to discover more about your target audience, to add a public face to your brand.
What do you get from the various platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc?
If you need a high volume of opt-ins at a cost low
enough to make your campaign viable, Facebook is a great place to start since
the traffic is cheaper and will allow you to test faster. Make sure to use
Facebook’s Business Manager and upload past lists of buyers to create an “LTV
Lookalike” list. These lists are some of the most potent targeting groups you
can run on Facebook.
Twitter is also a very effective tool for many off-grid
solar businesses, especially the start-up companies. The most important part of
getting started with Twitter is understanding the platform and figuring out how
you can use it effectively in your start-up company. Google + on the other
hand, is a digital media platform that intertwines with Google search and other
Google products. It’s similar in style to Facebook, but has some very unique
features that set it apart
LinkedIn, on the other hand, is a social networking
service for business professionals. Users can create profiles and form
professional relationships by “connecting” with other users. Solar businesses
can use LinkedIn as a cost effective marketing tool by posting and sharing
product or service announcements or other company news. Off-grid solar company
employees can also post their own profiles and link to the business, thereby
showcasing company talent with prospective customers.
According to Josh Turner, a digital sales marketing
Guru, LinkedIn is hands down the single most effective platform for B2B
campaigns. With over 560 million active users, 61million are of senior-level
influence or in decision-making positions and able to make the final call on
your product or service. Whether you’re promoting a case study or white paper,
or your ads go “direct to appointment” (i.e. the ad encourages people to book
an appointment with you directly instead of opting in for your email list),
LinkedIn makes it easy to get in front of businesses who want and need your
services.
The thing to keep in mind here is that traffic from
LinkedIn is going to cost you 3-4x’s more than traffic from Facebook.
If you want your off-grid solar company to continue
excelling, during this Covid-19 pandemic period, don’t be a spectator. Create
and open appropriate digital media accounts, link them up, update them
regularly and get your company’s name, service or product to people.
At RiA, we are working diligently to keep promoting the sector in these difficult times. We are inviting you to join our webinar where Oluoch Were and Kemunto Maturwe will be looking at: How to STILL engage with Solar customers in the era of social distancing?
Sign up HERE.
Author: Oluoch Were is RiA Regional Director for Kenya and East-Africa.