11:46
The four ad types that actually work for solar
This video covers the no go zone when it comes to advertising solar and renewable products on Facebook, and most other platforms.
I break down a simple four quadrant framework that underpins every high performing solar ad we build.
If an advert does not clearly hit at least one of these quadrants, it usually struggles.
Some formats work well on the front end.
Some work best in retargeting.
The strongest ads often combine more than one.
This is how we pressure test ad ideas before they ever go live.
For context, this video was originally recorded on 5 December 2024, views and strategies may have changed since.
Featuring
Video transcript
This is the no-go zone when it comes to advertising solar and renewable products on Facebook and, to be honest, most other platforms as well.
So I’ve done a little rough diagram and we’ve got four quadrants that essentially are the foundations or cornerstones to a successful advert.
First one: education and expertise. This is probably our most common one because, to be honest, I think it’s the one that we do best, and it quite often generates the best quality leads as well.
These are typically install overviews. They may go into quite a lot of detail on the hardware that’s been installed—anything that the installer in particular has done to showcase their expertise. Maybe it’s a particular cable run, maybe it’s a trench they dug, maybe it’s the neatness of the conduit—things like that that we can really show and go into detail on.
The next subsection is engagement. This often goes hand in hand with skit-style—being a bit funny around things.
These are typically shorter ads that are meant to grab attention. They can go into the “virality” category, but we’re not really looking to send an ad viral. I’m not talking about hundreds of thousands of views. I’m just talking about something that could be shared, could strike a bit of a laugh, and really connect with your personality when you get on camera.
Then you’ve got offer and hard call to action. Of course you want a call to action in every single advert, but these are more stripped back—very, very hard on someone taking action and claiming some sort of offer.
These can be video, but typically they’re more static. In fact, that’s me and the bunny there up on the roof with the panels—quite a fun one.
The important thing here is: you don’t have to put a price on these for them to work. You can just explicitly say, you know, “get a quote” or “inquire,” that kind of thing.
Then you’ve got social proof. These are super important for the retargeting audience.
Typically, if it’s just an ad that’s very focused on social proof, it will get you a higher cost per lead on the front end in the cold audience. But when you’re retargeting people and ensuring they go from lead all the way through to sale, these are super powerful.
And vice versa, it’s really interesting: the social proof ones are kind of weaker on the front end but really strong on the back end to push people through the sales cycle. The offer ones are strong on the front end but pretty weak on the back end.
The more advanced strategy is you try and nail multiple of these.
A really easy example would be education/expertise and social proof: you could do an install overview but intertwine footage of you speaking with the customer, walking them around the property, and then you’ve nailed these two.
Chris Sadler from Kimble Solar does a really good job of bringing entertainment and humour into his install overviews. The vast majority of it is detail on the work that was done and the kit that was installed, but he’ll stop and pause and bring in some light humour throughout the ad, which increases the engagement factor.
One example: he was talking about how the battery was full by about 10:11 a.m. and he goes, “Yes, the battery is full, so that’s lots of solar power,” and it’s a really nice moment that adds personality.
But essentially, you just don’t want to fall into the pitfall of not nailing any one of these.
So when we’re making our ad briefs, when we’re preparing for different shoots, we’ll ensure the ads we’re creating hit at least one of these very hard. That’s a safety measure to ensure they’re set up to succeed.
If you’re watching an ad that you’ve created—or that your marketing provider has created—and you can’t easily see one of these four in action, then it’s pretty likely they’ve missed the mark.
So if you want someone to take this whole process off your hands—someone that’s got this expertise and will ensure you’re hitting one of these four quadrants with all of your ads—then you should drop me a message, book an appointment, and we’ll chat and see how we can help.
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