CHALLENGE: SELLING A PREMIUM SERVICE
Due to its technical innovations, NEXTracker had become the global market leader in single-axis solar tracker systems. However, when competitors lowered prices to compete, NEXTracker’s customers began to perceive trackers were all the same, awarding contracts to the lowest bid. NEXTracker’s goal was to maintain brand loyalty, continue market leadership and convince solar project owners that innovation, quality and long-term profitability matter more than the lowest upfront cost.
Client
SERVICES
Content Creation
Design and Production
Landing Page Performance Increase
Lead Capture Conversion Rate
Newsletter open rate increase
Strategy: EDUCATION AND EXPERTISE
Kiterocket interviewed sales staff and company leaders in five global markets, learning each country’s positive and negative perceptions of NEXTracker and the reasons for losing contracts. To combat the perception that upfront cost is the most important purchase decision, Kiterocket developed a robust content-marketing program to educate prospects and customers about how NEXTracker delivered the lowest levelized cost of energy over the project’s lifetime.
To enhance and spread this message, Kiterocket leveraged our research to facilitate thought-leadership blogs for the company’s executives.
We spread these posts through company newsletters and social media, as well as the executives’ personal LinkedIn channels. Long-form white-paper content was “chunked” into smaller blog posts and lightly edited to be more personal, and this also was spread through social media.
Kiterocket also developed two advertising campaigns. “Trust NX” promoted NEXTracker’s high-profile customers and their reasons for choosing NEXTracker. The second campaign, “Imagine What’s NEXT:” promoted NEXTracker’s latest innovations and its vision for solar power’s future.
Results: A SALES LEAD ONSLAUGHT
In the first month of our content campaign, the metrics were dramatic: NEXTracker’s monthly website visits spiked 33%, and landing-page performance increased by 291%, with a 48% form capture conversion rate. The company’s newsletter open rate increased 385%, and click rate increased 476%. After three months, NEXTracker’s website still received 2,000 additional site visits, as compared to the month prior to the start of the blog and content campaign.
By repurposing blog content on company executives’ personal LinkedIn profiles, the executives reported a significant increase in customer engagement. They received personal calls from current customers as well as prospects, with one executive telling NEXTracker’s marketing team that he suddenly felt like a “solar rock star.”
Using company blog posts and white-paper content, NEXTracker’s sales staff now has more information to make the case that NEXTracker’s lowest levelized cost of energy is worth its higher upfront costs. The sales team was also suddenly at capacity juggling new leads!