Mastering Cleantech Software Marketing: A Strategic Blueprint for B2B Success
Hello there, friend and fellow marketer.
You are at the cutting edge of cleantech software. You are armed with your Unique Selling Proposition and a keen sense of Product-Market Fit, ready to make a world of difference.
But, let's be real – diving into the market, even with your passion to make a difference, you might find it's a bit tougher to draw in leads and close deals than you thought. It's not just you facing this; cleantech software is a tricky mix of regulatory hoops, technical complexity, the puzzle of integration, and those long B2B sales cycles. It's a unique challenge for us marketers.
Let's break down what makes marketing in cleantech so special, and how we can flip these hurdles into chances to grow.
No matter your cleantech venture, three big principles shape growth:
1st Principle: Regulatory Compliance and Incentives
Think incentives for renewable energy adoption, carbon trading schemes, and subsidies for technology development. Unlike general software purchases, the decision to buy cleantech software often involves changes in this broader space.
Buyers must consider how software helps in complying with environmental regulations and whether it can leverage government incentives for renewable energy or sustainability projects. These considerations are often influenced by local and global regulation.
2nd Principle: Technical Complexity and Integration
The biggest challenge for many cleantech solutions is integrating with existing hardware or infrastructure.
Solar panels, wind turbines, or energy management systems all face a similar challenge: integrate software and tools with a complex system that requires a deep technical evaluation.
This means taking a different approach to content when compared to the relative plug-and-play ease of some standalone software.
3rd Principle: Long Sales Cycles
As we know sales cycles in this sector can be very long, which often due to the significant capital expenditure involved. This means marketers need to plan for nurturing leads over a longer period, with a focus on building relationships and establishing trust.
This also keep us close to sales, revenue and customer teams to see results. This has implications for budgeting, resourcing and the age old balance between brand awareness and sales activation. This can also impact the infrastructure of our demand generation stack, and the tools we use for a successful evergreen marketing strategy.
So what can we do to drive results, while helping buyers navigate the constraints above?
A day in the life of a cleantech buyer
Let’s roleplay. Today you are a mid-sized manufacturing facility. You specialize in automotive parts and you’re located located in California.
Naturally your operation is energy intensive and due to a number of reasons, you are looking to optimize. You are officially in the market for energy management software.
You would want a comprehensive platform, one that can monitor and control your energy consumption. It should also be specific to industrial environments like yours. It would need to analyze energy usage patterns and automate HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) and lighting systems for optimal efficiency.
But before you can make this purchase you will need to evaluate how well it integrates with your existing HVAC and lighting systems. Your teams should ensure there is consistent technical compatibility.
Perhaps your biggest worry is that you are operating in California. This means that you need to optimizing energy savings in line with California's Title 24, Part 6. This is the California Code of Regulations that this sets the energy efficiency standards for buildings just like yours.
So, you go do your research and find the website of an energy management software provider.
The Marketing Checklist
Let’s put our marketing hats back on. How can the marketer help buyers along this journey?
There are 6 boxes to tick when marketing energy management software to this particular manufacturing facility.
#1 Highlight Technical Compatibility
Provide case studies and whitepapers that detail successful integrations with HVAC and lighting systems.
The scenarios you paint will need to either speak directly to manufacturing facilities, or close enough so that they know it will work.
There is a balance between being broad enough to scale, and specific enough to prove integration with a customer. Try make the best of limited resources so you always stay close to specificity.
Buyers are smart, and they are betting on minimal disruption during their software implementation. Content should always make a case they can believe in.
#2 Showcase Savings and ROI
The savvy buyer is going to be crunching numbers. One very effective way to help them do this, is to provide online calculators or tools.
These can help them estimate their energy savings with your solution, and clearly see return on investment. Working through the variables can be hard work, so make sure tools makes it easy to do. For instance, adding sliders that take into account their current energy usage and system config.
#3 Demonstrate Compliance with Local Regulations
This is an opportunity to create awareness with regulatory guides explaining how your software helps businesses comply with California's Title 24 and AB 32. You can then showcase specific features that monitor and report emissions or energy use in compliance with these laws.
You can even take this a step further, by collaborating with Regulatory Bodies and Industry Associations. Endorsements or certifications from them boost credibility and visibility.
#4 Use Local Success Stories
Nothing speaks louder than success. The best kind in this case would be to feature manufacturers in California. Even better if they have successfully implemented the software to meet or exceed state energy efficiency standards.
Video testimonials and detailed case studies are particularly effective at communicating this. For affordable strategies on featuring success stories, our team at CleanTech Growth Lab is happy to share.
#5 Educational Workshops and Webinars
Hosting workshops and webinars are a strong play for almost any B2B software Go-to-market.
But with clean and climate tech you can do even more. Covering energy efficiency, regulatory compliance, and best practices for energy management in manufacturing are all topics that would delight your Californian buyer.
Going deep also gives you an opportunity to use speakers from the manufacturing industry, to use the example above. When you partner with speakers in the industry, you gain access to new audiences and credibility from within. You also gain the best content possible, that can be re-used throughout the year.
I believe that is the Oxford dictionary definition of a win-win.
#6 Use Targeted Advertising and SEO
Companies are actively searching for solutions online, this is how you help them find you.
For manufacturers you would launch targeted advertising campaigns that focus on keywords related to energy management, California energy regulations, and manufacturing efficiency.
The better the audience, the content, and the targeting - the better the results.
There are expensive ways to do this and there are profitable ways to do it. If you want to avoid the expensive ways, we have resources to help.
Growing for the future
In the end it all comes back to helping buyers buy.
Their specific needs will change, so will the regulatory landscape, but our role and the principles remain the same. We guide buyers through a journey of technical compatibility, emphasizing ROI, and navigating the regulatory landscape, and in this way we help sell the software that contributes to a larger mission.
We are tasked with more than just overcoming the hurdles, we are the bridge connecting solutions with the industries that need them most.
We are not just selling a product; we are championing a cause and paving the way for the sustainable future we all believe in!
Isn’t that great?
So let's embrace these challenges and make a difference, with every marketing effort bringing us one step closer to a greener, more sustainable world.
P.S. If you enjoy discussing cleantech and growth, connect with me on LinkedIn.
Let´s keep the conversation going!
Sustainably yours,
Eben
