One of the challenges with any business is getting the word out about what you do. There are countless books out there about marketing your business. With the many books available I won’t presume to be an expert although marketing a solar business might be both easier and harder than other businesses. Many marketing professionals will speak about the need for print advertising, radio, billboards, television the yellow pages and the like. While I have seen and heard of many installation businesses that have invested their resources in these different sources of advertising I have yet to hear of an installation company that got value from their investment.
On the other hand there are lower cost and more effective marketing options that are available. First, I would encourage everybody that has a solar business (installation or distribution) to take advantage of the free referral services that are available on-line. The most popular are
http://www.sourceguides.com/ and
http://www.findsolar.com/. There are many other sites that will provide referrals for you but these two can be very productive.
Other low cost options include participation in local/regional shows. These shows can be particularly effective if they have a green or renewable focus. We have customers that receive most if not all of there leads through these events.
The next time the guy from the Yellow Pages calls and tries to get you to spend $1,000 for a year listing remember there are other options that have served solar installers better.