The incentive rush is over. The marketing plan cannot be.

Four decisions and a plan. Segments and offer priority, meaning which customers, ownership models and markets get funded and which are declined; positioning and trust, meaning why a homeowner should believe you rather than the last three companies that called; channel roles, meaning what each channel is for and in which quarter; and budget and measurement, meaning owners, spend and the numbers leadership reviews weekly. The output is a written marketing plan, not a workshop summary.

No. We give no tax, legal, securities or project finance advice, and nothing on this page is guidance about incentives. Policy changes matter to us only as demand facts: they change who is in the market and what they are worried about, which changes the plan. Anything touching credits, financing structures or compliance stays with your accountants, counsel and finance partners.

An agency executes a plan. This engagement writes one, and because we take no execution work inside it, the plan can say that a lead source should be cut or that a market should stop advertising until its cancellation rate improves. The deliverable includes a one-page brief written so any agency, including your current one, can deliver against it. Execution is scoped separately afterwards if you want us to do it.

A fixed fee quoted after a scoping call, with deliverables and dates written down before you commit. It varies with the number of markets and segments in scope and the state of your CRM data, so publishing a rate would mislead most readers. For budget context, The CMO Survey puts marketing at 9.0% of company revenue on average across industries, with 33.6% of digital activity run by outside agencies. Book a meeting for a scope and a number.

Possibly in places, and the plan will say where. A contracting market rewards companies that stop buying weak leads and start converting the demand that already exists, which usually means moving money from volume channels into education, reviews, referrals and the customers you have already installed for. Wood Mackenzie expects recovery in 2027 for residential and 2028 for commercial, so the question is what you fund through the trough, not whether you disappear from it.

Because in this sector a lead is a long way from revenue. We rebuild reporting around installed jobs, contract value, close rate by source and cancellation rate between signature and installation, which usually reverses the ranking of lead sources. Purchased leads and aggressive paid social often look cheapest per form and worst per installation, and no campaign change fixes that until the reporting shows it.

Carefully, because they are where trust is lost. We build the messaging around what you can substantiate: your own quoted price range, warranty terms, production guarantees and service record, without projections you cannot stand behind. EnergySage's H2 2025 data puts the average quoted price at $2.49 per watt with the spread between the highest and lowest average quotes widening to $0.72 per watt, so a buyer is comparing widely different numbers and needs a reason for yours.

They get their own segment inside the same plan, with their own message and budget. Batteries sell on resilience and rate structures rather than payback, and heat pumps and efficiency work reach a different buyer at a different moment. EnergySage recorded national battery attachment falling from 41% to 38%, with California dropping from 79% to 71% and Texas from 61% to 53%, so attach rate is a market-by-market decision, not a national one.

Different question. Solar growth consulting looks for the commercial constraint on growth wherever it sits, including the offer and financing structure, funnel stages, backlog cancellations and storage attach. Marketing strategy consulting takes the commercial model as given and answers what marketing should do about it: segments, positioning, channel roles, budget and measurement. Operators who already know their constraint usually want this one.

Yes, within the agreed scope. Installed customers and lost deals are the fastest route to a positioning claim that survives a kitchen-table conversation, and consultants, surveyors and permitting staff know which promises the field cannot keep. We agree the list with you, keep interviews short and confidential, and feed findings into the positioning platform rather than publishing them.

A sponsor, usually the owner or chief executive; the sales leader; operations and permitting; whoever runs the call centre or intake; and whoever owns marketing today. Expect around two hours of interviews each in week one and a half-day decision session in week three. If the sponsor cannot attend that session, we move it rather than run it without them.

No, it is often the right first step, because the plan states what the first hire has to do and what stays with vendors. Where the question is really about structure and sequencing of hires, marketing team advisory covers it, and where you need someone to lead the function while you build it a fractional CMO is the engagement. Both are quoted separately and neither is required to use the plan.

Yes, and we will say plainly where it limits a conclusion. We work from financial records first, reconcile CRM, proposal software and call tracking against them, and label which findings are solid and which are directional. Validity's 2026 research found 62% of organisations losing revenue to poor CRM data and 67% having campaigns delayed or scrapped because of it, so this is normal rather than disqualifying. Marketing operations consulting implements the fix.

Yes, and they are planned separately from residential because the buyer, the cycle and the proof are different. Commercial and community work is won on delivery record, references, financing structure and the ability to get through interconnection, which makes content, partnerships and direct relationships more important than consumer channels. The plan states which segment leads and what share of budget each one gets.

Your team runs it, and every workstream has a named owner on your side. Many operators book a review at ninety days to check the leading indicators and adjust the sequence, which takes half a day and is optional. Where you want a standing numbers habit instead, scorecard advisory sets one up and hands it back. The parent engagement is marketing strategy consulting, and execution, if you want us to do it, is scoped separately.