Why being yourself works better than “performance” in solar ads

▶ 0:00Happy Saturday evening. Today we're going to talk about why you just need to be yourself throughout all of your solar marketing efforts. So a big part of our offer is that we actually come to visit you either at an ongoing installation or one that's already complete, and we film advertising creators with you as the star of the show. And then we use that as a really pivotal piece to our MetaRazz strategy.

▶ 0:21And a lot of our prospects and clients especially find this really nerve wracking. They have absolutely no idea how it's going to play out. And for a lot of our clients, it's actually the first time that they've really ever been on camera in this kind of setting, other than, you know, a video call or a FaceTime. So they're very apprehensive as to how this is going to go. And unfortunately, many of our clients start to think that they have to bring this persona to the shoot. They have to hype themselves up. They have to, you know, become Jack the Lad.

▶ 0:51When, you know, some of them have that kind of charisma already that they're just kind of ready to deploy on camera. They don't need to actually change their personality. But for others, that's a real kind of distant line away from their actual true self. And one of the huge things that we say is basically just be yourself because it's going to come off really weird if you try to be, you know, someone that you're not. We could tell them, you know, act up for the camera, you know, be overly exaggerated, you know, be a bit like me when I'm on camera. I'm a bit, you know, here, there, everywhere, right? Just do anything to get the click. But no, it's tempting for us to say this because, you know, we know that there is an element of engagement to this. You need the advertising

▶ 1:34creative to be quite engaging to actually stop the scroll to get the click. But we never ever suggest this for a few main reasons. So firstly, being anyone other than yourself is actually really uncomfortable. And our clients, you know, they typically aren't Hollywood actors that can do this very easily and can portray this other alternate character. So people are going to feel it, whether it's subconsciously or consciously, it's going to feel uncomfortable, it's going to feel forced. And it's just not the feeling that we want to give, because we want to give the same feeling that someone would have when they you come out and visit them for a survey, or you come into the office to see a system, right? And that's the second piece of this,

▶ 2:11where you have to uphold that personality throughout the whole process. If you play up to a certain character in your ads, you're going to have to basically keep that character on the first call on the survey on site of the installation, because otherwise, it's just going to feel like people were kind of tricked or that they were kind of suckered by this alternative being that isn't really you huge part of what we do is we try to make sure that the first touch point after they've been generated as a lead is as aligned as possible with the thing that they engage with in the first place, which is why one of the easiest ways to do this is to have you on the video ad and then to for them to get an automated video of you sent via WhatsApp in as the first touch point, because you know, just saw

▶ 2:51your face on the ad, just saw your face on the back end, right? And if they're really different, if the ad is all you got in all hyped up and jumping off roofs and stuff, and then the video is you normal, talking about, you know, us, if there's anything I can do to help, feel free to share any more information about what you're looking for in a system, then it's just going to feel really weird.

▶ 3:13It just doesn't line up whatsoever. And people will feel that. And then there's the final point, like people engage with different types of materials and different types of attitudes, like some people will engage with the jack the lad. They'll love that. But other people will find that really jarring. And they'll find it almost salesy and a bit uncomfortable. And you just have to accept that like, to be liked by everyone is to be loved by no one. If you're going to sell someone or something that's as high ticket as solar, you really have got to kind of go the extra mile. And the way to do this is by accepting that some people aren't going to engage with the style that you put out. And that's fine,

▶ 3:48right. Many of your target demographic will actually prefer to hear from someone that is a bit more measured in their approach, a bit more laid back, a bit more serious, a bit more technical, okay. And someone that doesn't riff off the puns and the stupid jokes at the start, right? At the end of the day, it's just about getting you in front of more people. And if what you're doing and the person you are, which hopefully is the authentic you, when you show up to the survey, and when you have that first phone call with the customer, and when you are on site at the installation, if people are liking that person engaging with that person and buying from that person, then there's no reason they won't. If you

▶ 4:24just put that further up in the process, you don't need to become someone else, you don't need to be completely different just to get the click or just to get the engagement. So when recording these ads with the clients, we always start with a really simple question of just why you we've got scripts that are tried and tested. And we do try to get a few kind of hooks that we know, stop the scroll and get people to click. But when we arrive on site, we don't start with those scripted pieces. We used to and it was really hard. And the first few clips were like painful to get, because it kind of didn't feel like the client's own words. And they were really kind of like it was hard to get into this process, especially for the

▶ 4:59ones that hadn't been on camera before. But now we start with a simple why you and we found that every single time we ask a client this, they will be able to talk for two or three minutes, as if they're talking to someone that they are doing a survey for or to a friend as to why they should choose them over local competition, over national competition, and they'll be able to riff off loads of different reasons, it will be really authentic, really natural. And quite often, we'll keep loads of that and put it and weave it through the other ads, right? Because that's the most authentic piece and people really engage with that. And then finally, it comes back to the point that cheaper leads aren't always better. Like yes,

▶ 5:34if we have you jumping off of a roof of an installation, we'd probably get higher engagement. If we make you make a really stupid joke at the start of the ad, then yes, we'd probably get higher engagement. But all we'd be doing is getting more engagement from people that you probably can't sell later, because you're going to struggle to uphold that kind of attitude and approach. And it's going to feel really disjointed. Either you won't be able to sell them at all, or you'll just feel really uncomfortable selling them. Because it will all just feel in authentic and, and weird. So we'd rather get more expensive leads that actually want to work with you specifically, as opposed to just get solar installed by the cheapest provider. We want someone to actually go on, you know, that Simon from

▶ 6:19Raj Energy, he's got three kids that he's joking about how one of them won't get off the Xbox. And that's using power. And that's why his batteries are performing. We want someone to connect with that. We don't want Simon to come in and be this blase character. We want Simon to be Simon, because Simon is quite clearly doing a fantastic job selling solar and helping people make that transition to renewable energy. That's basically it. Be yourself. Don't play up to someone that you're not, even if it means you would get cheaper leads, because you'll probably make more money in the long run. If you just actually stick true to who you are, and how you present yourself. If that made some sense, then get a copy of this document. It's really starting to build out now we've got at least

▶ 6:5720 like items or kind of topics or coverage pieces in here. Just by entering your email into that link there. And then if you want the implementation, and you want us to come out on site and film these creators with you with this really like no pressure approach where we're just basically trying to get you to be yourself, while giving you guidance on how to deliver that self and how to create high converting advertisements, then just carry on on the same link and you'll get the opportunity to speak with us. And we'll see how we can help. Awesome. Have a great evening. And I'll see you in the next one.