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GOAL ZERO NOMAD 20 is the best panel

For those looking for the most efficient GOAL ZERO NOMAD 20 for their PV system, the first thing you need to know is how to compare efficiency metrics for different manufacturer brands. Simply put, efficiency (expressed as a percentage) quantifies a solar panel’s ability to convert sunlight into electricity. Given the same amount of sunlight shining for the same duration of time on two solar panels with different efficiency ratings, the more efficient panel will produce more electricity than the less efficient panel. 

In practical terms, for two solar panels of the same physical size, if one has a 21% efficiency rating and the other has a 14% efficiency rating, the 21% efficient panel will produce 50% more kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity under the same conditions as the 14% efficient panel. Thus, maximizing energy use and bill savings is heavily reliant on top tier solar panel energy efficiency.

The High Efficiency Solar Panel Brands

Many consumers and people in the GOAL ZERO NOMAD 20 industry consider efficiency to be the most important criterion when assessing a solar panel’s quality. While it is an important criteria, its not the only one to consider while you evaluate whether to install a particular solar panel. Solar panel efficiency relates to the ability of the panel to convert energy at a low cost and high supply rate.

The most efficient commercially available solar panels on the market today have efficiency ratings as high as 22.5%, whereas the majority of panels range from 14% to 16% efficiency rating. GOAL ZERO NOMAD 20 panels are known for being the most efficient solar panel brand available on the market. Though they will come with a higher price tag, SunPower will often be the consumer favorite for anyone concerned with efficiency as a primal metric of interest. However, check out Exhibit 1 (below) to learn about all the top brands and the most efficient solar panels you can get your hands on.

Maximum Production or Maximum Offset:  If your goal is to maximize the amount of electricity your system produces or want to ensure you buy the least amount of electricity from the utility, but the amount of roof space you have available to install solar panels is limited in size, you may choose to install higher efficiency solar panels. This will ensure you get the maximum production from your solar panel system.

Cost vs. Value:  More efficient solar panels tend to cost more than their less efficient cousins. You may want to analyze whether that upfront cost difference is justified by the increased saving achieved by generating more electricity over the lifespan of your solar energy system. Increased electricity production means you have to buy less power from your utility and in some states, may also generate higher SREC income. The EnergySage Solar Marketplace makes it easy for you to easily compare your savings from solar panels that vary in their efficiency ratings and if their premium price is justified.

How Efficient are Solar Panels? Efficiency Comparison Table

The two tables below present different views of the efficiency characteristics of the leading manufacturers who sell solar panels in the United States. Most panel manufacturers produce several solar panel models which range in efficiency ratings. The leading brands in this category will be those that utilize high efficiency solar cells such as LG and SunPower (who have battled back and forth for the world solar efficiency record) who are widely considered to be the top panel brand on the market for solar efficiency. However, it’s important to understand the difference between setting a maximum efficiency record and maintaining strong and consistent average solar energy efficiency ratings. Therefore, the following two solar efficiency tables (Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2) break down the best ways to compare different solar panel options by module efficiency metrics.

Exhibit 1 illustrates the range of each manufacturer’s offerings from the standpoint of panel efficiency whereas Exhibit 2 lists the average, minimum and maximum solar panel efficiency for the solar panels within each manufacturer’s portfolio.

As with any big ticket purchase, shopping for a solar panel installation takes a lot of research and consideration, including a thorough review of the companies in your area. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recommended that consumers compare as many solar options as possible to avoid paying inflated prices offered by the large installers in the solar industry.

To find the smaller contractors that typically offer lower prices, you’ll need to use an installer network like EnergySage. You can receive free quotes from vetted installers local to you when you register your property on our Solar Marketplace – homeowners who get 3 or more quotes can expect to save $5,000 to $10,000 on their solar panel installation.

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Bad News, CMOs: Your SEO Is DOA

SEO is changing, and marketers need to keep up.

Like all CMOs, you have your hands full.

You’re managing branding, marketing communications, advertising, promotions, public relations, market research, sales management and product development, and you’re doing your best to keep up with the changing technological landscape that complicates the successful execution of each.

Well, here I am to throw another wrench in the gears.

Last month, McKinsey published an article titled “The New Battleground for Marketing-Led Growth,” detailing some of the modern challenges CMOs must manage in the face of nonlinear consumer behavior. The article discusses the failures of loyalty-driven initiatives and the necessity for “more emphasis on the moments when consumers are initially considering which products or services to buy.”

What am I saying here?

SEO is now intimately linked to branding. It’s vital to the success of your company—and you’re doing it wrong.

To get some insight into the complexity of the problem and how CMOs can stay ahead of it, I called on an expert: Dave Chaplin, CEO of SearchDex. Here’s what he had to say.

Most people are still doing SEO for the Google of days past

Google has changed a lot in the past decade, from Boolean, keyword-based searches to contextual search. Now it uses RankBrain, a machine-learning artificial intelligence system designed to give consumers the answers they seek instead of simple word matches. Because people use different words when they ask questions than the words they want in answers, Google isn’t even using keywords as a primary directive anymore.

Instead, Google uses many data points about a user and the environment to figure out what they really want to know, and each “page one” result is customized to the user to match their own history and the context of the query posed.

What’s more, Google changes algorithms fairly often, which is even more disruptive at the keyword level.

“SEO professionals need to be as fluid in their quest for optimizing content for discovery and conversions as Google is—and we have come a very long way since pure keyword ranking days,” said Chaplin. “SEO—now and into the future—will need to be increasingly proactive, not reactive. The best SEO must go really deep because Google’s intent is to get the consumer what they’re looking for, not to simplify spamming them with unwanted data.”

Retail websites are inherently not SEO friendly

Adding additional complexity to the SEO equation for online retailers of all stripes is the fact that retail websites are designed to be transactional—and, therefore, not particularly SEO friendly.

Humans can’t perform at the scale and speed required to keep pace with a modern retail website that sees hundreds of product introductions and transactions on a daily basis, and IT departments can’t be expected to make thousands of website tweaks per day in a complex ecommerce environment developed more for selling products than for being recognized by a search engine.

And even if they could, it wouldn’t be enough.

Said Chaplin, “This is about much more than just search ranking. We’re talking about the first step in creating brand trust between product and consumer—the first moment of truth when the consumer is engaging in a brand relationship. If a consumer’s first interaction with your brand is your product or service popping up as the result of an irrelevant search query, the opportunity for a good first impression has been lost. And you only get one.”

The branding-SEO connection

Ultimately, SEO is not about ranking high in search results but about getting your brand in front of the people who are looking for it—whether they know it or not. It’s about providing valuable content across the web that makes Google “find you” for customers who are seeking what you bring to the party. In this way, brand is being built on search more than on messaging: content can’t be king without a position in the court.

“If a brand is the way a company behaves—and it is—then this is completely about brand building,” explained Chaplin. “This is about finding the right customers. Your website—your brand’s home—must be SEO-optimized for discovery. It’s not just about showing up in the search results but about exactly what shows up—the quality of language, for example—that will ultimately get people back to your site, which itself has been optimized for conversions once people get there.”

Technology, of course, is the solution

Humans will not be able to single-handedly manage the demands of this new SEO—we’ll need big data, machine learning and AI for that. Luckily (and SearchDex itself is proof), these technologies already exist.

But it is not an equation that can be solved solely by technology, either—the SEO consultant’s expertise is an art form all its own. Rather, it is the combination of the art of SEO with the science of technology that will ultimately create a new consumer channel that marketing must, in turn, manage.

“The key to building a company’s brand through the power of search is freeing marketers to implement an SEO strategy themselves through technology that they control. This involves removing the friction currently in place, with the reliance on web developers, and creating a straight path from marketing to consumers,” concluded Chaplin. “This straight path, combined with the technology to automate many of the signals coming in through artificial intelligence, big data and machine learning, will allow marketers to connect with consumers on an emotional level through search itself.”

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6 Ways Food and Beverage Brands Can Maximize Their Influencer Marketing

If you work for a food or beverage brand, you already know that influencer marketing is a great way to get your product into native content and out to audiences that have been traditionally hard to reach.

A recent chart by eMarketer shows just how valuable it is, with influencer marketing for CPG (consumer packaged goods) food brands realizing a whopping $14.29 in earned media value.

Here are some tips specific to influencer marketing for food brands—things you should know to get the most out of your next (or first) influencer marketing campaign.

You should be doing it

When people are looking for recipes and new foods and drinks to try, they no longer search through traditional recipe books and magazines. They go to Pinterest; they look at recipe videos from Facebook pages like Delish, Get in My Belly and Tasty; and they search for specific recipes on Google. They read reviews and recommendations before deciding on what to eat or cook. This content quickly shows people what the end result will look like, how to prepare something and often where to find it.

People don’t like to be directly marketed to. The beauty of influencer marketing content is that readers don’t care it’s sponsored if they are inspired—at that point, they’ve decided to make the recipe/buy the ingredients/pin it for future use.

Pounce on Pinterest

Pinterest is the perfect environment for brands to get exposure in native content. Themed Pinterest boards that are sponsored by food brands continue to see huge engagement. A food board hosted by a brand doesn’t necessarily have to include only pins about that brand. Instead, by being more of a resource and providing a broader range of content—say, a healthy eating board—these boards generate engagement and followers because they do not appear to be pushing product.

Recognize that photography is the most important element

Sure, your product is important, and the recipe is, too, but if the photography isn’t beautiful, no one is going to want to buy your product. If the product looks less than appealing, there’s no point in running the content, because it won’t get the results you want and it may actually hurt you in the long run. If the photos are beautiful, people are going to be inspired to try the recipe: It’s as simple as that.

It’s also important to recognize that there are different types of photography. At the outset, you should focus on choosing the right tone for your campaign. Do you want dramatic, artistic content that looks like it came from an expensive recipe book, or relatable, family-friendly photography that could have come from your target audience’s Facebook friend? There are obvious merits in both, but you need to know which look you’re going for.

Different campaigns for the same brand can utilize different photography styles and reach different audiences in doing so.

In our experience, overly produced food photography (which might be perfect for TV or a menu) doesn’t perform as well on social media.

Ensure product availability

This one is really marketing 101. You must have the product your marketing campaign is centered around readily available in-store. There’s nothing more frustrating for your potential customers and damaging to your reputation than to see your product in native content, head in-store to buy it and discover that it’s not on the shelves. Obviously, this doesn’t look good for your brand, but you’d be surprised at how often it actually happens. We’ve seen it happen in our campaigns once or twice. Don’t let it happen to yours.

Create an experience around your brand

Influencer marketing content that creates an experience around your product is often the most effective. Because this content is generally aspirational in nature, it encourages audiences to buy a brand. It presents the experience (and your product within it) as attainable and makes your brand come to life.

“Drink this and you’ll feel satisfied, buy this and you’ll be healthier, feed your family this and they’ll love you more”—it’s all the standard ways food brands have been marketing their products for years, but now you’re letting someone else do it for you, and the influencers’ voices are more believable than yours because you’re a brand and they’re independent. And, you’re giving them the creative freedom to incorporate your product naturally into the content they already share with their audience.

Support your product trial and sampling activities

Influencer marketing is a great way to drive product trial and sampling. Influencer selection criteria might include a regional fan base in order to reach people in and around a specific sampling area. If prospects see an influencer they follow out trialing and promoting a food brand in their local area, this can really bring the campaign to life.

These influencers are often “local celebrities” because they are more relatable than red-carpet celebs. They are generally well-known because of their websites and content, which often means that followers are happy to trust their advice or go to an event they are hosting. They are relatable and personable (as opposed to red-carpet celebs) and, as a result, their opinions and recommendations hold weight with their audience (and now yours).

In addition to this, the call to action can be a very direct and easy to follow because it’s localized. And of course, people love free stuff even more when it’s recommended by someone they admire.

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A few weeks ago, when Snap Inc. started trading at $24 per share, the mobile application (and self-proclaimed “camera company”) proved that it was a force to be reckoned with.

Snapchat boasts 161 million mobile daily active users, and users interact with the app more than 18 times per day, on average. The company has shifted from being a provider of ephemeral messaging to a social entertainment hub, enabling family and friends to share videos, news and music.

As such, over the past few years, large consumer brands like Amazon, Sour Patch Kids, Gatorade, Taco Bell and the National Basketball Association are increasingly using Snapchat to expand their reach among the younger demographic, reminding users of their products and personalities through creative content. The most successful advertisers are now delivering key messages to their consumers in such a way that the content seems organic and not advertorial.

Many brands are seeing long-lasting success through the social platform. Candy company Sour Patch Kids wanted to reach teen customers so it partnered with influencer Logan Paul to create a campaign with silly and funny snaps of Paul and the “Sour” and “Sweet” characters. The first video received nearly 600,000 views, with the fifth story reaching 6.8 million story views. The campaign ultimately helped the company add 120,000 new Snapchat followers.

While full Snapchat campaigns have led to success for companies, simple filters can also garner strong attention for a brand. Gatorade’s 2016 Super Bowl filter was viewed 100 million times that day, and a few months later, a Taco Bell Cinco De Mayo Snapchat filter resulted in an astounding 224 million views in one day. Both received large media coverage for their results.

While these campaigns were successful, companies looking to achieve similar favorable results on Snapchat must continue to adjust their campaign execution if they want to remain relevant and heard with consumers hungry for fresh content.

As audiences look to digest more creative digital content, consumer brands are investing more than ever in their own digital initiatives to directly engage these audiences. Companies of all sizes are shifting their resources to better connect with their consumers on mobile.

According to a recent survey, in 2015, more than one-half of companies had implemented a mobile strategy, compared with 7 percent in 2013. Today, that number should be nearing 100 percent as companies realize that mobile may be the only way to reach their customers.

For example, in June, Chick-fil-A launched its mobile app, which was downloaded 1 million times in just three days and was the top free app in the iTunes App Store (unsurprisingly, free food is a powerful incentive).

Domino’s Pizza’s embrace of technology—including an app that orders a pizza just by opening it with no clicking required—helped generate more than 50 percent of U.S. sales from digital channels at the end of 2015 and nearly $5 billion annually in global digital sales. More than one-half of the company’s national television campaign topics were also directly related to digital initiatives.

We should also expect to see brands further collaborate with game companies, as mobile games rank third behind social media and video apps in terms of average time spent per day.

Niantic’s Pokemon Go has already collaborated with retail stores directly within the game. In December, Starbucks became a noted sponsored location within the game and turned around 7,800 stores into Pokestops or gyms, further enticing players to the store by offering a special Pokemon Go Frappuccino.

Mobile app usage shows no signs of slowing down as time spent in apps worldwide reached nearly 900 billion hours in 2016. The success of Snapchat is only one example of the mobile branding opportunities companies have at their reach. One thing is for sure: The business-to-consumer landscape is rapidly evolving, and companies need to continuously adjust their mobile strategies if they want to stay in the game.