Installer and EPC networks, financing partners, utility programs, and OEM distributors all touch the same customer at different points – and most CleanTech marketing teams have no shared system connecting them. We build the partner marketing infrastructure that turns a scattered channel into a coordinated demand engine, with co-marketing programs your partners actually use.
The Problem
Installer and EPC networks market inconsistently, and it costs you leads
Your installer and EPC (engineering-procurement-construction) partners are the face of your brand to the actual homeowner or commercial customer, but most of them market on their own time with their own templates, pricing language, and half-updated logos. One installer runs a promotion that contradicts your national pricing story. Another has not updated their landing page in a year. The customer who searches your brand name lands on a partner site that looks nothing like your latest campaign, and the lead either bounces or arrives confused about what they are buying.
Utility and demand-response program dollars sit unused because nobody owns the relationship
Utilities and state energy offices run co-marketing budgets, demand-response program incentives, and rebate promotion dollars specifically to drive adoption of solar, storage, and efficiency products – and most CleanTech companies never touch that money because it falls between sales, marketing, and channel ownership. The utility account manager has a co-op marketing fund sitting unspent because your team does not know who to call or how the paperwork works. Meanwhile a competitor who built the relationship is getting their logo on the utility's rebate mailer.
Financing partner marketing runs disconnected from your funnel, and customers drop off at the money conversation
Solar loan providers, lease companies, and PPA (power purchase agreement) partners each have their own marketing materials, application flows, and customer-facing language, and in most CleanTech companies that content lives entirely outside marketing's control. A prospect gets excited by your product marketing, then hits a financing partner's separate portal with different branding, different terms language, and a clunky handoff – and a meaningful share of qualified leads simply disappear at that step. The financing conversation is where the deal actually closes, and it is usually the least-designed part of the entire customer journey.
OEM and distributor channel conflict quietly undercuts your own demand generation
If you sell both direct and through a distributor or dealer network, your own marketing can compete against your channel partners without anyone intending it – a direct-response campaign generates a lead in a territory an exclusive dealer owns, or a national promotion undercuts the pricing a distributor built their business model around. Distributors notice fast, and channel trust erodes faster than it builds.
How We Help
We start with a channel audit: every installer, EPC, distributor, financing partner, and utility relationship that touches your customer, mapped against what marketing support currently exists for each. Most CleanTech companies have never seen this map in one place.
From the audit we build the channel strategy through /services/strategy/ – which partner tiers get which co-marketing investment, how demand-response and rebate dollars get pursued and split, and where OEM/distributor conflict rules get codified so your own campaigns stop competing with your channel.
Through /services/creative/ we build a co-marketing kit installer and EPC partners will actually use: pre-approved landing page templates, ad creative with locked brand guardrails but customizable local details, and financing-partner-ready messaging that keeps your product story consistent through the loan or lease conversation.
Our /services/marketing/ team builds the outbound and campaign infrastructure for utility and demand-response co-marketing specifically – getting funded by a utility rebate program is a different motion than a normal partnership, with its own approval cycles, compliance language, and program administrators to manage.
Where the channel touches product decisions – co-branded configurator tools, financing partner integration points, installer-facing quoting tools – we loop in /services/product/ so the partner-facing experience does not get built as an afterthought by whichever partner has the loudest engineering team.
Everything runs through a shared measurement layer via /services/measurement/, because channel marketing dies without attribution.
What makes this different from a generic channel marketing agency retainer is that we build the system, not just the campaigns.
What we deliver
- Channel partner map and co-marketing audit across installers, EPCs, distributors, and financing partners
- Partner tiering model with defined co-marketing investment and OEM/distributor conflict rules
- Installer and EPC co-marketing kit: templated landing pages, ad creative, and locked-brand local customization
- Utility and demand-response program marketing playbook, including rebate co-marketing pursuit process
- Financing partner messaging and handoff design for loan, lease, and PPA conversion points
- Cross-channel attribution and measurement dashboard tied to partner tier and program source
The CleanTech companies winning on channel are not the ones with the best installer network – they are the ones who built a system their installers, financing partners, and utility contacts can actually plug into without a phone call to marketing every time.
Our Methodology
We run the first 90 days as a build sprint, not a strategy deck that sits unused. Days 1-30 are the channel audit and tiering work: mapping every partner relationship, identifying unclaimed utility and demand-response co-marketing dollars, and setting the conflict rules between direct marketing and distributor territory. This phase ends with a prioritized list of which partner tiers get built first, based on volume and revenue contribution, not politics.
Days 31-60 build the co-marketing kit and the first utility or demand-response program pursuit. We do not build assets for every partner type at once – we pick the highest-leverage tier, usually top-volume installers or the single largest utility relationship, and get a working, partner-tested system live before expanding it. This is also when financing partner messaging gets rebuilt so the loan or lease handoff stops leaking leads.
Days 61-90 roll the system out to the broader partner base and stand up the measurement layer so you can see which tier, which program, and which partner is actually driving revenue. By day 90 you should have a functioning channel marketing system, not a plan for one – and a clear view of which partner investments to double down on next quarter.
How We Work
The first 30 days require access to your partner contracts, current co-marketing spend if any exists, and introductions to your top installer, distributor, and utility contacts – we cannot build a channel strategy from the outside without talking to the partners it affects. Expect weekly working sessions during this phase with whoever owns channel or partnerships internally, plus marketing leadership for the tiering and conflict decisions.
Days 31-90 shift to a build cadence: we deliver working assets and program pursuits on a two-week cycle, with a standing review to keep the tiering priorities aligned with what your sales and channel teams are seeing in the field. Your team's time investment drops significantly once the audit phase is done – our team drives creative production, campaign execution, and utility program paperwork, with your review at each milestone.
The typical engagement team on your side is a channel or partnerships lead, someone from marketing who can approve brand guardrails, and occasional time from whoever manages utility or financing partner relationships. On our side you get a dedicated strategy lead plus the creative, marketing, product, and measurement specialists relevant to each phase.
Ongoing engagements after the initial 90 days typically move to a monthly retainer focused on expanding the partner tiers covered, pursuing additional utility and demand-response programs, and refining the attribution model as new partner types get added. If your channel is generating revenue but nobody can tell you which part of it is actually working, that is exactly the gap we close.
- A co-marketing system installers and EPCs actually adopt instead of ignoring
- Utility and demand-response co-marketing dollars claimed instead of left on the table
- A financing partner handoff that keeps customers moving instead of dropping off at the loan or lease step
- Clear attribution showing which partner tier and program source is actually driving revenue
If your cleantech & energy company needs partner & channel marketing leadership, we should talk.
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Frequently asked questions
How much does partner and channel marketing cost for a CleanTech company?
The initial 90-day channel audit and system build typically runs $18K-$40K depending on how many partner types and utility relationships are in scope. Ongoing retainers after the build phase usually land between $8K-$20K a month, scaled to how many partner tiers and utility programs you are actively running.
How long until we see results from a channel marketing program?
The first working co-marketing kit for your highest-volume partner tier is typically live by day 60. Utility and demand-response program pursuit timelines depend on the program administrator's own approval cycles, which can run 30-90 days depending on the utility – we start those conversations in the first 30 days specifically because they take longer than the marketing build itself.
How does this integrate with our existing sales and channel team?
We work directly with whoever owns channel or partnership relationships internally rather than building in isolation – the tiering decisions and conflict rules need input from people who know the individual partner relationships and politics. Your channel team keeps ownership of the actual partner relationships; we build the marketing infrastructure and campaigns that support those relationships.
How is this different from hiring a general marketing agency?
Most agencies build campaigns for your direct marketing and treat channel partners as an afterthought, or they build one-off assets for a single installer relationship without a system underneath. We start from the channel structure – tiering, conflict rules, utility program pursuit – and build creative and campaigns that plug into that structure.
How do you measure ROI on partner and channel marketing?
We build attribution by partner tier and program source from day one, so you can see whether revenue is coming from installer co-marketing, a specific utility program, or a financing partner campaign, rather than one blended channel number. This means comparing lead volume and conversion rate by tier before and after the co-marketing kit rollout, and tracking utility program-attributed deals against the cost of pursuing that relationship.
Is this the right fit for our stage of CleanTech company?
This is built for CEOs, founders, and VPs of Marketing at Series A through growth-stage CleanTech and energy companies, generally $5M-$100M ARR, who already have an active installer, EPC, distributor, or financing partner network generating real revenue. If you have not yet built a channel and are selling entirely direct, start with go-to-market strategy first – this service assumes partners already exist and need a marketing system, not that partners need to be recruited from scratch.
