Marketing With Your Connections During Covid

Michael Grossman • October 29, 2020

Greetings fellow two-dimensional creatures:

With all of our interactions flattened into a rectangle, you may find yourself, like me, missing the human interaction that accompanies marketing and networking.

“Adapt or die,” said Oakland A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, in one of my favorite sports movies, “Moneyball.” And, whether you like it or not, you’ve had six months to build a bridge and get over your trepidation about online marketing to replace your three-dimensional routine.

Yes, it’s true: nothing can substitute for in-person meetings complete with inflection and micro-expressions when it comes to building business relationships. But if you hide in a cave until the pandemic is over, like the apocalyptic nuclear war movies of the 1950s , you are going to find the world moved on without you.

How To Remain True To Yourself Marketing Online

No one would ever say that a Zoom meeting, sterilized of all the IRL world’s subtlety, ever comes close to the in-person meeting.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t make meaningful, fruitful connections and extend your brand. In fact, now is the best time there’s ever been to overhaul your digital communications.

This is especially prudent for businesses steeped in esoteric sciences with scant online presences, like many of the ones I work with in climate tech.

People Buy From People

We all know people are starved for human contact. I’d seriously consider cutting my arm off to go to a ball game with 40-50,000 people screaming their heads off right about now.

The last baseball game I saw in person. It seems like forever.

Introverts aside, when you are on Zoom with your bedroom closet opened in the background, you have a unique opportunity to share something with colleagues, funders, prospects, etc., that otherwise would’ve had no context to be shared. The same goes if you’ve created a virtual background. Say something about yourself that will pique the interest of others and launch a genuine conversation instead of just a checklist.

COVID has eliminated your commute and added more productive time to your day, so languish in it for a few moments by allowing those calls to occasionally veer off-topic. Even better, make sure to have a token personal item with you before you launch the call as a way to casually bring your individuality and personal brand to the meeting. Wear a hat with your college insignia or your favorite team, for example, or position your favorite piece of wall art inside the camera frame.

My cat and my one piece of college memorabilia

Buyers are always going to do their due-diligence, socially distanced or not. Still, there are biases built into due diligence, like personal connections, that can give you the benefit of the doubt.

Social Media Is Supposed To Be…Social

The average adult knows between 20,000 and 30,000 words, but you’d never know it by the blandness of most social media posts. I feel strongly that all offenders should get kicked off Twitter Island for starting posts with, “I/We are so excited to…”

Talk about a dull digital conversationalist. Would you ever talk that way to someone at a conference or a cocktail party? No? Then why do you think your social media followers would want to read it?

Moreover, have you ever been unable to get away from an insufferable bore who goes on and on while you shuffle your feet? Now you know what it feels like to follow your tedious declarative statements on social media about the progress your company is making. Sure, I might give it a thumbs up, but you’ve blocked me at the rope line from having a dialogue.

Turn off the somnambulant auto-posting and shove the robots out of the driver’s seat for a while.

Social media channels have different audiences and styles. You’ve got to tailor your usage, and it’s a perfect time to show a little vulnerability as we all try to communicate our human struggles and triumphs while just hanging on through all of this.

Here are just a few suggestions on how to deploy each of the major social networks that don’t require you to dance, sing, or lip-synch on camera. As with anything on the Internet, display cats for more interaction.

LinkedIn:

You missed the point if you haven’t returned since posting your resume
Only 250 million active users, but the best place to engage your industry
Write original content, post articles, and engage with other content creators about the industry
Become more recognized in your sphere by commenting when industry leaders post
$65/month is well worth it for the premium service, and it incentivizes you to use it as the business tool it is
Now is a great time to build your network

Twitter:

Smaller but more intense audience
Use hashtags to cut through the static and find people in your industry working on similar challenges or social movements in your industry
Build lists of journals, news outlets and industry news leaders
Follow individual journalists who cover your industries and build those relationships and regularly engage with their work (respectfully, of course)

Facebook:

Use groups or start one of your own, specific to a genuine interest of yours.
Whether public or private, groups are one of Facebook’s most supported and suggested feature, where the platform encourages the most engagement
Focus on building peer groups you can both rely on for info, and use to fast-track your position as a thought leader.

YouTube:

Use in combination when you communicate with your email list. (After all, we’re Americans. We don’t actually read.)
You can create video content through your smartphone and a single, inexpensive ring light.
No expensive video equipment is necessary — new iPhones can shoot in 1080 and 4K resolution out of the box
Upload content about the people who work with you. People love to brag about their friends, colleagues, and family members, and those organic views and shares go a long way for engagement.
If you’re uncomfortable at first, YouTube allows you to set your channel to “Private” so you can get some gentle feedback before it’s showtime.

Zoom:

Host social calls for your industry with an emphasis on keeping them friendly and informal
If you’re in leadership, invite your teams to hop on a call to offer support and encouragement
Be cognizant that people have Zoom exhaustion, so use it only when you can deliver a big payoff for the time spent

Write, Record, And Grow Your Reach

Blogging for most is the modern-day equivalent of writing a 15-page term paper in college. It’s put off until the last minute; it’s cause for anxiety, and; it’s something most people will pay someone else to write.

Here’s the real deal: you are missing out on a quick and easy opportunity to become a thought leader in your industry while at the same time improving your search engine rankings.

You don’t have to write 1,200 original words every day, although as any writer will tell you, the more you write, the better your writing becomes. A blog post can also be 300 words’ worth of intro to a news article plus some links and a couple of photos to make compelling content in a click-hungry world.

A blog can be part of a larger website, or it can be standalone. It’s also a great way to stay in touch with a diverse audience. If done well, it typically gets the highest rate of response, which in turn, gives you the opening to (pardon the pun) bump elbows with people you no longer get to see on a regular basis.

Lift up your peers, brag about your employees’ accomplishments, both in and out of work.

Maybe one of your engineers runs ultramarathons, or Nancy in accounting builds steel sculptures. Now is the time to immerse yourself in the complete and fascinating stories of the people who make your industry go ‘round and step back and let them be experts.

COVID-19 tore down the curtain that separated people’s work selves from their home selves, and the least-weird thing you can do is start telling those human stories inside your industry.

This is brand storytelling at its finest because you are building relationships (or at least maintaining them). For most of my clients in the B2B world, the sales cycles are incredibly long, so content is the summer camp of marketing. You’re keeping in touch with the other kids in your cabin until next year.

Better yet, if you’ve built up an audience, use the opportunity to invite a prominent leader in the industry to guest post on your blog. Everyone loves to feel like an expert, and they’ll amplify their expertise to their own networks while opening you to a whole new audience.

Podcasting? Sure. Combining the right personalities who are connected to robust networks can rocket your brand skyward. You don’t even have to be in the same room. With a quality microphone and a set of provocative questions, you could be in the ears of execs across your industry by next week.

The good news is production values don’t need to be studio-quality because of the informality of this era. And if you’re an overachiever, get a USB mic, some software with noise reduction, and set it up on the floor of your closet. Let those hanging sweaters dry out your sound and suddenly you’re Terry Gross for less than $150.

To pretend that life isn’t upside-down would be like trying to serve Thanksgiving in a house with the roof ripped off by a tornado. The only weirdo in that situation is the person who doesn’t acknowledge the wind and visible sky.

Rearrange the Digital Furniture

Be honest: how much thought are you really putting into your emails? Are you still hoping emails “find people well” while the world is on fire? Are you using the same strategy today that you were in February? Quit it.

Write down a few brief notes with updates and use it as an informal script to record a brief video — no set dressing, no elaborate lighting. Be yourself. It’ll be comforting for your team and colleagues to see you as you really are because everyone else is coping as best they can in their own makeshift offices, complete with barking dogs and ratty sweatpants out of Zoom sight.

Refresh your website and transform it into one that people want to return to for something new — that’s where your blog and podcast show off their value. You wouldn’t tell someone to come back to your bland corporate site any more than you’d recommend someone watch The Office as if a new episode might pop up.

It’s likely that the stripping away of office formality has left your communication strategy feeling stiffer than what serves you in the present. When there is so much in flux in the world, it’s a perfect time to retool your own approach.

Between the pandemic, the intensification of climate change, the election, the stock market, and the Supreme Court, people are more receptive than ever to a friendly (virtual) hug.

Be a light for people when they need it, and enjoy their loyalty in return.

The post Marketing With Your Connections During Covid appeared first on Michael's Marc.

Panel discussion at the 2026 American Clean Power Conference

What I Learned At American Clean Power

By Michael Grossman • April 6, 2026

Why clean energy projects fail permitting in 2026—and what developers must change: early outreach, local messengers, and digital campaigns that define the fight before opposition does.

Rural communities are pushing back against clean energy projects.

As Goes Denmark...

By Michael Grossman • March 30, 2026

Denmark leads on climate—but even there, utility-scale solar is facing backlash. The community fault lines around clean energy projects worldwide can be overcome.

The Most Common Messaging Mistake Clean Energy Developers Make

By Michael Grossman • March 26, 2026

Clean energy developers do not lose projects because their technology fails. They lose projects because they misunderstand how decisions get made in the communities where those projects are proposed. If you spend enough time around project development, you start to see the same pattern. A site pencils. The resource is there. Interconnection works. Capital is lined up. Then the project enters the public process and something shifts. Opposition forms. Local officials hesitate. The project stalls or disappears. That outcome is not rare. Roughly one out of every three large clean energy projects in the United States never reaches construction . At the same time, the environment around these projects is getting harder. Research from the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University tracks hundreds of renewable energy projects across dozens of states facing organized opposition, along with a growing number of local laws restricting development. Across the country, local resistance is no longer episodic. It is structural. Most developers respond by trying to improve how they explain their projects. That is not where the problem sits. The most common messaging mistake clean energy developers make is this: They treat communication as explanation when it is actually coalition building. The Illusion Of Stakeholder Engagement Developers often approach communication by identifying “stakeholders” and building a plan to engage them. The list is familiar. Elected officials, regulators, adjacent landowners, business groups. Those people matter, but they are not the community. Communities are not organized through formal roles. They are organized through trust . Influence sits with people who do not appear on stakeholder maps. A pastor, a co-op manager, a respected farmer, a small business owner. These are the people others listen to when they are deciding what a project means. When engagement is limited to formal stakeholders, developers miss the informal networks where opinions actually form. That gap is where opposition gains ground. Developers Try To Be The Messenger Even when developers engage early, they often assume they should be the ones delivering the message. They have the data. They understand the project. They can explain the benefits. That logic makes sense internally. It is less effective externally. People trust those who share their lived experience . A developer entering from outside the community is asking for trust before it exists. A local voice does not need to make that same ask. This is not a communications nuance. It is the difference between being heard and being discounted. Projects that move forward tend to have credible local voices who can explain the project in terms that make sense to their neighbors. Projects that fail often rely on the developer to carry that burden alone. What is actually at stake These dynamics are easy to underestimate because they are not reflected in financial models. A utility-scale wind or solar project in the 50 to 100 megawatt range typically requires $75 million to $200 million in upfront capital, depending on technology, location, and interconnection costs. Over a 20 to 30 year lifespan, those projects can generate hundreds of millions of dollars in contracted revenue, particularly when backed by long-term power purchase agreements. When a project fails at the permitting stage, that capital is not redeployed cleanly. Time is lost. Development costs are written off. Market windows close. This is not a marginal issue. It is a core risk to the business model. The New Pressure: Data Centers The stakes are rising because demand is rising. The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and cloud computing is driving a surge in data center development across the United States. These facilities require enormous and continuous electricity loads. Recent analysis from Pew Research Center notes that data center electricity consumption in the U.S. is expected to increase significantly as AI adoption expands, placing new pressure on regional grids. At the same time, research from Columbia Business School highlights a growing race to secure power for these facilities, with developers competing for access to clean and reliable electricity. Additional analysis from Environmental and Energy Study Institute warns that data center demand is already reshaping grid planning and could complicate climate goals if new supply does not come online fast enough. This creates a collision. On one side, data center developers need large volumes of electricity, increasingly from low-carbon sources. On the other, local opposition is making it harder to build the very projects required to meet that demand. The result is a tightening constraint on both infrastructure and timelines. Coalition Building As A Development Function In this environment, coalition building is not a communications add-on. It is a core development function. Projects that succeed tend to follow a different sequence. They identify credible local voices early. They invest time in understanding how the project intersects with local concerns. They allow the community to shape how the project is discussed rather than introducing a fully formed narrative late in the process. This work often happens before a project is publicly announced. It rarely appears in investor updates. It is difficult to quantify. It is also one of the clearest predictors of whether a project moves forward. A Different Way To Think About Messaging If you treat messaging as explanation, your goal is clarity. You want people to understand what the project is and why it matters. If you treat messaging as coalition building, your goal is different. You are working to ensure that when the project becomes public, there are already trusted voices within the community who understand it, can speak to it, and see a place for it. That shift changes everything. It changes who speaks. It changes when conversations begin. It changes how opposition is received. The Broader Implication The clean energy transition is often framed as a technological and financial challenge. Those elements matter. Progress on both has been significant. At the same time, the growing number of local restrictions, the scale of organized opposition, and the surge in electricity demand from data centers point to a different constraint. The limiting factor is not always whether a project can be built. It is whether a community is prepared to accept it. Developers who recognize that early and build coalitions accordingly get projects built. Developers who do not often find themselves trying to explain a project after the decision has already been made.

AI Produces Familiar Marketing. Cleantech Needs Something New.

By Michael Grossman • March 23, 2026

AI produces familiar marketing based on what’s already worked. Cleantech companies need messaging that drives adoption, not repetition.

By the time a clean energy project has a public hearing, opinions have hardened.

Why One-Third of Clean Energy Projects Fail Before Construction

By Michael Grossman • March 18, 2026

Learn why many clean energy projects fail before construction. Local opposition, permitting risk, and public narrative shape outcomes more than technology.

Why Clean Energy Projects Are Losing Rural America — and How Developers Can Change the Story

By Michael Grossman • March 13, 2026

The Quiet Crisis in Clean Energy Development The United States is experiencing a permitting crisis for renewable energy projects. Between 2018 and 2023, roughly 30% of utility-scale wind and solar projects were canceled during the siting process, often because of local opposition or zoning restrictions. At the same time, opposition is spreading rapidly across the country. Researchers tracking renewable project conflicts have documented: • 498 contested renewable projects across 49 states • 459 counties and municipalities with severe restrictions on renewable development In other words, the challenge facing clean energy deployment is not primarily technological. It is political and social. When a Wind Project Dies Last week, a county commission in Washington State placed a moratorium on new wind energy development. That decision effectively halted the Harvest Hills Wind Project, a project proposed by Vestas, one of the most experienced wind companies in the world. The turbines themselves were not controversial from an engineering standpoint. Wind power is now one of the most mature energy technologies in the global power system. Yet the project still collapsed. The reason lies in the way public opinion forms around infrastructure projects. The New Reality of Local Politics Developers now operate in a communications environment where information spreads instantly and credibility is fragmented. Anyone with a social media account can claim expertise. Algorithms amplify outrage. And misinformation circulates faster than technical explanations. Even claims that wind turbines cause cancer — a theory repeatedly debunked by medical researchers — continue to appear in local debates. Once that narrative spreads within a community, the formal permitting process often becomes the stage for a conflict that has already been decided informally. Why the Old Engagement Model Fails The traditional developer playbook looks transparent on paper: 1. Announce the project 2. Launch a website with a project overview and FAQ 3. Invite residents to public meetings But when residents encounter the project for the first time through zoning notices or political social media posts, the project feels imposed rather than understood. By the time formal stakeholder engagement begins, the conversation often starts from mistrust. Farmers Understand the Problem Most wind and solar projects are located in rural areas. Farmers in those communities know something developers sometimes overlook: You prepare the soil before planting the seed. A farmer who plants before the soil is ready wastes the crop. Community engagement works the same way. If developers wait until a project is announced to begin outreach, the ground is already hardened. Grassroots Outreach Is Cheap Insurance Large energy projects often cost hundreds of millions of dollars, yet communications budgets for those projects are frequently minimal. True grassroots outreach typically costs less than one percent of project value, yet it can determine whether the project survives local politics. That outreach must reach residents where they already gather online: • Pre-roll ads on YouTube • Facebook and Instagram • Twitter/X (yes, even Twitter, because it's still a home for political junkies) • Streaming audio like Spotify and Pandora These platforms allow developers to communicate long before the permitting process begins. Projects Are About People Most renewable project websites emphasize infrastructure. Turbine height. Generation capacity. Interconnection details. Tax base. Those facts matter, but they rarely build trust. Communities want to know something simpler: How does this benefit me? Who in our community supports this? In rural areas, credibility travels through relationships. Residents trust farmers, business owners, and local leaders far more than corporate statements. A project website dominated by technical diagrams tells one story. A project website featuring community voices tells another. A Model That Worked Washington State’s Clean Fuel Standard faced intense opposition from the oil industry, but the policy ultimately passed because our team built a broad coalition before the final legislative fight began. That coalition included communities environmental campaigns often overlook: timber workers, minority businesses, and farmers, who were often the target of oil industry hysterics about gas prices. We spent months educating those communities before asking them to take action. When the opposition campaign intensified, the coalition already existed. The Future of Project Development Clean energy developers have historically thought of themselves as engineering organizations. In today’s political environment, they must also think like community organizers. That means: • Beginning outreach before project announcements • Engaging entire communities, not just formal stakeholders • Communicating through digital channels where residents already gather • Elevating trusted local voices The energy transition depends on infrastructure. But infrastructure ultimately depends on trust.

Cleantech websites shouldn't require a map to find the treasure.

Is Your Website A Virtual Scavenger Hunt?

By Michael Grossman • March 12, 2026

If visitors can’t tell who your cleantech solution is for within seconds, they leave. Learn how clearer messaging turns your website into a recognition tool.

If you want your content to be king, consistency in posting is queen.

Why Cleantech Founders Need a Content Plan — Not Random Posts

By Michael Grossman • March 3, 2026

Most cleantech startups treat content like an afterthought. Here’s why a strategic LinkedIn and email content plan builds credibility with investors and partners.

Branding Is More Than A Logo or Tagline

By Michael Grossman • February 25, 2026

A brand is not your logo. It’s not your color palette. It’s not your typography. It’s not your tagline. A brand is your voice and your story. The most beautifully designed logo in the world is irrelevant if there isn’t a narrative beneath it—one that carries meaning across platforms, resonates with a specific audience, and communicates why your company exists. In cleantech, this distinction matters more than founders often realize. Because when your product is complex, technical, and capital-intensive, your brand becomes the bridge between your science and your market. A Logo Without Meaning Is Just a Shape Many early-stage companies invest in visual identity before investing in narrative clarity, as if you aren’t a real company until you have a logo, debating colors, symbols, and typography without answering the fundamental questions: • Who do we serve? • What problem do we solve? • Why does it matter now? • Why are we uniquely positioned to win? Creating a logo without answering the above questions first reminds me of the famous line from Alice in Wonderland: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Research supports this distinction. According to the Nielsen Norman Group – Brand Credibility and User Perception , users form judgments about credibility based on the clarity of the message and its relevance—not purely on visual design. Visual polish without substance may attract attention, but it does not sustain trust. In other words, aesthetics are secondary to meaning. A logo is a symbol. Symbols only matter when they represent something meaningful. Nike: A Logo That Carries a Story Consider Nike. The swoosh is one of the most recognizable logos in the world. It is minimal. Clean. Uncomplicated. But the swoosh alone does not create emotional impact. Nike has spent decades pairing that logo with a consistent narrative: you can be the best version of yourself. The logo tells athletes—and non-athletes alike—that they can fly. Nike does not lead with rubber compounds or stitching technology. They lead with aspiration. Their campaigns reinforce belief. The logo has remained stable, but the company has invested billions in associating it with performance, resilience, identity, and ambition. Brand equity research confirms why this works. According to McKinsey & Company – The Value of Getting Brand Building Right , companies that consistently reinforce a clear, emotionally resonant brand story outperform peers in long-term growth and pricing power. The swoosh works because the story works. Cleantech Is Technical—But It’s Also Aspirational Cleantech founders sometimes resist branding comparisons to consumer companies. “We’re not selling shoes.” “We’re selling grid storage.” “We’re building carbon capture systems.” That’s true. But you are still selling transformation. You are selling: • Energy resilience • Regulatory compliance • Cost stability • Operational continuity • Emissions reduction • Long-term viability These outcomes are aspirational. Cleantech may be technical, but the impact it delivers is planet-altering. That emotional weight is powerful—if you communicate it clearly. Research from Edelman Trust Barometer 2024 shows that trust in companies is driven heavily by clarity of purpose and perceived long-term commitment—not product features alone. Your brand must communicate belief, not just capability. Generic Taglines Signal Generic Positioning Now consider the tagline problem. Cleantech websites are full of statements like: • “Powering a Sustainable Future.” • “Driving the Transition to Net Zero.” • “Innovating for a Greener Tomorrow.” Each one sounds polished. Mission-driven. Serious. Each one is also interchangeable. If five companies can use the same tagline without modification, it is not a strategic differentiator. It is a category filler. Strong brands communicate specificity. According to Harvard Business Review – Competing on Customer Experience , companies that articulate clearly how they solve a defined customer problem outperform those relying on vague mission-driven messaging. A tagline should drive the audience to an obvious conclusion: This company is one of one. If your tagline does not signal: • Who you serve • What you solve • Why it matters • Why you are uniquely positioned Then it is not strengthening your brand. It is simply occupying space. Branding Is Strategic Positioning Branding is not decoration. It is positioning. Positioning answers: • Who this is for • Who this is NOT for • What problem do you solve? • Why can't competitors replicate you? • What belief anchors your work? Without that clarity, your brand defaults to comparison. And comparison often defaults to price. Research from Boston Consulting Group – The Power of Brand in B2B confirms that even in technical B2B industries, strong brands command pricing premiums and reduce perceived risk. Cleantech is no exception. If your brand doesn’t signal differentiation, the market will evaluate you on cost. That is a race you do not want to run. Voice Is the Core of Brand Consistency If branding is more than a logo, what defines it? Voice! Voice shows up in: • Website copy • Investor decks • Sales sheets • LinkedIn posts • White papers • Conference presentations If your voice changes across platforms, your brand fractures. If your executive team describes the company differently from your sales team, your brand weakens. Branding is a narrative discipline. Nike’s swoosh works because the story is reinforced everywhere. Your cleantech company does not need a billion-dollar ad budget. But it does need message consistency across platforms. Consistency builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust accelerates decisions. Your Brand Should Make the Audience the Hero One of the most common branding mistakes in cleantech is positioning the company as the hero. “We are saving the planet.” “We are transforming energy.” “We are redefining sustainability.” That sounds ambitious. But it centers the company, not the audience. A stronger brand narrative positions the customer as the hero and your company as the guide. Instead of: “We power a sustainable future.” Consider: “We help industrial operators reduce compliance risk without sacrificing uptime.” Now the buyer sees themselves. Branding must create recognition before admiration. If Your Logo Disappeared Tomorrow, Would Your Story Survive? A useful test: If your logo disappeared tomorrow, would your audience still understand who you serve and why you matter? If the answer is no, your branding is surface-level. A strong brand survives without a visual identity because the story carries it. Nike’s swoosh matters because of decades of narrative reinforcement. Your cleantech brand must stand on narrative clarity first—and design second. Final Thoughts Branding is more than a logo. It is more than a tagline. It is the story that undergirds your visual identity and carries it across every platform. A logo is a symbol. A tagline is a signal. But your brand is the belief that ties them together. Cleantech solves technical problems with planetary implications. That is not small work. Your brand should reflect that scale—not through vague mission language, but through clear positioning and meaningful narrative. The strongest brands do not win because they are the prettiest. They win because they mean something. If your tagline could belong to anyone, it belongs to no one. And if your logo does not represent a defined belief shared with your audience, it is just a shape. Build the story first. Then let the symbol carry it.