Case study: Renewable energy
How Cedar Creek Energy built a marketing engine that generated more than $3.7 million in revenue in one year.
From 2016 through 2025, PSM served as the outsourced marketing department for Cedar Creek Energy, providing the strategy, people, systems and day-to-day work behind an integrated program that built visibility, generated qualified leads, supported the sales team and measured marketing's contribution to the business.
PublishedOctober 2026.
Client
Cedar Creek Energy
Industry
Renewable and solar energy
Location
Minnesota
Engagement
Outsourced marketing department, 2016 to 2025
The results
$215K → $3.7M
2024 marketing investment tied to more than $3.7 million in attributed revenue
838
Marketing-generated residential and commercial leads in 2024
82%
Increase in sales-qualified leads and firm orders, Sept.–Dec. 2023 vs. 2024
42%
Increase in website users, Q3 2023 vs. Q3 2024
The challenge
Solar is a complex, highly competitive industry. Cedar Creek Energy needed to reach residential and commercial prospects across multiple markets while educating them about an investment involving financing, tax incentives, rebates, energy savings and long-term ROI.
The company also had an impressive, growing portfolio of completed installations. The opportunity was to turn that experience into greater visibility, stronger credibility and a consistent source of qualified leads, with strategy, digital marketing, content, advertising, public relations, lead nurturing and sales support working as one coordinated program.
Our approach
PSM provided both strategic leadership and day-to-day implementation, refining the program as the company, its markets and the renewable energy industry changed.
01
Build a powerful digital presence
A website that educates prospects on the business case for solar and shows the depth of the company's experience.
02
Create visibility and demand
SEO, digital advertising, email, social media, thought leadership and public relations working together.
03
Connect marketing to sales
Lead tracking, nurturing and reporting in HubSpot and ClickUp, so every lead could be followed to revenue.
Before
After
01 Build a powerful digital presence
PSM developed Cedar Creek Energy's website as the foundation of the marketing program and kept expanding and optimizing it throughout the relationship. It did much more than describe services: it educated prospects on the business case for solar and demonstrated the company's experience.
PSM ran a professional video shoot featuring the company's experts, developed extensive educational content and built case studies and project galleries for commercial, residential, municipal and agricultural installations. Service, industry and geographic landing pages followed, guided by SEO research. In 2024 alone, PSM created 71 SEO-focused articles.
02 Create visibility and generate demand
SEO, paid digital advertising, email marketing, social media, thought leadership, sales collateral and public relations worked together to build awareness and demand. Completed projects became marketing assets for case studies, photography, website content, social media, email and earned media.
PSM developed a formal public relations strategy, identifying newsworthy projects and pitching business, energy and industry media, including coverage in the Minnesota Real Estate Journal. From Q3 2023 to Q3 2024, website sessions grew 32%, users 42%, direct traffic 12% and social traffic 22%.
03 Connect marketing directly to sales
Generating inquiries wasn't enough. When the company moved to new technology platforms in 2023, PSM built the marketing infrastructure around ClickUp and HubSpot: lead tracking, rebuilt nurturing communications, automated workflows by lead status, connected advertising accounts, UTM tracking and website integration, so leads could be followed through the sales process.
Regular lead reporting showed where leads came from, how they moved through the sales process and which marketing efforts produced qualified opportunities and revenue.
Services in this engagement
Outsourced marketing Marketing strategy Website development SEO Content marketing Lead generation CRM + marketing automation Paid advertising Public relations Video Case studies + project galleries Email marketing Social media Sales support Analytics + lead reporting
The outcome
Over nearly a decade, Cedar Creek Energy and PSM built a comprehensive marketing program for a growing company in a rapidly changing industry: a strong digital presence, educational content, a portfolio of its work, search visibility, coordinated advertising and communications, proactive public relations, automated lead nurturing and a system for tracking opportunities through sales.
The company could see not only how many leads marketing generated, but their quality and the business that resulted. The result was exactly what an outsourced marketing department should provide: a coordinated function that generated opportunities, supported the sales team and proved its value.
Most importantly, marketing became measurable.
In 2024, an investment of about $215,000 was tied to more than $3.7 million in revenue, while sales-qualified leads and firm orders kept climbing.
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