One LinkedIn post. Almost 400,000 impressions. Aaron Nichols has earned 1.8 million impressions on LinkedIn in one year, and he did it by breaking every rule the clean energy industry follows. His message is blunt: solar companies insist on being boring, and they are losing the public conversation because of it. In this episode, host Tim Montague sits down with Aaron Nichols to break down four storytelling rules that solar professionals need to win attention, build trust, and drive business on LinkedIn.
Aaron Nichols serves as Research and Policy Specialist at Exact Solar, a regional solar installer based in Pennsylvania. He also hosts This Week in Solar, a news and interview podcast covering the solar industry. He entered the solar industry in 2021 after a career as a teacher and has since become a recognized voice on LinkedIn for clean energy content and storytelling. His article, "Four Rules of Storytelling That Corporate America Desperately Needs," outlines the framework discussed in this episode.
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Aaron earned 1.8 million LinkedIn impressions in a single year, including one post that reached nearly 400,000 people. His approach: lead with emotion, not data. Personal stories and humor drove the strongest results, outperforming technical content by wide margins.
The clean energy industry has a storytelling problem. Aaron argues that professionals with advanced degrees default to complicated, high-brow messaging. Meanwhile, opponents use simple emotional content to shape public opinion. He calls on solar companies to stop "insisting on being boring."
Aaron outlines four rules of storytelling for solar and clean energy professionals. Rule one: tell one story at a time. Rule two: make people care before making your case. Rule three: if it's complicated, you haven't finished thinking. Rule four: put a face on it by using personal LinkedIn pages instead of company pages.
A school solar project in Philadelphia near the Kensington neighborhood shows how storytelling creates real PR results. Exact Solar built a battery-backed off-grid system powering a hydroponic greenhouse. Aaron focused the story on the individual who led the project, brought in local politicians, attracted reporters, and turned local coverage into a national NPR story.
Solar professionals do not need to wait for conferences to build relationships and generate business. Aaron used LinkedIn to launch a podcast, organize local events with crowds of 40 to 70 people, build industry relationships, and create direct revenue opportunities for a small regional installer.
This episode is essential viewing for solar installers, clean energy marketers, business development professionals, and anyone building a personal brand in the energy transition. With rising energy bills putting electricity in the news daily and federal policy headwinds challenging the industry, the ability to tell compelling stories and build trust on platforms like LinkedIn has never mattered more.
Connect with Aaron Nichols
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-nichols-50a834139/
Exactly Solar: https://exactsolar.com/
This Week in Solar: https://exactsolar.substack.com/
"Making Numbers Count" by Chip Heath and Carla Starr: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Numbers-Count-Science-Communicating/dp/1982165448
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