When the Incentives End, What Brand Moves Keep You Growing

Pricing and promotions are the sugar rush of marketing plays, but they aren't a foundation to build from.

They can drive short-term demand, but they won’t enhance your market position or articulate the value you’re built to deliver. Too often, brands rely on incentives to generate movement, mistaking temporary gains for lasting preference. Urgency consistently does one thing… it fades.

For example

For years, the 30% federal tax credit served as a powerful incentive for residential solar adoption - and a central pillar of many go-to-market strategies.

Recently, the announcement that the 30% tax credit may be phased out by the end of 2025 has been causing disruption to homeowners and businesses alike. While this change presents challenges, let’s consider the opportunities.

Solar companies have an incentive themselves to move beyond transactional marketing. If the value proposition has centered on incentives, this is the moment to define a strategy that establishes impact, experience, and distinction. Then bring that strategy to life across messaging, digital, and content.

This isn’t unique to solar. When external advantages fade, the strongest brands refocus on what makes them matter.

• Nvidia: Spotted the AI wave early and built for it. Evolved from gaming hardware to the infrastructure powering the future of computing. Briefly surpassing Microsoft as the world’s largest company. (Techcrunch)

• Apple: Reframed the brand around experience, not specs. Design, ecosystem, and usability became the value as price became secondary.

• Pfizer: During COVID, Pfizer moved fast, led vaccine development, and became globally visible. In 2021, they rebranded from a traditional pharma company to a science-first, research-driven brand built for the future.

In each case, these brands faced difficult circumstances, or recognized unique opportunities, to sharpen their strategy and define their place in the market.

Why this matters

Brand strategy defines why customers should care about your brand. When clearly defined and consistently executed, it becomes the engine behind long-term market traction and customer resonance.

In the end, customers don’t remember markdowns or influencer campaigns. They remember the experience and the results your product or service actually delivered.

Seizing the moment

The best brands aren’t built in boom times. They’re defined in the pivots where market conditions shift, external advantages fade, and the fundamentals are all that remain.

This is where strategy matters most. Not just in what a company does, but in how it communicates value, shapes perception, and consistently evokes understanding and belief in what it offers.

Matic helps organizations define who they are, how to express it, and why it matters to the audiences that drive growth. Beyond campaign messaging, we develop strategic positioning, grounded in data and built to scale.

For many industries, like solar, this is that moment. The brands that clarify and reinforce their enduring value will lead. The rest will stay busy chasing margins.

Final thoughts

When short-term levers fade, strategic foundations are what remains.

We help brands develop and activate their strategy across experience, communication, and delivery. If your organization is ready for change, Matic is ready to help.

Let’s talk.

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