Why Boots on the Ground is Better than Sending Letters

Sending letters to landowners is one of the most common tactics utilized by land companies. There’s nothing wrong per se with sending letters. But, in our experience, doing so rarely delivers adequate results for renewable energy developers.

At New Era Land Services, we prefer a “boots on the ground” approach—one that prioritizes in-person interactions and relationship building.

Drawbacks of Mailing Letters

Direct mail is one of the fastest and easiest ways to distribute your message within a large geographic area. Aside from the upfront printing and postage costs, few barriers exist to reaching landowners through the mail. That’s probably why so many land companies begin their outreach this way.

However, engaging landowners through the mail has its share of shortcomings:

Lack of Personalization: Personalizing letters, flyers, and postcards with recipients’ names is relatively common. Using fonts that look like handwritten notes is another technique. But, at the end of the day, there’s only so much personalization that is possible. Taking the time to actually write a personal note is another option but takes more time and effort.

Likely to Be Thrown Away: Consumers have developed a keen eye for quickly separating “junk mail” from regular mail. As a result, a large percentage of direct mail goes straight from the mailbox to the trash or recycle bin.

Ineffectiveness with Skeptics: For some people, leasing land for solar, wind, or battery storage can seem too good to be true. Such landowners close themselves off to renewable land lease opportunities before gaining all of the facts. Changing landowners’ opinions usually requires conversations that go beyond the contents of a letter or brochure.

Spotty Lease Holds: Sending letters may cast a wide net, but that net is unlikely to deliver a perfectly contiguous collection of land parcels. Fifty acres here, one hundred acres there—that’s not a winning approach for most utility-scale projects.

Leading with Relationships, Not Letters

Deciding to participate in solar, wind, or battery storage projects is a life-changing decision for many landowners. At New Era Land Services, our landowner engagement process focuses on real, human interactions (not letters). We do the hard work upfront, sending out land agents who start conversations within the area of interest. Encouraging open and honest communication leads to healthy landowner relationships and, ultimately, successful projects for our clients.

Looking to increase engagement with landowners for renewable energy? Contact us to discuss your project and learn about our capabilities.