IBSU,  Ilia Peradze

Tesla… wait Tesla? You mean those electric vehicles, energy generations and storages systems, with various technologies involved. Simply, yes. Hearing a word Tesla is enough to turn on your imagination, sitting in an electric car? What about flying cars, is it possible for Tesla to achieve it? It automatically activates your brain to generate millions of ideas, rises your heartbeat and takes your breath away. Of course, it is astonishing to see how this company spends zero dollars on their marketing, but still has mass amounts of public attention. The main figure behind this huge company is a person, Elon Musk, the genius whose work has a major influence on people and their minds. Elon Musk is the one who gave Tesla the marketing that attracts a lot of customers from around the world. Tesla isn’t Elon’s only greatest invention, he is also a founder of SpaceX, which is one of the most incredible achievements he has accomplished.

A unique beginning

Isn’t it incredible to realize that before 2004, the name Tesla reminded us of genius inverter from the 1900s. It was 2008, when Tesla Roadster went into a full production, first electric vehicle travelling around 200 miles per charge.

Tesla sold about 2,450 Tesla Roadsters in between 2008 and 2012.

Tesla Model S that completely conquered the market was released in June 2012, luxurious brand segment of market, which costed between $50k -$90K. This led Tesla to selling over 100,000 MoDespite all the success over the years, Tesla has gathered criticism for not being able to follow their promises, yet they demonstrated how it’s possible to keep growing through challenges. We will cover four marketing lessons from “Tesla’s magic” that we can use for our business.

Start with a vision

Sharing the vision with the world gives the brand a mission and a personality, which is one of the most important aspects. The point behind this is that people feel involved and encouraged, they think that their opinion matters and have a chance to change or create something. Elon Musk has been using this strategy for years, right before the start too, back in 2006, he shared his “Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan”, which got changed with “Master Plan Part Deux” in 2016.

Face your problems

Having unique beginning won’t exclude us from problems. Over the years, the company will meet concerns in different categories, like: finances, delivery delays, public comments and ability to build cars at scale. Elon Musk is famous for his replies on Twitter. This shows that they are listening, are humble to take feedbacks and use it for their advantage. Seeing such kind of person being involved with customers, critics or even just a normal people, is hilarious, it brings a lot of fun, which makes Tesla in the centre of the attention.

Implement solutions beforehand

Tesla used solutions as their advantage by simply introducing Tesla charging stations, also known as Superchargers. This futuristic look and no attendants makes it even mystic and desirable. What is the tradition of getting the attention of the consumer? Of course, using money to advertise, but in this case Tesla has a strategy that brings the attention directly to customers.

Create a point of difference

As a rule, car companies collectively spend approximately $11 Billion dollars on marketing every year, but not Tesla, they don’t even spend money on paid advertising. Considering above-mentioned, Tesla does no social marketing as well, only the tweets from CEO, Elon Musk, as we already mentioned. One key point of difference, which helps Tesla to separate itself from other companies, is how they sell their vehicles. They have showrooms in shopping malls instead of selling cars via dealerships. Go to where your customer already are, this is the common sense marketing which Tesla uses as their advantage.