Tesla's "free" marketing secrets

What is Tesla's strength? What made it successful?

When seeing Tesla's logo, even though it has many criticisms, such as simple workmanship and poor quality control, there are still many people willing to pay for the car. In addition to the product itself, Tesla must have other eye-catching features. This must be a resonance on a spiritual level.

According to the latest stock market data, Tesla's share price broke through the $1,000 mark, with a market value of $186.3 billion, surpassing Toyota to become the world's most valuable automobile company. Although the sales volume of the two are completely not in the same order of magnitude, this does not prevent Tesla from becoming the world's most valuable automobile company, and it still has 10 times of room for growth.

It’s really amazing.

Tesla's monthly sales have exceeded 10,000 so far, making it a well-deserved leader in the field of pure electric new energy, far surpassing the second place by a huge margin.

Why is Tesla so successful today when new energy vehicles are still in their infancy?

Although it has also received complaints about quality control and simple interior, it still does not affect its popularity in the capital market and a favorite of car owners.

First of all, it is about new energy and green environmental protection, which is the general trend.

The new energy vehicle industry is a weather vane for various venture capitals and a profit-seeking outlet for various capitals.

However, in just a few years, many new energy brands have emerged. Only playing with the new energy concept will definitely not survive long. Many new energy vehicles have not even obtained production qualifications. Even if they have obtained them, they have not been mass-produced. Even if they are mass-produced, it will still take a long time for them to be put on the road and be tested by the market. Car owners are not willing to pay for these uncertainties.

As a leading force in the field of pure electric vehicles, Tesla has the world's most mature autonomous driving assistance technology and a longer driving range, which is also its core competitiveness.

The whole vehicle is full of technology. There is no traditional center console and physical buttons. The control of the entire vehicle is completely done by a Pad, which fully reflects the minimalist, high-end and intelligent driving experience.

It takes a different approach, without being bound by traditional car manufacturing concepts and processes, and has taken a path that is completely different from traditional car brands.

Most importantly, Tesla's success is inseparable from its unique and successful brand marketing.

01. Accurate brand positioning

The premise of all successful marketing is to accurately grasp the user's pain points.

Tesla's positioning is a "luxury pure electric coupe", which successfully meets the users' ever-increasing consumption needs and the concept of advocating environmentally friendly life, and at the same time becomes the leader in this segment. If you have read the classic book "Positioning" theory, you will know how important it is to be the first brand to occupy the minds of users. Unless latecomers carry out differentiated positioning, the probability of success is very low.

Occupying the minds of users, creating a high-end image, and building a car brand with spiritual connotations are the magic weapons for long-term brand premium and sustainable development. Every customer will feel proud to be a brand car owner and to join this circle. This is circle marketing.

02. Genius Musk, powerful personal IP

Other brands that have this kind of personal influence to drive brand influence include:

Gree: Dong Mingzhu

Apple: Steve Jobs

Behind a strong brand often lives a CEO with extraordinary personal charisma. They bring their own traffic and become the moat of brand marketing. This is also the most difficult aspect for competitors to imitate.

If you search for Tesla on Baidu, another new energy brand, Xiaopeng, will appear. Tesla is so confident that it can attract a large number of people without spending any money on digital marketing.

The IP marketing value generated by Musk exceeds that of any brand celebrity spokesperson. As the founder of the brand, he not only understands Tesla better, but also knows how to promote it. At the same time, his spirit of fearlessness of challenges and innovation and technology fanaticism is exactly the brand spirit that Tesla wants to embody. Moreover, every time he speaks is a free promotion for Tesla, strengthening Tesla's position and image in the minds of users without spending any marketing costs for it. It is a win-win situation.

03. Disruptive business model

C2M (Customer to manufacturer)

+

DTC (Direct to Customer)

C2M+D2C essentially have something in common:

By eliminating the middlemen, there are no dealers making a profit from the price difference.

The entire Tesla customer experience is this:

1. Potential customers make an appointment for a test drive on Tesla's official website

2. Sales add WeChat, provide one-to-one service

3. On-site test drive

4. Transaction completed, select financial plan online,

5. The factory receives user requirements and starts production and customization

6. Handle the license application procedures and deliver the goods to your door

The entire process can be completed in just one month, which is more transparent and efficient than the traditional car companies' car purchasing methods, and delivers a better user experience.

The essence of C2M is Internet thinking. It starts from user needs and is a user-driven reverse production method that shortens delivery cycles through a flatter supply chain and reduces production, inventory and circulation costs.

Tesla is a technology company that uses Internet thinking to build cars. Its genes are "high-tech", just like Microsoft, Google and other American Internet technology companies.

The DTC marketing model that directly faces customers maximizes the customer benefit maximization effect generated by Tesla's efficient and innovative business model.

Tesla has completely separated itself from traditional car dealers, avoided traditional car-buying routines, and adopted a marketing model of online direct sales + offline experience. This saves customers the cost of intermediary channels for purchasing while helping to maintain its high-end brand image, conduct unified management of brand assets, and reduce internal dealer management costs and corporate operating costs.

04. Product localization layout

Tesla's revolutionary breakthrough in sales in the Chinese market is due to its accelerated product localization layout.

Product localization is an important factor in whether foreign automobile brands have strong competitiveness in China. The establishment of Tesla's Lingang Super Factory last year was an important sign of its accelerated localization layout. It also marked that Tesla has taken an important step in increasing production capacity and reducing car manufacturing costs.

The impact on consumers is directly reflected in the significant price reduction. The further reduction in the price of Model 3 makes Tesla no longer out of reach for more car owners who are eager to experience the luxury electric car brand, and the price is expected to drop further.

Tesla is visionary and forward-looking, and this is also due to its investment in the construction of charging stations.

Tesla is promoting three types of power station models in mainland China: home charging stations, destination charging stations and super charging stations.

Among them, Tesla's home charging station is designed with a complete home charging solution; Tesla's destination power stations are mainly distributed in hotels, restaurants, parking garages and other places where drivers will stay for a long time; the Super Charging Station, as the fastest charging station in the world to date, is the main body of Tesla's charging network.

With charging facilities being quite incomplete today, the inconvenience of charging is one of the main reasons why many car owners are reluctant to buy new energy vehicles. Electric car owners are bound to have "range anxiety".

The advantages of Tesla's public charging station facilities are further magnified with the tightening of new policies.

New Deal:

Starting from March this year, the state introduced a new policy that requires car owners applying for green license plates to have proof of a long-term fixed parking space and a place to install charging piles. This undoubtedly creates great restrictions on car buyers in first-tier cities when choosing a car. Tesla does not have this problem, and can be connected to Tesla's public charging stations.

Finally, pioneering brands that have achieved huge success have never followed any rules, and their marketing methods have never followed any principles or theories, but they have achieved huge success, whether in sales, profits, word of mouth or brand influence.

A brand is not created deliberately. Excellent brand power is the inevitable result of the founder's foresight, pioneering new territories and carrying out disruptive business innovation. This is the greatest significance that Tesla has brought to the whole society since its inception.

They ushered in a new era.

Carrying heavy loads and going through hardships,

Ultimately it changed the lifestyle of an era.

Author: Zhu Jingyu

Source: Jade Digital Marketing (Jade_Digital)