Marketing Gimmick

“I’d never buy one of those bloody electric cars!”. “Electric cars are just toys”. “Only greenies would buy that sort of car”. “And who knows how it’s serviced?”. These are the cries of the working world. How can we overcome this resistance to a fundamentally new product? Does a radically new product need radically new marketing strategies? In this paper I am going to explore Tesla’s innovative marketing strategy for motor cars. Don't set up a traditional car yard in the cheap rentals along highways. Set up in the shoppings malls! Increase consumer volume through segmentation and targeting! Capitalize off it by strategic positioning! Provide great service and a top-notch product, along with nifty little trinkets, and create customer value.

What is Tesla? - Tesla Motors Inc is a public, California based electric car manufacturer. They have recently introduced the Tesla Model S. This was their second car, a fully electric luxury sedan. Tesla are a relatively new company with little market share, although this has increased due to the Model S’s explosive sales.

What problems do Tesla face? - As they are relatively new (founded in 2003), they have little control over market direction. Customers are likely to be less familiar with the brand as they would with competitors such as Audi, Toyota or Mercedes. Also, the product itself is foreign; as Paul J. Darcy (n.d.) states ‘they must sell an entirely new model of buying and owning a car’. The technology and application of that technology are unknown to the general population.

What is Tesla’s solution? - The conventional method of selling cars would be to set up a dealership on a highway. Rather than do this, Tesla have opted to base their stores and showrooms in malls. Small shops, with often only one car on display, allow customers easy access to information “They could walk right in and immediately talk to a sales person” (Siimon Reynolds, 2013).

Basing their stores in malls is a perfect example of market...