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Introduction
Marketing Strategies of Tesla will be evaluated in this blog. Marketing strategy refers to the plan of reaching potential customers and converting them into regular customers of a company through offering them value, brand message and benefits (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). Making such marketing communication requires in-depth knowledge about the internal and external environment in which the business is operated. Analysis of internal and external marketing and organizational audit equip a company with relevant information and key data that helps companies to make better decision.
A specific sports car brand, Tesla Roadster, has been selected for this article where customer segmentation, positioning has been applied for the selected brand. The section has also analysed marketing objectives and marketing strategies to meet those objectives.
Marketing Strategies of Tesla
A sports car sub-brand of Tesla has been selected to show Marketing Strategies of Tesla. It is Tesla Roadster which the company call “the quickest car in the worlds with record-setting acceleration, performance and range” (Tesla-2, 2020).
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Marketing Strategies of Tesla: Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP)
STP refers to critically evaluating the products and services of a company and based on evaluation, a company divides the target market in different groups; specifically target the segment which to serve; and finally position itself to the selected segment (Edvardsson et al., 2014). Therefore, how Tesla will perform in the field will really depend on how efficiently and wisely it targets and position itself to the target market.
Customer segmentation of Tesla Roadster
Customer segmentation or market segmentation refers to dividing the target market based on different features such as their characters, preferences, demographics features etc. (Simberova, 2014). Proper segmentation of market plays significant role for Tesla for many reasons. Firstly, the company will be able to tailor their marketing communications with potential customers based on the customers’ features found from segmentation. Secondly, Tesla will be able to make marketing initiatives more efficient, focused and specific, as a result cost will be minimized and objectives will be gained.
There are different basis of market segmentations. Tesla can segment market based on demographic features, geographic features, psychographic features, behavioural features, and finally situational scenarios (Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018).
West, Ford and Ibrahim (2015) have found in their research that it is not necessary for a company to segment a market based on all features available in contemporary time. Rather, as authors suggested, market should be segmented based on only those features which are relevant to the type of business. In light with above literature, Tesla should segment the market based on demographic features and behavioural features.
Demographic segmentation identify the market based on demographic features such as age, income, gender, education, economic and social conditions, size of family etc. (Gilmore et al., 2012). On the other hand, behavioural segmentation identifies market based on features such as specific needs, occupation, and need-sought (Anghel, Constantinescu and Caescu, 2013). Tesla should follow demographic segmentation because people purchase cars based on their income, economic condition, and education. This will significantly help Tesla to develop cars and do marketing communication tailored to specific customers. The company should also segment market based on behaviour because people purchase sports car as profession or for the need to go faster.
Marketing Strategies of Tesla: Customer Targeting of Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster is the quickest sports car the world has ever seen. This product is a unique masterpiece of Tesla, thus it should target the market in specified manner. In below table, features of target market for Tesla Roadster are demonstrated below.
| Attributes | Features of Target market |
| Education | Minimum college graduate |
| Income (annual) | $100,000 to above |
| Gender | Usually Male, rarely female |
| Socio-economic status | Higher class people |
| Family size | 3 to 4 person |
| Age | 18 years to 45 years |
| Benefits-sought | Need for speed |
| Occupation | Car racers |
Above table is compiled based on features of sports car customers. Tesla should target customers based on this table. This will ensure tailored targeting and efficient marketing communication.
Marketing Strategies of Tesla: Market positioning of Tesla
It refers to how a company wants to position itself at the eyes of target customers (Mullins, Walker and Boyd, 2012). This is one of the important determinants of brand image of a company because this is what customers can see.
Above figure 6 demonstrates that Tesla Roadster is viewed as sporty with a bit luxury. However, if Tesla wants to enjoy the status of sporty still highly popular in most country, it needs to move a bit to right side of the demonstration.
Marketing Objectives and goals for Tesla:
Tesla should outline below marketing objectives for its sports car brand Tesla Roadster to increase sales, market share, profitability, and brand image.
Tesla should increase social engagement: Social sites now a days play significant role for marketing communication and brand engagement (Ngo and O’Cass, 2012). Therefore, Tesla should be active in all potential channels of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Tesla should regularly update all new events related to sports car and should engage with customers. This will increase the brand’s visibility to target customers.
Making user friendly website demonstrating features; should do SEO: Tesla has a website, however, the company can make the website interactive and more user friendly. This will increase people’s participation in the web. Apart from that, it should also do search engine optimization to ensure that web surfers find Tesla at the first results of research results. This will help Tesla to have more visitors on the website increasing the chances of sales.
Do tailored marketing communication: Tesla must do tailored marketing because this is efficient, cost saving and more effective (Ceglinski, 2016). It should not try to communicate with people who do not fall into the category of outlined features and qualification needed to be Tesla’s customers. For example, Tesla can post an advertisement in sports magazine or on magazines of young and wealthy people who are the target customers of the company.
Additionally, Tesla must remove customers from the target list if they fail to meet the criteria. For example, if a target customers look for cheap cars, Tesla should remove him from the target list because investing time for that customers should be considered as a waste of time and efforts.
Engage with celebrities demonstrating sporty features of Tesla Roadster: Engagement with celebrities such as a famous car racer whom people know globally as a celebrity will play great role to attract target customers (Line and Runyan, 2014). Reason is that target customers of Tesla Roadster will follow such celebrities and customers will be highly motivated by them.
Recommendations on Marketing Strategies of Tesla:
Application of Marketing Mix 7Cs
Marketing mix refers to the strategies and approaches to reach to the target customers and to convey the brand message to target customers (Sahaf, 2017). This section has applied 7Cs model to recommend Tesla Roadster on how to communicate with customers.
Focus on customers: Tesla should understand the customers, their basic needs, their personality and characters. This will enable Tesla to make better communication message at first. Secondly, it will assist Tesla to make better vehicle designs for future aspirations. Customers should be perceived as a person not as a target market (Rossi, Vrontis and Thrassou, 2014).
Ensure consistency of communication: It happens quite frequently that companies send inconsistent messages which has no or less link with previous message (Rashid, Rahman, and Khalid, 2014). If such happens, it makes the customers confused and confused customers have high chances to look for alternatives. In contrast, confident customers will make purchase at first sight. Tesla must provide consistent information in confident manner to make customers confident as well.
Adopt creativity: Creativity always attract people, in marketing creativity plays biggest role to outstand from the crowd (Hajli, 2015). Marketing communications of Tesla should be crafted with creative attitudes to make sure that target customers pay sincere attention on the message.
Provide culture tailored message: Tesla’s target market show a range of different types of cultural orientation. The company should make sure not to follow one culture while doing communication. Rather, message should be culturally oriented. For example, Tesla should do communication in Chinese language or manner while doing marketing communications in China.
Do communication not marketing: Tesla must understand that people might not appreciate if they are told they are told that Tesla is doing marketing with them. Rather, Tesla should say that it is trying to communicate and convey message to potential people. This will create rich perception about Tesla on the mind of customers (Foxall, 2014).
Appreciate and adopt change: Technology changes, communication channels changes, strategies change, and people’s preferences also change (Dogu and Albayrak, 2018). It seems that change is a common nature everywhere. Tesla must appreciate change and should adopt with the changing nature. It should implement new features, new communication channels and strategies.
Seek suitable channels for communication: Tesla should adopt all potential channels of reaching out to customers. This will potentially help the company to reach customers in all possible manners.
Conclusion:
Marketing strategies are meant to achieve marketing objectives through making a sustainable and effective profitable relationship between customers and a company. Internal and external marketing environment affect the business operations of a company widely and thus it is important for Tesla to investigate the same. Car industry is very much competitive globally. However, Tesla has exerted high efforts to reach a new height of speed, unique designs and comfort with safety. The company has positioned itself as most advanced car makers with new features and stylish designs. Tesla Roadster is a sports car brand of Tesla which is known as world’s quickest car. Tesla should do tailored marketing for Tesla Roadster.