SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

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Issue Analysis:

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Tesla’s major issue is that, besides all the awards, zero missions, leadership and fancy cars, it still lacks a profit generating strategy. The investors are interested in making profit from selling cars, but this does not seem to be possible with the current marketing strategy of Tesla, as the investors are looking forward to a rewarding year in terms of profit (Weinstein, 2013).

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Tesla Model 3 provided a ray of hope to the investors, but nevertheless, the marketing strategy did not change and the hopes were let down once more with low production, manufacturing costs and sales, which posed a serious threat to Tesla regarding financial crisis and a way out must be sought. Tesla, has a limited number of service centers and retailers, it’s a growing need for the company to increase the outreach to consumers. Tesla’s currently sales depend on its trust relationship build with the existing customers without the use of any advertisement campaign, marketing, franchise dealers etc. (Weinstein, 2013).

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Over the period of time, Tesla has chosen not to sell their cars via franchises. The core belief is that owning the networks of sale and services, customers will be able to receive a more profound experience at the station, those with sophisticated taste do not fancy the traditional methods of selling cars such as via franchise distributors and service stores.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Tesla has around 18 service and sales stores in United States, which is a very low number, suitable for the model Tesla Roadster, because of its consumers who have exotic and premium choices when it comes to sports cars. But, this strategy is not useful for other mainstream car models offered by the company.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

As Tesla is strategically partner with Mercedes, this partnership can be benefited from as Mercedes has a vast network of distributors around US, this platform can be utilized by Tesla for the promotion, showcasing and selling of their cars. This strategy can prove helpful, as Tesla will not have to locate financial resources to carry out this course of action, and without any advertisement campaign. After stabilizing their sales and company revenues, it can be suggested that Tesla expands its own distributors across the country (Tesla, 2011).

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

The advertisement campaign chose for selling of Tesla cars, was carefully selected considering all the options and financial expenditures involved including the outreach of ads to the potential market. The advertisement budget was entirely invested in magazine advertisement, the reason behind this selection is that, print media is most powerful way of increasing outreach.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Television was not chosen as a primary source of advertisement, although it has outreach to a large audience, but Tesla does not have the kind of resources to make a fair number of cars to be sold, alongside the fairly high rates of television advertisement during prime times, costs a lot of fortune.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Radio cannot be a preferred option because Tesla is a luxury brand, and currently does not have vast networks of dealers, services and sales promotions. Another reason for neglecting visual advertisement is that the brands offered by the company are not familiar to the public choice currently. Newspapers were also left out from the advertisement choice, because of the high costs and the fact that an ad appears in it one time, and its outreach is also limited to one person, so it is not wise to spend money without achieving the purpose (Crupi, 2011).

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Goals and Objectives

Goal

• Improve profitability and revenue generation, to stabilize the financial status of company and increase the production and selling of more cars in the coming generation by expanding its target market group.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Objectives

1. To introduce retailers and distributors in the organizational structure to achieve maximum outreach
2. To incorporate the needs and requirements of middleclass customers when developing new vehicles to strengthening market position
3. To utilize modern platforms for customer care services, product promotions, value added services and updates.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Marketing Strategy Statement:

On the basis of issue analysis, the marketing strategy proposed is stated as:

“The marketing strategy should be revised and modern advertisement platforms need to be utilized to enhance customer relations, and new retail centers should be established to maximize sales and profit generation for the company.”

Target Market Definition:

Tesla’s focus has always been on the high end consumers with high level of income, and their cars were not up for sale to mid-level earners, people who are environment conscious, minimum carbon footprint, wish for an easy-to-go, safe and reliable vehicle have been the focus of Tesla’s attention.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

With this strategy the trend will shift and include people who are average income earners, the newly introduced model S, promotes the family concept, by being a seven seater car in which families can travel together with a safe and comfortable experience. Another, model which is in making also is integrating the family market, to gain more outreach and preference in consumers.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Tesla, has also introduced a new incentive based strategy, which enables customers to freely recharge their cars at the service stations, and federal tax credits (Hull, 2013).

The feature that makes Tesla stand out from other competitors is that it is a fully-electric car, which can be used for short road trips, or trips around town not at longer distances.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

Environment becoming the center of all innovations and advancement in technologies, has raised awareness at such a level that citizens want to leave minimum carbon footprint and be more eco-friendly, Tesla is serving the purpose here, by making environment friendly cars (Park et al., 2014).

Demographics of Target Market

The primary target market of Tesla consists of upper middle class families and individuals ranged between the age of 30 to 60, who earn $80,000 or more approximately. The secondary target market of Tesla constitutes of college students, aged 18-24 (Tesla, 2017).

Psychographics of Target Market

The primary psychographic target market of Tesla is people who are concerned about usage of natural resources as fuels for cars, and the economic value they cost, alongside, the desire to afford a posh car including safety and comfort at the same time.

The secondary market includes people who have good education levels, and are enthusiasts about getting a professional degree. Individuals who are enrolled at famous colleges and universities (Tesla, 2017).

In primary market the total number of customers is 125,704,226 according to 2010 census and in secondary target market the number is 30,000,000 (Tesla, 2017).

Benefits Preferred by Tesla Customers

The key benefits that Tesla customers prefer are mentioned below (DeBord, 2017):

• Tesla’s battery supply chain is significantly the most popular in the market as compared to other EV batteries, and is also cheaper in price. Tesla has achieved this technology mutually with Panasonic cells, but since then it has been improving the battery packs and inside chemistry to make them long lasting and efficient.
• One factor with electric cars is the charging stations, from where the batteries can be recharged and Tesla has gained popularity with it as it has super-charging stations. Tesla offers lifetime free recharging facilities to its customers, which is another plus point compared to other recharging stations which are pricey with slow-charging.
• Tesla’s software game is stronger than anyone thinks, tesla keeps updating their electric cars software just like people receive updates for their smartphones, tablets etc. it already has a leading position in the market, and believes that cars will be future computers on wheels.
• Tesla over the time has amazed people with the smart and efficient cars it has made, and changing customers perspective of electricity run cars from slower to faster as one desires.
• Tesla has maintained a reputation of honest and genuine brand in automobile industry, the customer trust developed with the brand is stronger than before due to their good service delivery and good products, and is not manipulating their customers for monetary purposes, which is currently lacking in the automobile industry (Debord, 2017).

Strategy Statements

With this strategy, Tesla will be able to gain profits and increase their revenues, which will eventually impress their investors, as their main concern is gaining profit from the cars, but as Tesla has been manufacturing a limited amount of cars for limited number of customers, but with this technology, market demand will increase for their cars and more people will be able to buy those cars especially those who are environmentally mindful.

Utilizing social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram etc. will help Tesla to minimize the gap between customer and producer, which is a unique experience for new purchasers. With this technique the message can directly reach to people who are more concerned about the brand, its products and services.

SLP 3 Session Long Project – Tesla Motors Issues

By establishing new showrooms and retailers in the country, more people will have access to the cars themselves, as they hear about the cars and their latest features and technological advancements, but they do not get to see them in real or test them due to the limited number of retailers. When this becomes a reality Tesla’s sales will increase instantly, because the technology and green services they are offering is need of the hour.

Proposition Statement

The marketing mix method is best able to explain the strategy and its activities, which are discussed below:

• Product: Compelling the customer to buy a specific product is a challenging situation, but Tesla has built a repute over the time by providing state of the art technology in cars and has shaped the future of automobiles. Tesla’s batteries, power walls and electric vehicles are among the few products to name, which have gained much recognition throughout the world, and have garnered much appreciation from customers and competitors who are striving to be as efficient as Tesla. The electric vehicles are the future of automobile, which the investors and purchasers look up to, and Tesla is here to stay for a long-term (Abadias, Abbas and Aliu, 2013; Yared, 2014).
• Place: Tesla has repeatedly gained customer satisfaction with their products and services, but another aspect that counts here is Tesla’s retail stores, the company has removed the “middleman” who would assist in selling the product but the company has taken over the position itself and sells products directly to the customers. Tesla cars do not necessarily require and service store as all the software updates are done via internet, but it has established stores in malls, where the consumers can directly meet with the seller and learn more about the cars and have their vehicle customized, similar service is also offered on their web portal. However, Tesla needs to expand its outreach to increase sale and purchase phenomena to gain revenues, for which the company needs to establish more showrooms, and work with distributors, for the customers to have a real experience of the car before purchasing it (The Economist, 2015).

Accessibility Statement:

To provide people with assistance, knowledge and specific information about the brand following Ps of marketing can be utilized:

• Promotion: Social media, web portals and other virtual platforms can serve the purpose of marketing and promotion of a brand without paying actual money or hiring any advertisement agency. Tesla can utilize these platforms to interact with its customers, answer their queries about the products and provide continuous updates about new technologies, products and services related news to its followers and visitors on the virtual platforms (Randall, 2016).
• Price: The company needs to shift its focus from high end consumers to average income earners, because they are more in number than high end customers, to ensure financial stability and upward directed profit graphs the market of company should be directed towards these consumers. Despite being an expensive and luxury brand, Tesla manages to sell more cars than other competitors with similar technology. Low budget cars should be manufactured to bag middle-class customers (Davies and Nudelman, 2013).

Communication Statement

Tesla can utilize multiple platforms to communicate its statements and products with the customers. Reaching out to true customers has never been easier than this era, with advanced technology and every one owns a smartphone nowadays which means they have individual access to all the platforms and can stay up to date with the company its products and services. The company can utilize twitter hashtags when launching a new product, alongside, Facebook live can be utilized during promotional campaigns of new products, events and other activities about the company, products and services.

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References

Abadias, R., Abbas, T., & Aliu, O. G. (2013). Electric vehicle collaboration-Toyota Motor Corporation and Tesla. IEEE Veh Tech Mag, 8(4), 4-9.

Crupi, A. (2011). In Their Prime: Broadcast Spot Costs Soar. Adweek. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/their-prime-broadcast-spot-costs-soar-132805/

Davies, A., & Nudelman, M., (2013). Here’s how Tesla’s Model S Compares to Other Top Electric Cars. Business Insider. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-car-comparison- chart-2013-8

DeBord, M. (2017). Tesla is about to report earnings — but no one will talk about its biggest competitive advantage. Business Insider. Retrieved October 28, 2017, from http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-supercharger-network-advantage-2017-2

Hull, D. (2013). Tesla Motors says car dealers are trying to hinder its sales. Mercury News. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://www.mercurynews.com/2013/09/19/2013-tesla-motors-says-car-dealers-are-trying-to-hinder-its-sales/

Park, J., Rast, J., MacDoughall, T., Nitti, B., Sinton, D., Geissler, A., & Roseli, K. L. (2014). Marketing Plan for Tesla Motors’ Model S.

Randall, T. (2016). Tesla’s Model 3 Lives Up to the Hype. Bloomberg Pursuits. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-01/tesla-s-model-3-lives-up-to-the-hype

The Economist. (2015). Death of a car salesman. The Economist. Retrieved October 28, 2017, from https://www.economist.com/news/business/21661656-no-one-much-likes-car-dealers-changing-system-will-be-hard-death-car-salesman

Tesla. (2017). Target Market. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from https://teslamotorsdeca.weebly.com/target-market.html

Tesla, M. (2011). Tesla Motors Annual Report. Retrieved October 27, 2017, from http://ir.tesla.com/secfiling.cfm?filingid=1193125-12-81990&cik=1318605

Weinstein, R. (2013). Hold the Phone — Tesla Didn’t Make a Profit Selling Cars. Yahoo Finance. Retrieved October 25, 2017, from https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hold-phone-tesla-didnt-profit-144000488.html

Yared, P. (2014). BMW Vs. Tesla: A Real Live Innovator’s Dilemma. Tech Crunch. Retrieved October 28, 2017, from https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/26/bmw-vs-tesla-is-a-real-live-innovators-dilemma-battle/