Elon Musk's $800B Marketing Secrets

Rough Beginnings

Tesla is valued 3x more than the second most valued automotive company.

In 2020, Tesla became the most valued car company in the world, but the decades-long path to get here wasn't easy at all.

In 2013 Elon almost sold Tesla to Google.

They were struggling to make ends meet, and the only way out was an acquisition. $6B in cash + $5B for expansion & Musk would stay on as CEO for 8 years.

While this was in the works, Tesla hit a quarterly profit, and the deal fell off.

In 2018 Elon did this satirical piece on Twitter saying Tesla had gone bankrupt (on April 1st) Big names like Gates bet against Tesla and shorted the TSLA stock because they thought Tesla would fail.

He proved them all wrong!

Gates even lost $1.5B on this bet and lost the goodwill of Musk after this. Lesson? Don't get on the bad side of Elon Musk.

He'll prove you wrong and never forget about it.

What are the unique approaches they've taken to marketing/sales?

1. Online / DTC Approach

Early on, there was a huge debate on whether to go towards dealerships or sell directly.

They chose to go the direct sales way, and it actually proved to be a life-saver.

Tesla was hitting losses in its initial years because of the high cost of research and development. This negative cash flow would've been much worse if there had been an added layer of revenue sharing with dealers.

Because of the DTC method, Tesla has been in disputes with many US states. You still can't buy a Tesla in 10+ states.

The anti-free market laws require cars to be sold through independent dealerships. But they've found a way to get around it👇

2. Owning the Product Chain

Tesla doesn't just produce cars but also:

- Batteries and charge points
- The software for the cars

They source their raw materials from different countries, but most end components in their car are developed by them.

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3. Free Marketing with 50k Superchargers

Tesla has a strong support network for supporting their own cars and major companies like Ford and GM.

Look at the spread of Supercharger locations across the USA👇

Superchargers are also set to become the industry standard in the USA, so all EV vehicles will use Tesla's superchargers.

Imagine how much FREE exposure that is for Tesla!

4. Elon’s Personal Brand

Elon has been building businesses since the Zip2 and PayPal days.

His personal brand is a big part of the marketing strategies for Tesla, with ~150M+ followers on X and overall media coverage.

Also, Elon is known for his stunts and memes.

In 2019, when the Cybertruck's windows broke, social media took over, and the memes gave Tesla free marketing 👇

5. Solid Referral Program

Tesla also relies on their referral program for word-of-mouth advertising.

Benefits include discounts, free self-driving months, etc.

This is a good way to create brand ambassadors.

6. Focusing on R&D to Improve the Product

Tesla spends the highest amount on R&D per car manufactured compared to others.

Features like autopilot, bioweapons defense mode, auto-opening doors, and over-the-air updates make it all worth it.

Look, here's one of the coolest features of a Tesla car (no hands!)

I think you can call this product-led marketing. Seriously, the features of Tesla cars are out of the world.

After two decades of relying on word of mouth and referrals, Tesla is going towards advertising and addressing the wider market.

They've reached a ceiling with the organic reach, so this makes sense.

The growth in sales can be ginormous once they master creatives!