Ch. 11 - Developing and Managing Products

The concept of electric vehicles is not one conceived by Tesla by any means, but they are the first company to adopt it wholeheartedly and market it in the luxury market environment, competing with high end traditional vehicles such as Mercedes.
The amount of research they have invested into (both technological and market oriented) creating a "new" feeling to and idea that has been around is not surprising to anyone who has ever sat inside one. As a company who deals solely with electric cars, the only company in fact, they must be the epitome of the concept, becoming a synonym of the word.

While none of their products are exactly new-to-the-world, they have spent considerable time making sure their components (battery, engine, operation system, etc.) are several steps ahead of anyone who has previously conceived of similar ideas. One example is their automatically, constantly updating operation system (much like that of an iPhone), ensuring that all who have invested in their products enjoy the most up to date technology has to offer.
Though the rate at which they introduce new product lines is very slow(only two within 10 years), every product is significantly distinct and designed for a different utility. Although their investment in market research seems fairly limited at this point, the majority of their efforts are routed into R&D, which makes sense considering their technology has yet to have been accepted by the mainstream of automotive consumers, and there is yet a long way to go before it surpasses the existing no
rms in the minds of the majority, in both convenience and price.    

Ch. 18 -Social Media and Marketing

The subject of going "viral" in social media is aptly named, as topics of conversation are passed one from one person to countless others via tweets, posts, and blogs just like a virus traveling through a sneeze, a cut or by eating something someone else didn't like enough to finish. 

It is not surprise then, that any company with hopes for growth and recognition infects society with itself. And although sometimes this is unintentional or unwarranted (people to tend to talk about things all on their own sometimes), many companies use this system to monitor and influence
public opinion of their products or brand. 

In addition to utilizing # (hash-tag) functionality to find common subject posts and tweets to get a feel for what people think in the big broad world, Tesla uses giant media and social hubs such as Facebook and Twitter to seed conversation topics in the form of general information or event publication in the social discussion pool. 

One form of monitoring is direct public positive feedback in the form of "likes". The story of a Tennessee Tesla owner for example, whose car had struck object on the highway then instructed the driver to pull over safely before it shut itself down (eventually catching fire once the driver was safely out side), received close so 6,000 likes on Facebook as of now, showing great appreciation for the cars consideration of user safety. 

Beyond likes on the company Facebook page, tweets and comments on the company Twitter account, I myself, in this very blog, exhibit a form of unprompted positive social media presence supporting the brand and the product with my opinions. Although it is highly likely that hardly anyone reads my posts, I am but one of many, and some blogs become so popular they become a business in and of themselves. Despite being able to contribute some positive information into the pool of social media, it is very much a beast with no master, that reacts more to a company's' actions than it does to it's words.

Ch. 10 - Product Concepts

Model S

While most big name auto manufacturers carry some two dozen models at a time, Tesla these days is producing only one- the Model S. While the Roadster is still sold on the used car market, the Model X's announced release set for 2014, and the anonymous high production model estimated to be on the market somewhere around 2017- Tesla is still in its infancy compared to some century-old producers. With such a narrow product mix and shallow depth, the Tesla brand is practically a synonym of their only currently produced vehicle. Since the less-than-handful of their products have had significant reputation success, the brand equity is of high value despite it's still low market prevalence.

Model X- SUV

Roadster

It is important to stress, however, that he "products" Tesla offers are not only the cars they sell, but the infrastructure that comes along with them at no extra cost to the consumer. Tesla does not merely sell the cars, but also provides the charging stations for free use nation wide that makes driving their cars a viable option. Since owning an electric car would be significantly handicapped to a traditional car if charging stations were not available proportionally as gas stations, the two go hand in hand, and create a substantially higher perceived value.
Since the benefit derived from branding is usually only relevant when a company has many products for which to utilize the associated reputation, a company such as Tesla can easily afford to market the product as opposed to the brand.

Ch. 17 - Personal Selling and Sales Management

So what kind of communication does a $20 billion company with no advertising, niche market share, and expensive products have with its already and potential clients? Well, highly personal.


It is said that the smaller the target market and the more expensive the product, the more personal the relationship should be between provider and consumer. And while it is true that one could just go online, click on all the options he wants and order the car without any human interaction what so ever (as seen on the right), most of us are not that comfortable when it comes to buying a car. But should you ever walk into a Tesla store, beyond the art gallery like homage to automotive technology, you'd find a highly personal and tailored service to help prospective clients get what suits their needs and budgets.

Tesla Store

Since Tesla offers a wide variety of options, and make the cars to-order, the representatives in the store are there to walk you through the process, explain and demonstrate the variety of features, and even take you out on a quiet, clean test drive. While this is true for many other manufactures' dealerships offer such services, Tesla remains the only one of the bunch in the US that maintains a direct manufacturer-client channel of personal assistance throughout the purchase process and future service.