Elon Musk, popularly known as the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and SolarCity, has been making waves on the internet as he tries to change the world. While most of his initiatives haven’t been very successful yet, people believe that the future will be filled with Teslas on the road, renewable energy in every home, and a potential life in Mars. Basically, Elon Musk is providing a glimpse of what will happen in the next 10 years, and people are really excited about it.
No results – however, Musk was able to sell his idea to the people. The massive fan base of the CEO has translated into profit when the company started building products for the people. Tesla Model X for instance, was already sold out way before the manufacturing had started. This phenomenon never happened to other big companies recently. And the reason why Tesla became a household underdog is that many people advocate the brand and its vision. This is digital marketing at work.
In Marketing 4.0, Tesla is currently experiencing a Trumpet situation, wherein people recommend a brand even if they won’t use the brand in the near future. Since most people believe that Tesla is going to redefine the road game in the future, they actively advocate the brand to everyone they knew. Even if they don’t actually buy the brand because they can’t afford it yet, they are willing to help the brand reach more customers as the advocates talk about the brand.
As the vision of Tesla in the future was to bring electric cars to most homes, soon there will be affordable Tesla cars that people can actually afford. Thus, the popularity of the brand will not be put into waste because in the future, there will be products that will suit the advocates’ needs, and this will further push the brand’s profitability.
Businesses are complex in a way that different business models can be profitable. Competition has been very different for every industry, but occasionally, there are one or two companies that challenge the norm. And if proven significant in consumers’ life, these companies will gain traction and may be the market leader in the future. Sometimes the dogs become the lion because they were able to find a market problem and they were able to solve it.
Fortunately for Musk, he was able to deliver his promise and will continue in the foreseeable future. Reputation and positive perception will always be welcomed, but without earning these through results, one will become irrelevant overnight. And I will always remember this lesson as I reach my Z, which is to be the best fund manager in the world.
marcrom 