Marketing Strategy and Plan for Tesla's BEV Technology Cars

This report develops a comprehensive marketing plan for Tesla Motors, focusing on its Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) technology. It begins with an executive summary and an overview of Tesla's products, highlighting its unique selling proposition (USP) in the electric vehicle market. The report delves into the identification of target customers, segmentation based on demographics and psychographics, and positioning strategies that emphasize eco-friendliness and technological advancement. It explores pricing strategies, distribution plans, including company-owned stores and online sales, and promotional offers designed to attract and retain customers. The report also covers marketing materials, promotional techniques, the advantages of partnerships, and concludes with financial projections, offering a holistic view of Tesla's marketing approach. The analysis emphasizes the importance of media coverage, word-of-mouth marketing, and strategic pricing to achieve market penetration and brand recognition. The document is contributed by a student to be published on the website Desklib. Desklib is a platform which provides all the necessary AI based study tools for students.

Marketing Strategy and Plan

Marketing Strategy and Plan 2
Executive summary
The purpose of this report is to develop a marketing plan based on various different marketing
strategies for the chosen company Tesla in respect with the new technology based cars formed
on the concept of BEV i.e. Battery electric vehicle. The paper will present the overview puff the
organisation and its products highlighting the USP of the cars for attracting the customer base
and gain brand recognition. Later to this report will throw lights upon the target customer,
positioning and pricing strategy, distribution plan, various offers, marketing materials,
promotional and marketing techniques, advantages of partnership and the financial projections.
All these aspect will help in developing a strong marketing plan for Tesla Motors.

Marketing Strategy and Plan 3
Contents
1. Introduction..............................................................................................................................4
2. New Emerging Technology/ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)............................................4
3. Target Customers.....................................................................................................................5
4. Pricing & Positioning Strategy................................................................................................6
5. Distribution Plan......................................................................................................................7
6. Your Offers..............................................................................................................................8
7. Marketing Materials.................................................................................................................9
8. Marketing & Promotions Strategy...........................................................................................9
9. Joint Ventures & Partnerships...............................................................................................10
10. Financial Projections..........................................................................................................11
11. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

Marketing Strategy and Plan 4
1. Introduction
Innovation in the field of electrical engineering is one of the most significant factors
behind seeking the attention of the new customer base as well as economic development.
Electrical engineering can be understand as a sub-disciplinary branch of engineering
which is associated with the practical application of electricity particularly when it is
associated with the power distribution and operation and design of the machine related
equipment. The key objective of this paper is to design a marketing strategy for a
pioneering and innovative technology in the field of electrical engineering (Nykvist and
Nilsson, 2015). For this, there has been selected Tesla Motors which is a renowned and
leading American automaker well known for its initiatives related to solar panel
manufacturing and energy storages. The company was established in the year 2003 in
Palo Alto, California having specialization in the residential photovoltaic panels, lithium-
ion battery energy storage and electric cars. Tesla is one of the global manufacturers of
the electric vehicles which are recognized for its continuous efforts in the field of electric
innovations. The organisation initiated with its fully electric sports car and then has its
huge presence in the field of battery based electric vehicles (Berdichevsky, et al., 2006).
2. New Emerging Technology/ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
In the field of electrical engineering s well as electricity based vehicles, there are a
number of initiatives taken by the companies by taking use of the newly emerged
technologies. In the era of globalisation, the continuous technological advancements have
resulted in huge developments in the automobile industry. And out of all, the one most
pioneering and best aspect id BEV i.e. Battery Electric Vehicles. In the current scenario,
where the companies are required to pose huge emphasis on the environmental protection
as well as global warming are taking use of the new initiative of the automobile industry
of Battery Electric Vehicles. There are some of the globally recognized brands that are
investing extensive amount of capital in the production of vehicles based upon the BEV
technology (Botsford and Szczepanek, 2009). The one of the most renowned brand in the
field of sustainable operations Tesla has stick to its key objective of manufacturing

Marketing Strategy and Plan 5
premium category electric cars based on the concept of green driving. The newly
emerging technology which is the USP i.e. the Unique Selling Proposition of Tesla is its
enthusiasm and initiative of manufacturing high quality BEVs. The company works on
the philosophy of manufacturing unique products to achieve attention of the masses and
wants to accomplish its aim of “Drive Different” as its motive behind the creation and
development of BEVs. The emerging technology of Tesla is focused on the accelerating
the advent of the sustainable transportation by developing and marketing electric cars to
the masses (Moses, et al., 2010). The new technology in the electric cars of Tesla will
include factors such as the long distance battery, battery and charge function and luxury
inclusions. All these aspects will help in developing a more technological and innovative
electrical product for fetching the attention of the masses (Mangram, 2012). Tesla not
only offers electricity based products but also a strong brand value to its customers as it is
a globally recognized brand in the field of automobile industry with a mission of
developing sustainable products through the use of electricity and saving the natural
resources. Thus, it is the unique selling proposition of Tesla to serve the masses with a
more improved and innovative electricity based cars so that there can be reduced or no
consumption of the natural resources as well as the negative impact on the sustainability
of the environment is reduced (Masoum, et al., 2010).
3. Target Customers
The target customers of the newly designed and innovative battery electric cars of Tesla
Motors can be categorized on the basis of two factors i.e. demographic profile and
psychographic profile. The demographic based segmentation of the target customers
include those individuals or potential customers which are targeted on the basis of their
age and gender, income and education (Chen and Perez, 2015). The primary target
customers on the age factor of demographic profile are those which come under the age
group of 25 to 50 as the people under this age group have a higher purchasing power than
other people. In respect with the gender and income perspective, the male members of the
society are more likely to purchase these cars as they have a higher income level as well
as such technology is first available in the sports cars thus, the male customers are more
attracted towards them in comparison with the female customers (Orbach and Fruchter,

Marketing Strategy and Plan 6
2011). And from the education perspective, people who are educated and are more
concerned with the environmental sustainability are likely to purchase such cars.
Secondly, the target customers are segmented or targeted on the basis of the
psychographic profile which comprises of factor such as lifestyle, values, interest, etc. On
the basis of lifestyle, the people who are of upper class and have a more luxurious
lifestyle are more likely to be the target customers (Lee and Lovellette, 2011). On the
basis of interest and values, the individuals who possess a certain kind of responsibility
towards the environment and its sustainability can be the targeted customer group of
Tesla Motor cars based on the newly developed BEV technology. These set of
individuals believe in purchasing those automobiles which does not pose any kind of
threat to their living environment and are more responsible in saving the resources of the
nation. From the interest factor, the individuals who have higher attraction towards the
battery based electric vehicles are also the targeted customers of Tesla for the newly
developed cars (Hardman, Shiu and Steinberger-Wilckens, 2015).
4. Pricing & Positioning Strategy
For the brand positioning of Tesla of the new technology and innovative products of
Tesla Motors of using BEV, the company carry some specific and unique characteristics
comprising of eco-friendly, attractive, reliable and high-tech. With all such features of the
newly launched cars of Tesla, there can be positioning of the Battery electric vehicles and
the products can be targeted on the basis of positioning the products on the basis of
segment of the individuals who have faith on the well-being as well as futuristic
approach. In order to have positioning of Tesla as the first mover or the initiator of the
electric vehicle manufacturers, there is required to have extensive media coverage so that
there can be strengthening of the public associations, indulging in environmentally
practices and following the federal guidelines. All these will support Tesla in positioning
the brand by the means of the strong media coverage and high word of mouth as well as
by saving the cost of advertisements (Mohr, Sengupta and Slater, 2009). To have
effective positioning there is also essential that the team members must have their
participation in these superior electric vehicles; various land exclusive magazines as well
as to have launch pf exclusive magazines. For achieving this position, there is a need to

Marketing Strategy and Plan 7
have effective pricing strategies for supporting the business. The pricing of the new
technology cars of Tesla based on the BEVs will be high and premium only. In present
time, there is not much demand of such products and because of this reason the company
have to keep the prices high so that they can also earn from those products. But once the
demand will high and the cost of production low, the prices can be little minimized so
that these can be easily affordable by larger customer base (Rimmer, 2014).
5. Distribution Plan
To have an increased customer base and extended market share, there is a need to have
effective and strong distribution plan Tesla being one of the most recognized brand in the
automobile industry will also take use of a robust and efficient distribution plan for its
new technology based products to attract a higher customer base and gain increased
market share (Vynakov, Savolova and Skrynnyk, 2016).
(Source: O'Hara , 2015)
The distribution plan or strategy used by Tesla is very much different in comparison with
other automobile companies such as General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Ford, etc. as Tesla
does not work upon a distribution strategy based on a dealer network. There is a

Marketing Strategy and Plan 8
differential distribution plan used by Tesla. The first most differentiated strategy in the
distribution plan is selling cars through the company owned stores. There are a total of 17
stores of Tesla Motors across the world for selling its cars. For having a strong
distribution network, Tesla open its stores on those places where there is high number of
visits by the people on a regular and continuous basis so that the there can be better
attention gained from the potential customers (Karamitsios, 2013). There is another key
benefit of these company owned stores i.e. the interaction with the potential customers
which helps in solving the queries and questions of the customers and influence them in
making a purchase of the product. The second key distribution strategy in the distribution
plan is the online sales (Ramsey, 2015). In this, the buyers or the customers can purchase
the car online without visiting the stores and any of the dealers. It offers a good
accessibility to the customers to the cars newly launched and also reduces the issues
because of the regional based demographic factors in purchasing the cars. The third and
one of the potential distribution strategies of Tesla is test drives. The company offers its
potential customers with the option of test drives so that it can help Tesla in getting a
customer contact point as well as in developing the interest of the potential customers
(Van den Steen, 2015).
6. Your Offers
To attract the potential customers and to have upsurge sales of the newly launched cars of
Tesla, there will also be used a number of offers or promotional offers to attract the
customers. The offer includes free trials i.e. the free of cost test drives to the buyers so
that they can satisfy themselves by resting the quality of the car and can make a decision
of purchases. The other offers include money-back guarantees such as in the one month
of purchase, if the customers face any kind of difficulty in the parts of the car or any
other technical or operational issue, then there will be an offer of guaranteed money
return so that the customers can be retained and can purchase a new product instead of
switching to any other brand. There will also be discount offers which will be given on
First come first serve basis as the first 500 customers will get a special discount of
additional ten percent. Such offer helps in making the sales fast and developing the
interest of the buyers as they are required to pay less for the product. These offers are

Marketing Strategy and Plan 9
used by Tesla for retaining the existing customers as well as to regularly fetch the
attention of the new customers. Such offers will help Tesla in generating measures which
will support in fetching short terms ales benefit and having a good customer base in the
initial level of the marketing and distribution of the products (Crane, 2014).
7. Marketing Materials
In order to have effective and increased sales of the Battery Electric Vehicles, there is a
need that Tesla must take effective use of the marketing channels for communicating
marketing messages and have increased brand visibility in the consumer market. There
are number of marketing materials which will be used by Tesla for educating the targeted
customers regarding the benefits and the advantages of the newly designed BEVs over
other various available options as well as to convince and influence the customers that
these features of the products will effectively meet the needs of the customers (Mariasiu,
2012). The marketing material which will be used by Tesla Motors will comprise of
catalogues, business cards, media kit, print brochures and website. There will be used
catalogues by Tesla in which all details and description of the products will be mentioned
so that the potential customers can fetch the information from those catalogues and can
also finalize the colour and design by comparing different models. The one of the most
effective and adequate marketing material is thee company’s website itself (Jugenheimer,
et al., 2014). Tesla will post all the info and various new details on the websites so that
the customers can be aware of the offerings of Tesla and its new technological initiatives
of BEVs. The website of the organisation is the best source of attracting customers and
making them aware of the products to be launched in the market. The strong media
coverage in the forms of videos, news, articles, blogs, etc. are also some of the best
possible marketing materials under media kit for having more potential customers and to
have a strong visibility in the market. With such media related aspect, more number of
people can have better and improved attention towards the product (Adén and Barray,
2008).

Marketing Strategy and Plan 10
8. Marketing & Promotions Strategy
For any business and new product, there is a need to have effective marketing and
promotional strategies for achieving effective sales and customer base. Unlike others,
Tesla does not spend huge capital or money on running various ad campaigns rather
Tesla will take use of a standardized practice towards the promotion and advertisement
for reaching an extended customer base in various countries. For the promotion of the
newly launched BEVs, Tesla will be using conferences and special events for the
marketing of the unique features of the cars. The company will take use of public
relations as one of its promotional marketing strategies as strengthening the public
relations will help in having a reliable and strong customer base through word of mouth
publicity and strong media coverage and advertisements (De Mooij, 2013). The company
will also take use of a number of other techniques including event marketing, online
advertising, press releases, trade show marketing and the television advertisements for
reaching the target customers (Rodrigues, et al., 2015). There are number of social media
platforms by which Tesla can perform online advertising such as Twitter, Facebook, etc.
The individuals have an increased presence on these social media platforms and it can
become one of the best ways to fetch the attention of the customers. The other way of
covering extensive number of customer base is television advertisements. Tesla can have
advertisements on television featuring the unique characteristics of the cars and
developing interest of the masses. All these marketing and promotional techniques will
help in getting a larger market share and customer base (Moritz, et al., 2015).
9. Joint Ventures & Partnerships
To have a better expansion in the global market and the overseas regions, there is a need
to have better partnerships and joint ventures so that there can be effective sales and
customer base in the overseas regions. Tesla will take use of joint venture and partnership
both to have successful sales in the foreign countries. Tesla will have a joint venture with
automobile companies present in the overseas countries so that there distribution and
acquisition of the customers can be easy. There are number of benefits of using joint
venture as a technique to enter the overseas markets as joint ventures help in developing a
good brand image as the existing organisations already have an established name and

Marketing Strategy and Plan 11
brand recognition which can help Tesla in gaining a number of customers. With the help
of the partnerships with the existing companies, there can be developed synergy as there
can be a combined use of technologies which will help the company in having pioneering
and innovative use of technologies in the manufacturing of the products (Czinkota and
Ronkainen, 2013). Thus, Tesla can have a number of competitive benefits and advantages
through joint venturing and partnership with the existing companies in the foreign
countries. The distribution network also strengthens and expands through these
partnerships and there is generation of improved sales.
10.Financial Projections
Following are the new products of Tesla which will be offered by the company based on
its newly emerged technology based on BEVs.
Product BEV Models
Timeline Model Competition Summary
Tesla 1 Yes(Hydroge
n based) 2018 Range
 Priced at $59000
 Range: 300 with single refueling
that take around 5 minutes
 8 year/100,000 miles warranty
 A seating capacity of four
passengers
Tesla 2 Yes 2019 I0
 Price-$50000 to $60000,
 A seating capacity of five
passengers
 Range of 200 miles from a single
charge
Tesla 3 Yes 2020 Mission Y
 Four wheel steering
 Estimated price similar to Tesla's
model S
 Range: 310 miles per charge
Tesla 4 Yes 2019 FX15
 Price$300,000- $500,000
 Powered: hydrogen fueled BEV
engine
(Vynakov, Savolova and Skrynnyk 2016)

Marketing Strategy and Plan 12

Marketing Strategy and Plan 13
On the basis of these product offerings, the marketing expenses and the promotional expenses
following is the financial projection:
Financial Projections
Marketing Expense Budget
(In Billion)
2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020
Advertising and Promotion $90 $80 $80
Other (Marketing activities) $20 $25 $25
Other Expenses $0 $0 $0
------------ ------------ ------------
Total Sales and Marketing
Expenses $110 $105 $105
The company will have all these expenditure to gain a strong market share as well as sales in the
domestic as well as the international markets. The targeted sales in units are estimated 500,000 in
a combined view of all the four models (Ramsey, 2015).
11.Conclusion
From this paper, it can be concluded that there is an efficient need of the electricity based
vehicles that are run through batteries in the present time so that the negative impact
posed on eth environment acne b reduced. And thus, the intuitive of Tesla of BEVs cars
can be an effective step in earning a strong market share and increased environments
sustainability. The report concludes that with effective marketing strategies and
implementation plan and correct financial projections there acne b gained huge revenues
by Tesla as well as can also take benefit of first mover advantage with such new
technology and eco-friendly cars.

Marketing Strategy and Plan 14
References
Adén, E., & Barray, A. (2008). Go Green in the Automotive Industry: Open and Networked
Innovation applied by Tesla Motors and Renault.
Berdichevsky, G., Kelty, K., Straubel, J. B., & Toomre, E. (2006). The tesla roadster battery
system. Tesla Motors, 1(5).
Botsford, C., & Szczepanek, A. (2009, May). Fast charging vs. slow charging: Pros and cons
for the new age of electric vehicles. In International Battery Hybrid Fuel Cell Electric
Vehicle Symposium.
Chen, Y., & Perez, Y. (2015). Business model design: lessons learned from Tesla Motors.
In GERPISA International Conference.
Crane, D. A. (2014). Tesla and the car dealers’ lobby.
Czinkota, M. R., & Ronkainen, I. A. (2013). International marketing. Cengage Learning.
De Mooij, M. (2013). Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes.
Sage Publications.
Hardman, S., Shiu, E., & Steinberger-Wilckens, R. (2015). Changing the fate of Fuel Cell
Vehicles: Can lessons be learnt from Tesla Motors?. international journal of hydrogen
energy, 40(4), 1625-1638.
Jugenheimer, D. W., Kelley, L. D., Hudson, J., & Bradley, S. D. (2014). Advertising and
public relations research. ME Sharpe.
Karamitsios, A. (2013). Open innovation in EVs: A case study of Tesla Motors.
Lee, H., & Lovellette, G. (2011). Will electric cars transform the US market?.
Mangram, M. E. (2012). The globalization of Tesla Motors: a strategic marketing plan
analysis. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 20(4), 289-312.

Marketing Strategy and Plan 15
Mariasiu, F. (2012). Energy sources management and future automotive technologies:
Environmental impact. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2(4), 342.
Masoum, A. S., Deilami, S., Moses, P. S., & Abu-Siada, A. (2010, October). Impacts of
battery charging rates of plug-in electric vehicle on smart grid distribution systems.
In Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe (ISGT Europe), 2010 IEEE
PES (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Mohr, J. J., Sengupta, S., & Slater, S. F. (2009). Marketing of high-technology products and
innovations. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Moritz, M., Redlich, T., Krenz, P., Buxbaum-Conradi, S., & Wulfsberg, J. P. (2015, August).
Tesla Motors, Inc.: Pioneer towards a new strategic approach in the automobile industry
along the open source movement?. In Management of Engineering and Technology
(PICMET), 2015 Portland International Conference on (pp. 85-92). IEEE.
Moses, P. S., Deilami, S., Masoum, A. S., & Masoum, M. A. (2010, October). Power quality
of smart grids with plug-in electric vehicles considering battery charging profile.
In Innovative Smart Grid Technologies Conference Europe (ISGT Europe), 2010 IEEE
PES (pp. 1-7). IEEE.
Nykvist, B., & Nilsson, M. (2015). Rapidly falling costs of battery packs for electric
vehicles. Nature Climate Change, 5(4), 329-332.
O'Hara , M. (2015). Understanding Tesla Motors’ Marketing Strategy. Retrieved on: 27th
October, 2017. Retrieved from: http://marketrealist.com/2015/09/understanding-tesla-
motors-marketing-strategy/
Orbach, Y., & Fruchter, G. E. (2011). Forecasting sales and product evolution: The case of
the hybrid/electric car. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 78(7), 1210-1226.
Ramsey, M. I. K. E. (2015). Tesla to upgrade cars through the Internet. The Wall Street
Journal.
Rimmer, M. (2014). Tesla Motors: Intellectual Property, Open Innovation, and the Carbon
Crisis. The Australian National University College of Law, Canberra.

Marketing Strategy and Plan 16
Rodrigues, S., Faria, F., Ivaki, A., Cafôfo, N., Chen, X., & Dias, M. (2015). The Tesla
Powerwall: Does it bring something new? A Market Analysis. Proceedings of the
Engineering & Technology, Computer, Basic & Applied Sciences (ECBA-2015),
Bangkok, Thailand, 9-10.
Van den Steen, E. (2015). Tesla Motors. Harvard Business School Publishing.
Vynakov, O. F., Savolova, E. V., & Skrynnyk, A. I. (2016). Modern electric cars of Tesla
Motors company. Автоматизация технологических и бизнес-процессов, 8(2), 9-18.