Introduction
Marketing communication is one of the factors that might help companies to generate a competitive advantage and evolve. Messages managers use to communicate with the target audience are critical as they help to create a specific brand image and guarantee customers will be interested in the offered products and services and buy them, generating revenue for a firm. Marketing communications might include traditional advertising, direct marketing, and social media (Kotler & Keller, 2021). At the same time, the choice of the tool and approach to building reputation depends on a company, its values, and its primary goals. For instance, Tesla, as one of the leaders in the car industry nowadays, effectively uses marketing communication strategies to attract clients and build the brand’s image.
Brand Identity, Value, and Mission
The corporation uses communication and information in several ways. First of all, it focuses on the brand’s mission, identity, and values. The primary goal of the marketing communication strategy employed by Tesla is to emphasize the brand’s unique and highly innovative nature. Using social and published media, the company familiarizes the audience with its mission to promote a faster transition to sustainable energy (Long et al., 2019). This statement is supported by specific values, which include excellence, the ability to take risks, respect, learning, and environmental consciousness (Tesla, Inc., 2020). Providing this information via the company’s website, its published sources, and social media, Tesla creates a unique brand identity that helps to support the high level of clients’ interest and forms the basis for its evolution.
Reputation
Moreover, an effective marketing strategy is a potent tool for creating an attractive brand’s reputation. Tesla recognizes this fact and focuses on emphasizing its strong and unique aspects that would be appreciated by the target audience. The company’s reputation rests on the ideas of excitement and sophistication, which helped it to become the highest-rated brand (Tesla, Inc., 2020). The reputation was cultivated by emphasizing the unique figure of the company’s leader, Elon Musk, its innovativeness, and advances in technologies that are not available to competitors (Tesla, Inc., 2020). As a result, today, Tesla is considered one of the leading brands producing hybrid cars with an outstanding reputation. It helps to support the high sales level and the company’s rise.
Tesla’s success in building its brand image can be explained by using different marketing communication options effectively. First, Tesla’s advertising emphasizes the luxurious nature of the brand and offers its cars as game changers (Vivi & Hermans, 2022). It helps to create a desirable image of a final product and make it a part of modern popular culture. Second, the brand cultivates public relations by cooperating with the community, emphasizing its desire to meet clients’ needs and sustainability incentives (Vivi & Hermans, 2022). It contributes to establishing stable and positive relations with the target audience. Finally, Tesla widely uses social media as a potent tool to attract attention to the brand and guarantee it is recognized by the public (Tesla, Inc., 2020). This strategy helps to attain the desired goals and supports the brand’s rise.
Rational and Emotional Aspects
Analysis of Tesla’s marketing communication also shows that it combines rational and emotional aspects. For instance, the company makes the strongest emotional appeal by emphasizing its unique nature and creating a limited club of Tesla owners (Fournier & Eckhardt, 2019). As a result, possessing the vehicle produced by a brand is considered a privilege available to a limited number of users. It is a robust approach to promoting a high level of interest in the brand and making its products a desired good in the market. On the other hand, Tesla touches upon rational claims by emphasizing its real advantages compared to competitors and its contribution to reducing carbon emissions and resolving environmental issues (Vivi & Hermans, 2022). Combining these two aspects, the corporation succeeds and supports stable interest levels.
Symbolism
Moreover, the strategy employed by the brand implies specific symbolism. Using the communication channels mentioned above, Tesla emphasizes the fact that its leader is an owner and designer of a SpaceX program, which remains one of the highly innovative and revolutionary space projects (Tesla, Inc., 2020). In such a way, in its advertising campaigns, the brand draws a parallel between its advances in space exploration and building highly innovative vehicles (Tesla, Inc., 2020). This symbolism contributes to the increased brand’s popularity and ensures it has a specific identity recognized and accepted by the clients. At the same time, it establishes the basis for new projects as the level of clients’ trust remains high, and the company can make risky steps while offering a unique service or product.
Brand Equity
The effective marketing communication strategy helps Tesla to build substantial brand equity. It can be defined as a commercial value coming from consumer perception of the company’s name (Belch & Belch, 2017). In this regard, the attitude to the firm becomes more important than the attitude to its products or services (Kotler & Keller, 2021). The potent brand equity can be viewed as a result of a practical marketing approach and advertising campaigns. Tesla is one of the examples of how successful marketing communication helped to build strong brand equity, even though the first products had some defects (Fournier & Eckhardt, 2019). The concept includes four major elements, such as brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand associations, and perceived quality (Tenhundfeld et al., 2020). Tesla effectively addresses all these aspects by using various methods and communication channels.
Brand loyalty is one of the central aspects of the modern business world. It implies consumers’ positive feelings about a brand and their readiness to continue buying its products or services (Kotler & Keller, 2021). In other words, it guarantees that the brand will generate stable income due to its reputation, values, and identity. Recent research shows that Tesla enjoys a high level of brand loyalty linked to its effective advertising strategies, communication with clients, high quality of products, and readiness to communicate using various channels (Tesla, Inc., 2020). In such a way, the marketing communication focused on creating an attractive image helps the corporation to generate a competitive advantage and evolve.
Tesla also has one of the highest levels of brand awareness. The concept states the degree to which clients can recognize a product by its name (Kotler & Keller, 2021). The analysis of the current electric vehicle market shows that most clients know Tesla cars and view them as the top product of the market (Fournier & Eckhardt, 2019). It evidences the success of the marketing communication model selected by the corporation. The company familiarizes individuals with its products globally using the Internet and direct meetings (Tesla, Inc., 2020). It increases awareness and ensures the brand will enjoy a high level of sales in the future.
Brand association is another important part of the company’s identity and image. It shows how clients know and remember a brand and what experiences they associate with interactions (Kotler & Keller, 2021). Positive emotional associations ensure that clients will return to interact with the company one more time and pay for its products and services. Tesla’s current approach to public relations emphasizes the unique experience of being a car owner (Tesla, Inc., 2020). It helps to create positive links in clients’ consciousness and guarantees they will be ready to continue cooperation with the brand in the future.
Finally, perceived quality is another vital element of brand equity. It means the quality clients might recognize by using their own experiences and senses (Smith & Zook, 2019). It also helps to build positive associations in clients’ minds and triggers the desire to own a certain product because of its outstanding qualities (Tenhundfeld et al., 2020). Tesla’s advertising campaigns focus on building a high perceived quality by allowing clients to enjoy and interact with the product (Tesla, Inc., 2020). It helps to support the brand’s image and its popularity among clients.
Conclusion
Altogether, the example of Tesla company shows how effective marketing communication might help to create a positive brand image, emphasize its values, and build brand equity. The corporation employs various tools, such as direct communication, social media marketing, print information, and meetings, to share data about its work and guarantee clients can build positive associations and increase their awareness levels. It helps to generate a substantial competitive advantage and ensures the company will continue its evolution in the future. In such a way, creating a strong brand image is a critical task for companies operating within the modern, highly competitive business environment.
References
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Fournier, S., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2019). Putting the person back in person-brands: Understanding and managing the two-bodied brand. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(4), 602–619. Web.
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2021). Marketing management (16th ed.). Pearson.
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Smith, P., & Zook, Z. (2019). Marketing communications: Integrating online and offline, customer engagement and digital technologies (7th ed.). Kogan Page.
Tenhundfeld, N. L., de Visser, E. J., Ries, A. J., Finomore, V. S., & Tossell, C. C. (2020). Trust and distrust of automated parking in a Tesla Model X. Human Factors, 62(2), 194–210. Web.
Tesla, Inc. (2020). Form 10-K. Web.
Vivi, M., & Hermans, A.-M. (2022). “Zero emission, zero compromises”: An intersectional, qualitative exploration of masculinities in Tesla’s consumer stories. Men and Masculinities. Web.
