Word-of-Mouth is the best Advertising

Some weeks ago I went to a drive-in movie. The Twilight Drive-In sits atop a building in downtown Austin. It has a great view of the city. It was a cold evening, and I put the Tesla in CAMP mode and enjoyed a Pepsi and some Popcorn. It was the perfect setting for a fast-moving action movie.

It was word-of-mouth that led me to go see True Romance. Word-of-mouth is also how people first hear about Tesla. It is the best form of advertising!

“Tesla does not advertise or pay for endorsements. Instead, we use that money to make the product great.” Elon Musk

Money Spent Making a Better Product

Elon Musk knew from the beginning that money is better spent on making a better vehicle than on advertising. There are so many wonderful qualities about Model Y, it is such a beautiful vehicle.

Tesla’s approach is to spend effort on making a product that generates word-of-mouth. In dollar amounts, they spend $0 on advertising. Instead, their relentless dedication to creating the best product possible is worth pure gold in the form of word-of-mouth. When I was in film school at CSULB, one of my professors explained that nothing creates a box office hit more than a great film that makes you talk about it after you watch it. No amount of advertising compares to word-of-mouth.

Other vehicle manufacturers spend money to attempt to convince us their product is worth our money. Subaru of America is a great case study in this. Subaru spent over $100 million on advertising in digital, print, and national TV in the last year. They created a campaign to evoke feelings of warmth and benevolence and use the word ‘love’ often. Tesla takes a better approach,

Yeah, what we’re seeing is that word-of-mouth is more than enough to drive our demand in excess of production.
We have no plans to advertise at this time.
At some point in the future, we may do advertising not in the traditional sense but more to just inform people and make sure they are aware of the product, but not engage in the typical trickery that is commonplace in advertising.
Elon Musk Q3 Earnings Call in 2019

Tesla vehicles are wonderful for travel, something many people also share by word-of-mouth and on social media. Tesla obviously won’t advertise it, but the Model Y would make an incredible “Adventure Vehicle.” A good friend and I came up with this idea,

“Model Y Adventure option”:

• Forest Green Paint
• Roof and Bike Racks
• All-Terrain Tires, Mudflaps
• “Off-Road” assist with 7″ Ground Clearance (comes standard already)

Model Y can sleep two people and a dog in comfort. Model Y is perfect for driving on dirt, sand, gravel, and snow. It has superb traction control, especially on ice.

Tesla Model Y on the Spiral Jetty in Utah

Marjorie Allen recently put her Model Y to the test in Utah, in a quest to see Smithson’s notable earthen sculpture that spirals into the Great Salt Lake. “The spiral jetty was further off-road than I was expecting and the Y handled it like a champ!”

CONCLUSION

As a consumer, it’s great to know Tesla places so much value on creating a better product instead of conjuring up ways to make us think they have a better product.

When is the last time you saw a really great movie? I think “True Romance” is one of the best movies from the 1990s. You may want to check it out. I hope you will join me here every Saturday for a fresh and positive view of Tesla. Thanks for reading!

Want to read more excellent articles? I suggest…

• Breaking down Tesla’s 6+ businesses, comparing them to a traditional car company This article shares Elon Musk‘s words about Tesla from the All-In Summit on May 16, 2022
• 5 Takeaways from Tesla’s 2022 Shareholder Meeting This article features highlights of what Elon Musk said about Tesla Gigafactories, AI, Cybertruck, Optimus robot, how we can help support the mission, and more.
• Reasons Why Tesla Has the Best Factory Safety in the Industry This article will bring you along with me as we look into how Tesla has become a leader in job site safety in manufacturing. Our focus will be on statements about workplace safety from Elon Musk at the 2022 Shareholder’s meeting and the Tesla 2021 Impact Report. 

_{Gail Alfar, Exclusive to What’s Up Tesla – All Rights Reserved.}