Section 1: Executive summary
Tesla Inc. is one of the largest companies in the world and automaker. The company is quite famous for its electric vehicles. The company’s CEO is Elon Musk and aims at mitigating climate change by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by carbon-fueled vehicles. Tesla Inc. is the leading global manufacturer of electric vehicles. The company’s main mission is to speed up the transition to clean and sustainable energy throughout the globe (Tesla 2021). The company is heavily focused on mitigating climate change and environmental pollution by providing safer alternatives for energy production such as solar tile panels, energy-storing battery and a home-sized grid powered by solar power. The company also aims at developing smart cars that are fully automated to elevate driver’s experience.
The company also seeks to introduce cheap and affordable electric vehicles that will help people reduce their carbon footprint to help save the planet and mitigate their role in climate change. Tesla’s electric cars are the future and will help improve how other automobile companies like Mercedes and Volkswagen manufacture environmentally-friendly vehicles. Car emissions play a critical role in contributing to air pollution, which aids in destroying the ozone layer leading to global warming. In addition to this, the rate of pollution is increasing as the number of people owning petrol/diesel-driven cars is increasing. Thus, Tesla provides an effective alternative solution through electric-driven cars that are environmentally friendly since they utilize clean energy as the main energy source.
The 2021 UN climate Change summit held in Glasgow, Scotland, pushed more countries to reduce their GHGs emissions to curb environmental pollution and global warming (Newburger 2021). As such, more countries have signed the deal to help introduce and adopt the use of clean energy sources to deal with the ongoing climate crisis. This offers a good opportunity for Tesla Inc. to venture into new markets, especially in the South East Asia region, where most countries are looking into adopting clean energy strategies to reduce their carbon footprint. Southeast Asian countries are some of the leading countries in the world in terms of air pollution, with Bangladesh being the world’s most polluted country. As such, most of the countries in the region like Singapore aim to lower their pollution rates, which could provide an opportunity for Tesla Inc. to venture or penetrate the South East Asia automobile market. In addition to this, it could play a critical role in helping develop the region’s economy. It would provide employment opportunities to thousands of people and improve trade and industries in the region.
Graph 1; Tesla Model 3 being the most sold electric car in the world
Section 2: Environmental Analysis
Southeast Asia countries include Singapore, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. These countries have a high population that is highly diverse made up of different ethnic groups from Asia. The countries are also developing at a rapid rate. Indonesia has been noted to have the largest economy out of the South East Asian countries. The high population rate offers customers Tesla electric cars. Most of the countries have a high middle-class population that is consumption-minded, which could prove vital for Tesla’s ability to grow in the region’s automobile industry. As such, people will be able to buy Tesla cars since it is a popular car brand. The countries are also becoming technologically advanced, and buying Tesla electric cars could be seen as embracing technological development in the region.
Graph 2: sale of electric vehicles globally
Aside from the population, Tesla faces stiff competition from other automobile manufacturers in the region. Japan automobile companies are the major suppliers of vehicles in South East Asia. Toyota is the leading automaker in the region, with a market share of about 84% (Schreffler 2016). Other brands from Japan that are also selling cars in the region include Mitsubishi, Honda, and Isuzu. European automakers are also possible competition in the region for Tesla. Companies like Mercedes, BMW, and General Motors have also reported active sales in the region, and this could affect the ability of Tesla to enter the South East Asia market. The companies are also developing their electric and hybrid cars to increase the competition on Tesla’s electric cars and avoid letting the company have a monopoly on the EVs industry. However, Tesla cars offer new designs and possibilities that most people in the region welcome. An article by South China Morning Post opines that people in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are willing to purchase an electric vehicle (Jaipragas, 2021). This is because the population is becoming more conscious of climate change and would like to play a role in mitigating the challenge. As such, they are open to purchasing Tesla’s electric cars to reduce their carbon footprint.
Additionally, the regions’ governments are encouraging the use of electric cars to align with their goals of reducing the emission of GHGs into the atmosphere. Different governments have introduced policies and tax perks that allow electric car makers like Tesla to thrive in the region. The government tax perks in countries like the Philippines will significantly help Tesla enter the market as the government encourages its citizens to embrace electric cars. To reduce pollution in the region, most of the governments have put in place tax perks and incentives to encourage companies like Tesla to produce more electric vehicles for the region. Through the combination of the two, the prices of EVs will fall, making it possible for more people to afford them (Jaipragas, 2021). Better FDI policies will help the company assemble cars at a cheaper rate in the countries to lower the importation of the vehicles from the US. For instance, through the BlueSG Program, the Singaporean government is installing about 2000 charging stations for EVs throughout the country (Wong 2018). Such a program could help the company overcome one of its biggest challenges: the installment of charging units. The installment of the charging units will make it easy for people to charge their vehicles since they will be easily accessible to EV owners.
Section 3: Marketing Objectives
The main marketing objective of the marketing plan is to increase Tesla’s global market share. The marketing plan aims to increase Tesla’s reach in the South East Asian region to improve its market share globally. The company is the largest plug-in electric vehicles manufacturer in the world. However, it still faces serious competition from oil-driven automakers who also develop hybrid cars that utilize oil and electricity. Thus, the marketing plan is focused on improving Tesla’s market share and overcoming its competitors in terms of sales. Creating brand awareness in the South East Asia region is another marketing objective of the paper. This can be achieved by adopting different marketing strategies to help people in South East Asian countries recognize the brand and its values. An effective brand awareness campaign will be critical in helping the company gain new customers for its electric cars. Brand awareness will also help the public understand Tesla’s goals and how electric cars could help them mitigate climate for a better environment for future generations. Brand awareness would also help create brand loyalty among Tesla users. Marketing the electric cars will also help familiarize the customers with other services that the company provides through their website, such as installing solar-powered roof tiles, which the consumers might be interested in accessing the service.
Apart from creating brand awareness, creating brand loyalty is also another objective of the marketing plan. The company aims at adopting different marketing strategies and incentives that will help promote customer loyalty. Customer loyalty will be critical in increasing Tesla’s market share and dominance in the automobile industry in the South East Asia region. It will help improve the sales of the cars as more customers will frequent purchasing electric cars from the company rather than other brands. Lastly, the marketing plan focuses on helping Tesla enter the South East Asia automobile market and as a stepping stone towards entering the larger Asian automobile market. The largest competitor for Tesla in Southeast Asia includes Japan’s Toyota and other automaker brands from the country. As such, the marketing plan aims at helping the company overtake its largest competitor, Toyota, and placing itself as the largest automaker brand in South East Asia. If this happens, it would be easy for Tesla to become a major competitor for Japan’s top brands in Asia. The company would also increase its dominance on a global scale as the success in South East Asia would encourage the company to venture into other territories such as Africa.
Section 4: Marketing Strategy
The marketing strategies that are to be employed by the marketing plan for Tesla aim at creating awareness of the company’s products to consumers in South East Asia. It will also help improve the interaction between the company and the consumers because they will be aware of different types of cars that the company offers and at what price. Doing this will help build credibility among them, critical in building customer loyalty towards Tesla. The first strategy or approach in marketing Tesla in Southeast Asia is social media marketing. Digital marketing has become an important aspect of the market in today’s world because of the increased internet usage and social media (Van-Tien Dao et al., 2015). It is not uncommon to find people with their hands full with their phones and heads submerged into their smartphones. Almost everyone who uses a smartphone has a social media account, and this could prove pivotal for Tesla’s success in South East Asia. Southeast Asia is fast becoming a digital marketing hub as most of its citizens are online users. The presence of online active social media users in the region offers an opportunity for Tesla to advertise its electric cars and features. Clients could follow different Tesla social media accounts and check some of the available cars and how they can buy them. Their social media accounts could also contain vital information such as the company’s website to buy the cars directly rather than visiting the dealership.
Aside from social media marketing, Tesla could employ the use of referral programs as a way to boost people’s knowledge of their electric cars. Referral programs are incentive-driven programs that allow former customers to recommend the products from a company to friends and families (Shmitt, Skiera, and Van den Bulte 2011). The system is used to help companies gain customers by creating a network of customers who might become loyal to the brand. The program focuses on turning past customers into the company’s product advocates. Thus, marketing is done through word of mouth, and the level of relationship between the brand advocate and their referee helps convince them to buy the product. The Tesla referral program can be a proper marketing strategy to employ in South East Asia as most people are close to each other and can refer the car to their friends and family members. Tesla’s referral program allows people to share the referral link to their loved ones once they download the Tesla app. Later, they can win prizes such as $500 solar panels when a person orders a Tesla vehicle through their referral code (Tesla, 2021). The program will prove to be a critical strategy as it gives customers the opportunity of winning different Tesla products, which could also help market more of the company’s products.
Another marketing strategy Tesla could use to increase its sales and revenues in the South East Asia region would be to research and develop new technologies to help meet the customers’ transportation needs. Tesla Inc. celebrates being a quite innovative company than most automaker brands. The company explores new research and development designs to help improve their cars and services that could elevate the efficiency of their vehicles and the experience of the driver. The company could research some suitable inventions that could help increase their market share and make their company help customers meet some of their day-to-day activities (Shim, Kim and Altman 2016). Research and development as a marketing strategy could also help the company discover different wants and needs from the South East Asia consumers that differ from those in the US. This could help them have the edge over their competition. Therefore, the research and development team could help develop innovative technologies and designs that are more suitable to the South East Asia market.
The company could also run promotions to help create awareness of their electric cars and increase their brand awareness. Promotions are a major form of advertising and marketing. One of the most effective promotion strategies that the company could explore in marketing its programs is sales promotion. The strategy involves offering customers points in the purchase, coupons, premiums, and discounts on different products. The strategy could work well for Tesla, especially since it wants to expand its market share in the South East Asia region. Sales promotion would help launch the company in the new market by creating brand awareness to new consumers. Lastly, the company could partner with companies like car renting agencies in the region to promote their cars and other products. The company has recently entered into a partnership with Hertz Corporation, and the deal will help increase Tesla’s revenue and sales in different countries in Europe and America (Levin 2021). Hertz Corporation is an international company that offers car renting services. Tesla could also enter into a similar partnership with a company from South East Asia to help market and create awareness of the brand.
Section 5: Marketing Action Plan and Implementation
One of the strategies to implement would be social media marketing since it is a cheap advertising method and does not require much to be done. Tesla could open different social media accounts dedicated to the South East Asia region and possibly individual countries. For instance, the company could create a Tesla for Singapore Twitter, WeChat, Facebook, and TikTok account to post Tesla cars for Singapore online users. Creating personalized social media accounts for different countries or regions helps the customers feel valued, which helps increase their appreciation of the product. It will also help the company overcome the language barrier issue since most of the populace in the region are non-English speakers and cannot understand the type of posts that have been put in the common Tesla account. Therefore, through social media, Tesla can create numerous social media accounts that will help provide information on their cars to the customers in the South East Asia region.
After creating social media accounts, Tesla can use the same platforms to create awareness on different company information, referral programs, and promotions that can be accessed through the company’s app and website. For starters, the platforms can advertise promotions on the sale of cars and discounts to allow customers to buy electric cars at a lower price. The company could create a social media challenge that would give a chance to fifty people to win a new Tesla model if they have more likes for their posts or get their posts retweeted or shared multiple times. This marketing strategy would help increase the brand awareness of the company’s vehicles. It would also align with the company’s goals and mission statement since it would help create awareness on the need to protect the environment through adopting alternative forms of energy such as electricity which is a clean source of energy and environmentally friendly. Tesla could also use their referral program to create awareness of its cars and gain new customers through referrals. Customers who refer other people to buy a Tesla car could receive different rewards or loyalty points that could be redeemed as car service and software updates. The referral program would also be an efficient way to increase brand awareness in the region as people will share their experiences and views on its products.
Additionally, the research and development team could collaborate with the marketing team and find an innovative way to enter the region’s automobile market. They could do this by developing vehicle designs that meet the popular public transportation designs used daily. Tesla could be innovative and develop electric Jepneeys and Trikes. Jeepneys and Trikes are some of the most common forms of transportation in South East Asian countries like the Philippines. However, the vehicles are among the highest emitters of GHGs, and providing electric designs would help the governments meet their environmental goals (Lowe 2014). Since vehicles are the most common modes of transportations in the region, developing Tesla-inspired eJeepneys and strikes could help create large brand awareness. Lastly, Tesla could partner with popular rental car agencies in the region to help promote their vehicles. For instance, Tesla could partner with AKA Car Rental, one of Singapore’s largest car rental agencies. The car rental agency offers clients cheap rates, making it quite popular among users (AKA Car Rental 2021). This could help promote Tesla cars to Singaporean customers who will be aware of them since they can rent them. Thus, by partnering with different car rental agencies, Tesla can expose people to experience riding an electric car, which could motivate them to buy a Tesla.
eJeepneys and eTrikes
Section 6: Budget, Evaluation, and Control
The budget needed to implement the marketing strategy could be around $3,000,000. Social media provides a cheaper marketing strategy that will most likely cost less since opening a social media account is free. However, around $50,000 will be used to promote the company’s social media accounts to have a better outreach to online users. Around $400,000 will be used to reward customers who have made referrals to their friends and families, and it has been used to purchase a Tesla vehicle. The rewards will include various Tesla products and services, which could also help create brand awareness. About $2,100,000 will promote and reward the social media campaign and challenge that will see fifty people receive a brand new Tesla Model 3. The challenge will create a larger online presence and consumer base as it will be a competition for the number of people reacting and interacting with posts related to Tesla cars. The company will also have to seek out possible partners from companies like car rental agencies to promote Tesla vehicles. Through the funds provided, the company will launch an effective marketing campaign in South East Asia that will effectively create Tesla’s brand awareness.
Section 7: Conclusions
Indeed, Tesla is a global leader in the electric car industry, and venturing into the South East Asia market will significantly increase its market share in the automobile industry. Southeast Asia countries are fast developing and experiencing rapid economic growth. The countries and their citizens are becoming conscious of improving their environments to mitigate climate change and air pollution. Thus, the adoption of electric cars is welcomed, and Tesla can enter the market. However, the company faces competition from Asian giant automakers Toyota, the largest supplier of vehicles in the region. Thus, a good marketing strategy can help the company negate the challenge and overcome its competitors. Tesla Inc., through its R&D department, could develop eJeepneys and eTrikes to help create awareness of their vehicles since cars are among the most common modes of public transportation. The company could explore social media platforms to help create awareness of their cars and how they are effective and different from other cars. Developing a social media account is easy and free, which provides the company with a cheaper marketing strategy. The company could also partner with car rental agencies as a way to promote their cars. Through social media, the company can run promotions and referrals that could help create brand awareness and loyalty among users. Therefore, by implementing the marketing strategies proposed, Tesla will witness better sales and revenue in the South East Asia region.
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