For weeks my mentor Dr. Strive Masiyiwa has been quoting Peter Drucker:
“Marketing and innovation makes money, every other thing is cost”.
“Marketing and innovation makes money, every other thing is cost”
I really didn’t get the gist then.
But some days ago, Elon Musk unveiled the Telsa Cybertruck. Of course it broke all the rules in the truck industry. But here is the part that baffled me the most. Elon Musk tweeted that over 250,000 cybertrucks were pre-ordered with Zero Advertisement and Endorsements just within days (Over $10Billion)
Remember the quote again, marketing makes money, every other thing is cost? Good! Elon has mastered the art of marketing.
A lot of us confuse sales and marketing, we are good sales men but poor marketers. (Don’t worry I was on this table too 😂🤣).
So what is marketing? What is sales?
Firstly sales and marketting are different although they both share a common goal: to attract prospects and convert them to customers, ultimately generating revenue.
Sales, refers to all activities that lead to the selling of goods and services. And marketing is the process of getting people interested in the goods and services being sold.
Marketing is all about ascertaining human needs and satisfying them, by providing the products they require, or say, it is about meeting needs profitably. On the other hand, sales is simply, inducing the customers to make purchase of goods or services offered by the company.
Sales is a part of marketing, and it is so closely intertwined
Marketing is understanding the requirements of the customers in such a way that whenever any new product is introduced, it sells itself. Marketing identify the needs of customers and create products to satisfy those needs.
A lot of us are very good with Sales, but great business are built via marketing not just sales. Therefore in all our getting as Entrepreneurs, we must understand and master marketing.
Get the gist now?
Ok Back to Cybertruck and Elon! In American when it comes to Trucks, the market leader is Ford motors. Not only did Elon create a totally different product. He went straight for the neck of the market leader. I am sure you might have seen the video of a Cybertruck pulling a Ford Truck in an Apples to Apples Tug War. (By the way, the vice president of Ford wants a Rematch on their own turf 😂🤣).
So what are the lessons from Elon?
1. Don’t just build the ordinary, add lots of Extras then you get Extraordinary.
2. Word of mouth from your customers is everything.
3. Find creative ways to get your products in the News. (Elon has done this over and over again. Remember the time he sent a Telsa Car to Space? It’s all part of the game).
4. Great products sell themselves.
Let me stop before I keep going on and on. Time to buy my future daughter some Telsa stock. (By the way Telsa stock is up 49.2% in the last three months.)
Do have a wonderful day.
Your Friend,
Omoruyi Osas Folarin
