This content was created by Eric Siu. This content was uploaded by Eric Siu. This is a YouTube episode titled "Why Tesla Doesn't Have a Marketing Department" (published 2025-01-15). It is a conversational podcast segment featuring Eric Siu and Neil Patel discussing Tesla's marketing approach (Apple Store–style retail, product-as-marketing), Neil's personal Tesla purchase and delivery/service experience, and broader points about customer service and vehicle sales mix. The episode also includes a promo for Neil's agency NP Digital and his SEO tools (Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic), plus a closing call-to-action to rate/review and visit marketingschool.io/agency.
Chapters
Why do you think Tesla doesn't have a marketing department?
I think they have a marketing department, it's not called marketing. That's my opinion. Because if you look, they hired the person from Apple who created the Apple Stores and helped launch their products into the real world. Because when Tesla was first coming off, they needed to figure out a way to showcase and explain how their product worked because it was different and novel. To me, that is marketing. but they probably don't consider that marketing.
I think that's a fair point. They do marketing the way that, I mean, so Elon has said this, he's like, look, the car should speak for itself. Ultimately at the end of the day, the car should be, because the car's so advanced that it should be its own marketing. And I do believe that if your product is so far advanced, like that is a form of marketing, 'cause you're ultimately just trying to get attention at the end of the day. And then when you do the, when you do like, we have the Century City Mall over here, the Tesla in there, it like, in the beginning it was fairly novel, right? not many people could just have like an Apple Store-like experience. And now you have other like Rivian or Lucid in there.
No one goes to Lucid. I bought the Tesla from the Century City store.
Oh, you did? Yeah.
I test drove it right there and then I bought it right on the spot.
And it's like an Apple experience, right? Like you, you can test drive it in there, but, um, you just kind of walk in, you talk to like a, like a, like an Apple Genius almost.
They don't get commission or anything. They just helped me out. And they're like, yeah, you don't have to buy it through me. So I just went online and I clicked and I purchased it, but I test drove it right there at Century City. I test drove the Model 3. which is their highest selling car by far. Model 3 and Model, I think it's Y, right? Is it the Y? That's the small SUV?
Yeah, the Y is the small SUV.
Yeah, but the small ones make up the majority of the sales because Tesla spoke about their earnings recently or how many cars that they delivered in 2024. It was all the cheaper versions versus the expensive ones. And the experience was amazing and it caused me to buy the Model 3. I bought it, I drove less than 100 miles and I got rid of it.
Yeah, because it wasn't a fit for you.
It wasn't fit for me. I will tell you this, the experience of purchase is amazing. The delivery is very terrible. So for example, when I bought the car, I bought mats. They mail you the mats, you go pick up the car. I had to put in my own mats and do all this stuff. Like if you go and buy a Mercedes, I get it costs more. They just do everything for you. The service just feels better.
Yeah.
And you can say, hey, Neil, you bought a Model 3, but I bought an expensive Model 3 because I paid for the self-driving, which I didn't know you can pay monthly for. So I just purchased it. And in total, I don't know how much I spent on the Model 3, but call it $60,000, $70,000 if I had to guess. And I believe when you're spending that much on a car, it should be more white glove, dude. I have a Honda Odyssey. When I bought the Honda Odyssey—
All right, so I wanted to take a moment to tell you about my podcast co-host Neil's agency called NP Digital, and they work with a whole host of global companies or global organization. Also, Neil has SEO tools such as Ubersuggest and AnswerThePublic. All you have to do is go to npdigital.com to learn more, and we'll see you on the other side.
The dealership for a $30-something thousand car, They delivered it to my home with papers and I just had to sign and it was really easy. I didn't have to go anywhere to pick it up. Tesla was being a real pain in the butt about whose license you showed and who picks it up and all this kind of stuff.
And I was like, ah. Yeah, but I don't think Elon's known for customer service.
No. No, so.
That is it for today, guys. Please don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe. Go to the— go to marketingschool.io/agency to learn more about the Agency Owners Association. And we'll see you tomorrow.
