If You Can Sell a Baby Carrot as a Snack, You Can Sell an EV to Anybody

Electric vehicles are the future.

Really? The Future? That’s what we’ve been hearing for the past 25 years.?

Let’s try that again.

Electric vehicles are here. They’re mainstream.?

But, is mainstream America ready for EVs? The headlines would make you think no. Tesla, not Big 3 Auto, dominates the market with 55% of the EVs sold in the U.S. last year.?

Headlines scare with “range anxiety” and dealers with rows upon rows of inventory. People quiver about charging networks, electrical grid stability, and self-driving accident reports.?

But why?

It’s a marketing problem. Traditional combustion car companies aren’t selling the clear benefits of an EV - the benefits that solve everyday problems, save time, and stabilize budgets.?

Let’s ground ourselves in the market size. Structurally, America is ready to charge. Realistically, if you have an EV, you need a garage. We estimate that nearly 100 million homes in America have garages ready for chargers. Other reports say 66% of Americans, regardless of where they dwell, have access to daily charging.??

So, why the hesitancy? This is a marketing problem - Big 3 auto manufacturers and their marketing teams are the root cause of EV’s failure to launch.?

We are at the beginning of mainstream EV adoption and Big 3 marketers are steering customers in the wrong direction. They are selling solutions to problems that car buyers don’t have, or worse - that reinforce the negative headlines.

Recap: How Does Marketing Work?

Before we go further, let’s simplify how you sell a product.?

At the most basic level, you create demand. Then, when the customer goes to the store/ site/ dealer, you make sure they buy it.?

Create Demand:

• You create a product that solves a customer’s pain point.
• You target your marketing to the customer segment with that pain point.
• Your Marketing messages give customers relief from that pain.
• Your brand validates that you can be trusted to solve the pain point.

Drive Sell-Through:

• You make sure the sales team can inform the customer.
• You incentivize customers to behave the way you want.
• You make it easy for the customer to hand over her money.

The Market Has Shifted to the Mainstream

Toyota released the first hybrid Prius in 1997. Tesla released the first Model S in 2012.?

That’s 12 years of EV adoption and 25 years of hybrid technology. We’ve reached the mainstream.

And if we look at it theoretically, we have crossed the chasm in the adoption of technology.

Big 3 Marketers Are Still Targeting Fast Followers – but Looking for Mainstream Results

While the market has moved, EV Marketers haven’t moved with it. Let’s look at their marketing…

They’re selling innovation…

…they’re selling design…

…and they’re selling range.

Marketing is targeting buyers who seek a better driving experience, innovation, and the assurance that the EV won’t die on the side of the highway. These messages relieve the pain points felt by the Fast Follower market - and I'm one of them.

People who want to drive a fast car with no old-fashioned buttons or vents that can break, zipping around everyone until they find princess parking right up front.?

But real people - the mainstream car buyers with a two-car garage and a residential electric outlet? - are looking to fill a different set of needs.

Current marketing doesn’t address their problems. In fact, there is a pretty stark disconnect between what they want and what they hear.?

Disconnect 1: Just get me from A to B

They want to get to work, to school, and around their town. On average, US drivers only drive 37 miles per day. EVs make this more than possible for anyone who lives in a single-family home with an electrical outlet.?

They have range anxiety, and the marketers tell them about how many miles they can go before a charge. That range is well within the limits of an average driver’s day - but the messages focus on fear prevention rather than the amazing feeling of never going to a gas station ever again.?

Disconnect 2: Reliability > Innovation?

They need a car they can trust, that they understand to be reliable. They are not willing to take a risk on “something new.”? In fact, the mere idea of innovation creates anxiety.?

“Innovative” EVs are untested, new, and unproven at the forefront of the buyer’s mind. If anything, the facts on EVs - no oil change, no transmissions, and few moving parts - show that they are far more reliable and require less maintenance.?

Disconnect 3: No Need to Skip the Line

The mainstream isn’t “in it” for HOV access, front row parking, or solving a rebate puzzle. They need a car they can afford with the energy they can afford each month to power it, plain and simple.?

So, no surprise - EV Marketers are failing to generate the demand they need to move inventory.

A Case Study in Marketing: The Baby Carrot

Let’s briefly forget about cars and shift our focus to vegetables.

Why??

Because when carrots were declining in sales in the ‘80s, one farmer decided to sell his carrots in a different way, and now we eat twice as many carrots than before.?

Carrots are good for you, people have always known that, but they weren’t that popular. They were what rabbits ate, and occasionally a side dish - just regular produce.?

Then came along the baby carrot. Revolutionary. But not really. The baby carrot is just a carrot that has been cut and cleaned, and now they make up 80% of carrots sold.

What changed??

Perspective and convenience.

The baby carrot changed the way people dealt with carrots. They made carrots easy. Having to peel and cut carrots is time-consuming, so people only really had carrots if they were cooking a full meal.?

It was just another vegetable. But being able to grab a bag of carrots from the fridge flipped the script. Throw a few in your kid’s lunch box or set them out on a veggie platter for the Super Bowl, and carrots were now crunchy, bright orange snacks that you could dip in ranch!?

And that was it. The marketers changed what the carrot could be. By turning it into a healthy snack alternative, they were able to tap into a market that old carrots never heard of.

They made carrots popular by going against common wisdom instead of positioning their product against problems the customers already had.

The Product Is Right for The Mainstream

Here’s the thing. EVs are easy. No gas, no maintenance - just hop in and go. But marketers are focusing too much on stuff like performance and innovation.?

This might have worked when trying to set gas cars apart from their competition, but EVs need to be positioned for the mass market.

And let’s be clear: EVs DO solve mainstream pain points. It’s just a matter of perspective.?

How to Sell an EV (You’re Welcome)

Here are some ideas for marketing messaging that might resonate with the mainstream buyer.?

Imagine these commercials:?

Spot 1: Messy Mom vs. Put Together Mom

Consider how much time you spend at the gas station. On average, it takes about 8 minutes to fill up, and maybe an extra 2 minutes to take the left turn to enter the station.

If you fill up every week, that adds up to almost 9 hours a year spent at the pumps - more than a full working day!

Those minutes add up, but are just as stressful in the moment, especially if you have places to be. How many times have you woken up to find yourself on “E” and been late for a meeting or school??

Our friend, Messy Mom, feels this all the time. She is frazzled, dragging her kids, her coffee, and her Stanley to her minivan during the morning school rush. The family dog, muddy from the rain, hops in right as the sliding door closes.

She backs out of her garage, spilling coffee, only to see Put Together Mom getting into her EV in the driveway next door, in perfect business casual with obedient children already inside.?

And then Messy Mom sees she is on the dreaded “E.” She looks at her watch. Late again.

Cut to the gas station, where Messy Mom struggles with the pump while holding her Stanley. Cue Put Together Mom driving by silently, on time for school, as always. Her EV is always ready, and she is never late.?

Spot 2: Fixed Income Frenemies

Gas is one of the highest line items in American’s budgets, often costing 3-4% of their income, and unpredictable prices can really put a strain on finances.?

On average, a U.S. household spends about $2,500 a year on gas. Now, picture that cost unexpectedly doubling. That's the harsh reality many faced in 2022, when gas prices soared, pushing annual spending to a staggering $5,000.?

This unforeseen surge, representing a significant portion of someone's income, sent financial plans into disarray and caused immense stress, especially for those living paycheck to paycheck.

Let’s look at our friends, Fixed Income Frank and Fixed Income Felix. They’re neighbors and friends in a 55-plus community. But their wives…frenemies.??

Fixed Income Frank and his wife, Superior Sheryl, pride themselves on their verdant and prize-winning front garden. It overflows with large, colorful flowers and well-watered grass. We find them outside, watering with a garden hose and trimming with precision.

Next door, Fixed Income Felix works on his gas guzzler in the driveway, his dried-out, sad garden in the background.?

Cue Fixed Income Felix’s wife, Cranky Cathy. With today’s gas prices, Cathy can’t afford to keep her garden up anymore. Cathy comes out, looks out at Sheryl with a no-tooth smile, and gives Felix a LOOK.?

If Felix had only bought the Ford Mustang Mach E, they wouldn’t spend an extra $200 a month on gas and her garden would be green.?

Other Ideas

Apart from getting their attention, marketers need to position EVs to meet the needs of the mass market.

The Daily Driver

Low-cost EVs don’t get a lot of attention, but they could be the perfect affordable commuter car. Again, most Americans drive 37 miles per day, so a low-cost EV with a range of less than 100 miles that charges overnight would work well.?

Something like the Nissan Leaf, which has been out since 2010, should be a lot more popular. Except that they called it a “leaf,” highlighting the sustainability message not tied to the mainstream customer’s pain point.?

Hybrid Loaner Subscription

To alleviate range anxiety, brands could launch creative programs with recurring revenue. Think of a warranty-like program for loaner hybrid vehicles, where you could borrow a car each quarter or month for a longer drive.?

Imagine being able to drop off a completely trashed car after a road trip and just leave, and go home in your clean and charged EV. They could even sweeten the deal by dropping the hybrid off at your house (maybe with some snacks).

Takeaways?

While increasing demand for EVs and hybrids is critical, I’m making this a bit simpler than reality.?

Success also relies on dealers improving their willingness and ability to sell EVs. The mainstream customer will not buy online - they will follow their established pattern and walk into a dealership. From that point, it’s up to the dealer to make the sales process as smooth and electrifying as the vehicles themselves.?

This, in turn, requires that EVs offer dealers a profitable and sustainable business model.?

Dealers must change seller behavior, knowledge, and incentive structures to account for the time and expertise to educate buyers.??

But I’ll leave that for another day.?

Stay tuned for future business breakdowns, where we’ll explore more cool topics like:?

• A skyscraper being built upside down.
• How Modelo overtook Bud Light to be America’s best-selling brew.
• Should Amazon buy Shein??

...and other crazy ideas.

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