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Love him or detest him, there is not any doubt that Elon Musk is without doubt one of the most profitable and influential entrepreneurs of his technology — if not all time.
Whether or not it is information about one among his corporations, gossip about his love life, or response to his newest controversial tweet, not often per week goes by during which Musk’s identify is just not within the headlines.
That is much more spectacular given how vocally opposed Musk is to PR and promoting, as soon as tweeting that he does not consider in “manipulating public opinion.” In 2020, he dissolved Tesla’s PR division, and his 2022 Twitter takeover was notorious for axing 1000’s of jobs, many from the communications workforce.
This previous month he additionally created an computerized poop emoji response for all media requests despatched to press@twitter.com.
press@twitter.com now auto responds with ?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
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But when this tempts you to conclude that conventional PR not serves a goal, suppose once more. Musk is a media professional, however like an awesome magician, he does not need to draw consideration to it.
Reaching his present stage of notoriety took time, endurance, and loads of strategic know-how. So, slightly than taking his public stance on PR at face worth, let’s take an in depth have a look at the methods Musk has employed to construct his manufacturers into family names.
Musk’s (actual) strategy to media relations
Closing Tesla’s PR division was an unprecedented transfer within the auto business. However his resolution was not made as a result of Musk not needed media protection for his firm. As a substitute, he not needed to trouble. Within the ultimate months of Tesla’s press workplace, its PR workforce was hit with a whole lot of journalist inquiries every day — one thing most corporations can solely dream of.
Musk has by no means been neglectful of Tesla’s PR. Quite the opposite, from its inception to the present day, he has taken an awfully hands-on strategy to the corporate’s media technique. Due to this, the protection of him and his corporations has snowballed over time.
The very best-selling biography, Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Unbelievable Future, particulars simply how concerned Musk was because the Tesla identify first began to achieve consideration, personally main efforts to realize media consideration and “repair” any detrimental press. He set a aim for the corporate to make a weekly announcement and personally drafted press releases and carried out media outreach to make sure he secured his desired outcomes. Musk was additionally identified to seek for information protection about his corporations not less than as soon as a day.
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Here is the primary important lesson for founders and CEOs: Musk understood that leaders should pay shut consideration to the tales they’re sharing with the media, set a constant communications cadence, and construct relationships with reporters.
Musk additionally knew (and is aware of) the significance of rising relationships with particular journalists.
There is a purpose why he does not learn publications however slightly follows particular person journalists. As a substitute of sending out a number of common data to retailers, Musk gave sure reporters unique first entry to data. This was the case with Kara Swisher, one of many business’s most influential journalists to whom Musk usually gave quite a few interviews. (Their relationship has since turned frosty, to say the least.)
Removed from dismissing the significance of conventional PR efforts, Musk was a grasp of disseminating the story he needed to inform by way of a gentle movement of outreach. Simply check out Tesla’s blogs and bulletins to see this first-hand.
Executed like a PR professional, he knew that these communications and his relationships with the media would assist create a persistent buzz fueling purchaser curiosity.
Musk sells the dream
Past the fundamentals, Musk understood that relating to PR, it is a lot much less about promoting merchandise than it’s about promoting influence and feelings. With SpaceX, for instance, Musk has completely exemplified the way to promote a dream through storytelling.
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Bulletins have at all times been full of visionary language and daring concepts. In a 2011 interview, Musk made waves together with his hope to ship people to Mars inside 10–20 years. In 2019, driving the sustainability pattern, he introduced he needed to construct the primary sustainable metropolis on Mars.
As inspiring and memorable as these pictures are, the money-making day-to-day operations at SpaceX are a bit extra mundane. The corporate generates most of its income by sending satellites into area on behalf of the US authorities to offer high-speed broadband web to distant and rural areas worldwide. However when SpaceX raised $750 million in its newest funding spherical, satellites and broadband weren’t the principle attraction of the presentation. That is as a result of Musk is aware of it is the massive goals and difficult concepts that catch peoples’ consideration.
Enterprise leaders ought to take word. When speaking your enterprise concepts/projections, you will need to stand out from the pack by highlighting the massive imaginative and prescient behind your mannequin for achievement. Residence in in your prospects’ underlying passions and needs — what it’s that will get them dreaming — and ensure the tales you are telling resonate emotionally.
He controls the narrative, subtly
It is clear that Musk is adept at PR, however he does not want or need everybody to comprehend it.
That is additional confirmed by the truth that he does not go totally radio silent. As a substitute, he makes certain (as greatest he can) that the message he needs to convey is the story that will get coated, diverting consideration from his British caver lawsuits or the Tesla buyout.
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As an example, in December 2022 he launched a controversial Twitter ballot asking the general public to determine whether or not he ought to step down because the CEO of the platform.
Ought to I step down as head of Twitter? I’ll abide by the outcomes of this ballot.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
After greater than 17 million votes had been forged with 57.5% of respondents voting to oust him, Musk introduced he would resign “when an appropriate substitute was discovered” leaving many to doubt that he would abide by the outcomes of the ballot as promised. But he did follow his phrase, appointing Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s new CEO on Might twelfth. What’s fascinating right here is that Musk by no means meant to remain on because the CEO within the first place, however his “public referendum” made certain that the topic dominated headlines for months.
Musk has additionally been eager to court docket consideration for his ongoing public spat with NPR after he assigned the information outlet, together with many others, the labels “government-funded” and “state-affiliated” on Twitter. Whereas these labels have now been eliminated the story continues to obtain rolling protection because of new tidbits of data that Musk releases to the general public.
These labels additionally sparked a shock, impromptu interview with BBC reporter James Clayton on Twitter Areas throughout which it turned clear that Musk had no plans to be a passive participant, with Clayton commenting that at “a number of instances it felt like he was making an attempt to interview me.“
Whereas nobody can management media protection utterly, it is vital to have interaction with reporters to extend the chance of your organization securing optimistic protection. And, if there ever is a PR disaster, having relationships with the media means you usually tend to ship some type of injury management.
Musk is aware of that media protection issues, and his manufacturers are the place they’re at present because of his information of PR. Constructing a pipeline of bulletins, diverting the narrative in the direction of optimistic tales, and making a memorable imaginative and prescient are all beneficial methods to generate media protection that does not waver.
