Elon Musk – the man behind Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, and a couple of other companies seems to be everywhere these days. One day, he appears on “The Joe Rogan Experience” smoking weed, and the next day he’s launching a rocket into space.
Whatever he’s doing, he always seems to draw attention to himself for better or worse. Sometimes it pays off by giving his companies the necessary attention, but sometimes it can hurt him in the short-term by crashing his companies’ stocks. The Internet loves him, while his shareholders may want him to be a little more laid back.
In this article, I will discuss how Elon Musk became one of the most successful and well-known CEOs in the world by being a meme, essentially.
Let’s not waste any more time and get right into it.
CEOs in the Digital Age
We are living in an era of unprecedented technological growth and transformation. 59% of the global population has access to the Internet. That enables them to read every story deemed newsworthy in a matter of seconds. This makes the job of a CEO of any publicly-traded company extremely complicated.
How so?
Well, each CEO has a responsibility to its shareholders to keep growing the company and its profits. Every public appearance has to be calculated, so it doesn’t decrease the company’s stocks.
That’s why CEOs like Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, or even Satya Nadella rarely do interviews, let alone podcasts. They operate mainly behind the scenes without drawing too much attention to themselves and their companies. That way of managing their time and public persona has served them well as they lead some of the world’s most successful companies like Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft.
That’s what typical CEOs would do. They would be conservative with their public appearances because it will affect the stock price. The less the public sees them, the more they can focus on growing their company. Because now the cameras are everywhere and the whole world is watching.
Every mistake they make will be recorded by someone and can be used against them later. That’s what makes Elon Musk different.
What Makes Elon Musk Special?
The fact that he doesn’t care, or at least, so it seems. While every other CEO is strategizing his next public appearance, Elon can simply pop-up out of nowhere during the COVID-19 pandemic on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and talk about how he feels about the whole situation.
Did it hurt him in the short-term?
For sure.
Being the CEO of one of the most innovative companies in the world, talking about COVID-19 won’t go unnoticed. Many people on social media criticized him because Elon was skeptical of the coronavirus data.
However, he simply doesn’t care. He knows that each thing he says will attract media attention, and in the short-term, that may not be positive. But in the long-run, he wins.
He wins because, like Gary Vee says, “attention is currency” in today’s world. Elon may attract a lot of attention, but behind the scenes, he runs some of the most exciting companies in the world.
Not only that, but he is constantly in the news cycle, whether it’s for a new Tesla unveiling, a SpaceX launch, or a Neuralink demo. Elon knows how to generate hype and excitement around his products, which is excellent marketing on his part, given that his companies don’t do any advertising.
So, he takes on that role. Elon isn’t merely a CEO. He is an advertisement for all of his companies, and with his track record, he has a lot of credibility.
Yes, people know that he is eccentric and may do things that seem stupid in the short-term, but in the long-run, he always delivers. That’s why the Tesla stock price is so high right now.
Because the people and markets know that if he keeps doing what he is doing, Tesla is only going to expand.
What Can You Learn from Elon?
Granted, we aren’t CEOs of large multi-billion-dollar corporations, but there’s a lesson to be learned here.
You don’t need to be a billionaire appearing on “The Joe Rogan Experience” to draw attention to your business.
There are more than enough ways for you to get some eyeballs towards your products or services.
Here are some ideas you can put into use right away:
- Appear on a local podcast where you can discuss yourself, your business, and how you can help people.
- Use your social media, whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or even Tik Tok, to show the world what you’re doing.
- Create a blog where you share insights about your business, or if you can’t, pay someone to create highly-informative articles.
- Pay large publications in your industry to feature you and your business to get some media attention.
- Develop your own video series where you go behind the scenes of your business.
These are just a few ideas that you can use to take advantage of our technological improvement.
Here’s the point to remember – no one cares.
That’s what makes Elon such a marketing genius.
He knows that nobody can keep up with the news cycle constantly, so whatever he does, it will be forgotten in a couple of days. So, don’t worry, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
No matter how silly you look on your first video, podcast, or guest article, people will quickly forget because there’s just too much information out there.
So instead of worrying about other people’s opinions, focus on improving yourself. Make sure each time you make an online appearance, you’re more articulate and well-spoken. That way, you’ll draw more positive attention for yourself and your business.
If Elon can do it, so do you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article.