Lessons from Eco Friendly Cars: Transform One Step at a Time

Reading about various industries’ progress toward emission reduction goals, this story about Toyota resonated with me as a a marketing leader and growth strategist.

While Toyota has created hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles, companies like Tesla, Ford and Hyundai are making far bigger strides in eco-friendly car production (particularly EVs) and seemingly leaving Toyota behind. 

Ah, but in January (2013), Toyota’s CEO announced a "conversion" strategy to transform older vehicles into more sustainable ones by replacing specific parts. A Zero Emission future is miles away, so Toyota’s short term strategy helps them make more immediate progress.

This approach makes sense, assuming Toyota’s long-term strategy involves that big picture transformation. In fact, we often advise our clients to act similarly in certain situations.

Often, we encounter prospects who need significant upgrades in order to successfully compete, sustain or relaunch in highly competitive industries. Some of these clients have invested $200k to $500k on initial marketing from website development and custom trade show assets to dedicated digital ad spends and database infrastructure or other sales enablement solutions.

They find us after the results of their previous marketing partners have trailed off to less than expected. (“I think we need a new website” is one of the more common frustrations we hear.).

Other agency reps will often take that buyer signal and run with it, recommending a high-priced new website (as an example) on an entirely new platform with ambitious content upgrades and a longstanding interface with their web development team.

Our approach is different: We are most inclined to audit all existing assets, strategies and results, then mine from them the gold that can be upcycled. For example, your Wordpress website may very well be functionally sound, but would benefit most from stronger calls to action (CTAs) and more compelling sales language, click funnels and sales scripts for your customer service reps. You just saved $60,000-$120,000 + and 8 months of time on a new website you didn’t need.

Similar to retrofitting specific crucial parts on those existing Toyotas, we can often get our clients on the road more quickly by reskinning, retooling or reshaping what is an otherwise useful asset. If you’re seeking to re-energize your marketing without burning a ton of unnecessary budget, let’s discuss.

Reference: eco-friendly car

https://www.designrush.com/news/toyota-to-make-its-old-cars-eco-friendly