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Elon Musk is still Tesla’s number-one pitchman. We’ve heard a lot from him this year and, as Tuesday night’s shareholders’ meeting shows, we’re going to hear even more.

It’s not surprising for a CEO to be front and center, advocating publicly for his company, its stock and its products. But Tesla (ticker: TSLA) doesn’t advertise—and advertising budgets like those that at big car manufacturers would be another drag on profits. That makes Musk’s willingness to tell the Tesla story, and his effectiveness at doing so, crucial for the company and its stock.

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So what happens when his message starts to wear thin? We might be about to find out. Despite a rousing performance from Musk, who touted the strong demand and record car deliveries during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday night, Tesla shares are falling today.

Tesla stock has dropped 2.1% to $211.39 at 12:16 p.m., with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both down 0.3%. Its shares have slumped 36% in 2019, even after rising 15% this month

Musk will be a busy Tesla salesman in 2019. By the end of the year, we’ll hear from him during two more quarterly earnings calls, at the very least. But Musk also said Tuesday that he was planning an investor day dedicated to batteries and powertrains, as well as an event focused on Tesla’s planned pickup truck. The company declined to provide more details.

There’s more: On Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, Musk is scheduled to appear at the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles. On the agenda: a one-hour conversation about “videogames, cars, space, and everything in between.”

Meanwhile, Musk is still on Twitter daily, sharing information and jokes with his nearly 27 million followers. Each statement (or microstatement) is a fresh opportunity to give fans and investors both information about the current state of the business—and fodder for their dreams.

Earlier this year, Musk made widely publicized appearances on 60 Minutes and HBO’s Axios miniseries. The on-its-way Model Y crossover SUV got a glitzy reveal in March.

And in April, he made a lengthy presentation to investors about the company's autonomous driving technology, describing a vision for a network of robotaxis sending revenue to the company and Tesla owners alike. (In a subsequent pitch, Musk suggested a path to a $500 billion market capitalization, which would be more than 10 times current levels.)

During Tuesday night’s Q&A session at the annual meeting, some Tesla shareholders urged Musk to do more about what they saw as a negative “narrative” around the stock created by the media.

Advertising came up, with Musk—who has said he likes to run the company on a “Spartan diet”—suggesting that it wasn’t needed and didn’t make good fiscal sense. “Spending money on advertising would make things worse financially,” he said.

General Motors (GM) spent $4 billion on advertising and promotions in 2018, representing about 3% of global revenue. If Tesla spent at similar levels, that would top $600 million.

With Tesla striving to become profitable again, Musk has no choice but to keep making his own best pitch.

Email David Marino-Nachison at david.marino-nachison@barrons.com. Follow him at @marinonachison and follow Barron’s Next at @barronsnext.