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Traditional marketing concepts (e.g., the 4 Ps of the marketing mix) are of limited value to smaller businesses and early-stage startups. That's because traditional marketing theory was developed in a corporate context, and SMBs operate under unique conditions. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing these companies are usually very different from those of a large enterprise. That's why smaller firms benefit from an entrepreneurial marketing approach that capitalizes on the benefits of being a small firm (e.g., agility) to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. Table of Contents The Parallels Between Marketing and Entrepreneurship What is Entrepreneurial Marketing? TROPIC: The 6 Pillars of Entrepreneurial Marketing Entrepreneurial vs. Conventional Marketing The Benefits of an Entrepreneurial Approach Developing an Entrepreneurial Marketing Strategy The 6 Principles of Entrepreneurial Marketing A Framework Examples Related Marketing Strategies The Process Any questions? The Parallels Between Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Marketing and entrepreneurship share many similarities. Entrepreneurs look for new opportunities to create value and risk their resources to exploit those opportunities for a potential profit. To do this, they must identify an opportunity, assess their ability to take advantage of it, and evaluate whether the potential profit is worth the investment.Mishra, Chandra S. and Zachary, Ramona K. "The Theory of Entrepreneurship " Entrepreneurship Research Journal, vol. 5, no. 4, 2015, pp. 251-268. https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2015-0042 This process always involves a degree of uncertainty, and there's a correlation between that level of uncertainty and the level of innovation involved in the entrepreneur's product or service. The entrepreneur may find that people don't ultimately value their offering, and they must pivot or begin a new venture. Or it may be that they value it, but not as much as the entrepreneur anticipated, and, again, the entrepreneur must pivot or take a loss. Value creation is central to many of the latest approaches to marketing, like inbound marketing, content marketing, and engineering as marketing. Marketers also create value by: Soliciting and evaluating customer feedback to identify new offerings and changes to existing offerings that will better meet customer needs. Determining what information customers need about the offering and its use. Developing effective ways to deliver that information. Encouraging or participatingin the development of brand communities where customers can assist each other and satisfy psychological needs. What is Entrepreneurial Marketing? Marketing refers to the activities a company uses to persuade customers to make a purchase, and entrepreneurial marketing is defined by its entrepreneurial approach to those activities. In contrast to traditional marketing, which relies on the standard execution of common tactics, an entrepreneurial approach to marketing identifies new tactics or executes existing tactics in new ways.Kraus, S., Harms, R., & Fink, M. (2010). Entrepreneurial marketing: moving beyond marketing in new ventures. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 11(1), 19-34. 10.1504/IJEIM.2010.029766 TROPIC: The 6 Pillars of Entrepreneurial Marketing. There are many different definitions of entrepreneurial marketing. I believe that the fundamental features that separate this entrepreneurial approach from conventional marketing are best captured by what I call the TROPIC framework: Tolerant of Risk. Entrepreneurial marketing must be risk tolerant because validating innovative opportunities requires experimentation that will sometimes fail to generate a return on investment.Kraus 2010 Resourceful. It is resourceful because it uses all resources at its disposal to acquire and retain customers. This includes internal resources, resources shared with partners, and resources under external control. Ray Chaudhury, S., A. Albinsson, P., David Shows, G. and Moench, V. (2014), "The winemaker as entrepreneurial marketer: an exploratory study", International Journal of Wine Business Research, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 259-278. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWBR-06-2013-0023 Opportunistic. It's opportunistic because it exploits existing circumstances to create value.Michael H. Morris, Minet Schindehutte & Raymond W. LaForge (2002) Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Construct for Integrating Emerging Entrepreneurship and Marketing Perspectives, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10:4, 1-19, 10.1080/10696679.2002.1150192210.1080/10696679.2002.11501922 Proactive. It's proactive because it doesn't assume existing circumstances are static, instead, it actively seeks out opportunities to disrupt the status quo.Kraus 2010 Innovative. It's innovative because it "create[s], communicate[s] and deliver value[s]" in new ways.Kraus 2010 Customer-centric. Finally, it is customer-centric because it depends on high levels of customer engagement to get feedback on new and existing products and to raise brand awareness through word of mouth.Morris 2002 Entrepreneurial vs. Conventional Marketing. In the real world, there are few companies that are wholly entrepreneurial in their approach. The traditional and entrepreneurial approaches to marketing exist at opposite ends of a spectrum. Most real-world marketing strategies fall somewhere in between the two.Morris 2002 Source: Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Construct for Integrating Emerging Entrepreneurship and Marketing PerspectivesMorris 2002 The three primary differences between the two approaches are: Objective: The traditional marketer makes plans to influence revenue based on the current situation and predicted changes, while the entrepreneurial marketer works to influence the situation to develop a competitive advantage. Strategy: The traditional marketer develops and executes conventional strategies that leverage existing resources, while the entrepreneurial marketer experiments to identify new strategies that exploit resources not under company control. Value Creation: The traditional marketer supports the products developed by R&D and other technical departments. These products are marketed and sold to customers who have limited communication with people in the company outside of sales. The entrepreneurial marketer establishes a two-way line of communication between each customer and the company to increase engagement and inform the development of new products.Morris 2002 Conventional marketing is built on fundamentals like the 5 Ps of marketing (or four if you prefer). It aims to develop a sustained competitive advantage through conventional tactics like low prices, better products, superior operations, and product leadership.Schindehutte, M., & Morris, M. (2010). Entrepreneurial marketing strategy: lessons from the Red Queen. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 11(1), 75-94. 10.1504/IJEIM.2010.029769. The marketing mix and other basic principles of marketing strategy can be useful to smaller firms, but the emphasis should be on areas in which these firms can outperform their larger competitors. For example, instead of relying on traditional market research, entrepreneurial marketers work closely with customers to determine the right product, price, place, and promotion as part of an iterative process.Read S., Dew N., Sarasvathy S.D., Song M, Wiltbank R. Marketing under Uncertainty: The Logic of an Effectual Approach. Journal of Marketing. 2009;73(3):1-18. 10.1509/jmkg.73.3.001 The Benefits of an Entrepreneurial Approach. Research over the last ten years shows that: Entrepreneurial marketing is highly effective in competitive markets.Amjad, T., Abdul Rani, S., Sa'atar, S., & , (2020). Entrepreneurial Marketing Theory. SEISENSE Journal of Management, (3)1, 27-46. DOI: 10.33215/sjom.v3i1.274 It leads to improved outcomes for companies of all sizes.Morris 2002 It offers useful lessons for marketers operating under uncertain conditions.Read 2009 An entrepreneurial approach leads to better use of resources and new marketing insights that benefit the companies Developing an Entrepreneurial Marketing Strategy. Not all situations require an entrepreneurial marketing approach. It is particularly effective for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and early-stage startups. These types of companies are operating under different circumstances than the corporations around which traditional marketing theory was developed.Martin, D.M. (2009), "The entrepreneurial marketing mix", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 391-403. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750910993310 Entrepreneurial marketing is based on the experiences of entrepreneurs and marketers at SMEs and startups, so it's more relevant to their circumstances. Entrepreneurial marketing strategies are also well suited to conditions of uncertainty. For example, when: Traditional market research isn't possible. You haven't achieved product-market fit. You're creating a new category. The 6 Principles of Entrepreneurial Marketing. Here are six principles to guide your efforts. Use unconventional tactics. Don't attack competitors head-on. Forge strategic alliances and attack where competitors' are weak. Respond to changes quickly. Improvise. Make strategic alliances. Grow demand. Break boundaries. Schindehutte 2010 Source: Entrepreneurial marketing strategy: lessons from the Red Queen.Schindehutte 2010 A Framework. We'll get into specifics below, but here is a broad framework to guide your entrepreneurial marketing efforts. Create Opportunities. Identify an existing problem (whether people are aware of it or not) and developing a credible solution that delivers measurable results. Scale. Work with as many experts and insiders as you can to increase efficiency, credibility, and product efficacy. In other words, hire the right people and make the right connections. Accelerate the Process...

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