Entrepreneurial Marketing for Small Firms in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING FOR SMALL FIRMS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM Insert Semester Starting up business venture and running it requires a lot. The business environment is often very dynamic as it is affected by several internal and external that poses threats and opportunities in equal measure to a business (Blundel & Rocket 2010). Therefore, this creates a great need to manage the major factors of production, land, labor and capital, for the successful starting and running of a business entity. The management of these resources referred to as entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are in charge of organizing, managing, and an assumption of risks a business venture faces in the market with the aim of making a margin. It is possible when the market value created through the combination of factors of production is greater than the market value that can be created by the factors individually or in some other different combination. The margin made by entrepreneurs depicts the total value added in the supply chain by the entrepreneur. Therefore, entrepreneurship is a process that discovers the new methods of combining the factors of production and utilizing them optimally for the success of the business. This paper seeks to analyze how a business niche in the market is identified by an entrepreneur, the necessary available avenues of capital for new ventures and the various opportunities and threats faced by entrepreneurs. In a broad sense, entrepreneurial marketing is more of a spirited marketing that differentiates itself from the archaic marketing techniques. This marketing eschews, to a large extent, the fundamental principles of marketing because they designed for bigger and well established firms. It utilizes a rather new and unorthodox marketing means to survive and establish a foothold in a crowded market. Despite the high innovative ideas across the United Kingdom (UK), market penetration remains a mirage due to lack of proper entrepreneurial marketing strategies. Most of the strategies, adopted by entrepreneurs, result from the prevailing business conditions at a point in time. Common types of entrepreneurial marketing include innovation, risk appetite, and being proactive. Entrepreneurial marketing operations focus on the companys greatest strengths while accentuating their worth to the customer. The best way to stand out from competitors in the market is by focusing on innovative products or exemplary customer service. They make this pitch using cheap and accessible tools including viral video as and social media avenues such as Tweets, Facebook, and email marketing. Any marketing strategies can be considered and adopted as long as they produce results (Bjerke & Ramo 2011). Where there are competitive markets, a new start up is likely to get lost in the crowd. As a result, standing out from their competitors, remains a great challenge for entrepreneurs. The best way to exemplify is what makes a business unique by using of marketing techniques that are new, unusual, and aggressive. Below are some entrepreneurial marketing strategies that have been applied successfully in the past. An entrepreneur can use all of its entrepreneurial marketing efforts towards one of the strategies, or use several of them. Relationship Marketing This marketing lays emphasis on creating a strong cohesion between the brand and the customer. Once established, customer loyalty is won and is long-term. Expeditionary Marketing It involves creating markets and developing innovative products. Entrepreneurs assume the role of market leaders rather than followers. One to One marketing In this marketing strategy, customers are marketed to as individuals. All marketing efforts are personalized and in some cases customized to suit different needs. Real Time Marketing Here the power of technology is employed to interact with customers on real time basis. With the advancement in technology, this strategy is accessible to entrepreneurs in advancing their market reach. Viral Marketing This strategy entails uploading marketing messages on the internet for sharing hence widening the reach to potential customers. Digital Marketing Finally, this entrepreneurial marketing strategy leverages the strong influence of internet tools like email and social media to support marketing efforts. The question then begs how do entrepreneurs identify a market gap and exploit it? It is paramount to critically examine the sources of entrepreneurial opportunities from two perspectives; personal and environmental. Researcher previously done has categorized the sources of entrepreneurial opportunity in many several ways: by discipline - sociology, psychology, economics, management, by level of the analysis undertaken (micro, and macro), by the institutional landscape, market factors (demand and supply), and government policy. In each of the control, two factors are predominant interaction: the person and the environment within which business activity takes place. Innovative entrepreneurs have been classified by economist Joseph Schumpeter (Schumpeter 1934). He believed that an entrepreneurial activity is the epitome of innovation and wealth creation in the economy. Hence, entrepreneurs play a vital role as catalysts in economic growth by eschewing established, outdated ways of marketing a business. He came up with the term, “creative destruction” to elaborate on this process. In Schumpeter’s view, an entrepreneur brings about disequilibrium into a market and, as a result, more entrepreneurial opportunities arise as a result of this shift. Further, Schumpeter pinpoints that the sources of opportunities for this method of entrepreneurship could be in: technological advances, political changes and socio-demographic changes (Schumpeter 1947). Studies have shown that innovative forms of entrepreneurship increases the national output, supports job growth, and transforms industries into new technological frontiers (Sethna & Harrigan 2013). As exciting and innovative as this form of entrepreneurial achievement and outcome is, it only materializes in extremely unusual situations. Several factors need such as a transparent rule of law, strong institutional environment, an urbane form of and communication information technology, high standards of education, high income levels, and placement in large urban vicinities, different markets and developed infrastructures. It is crucial to point that the factors mentioned above are readily available in the United Kingdom. In identifying the opportunities in the market, there are particular questions that an entrepreneur ought to answer first. Largely, it is because an entrepreneur business and personal goals are closely related. Questions that need significant thought include whether the goals of the venture are clearly defined. It entails personal aspirations and dreams, the risk appetite of the entrepreneur and the suitability of the business and size in relation to the market dynamics. Another important question relates to the best strategic approach to be adopted. A good strategy need to embrace a clear definition, the profitability and potential growth, sustainability in the market and the rate of growth anticipated for the business. An entrepreneur ought to assess whether the strategy identified is executable with the available resources. There is a need to have a vision and a mission that guides the entrepreneur and an appropriate organizational infrastructure for the business for it to achieve the objective. In relation to the study in this paper, United Kingdom innovative entrepreneurs fail to take off since uptake of the entrepreneurial marketing strategy. From a critical analysis, it is evident that entrepreneurial activities are dependent on several other factors. With carefully targeted support, the creative industries strategy in the UK is likely to boost the economy. However, it is worthwhile to note that availability and access to capital is essential. Further, obtaining and use of entrepreneurial strategies to penetrate and establish a position in the market is crucial in expansion and realization of the full potential of entrepreneurial marketing. With bodies such the Technology strategy board, accelerated growth in the countries creative businesses can come to fruition. The chief executive of the body emphasizes that greater opportunities for continued and further growth in the sector, especially for start-ups and small entities, that need a platform to spring out their groundbreaking ideas into the market (Dana 2004). As pointed out earlier, entrepreneurial marketing is a great platform for entrepreneurs to uniquely identify themselves. Given that marketing is an important tool that is available to any business entity willing to invest in it, it remains one of the best avenues for startup companies to define their image in the minds of consumers. For example, pets.com through marketing was able to make a simple sock puppet into a widely recognized spokesperson. It clearly shows the power that can be harnessed by a business entity to its advantage. Unfortunately, many of the startups in UK are not aware of this, ignorant or afraid of the completion in the market. However, the bigger challenge that entrepreneurs facing is competing against larger, better known, and more ingenious companies. How does a startup enterprise with a small human capital, limited financial resource, and miniscule customer base prepare to compete alongside the giants in their industry? It is achieved by turning the weaknesses into potential strengths for growth. By their very nature, small firms enjoy more room for flexible and unorthodox marketing strategies than their major competitors Although many inventions in the UK collapse before they can fully take off or be implemented, there are a few with success stories as earlier mentioned. Entrepreneurs need to work with tight budgets and nearly as half the factors of production as major companies. They are still expected to maintain the competition with other firms in the industry. It is a tough balance which calls for the adoption of the entrepreneurial marketing strategy as a competitive advantage to the firms. It is because luxuries such as graphics design department and advertising consultants are more than often not within their reach. Another close example of how an entrepreneur has used entrepreneurial marketing is by observing the strategy adopted by Michael Dell; founder of the dell computer company. While still in college, Dell set out to start a computer business amidst other giants such as Compaq, IBM and Packard Bell. In order for Dell to get noticed as a startup, there are a few strategies adopted. These include, defining the target customers in the market. In his case, he realized a niche in the market for customized business computers and the target being medium and large companies. Another factor is offering something new in the market that solves a particular problem. Dell embraced a diversification of its products to produce customized personal computers for families and students. Further, he eliminated middlemen in the supply chain which greatly reduced the costs. Another approach used was taking the business to the customers through tradeshows, business magazines, and all other avenues that technology offices would follow. Finally, and most important is offering exceptionally good services/products. With a 24 hour technical support service, customers who were just beginning to integrate technology into their business obtained value for money (Landstrom & Lohrke 2010). In conclusion, therefore, Start-up innovative ventures can use marketing plans to develop their products after determining the several aspects about the business model to be adopted. Small firms must understand their core mission, their customer target group in the market, and who their close competitors are. Doing a cautious self-analysis can help small firms to carve out their niche in the market and set achievable targets. The business venture a small firm strives to be is affected by the marketing decisions used. If a company decides to target professional business clientele, it probably won’t use funny viral videos on but rather professional channels such as business magazines. The details of a marketing plan depend largely on the particular marketing strategy that a business venture embarks on. The strategies used in relationship marketing are significantly different to viral marketing. It is important for small firms to define the marketing strategy to embracing, and then focus in that area. Comprehensive marketing plans helps companies to maintain a good focus as they review the strategies adopted. Most marketing plans cover less than a years worth of time since small firms face such uncertain conditions in the course of business that requires them to be dynamic and adapt to any changes. Entrepreneurial marketing plans are majorly based on input from every aspect of the business venture-- from production of the product or service, to financial aspects, to human capital. In order to succeed, small firms need to work in a coordinated manner such that the resource used as efficient as possible. The marketing decisions made by a firm ought to consider the real world conditions that the company is subjected to. The use of metrics to evaluate the marketing plan needs to consider the business goals and objectives. These goals can be different and range from profit maximization to establishing the broadest customer base, to redefining a particular market. Each and every goal, therefore, will require a specific marketing strategy approach and be evaluated on different terms. On the other hand, emerging companies to set quantitative goals for and strive to achieve them. On occasions where the set targets fall short, then the strategies can be revised. Otherwise, growth is for the small firms will remain a mirage. Reference list Top of Form Bottom of Form BJERKE, B., & RAMO, H. (2011). Entrepreneurial Imagination Time, Timing, Space and Place in Business Action. Cheltenham, Edward Elgar Pub. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=714162. BLUNDEL, R., & LOCKETT, N. (2010). Exploring entrepreneurship. Oxford, Oxford University Press. DANA, L. P. (2004). Handbook of research on international entrepreneurship. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Pub. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=108895. LANDSTRÖM, H., & LOHRKE, F. (2010). Historical Foundations of Entrepreneurship Research. LODISH, L. M., MORGAN, H. L., & KALLIANPUR, A. (2001). Entrepreneurial Marketing Lessons from Whartons Pioneering MBA Course. New York, John Wiley & Sons. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=117507userid=^u SCHUMPETER, J. A., BECKER, M. C., KNUDSEN, T., SWEDBERG, R., & SCHUMPETER, J. A. (2011). The entrepreneur: classic texts by Joseph A. Schumpeter. Stanford, California, Stanford University Press. SETHNA, Z., JONES, R., & HARRIGAN, P. (2013). Entrepreneurial marketing: global perspectives. Read More