CHAPTER 8

ENTREPRENEURIAL
MARKETING FOR NEW
VENTURES

Jobaida Khanom Tohfa

Lecturer
Department of BBA in Management Studies
FBS, BUP
 Entrepreneurial Marketing
Entrepreneurial marketing is the proactive identification and exploitation of opportunities
for acquiring and retaining profitable customers through innovative approaches to risk
management, resource leveraging and value creation. Characteristics of such marketing are:

Instead of concentrating on brand recognition or market share, the entrepreneurial marketer has to
concentrate on sales.
Investors care more whether an entrepreneur can demonstrate demand and is bringing in the cash than if
the entrepreneur has a tidy business plan or a recognized label.
The return on investment (ROI) of every advertisement, of every campaign, is that much more important
than normal businesses.
It also means learning how to manage the risk of misjudgments.
Because of a lack of resources, entrepreneurial marketing must necessarily rely on small sample sizes and
qualitative data techniques.
The key skill is speed, that is, rapidly matching the huge wants of customers against the limited capabilities.
 Entrepreneurial Marketing Opportunity

Entrepreneurs suffer from ‘resource poverty’, what is known as liquidity constraints.

It means the entrepreneur must adopt an entirely different approach to marketing. Problem
Guerrilla marketing, a phrase that has taken on the meaning of non-traditional, low-cost,
highly effective marketing effort.
 Entrepreneurial Marketing

Examples:
Coca-Cola – “Happiness Machine”
Coca-Cola placed a vending machine on a college campus that unexpectedly gave out free
pizzas, flowers, giant Coke bottles, and other surprises. Students filmed and shared it online,
creating massive buzz with very low cost.

McDonald’s – Pedestrian Crossing Fries

In Switzerland, McDonald's turned a zebra crossing into a giant serving of French fries by
painting the white stripes as “fries” and placing a huge fries box at the end.
 Relationship Marketing
Emphasis is placed on building longer term relationships with customers rather than on individual
transactions. It involves understanding the customers’ needs as they go through their life cycles. It
emphasizes providing a range of products or services to existing customers as they need them. Relationship
marketing is most appropriate for relatively high-value consumer products, when the costs of switching are
high and when customer involvement is high.
Examples:
Starbucks Rewards Program
Starbucks builds long-term relationships with customers through its Starbucks Rewards
program. Customers earn points for every purchase, get personalized offers, and can order
ahead using the app. Instead of just selling coffee, Starbucks focuses on loyalty.

Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola engages customers via personalized Coke bottles with names, social media
campaigns, and interactive events, encouraging emotional connection with the brand.

Netflix
Netflix uses personalized recommendations and email alerts based on viewing history to
maintain engagement and keep subscribers loyal.
Aggressive Marketing
Aggressive marketing is a strategy where a company uses intense, highly proactive, and
competitive tactics to capture market share quickly, increase visibility, and outperform competitors.

Key Features
•High visibility: Heavy advertising, large promotions, frequent messaging.
•Competitive tactics: Price cuts, comparison ads, or rapid expansion to beat rivals.
•Proactive approach: The company doesn't wait for demand, it pushes products to the market.
•Goal: Fast growth, increased sales, and dominance in the market.
•High investment: Usually requires strong financial resources for campaigns and promotions.

So, which is a better option for

entrepreneurs? Guerilla or Aggressive?
Aggressive Marketing
Why Startups Usually Don’t Use
Aggressive Marketing:
[Link] requires a lot of money When a Startup Might Use
Heavy advertising, big promotions, and large Aggressive Marketing:
campaigns are expensive, and startups usually have
limited budgets. •It receives major funding (e.g.,
venture capital).
[Link] focus on niche markets first
Early-stage companies typically use entrepreneurial •It wants to grow extremely fast (e.g.,
marketing, which is low-budget, creative, and food delivery apps, ride-sharing
targeted, not aggressive. apps).

[Link] marketing is used by bigger, •It aims to beat first movers.

established companies
These companies have the resources to dominate
markets quickly and fight competitors directly.
MARKETING RESEARCH

Interpreting
Defining the Gathering
Gathering and Research
purpose and secondary
primary data reporting the questions
objectives data
information
 INHIBITORS TO MARKETING RESEARCH
3. Strategic 4. Irrelevancy
[Link] of 2. Complexity decisions Many entrepreneurs
Marketing This especially arises in Some entrepreneurs feel believe marketing
Marketing research can the quantitative aspect. that only major strategic research data will
be expensive, and some The key concern is decisions need to be contain either
entrepreneurs believe interpretation of the data. supported through information that merely
that only major An entrepreneur can marketing research. This supports what they
organizations can afford obtain the advice and idea is tied to the cost and already know or
it. Indeed, some counsel of skilled people complexity. The problem irrelevant information.
high-level marketing in statistical design and lies not only in the Although it might be
research is expensive, evaluation by calling on misunderstanding of cost true sometimes, it is
but very affordable the services of marketing and complexity but also in knowledge that has been
marketing techniques research specialists or the belief that marketing tested and thus allows
also can be used by university professors research’s value is the individual to act on it
smaller companies. trained in this area restricted to major with more confidence
decisions.
DEVELOPING THE MARKETING CONCEPT

Effective marketing is based on three

key elements:
• marketing philosophy,
• market segmentation and
• consumer behavior
DEVELOPING THE MARKETING CONCEPT
1. Marketing philosophy: 3 types:

Production-Driven Philosophy: is based on the belief ‘produce efficiently and worry about sales later’.
Production is the main emphasis; sales follow in the wake of production. New ventures that produce
high-tech, state-of-the-art output sometimes use a production-driven philosophy and likely will suffer from
it.

Sales-Driven Philosophy: focuses on personal selling and advertising to persuade customers to buy the
company’s output. When an over-abundance of supply occurs in the market, this philosophy often surfaces.
New car dealers, for example, rely heavily on a sales-driven philosophy.

Consumer-Driven Philosophy: relies on research to discover consumer preferences, desires and needs
before production actually begins. This philosophy stresses the need for marketing research in order to
better understand where or who a market is and to develop a strategy targeted towards that group.
 Marketing Philosophy
Three major factors influence the choice of a marketing philosophy:
Entrepreneur’s background
The range of skills and abilities entrepreneurs possess varies
greatly. While some have a sales and marketing background,
others possess production and operations experience.

Competitive pressure: Short-term focus:

The intensity of the competition will dictate Sometimes a sales-driven philosophy may be
a new venture’s philosophy. For example, preferred due to a short-term focus on
strong competition will force many ‘moving the merchandise’ and generating
entrepreneurs to develop a consumer sales. Although this focus appears to
orientation. On the other if hand, little increase sales, it soon ignores customer
competition exists, the entrepreneur may preferences and contributes to long-range
remain with a production orientation dissatisfaction.
Marketing Segmentation
Market segmentation is the process of identifying a specific set of characteristics (subgroups) that differentiate
one group of consumers from the rest. Example: Grameenphone segments its market in Bangladesh based on
income, lifestyle, and usage patterns:

Income-based
segmentation:
•Low-income customers:
affordable prepaid plans with
Lifestyle/usage-ba
small data packages. sed segmentation:
•Middle/high-income customers: •Students: social media and
premium postpaid plans with music streaming packs.
high-speed internet and extra •Professionals: business Geographic
benefits. packages with call, data, segmentation:
and email services. •Urban areas: faster 4G/5G
networks, exclusive apps and
offers.
•Rural areas: affordable packages
and strong basic network
 Consumer Behavior
Consumer behaviour is defined by the many types and patterns of consumer characteristics. However,
entrepreneurs can focus their attention on only two considerations:
• personal characteristics and
• psychological characteristics
Entrepreneurs should be aware of five major consumer classifications:
• convenience goods – whether staple goods (foods), impulse goods (checkout counter items), or emergency
goods and services – consumers will want these goods and services but will not be willing to spend time shopping
for them

• shopping goods are products consumers will take time to examine carefully and compare for quality and price

• specialty goods consist of products or services consumers make a special effort to find and purchase

• unsought goods are items consumers do not currently need or seek – common examples are life insurance,
encyclopedias and cemetery plots – these products require explanation or demonstration

• new products are items that are unknown due to lack of advertising or are new products that take time to be
understood – when micro-computers were first introduced, for example, they fell into this category.
Consumer Behavior
Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavior also greatly varies depending on the life cycle stage
MARKETING STAGES FOR GROWING VENTURES
Entrepreneurial marketing Refers to marketing activities carried out by new, small, or startup
businesses that have limited resources but rely heavily on creativity, flexibility, and innovation to reach
customers.

Opportunistic marketing is a stage of marketing where a company focuses on expanding its reach
as quickly as possible by taking advantage of opportunities in the market. It is common in growing
companies that have moved beyond the startup phase.

Responsive marketing is when a company actively listens to customers’ needs and responds by
improving or developing products and services that better fit those needs. It marks a shift from just
selling more (opportunistic marketing) to understanding customers deeply and tailoring offerings
accordingly.

Diversified marketing is the most advanced stage of marketing where a company operates in
multiple markets, multiple product lines, or multiple industries, and manages all of them strategically at
a corporate level.
MARKETING STAGES FOR GROWING VENTURES
PRICING STRATEGIES

Factors that affect this pricing:

-the degree of competitive pressure,

-the availability of sufficient supply,
-seasonal or cyclical changes in demand,
-distribution costs,
-the product’s life cycle stage,
-changes in production costs,
-prevailing economic conditions,
-customer services provided by the seller,
-the amount of promotion done, and
-the market’s buying power.
PRICING STRATEGIES