Entrepreneurial Marketing: Small Business Environment, Operational Issues, and Theory vs Practice

This article explores the distinguishing features of the small business environment, key marketing operational issues faced by new small ventures, and compares and contrasts standard marketing theory and practice. It discusses how Qbic hotel uses brand management and word of mouth strategy for marketing. The article also highlights the challenges and strategies of marketing in SMEs.

Entrepreneurial Marketing
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Distinguishing features of small business environment..............................................................3
Key marketing operational issues faced by new small venture...................................................4
Compare and contrast standard marketing theory and practice...................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
For every organisation it is necessary to do marketing of products and services. It allows in
generating awareness in market. However, for a small and medium enterprise they have to do
effective and strategic marketing. It is because as they are already small so people might not
know about what type of products and services are being offered. besides that, concept and
model of marketing followed in this is completely different from large enterprise. This is due to
small target audience and low profit margin on products. there are several marketing theories and
practice applied. It depends on products of SME (Alqahtani, and Uslay, 2020)
The report will lay emphasis on how marketing in SME differs from medium and large
business. Also, it will be described about marketing issues faced by new small companies.
moreover, it will be discussed about marketing theory and practice of Obic hotel. the hotel is
based in London. it was founded in 2009. hotel provide accommodation services.
MAIN BODY
Distinguishing features of small business environment
The small business ventures are engaged in those marketing programs which allow in
creating awareness in the market. This is because of tough competition and lack of financial
funds to run venture. Basically, competition is related to customers and market which origin
from large organisation. Thus, small ventures are forced to find out relevant marketing strategies
which is suitable to their resource and capability in spite of tough competition in market. In
addition to it, the innovative approaches are more flexible to apply by optimum use of resources.
So, in order to attract customers and do marketing Qbic hotel have adopted strategy of brand
management. It allows them to market it by differentiating it from others products. furthermore,
in this focus is on increasing value of product along with brand over particular time period. It
allows them to specify target market. Also, they endeavoured by offering high quality services at
affordable prices. hence, it has enabled in distinguish of brand name (Bandara, Kodithuwakku,
and Jayaweera, 2019).
through that, the hotel is based in London and founded in 2009 Qbic hotel. it is having 60
employees. The hotel is able to understand their customers needs. so, accordingly products are
designed and developed as per desire of people. Henceforth, it is found that marketing in small
business is done to build long term relation and increase customer loyalty (O'Cass and Morrish,
2016). This is done at personal level of customer so that they are retained for long time. On
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contrary Qbic hotel inability to use expensive marketing techniques force them to go for
alternative methods such as word of mouth, oral communication. then, loyal customer do market
it to others. In this way, a chain is created that leads to creating awareness.
The Qbic hotel prefer to decrease number of services due to limited resources and
improving differentiation strategy so that it is easy to do marketing. In that products are
customized in such a way that it represents a unique thing in market and distinguish it from
others. Generally, new features are added into along with its quality such as rooms, suits, etc to
distinguish it from big companies. Through this, the purchase or consumption of the small
business products becomes expected to the consumers (de Sá, , Farhangmehr, and Pinho, 2016).
Social network is integrated tool of different social sites where a large number of people
are engaged in it. It is a combination of the internet and collaborations with the customers acts as
a formidable strategy for managing small businesses (Alqahtani and Uslay, 2020). For instance,
the use of blogging enables small businesses directly access particular customers. This gives
them direction of receiving instant feedback on products as well as supply their products quickly.
It is also beneficial in creating awareness of new products in the market.
Qbic hotel have the option of engaging on word of mouth (WOM). due to the huge of
persons who use it as a communication platform. Through this, they can use avenues which is
cheap and convenient in creating awareness of the products and services they to a large number
of people. Moreover, the volume of products or services sought shall significantly rise (Ismail,
and Afthanorhan,, 2018).
Nonetheless, the use of social media can be detrimental if used in the wrong means by the
business. This can be manifested by the reduction in one’s customer base and volume in case the
wrong wordings are used in marketing. The best strategy for success in social marketing involves
engaging the customers online by getting their feedback and responding appropriately.
Key marketing operational issues faced by new small venture
Small venture faces a lot of issues in marketing. It highly impact on their marketing growth
and success of enterprise. So, it is necessary to determine those issues so that strategies are
developed to solve it. With that they will be able to market it in efficient way. Basically, the
operational issues faced are productive capacity, access to communication and lack of info. Thus,
solving of these issues result in increasing sales and customer base and saving cost as well.
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However, it is found that large business was successful by following the above factors. The
use of internet helped is decreasing cost of communication and reaching more people. Also,
barriers which occurred in it are eliminated. Alongside, they are able to spread info in new
markets as well. furthermore, it is stated that there is significant role in business by involving in
global transport of products. But ability of SME to engage in global transport allows them to
expand and enter in new markets (O'Cass, and Morrish, 2016). Usually, SME likes to adopt
generic strategy. It is applied into operation. hence, there are several types of strategies such as
differentiation, cost leadership, cost focus etc. With that firm is able to decrease cost of
production and distinguish product from rivals. It is done in particular market. Here, an example
of McDonald’s can be taken when they created an ad. it focused on regional and local
community. they used TV and radio to increase sales in local markets.
In research done by Alqahtani. and Uslay, 2020 in Australia it is determined that in food
sector social responsibility was not properly implemented by SME. The policy is not aligned
with goals. It is because of ineffective procedure followed. Also, there was limited funds as well.
beside that, it is analyse that owners of SME were highly influenced due to social issues. thus,
there was difficulty in implementation process.
It is stated that as SME lack funds they use website and other internet sources to advertise
products. the use of this practice is beneficial but only to some extent. This is because on internet
there are variety of ads which are displayed. but for large customer base specific info is not
reached through internet. as said by Whalen, and Gilmore, 2016, SME are highly involved in
social responsibility. they form effective policies but due to lack of staff and insufficient funds
CSR is not executed in efficient way. Moreover, in India SME work for outsourcing of services
from large companies. therefore, in order to become successful, it is essential to improve and
strengthen supply chain. Nonetheless, slow speed to delivering services due to lack of
infrastructure are not integrated with their systems. in addition, regular demand of raw material
like spare parts, motor vehicle components etc is not fulfilled by SME.
Another issue found was that Qbic hotel was not able to run regular activities due to lack
of key staff. furthermore, owner does not possess enough managerial skills due to which they
were not able to direct workers. there was difference in recruitment of staff with their job role.
due to these issues SME growth is limited as they are not able to do marketing in effective and
attractive way (Whalen, and Akaka, 2016).
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Compare and contrast standard marketing theory and practice
there are different theories and practices which is implied in marketing. it is used to relate
customer with product. In small business marketing is done on individual basis rather than
considering the entire audience. other than this, marketing is done by following of ethics of
society. Also, it is evaluated that Qbic hotel does not do marketing as whole but they find out
personal perspective of person and then analyse their needs. So, on basis of it marketing is done.
the similarity between theory and practice is that it by doing marketing of products small
business are able to attract consumer and generate awareness. It allows them to engage with them
by purchasing their products. with this all elements are applied in effective way. the theory is
useful in apply of practice in effective way. theory gives idea about consumer behaviour and how
it links to market. it helps in categorising brand and then on basis of it changing things. besides
that, practice relate brand with marketing (Yang, and Gabrielsson, 2017).
on contrary, marketing is done before product is introduced in market. it makes it easy to
define market structure in context of social, economic characteristics of target market. This
provide an insight to SME about customer taste, preference etc. On basis of that, product is
developed and launched in market. by marketing it in general way it allows in using all sources
to attract people. the strategy end with creating customer awareness. but there is no follow up or
feedback taken from customers. However, in Qbic hotel it differs as they aim to create brand
awareness in market. also, customer loyalty is developed by enhancing continuous improvement
in relationship.
the marketing theory is of 4 P’s which consists of product, place, price and promotion. It
provides a framework of how to develop marketing strategy. this is highly effective strategy as it
makes easy for SME to market products.
on other hand, goal of standard marketing theory is to increases sales. for that promotion
and advertising is done which allows in attracting customers. but it is argued that small business
aim is to develop relation with customers. this is more convenient rather than doing large
promotions. besides that, it requires less financial resources as compared to other programs
(Gilmore and Pattinson, 2020).
It is stated that in Qbic hotel another practice which is followed in word of mouth (WOM).
in this marketing is done by customers itself. they promote company products and share details
with another person. this is done either through social media, face to face communication, etc.
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word of mouth (WOM). is effective practice as it helps in personally interacting with individual.
thus, when details are shared it becomes easy to promote it. here, innovative is a practice of
finding out new ways of marketing of products. this uses other things like digital media, personal
selling by which product can be differentiated. Thus, small ventures are forced to find out
relevant marketing strategies which is suitable to their resource and capability in spite of tough
competition in market. In addition to it, the innovative approaches are more flexible to apply by
optimum use of resources.
CONCLUSION
Hereby, it is summarised that marketing environment differs with change in trends in SME.
there are various features of SME marketing. Qbic hotel follow brand management and word of
mouth strategy through which marketing is done. It is useful in distinguishing products from big
firms. Along with it, there are various marketing operational issues faced by SME like lack of
funds, resources, staff to do marketing. moreover, 4 P’s of marketing is standard theory which is
applied by Qbic hotel. it enables in developing of effective strategy by focusing on target
audience. in this all essential elements are included in it.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Alqahtani, N. and Uslay, C., 2020. Entrepreneurial marketing and firm performance: Synthesis
and conceptual development. Journal of Business Research, 113, pp.62-71.
Bandara, T.U., Kodithuwakku, S.S. and Jayaweera, V.W., 2019, October. Entrepreneurial
Marketing of Small & Medium Scale Enterprises in a Selected Divisional Secretariat
Division of Sri Lanka. In Proceedings of The International Conference on Economics
and Development (Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 25-46).
de Sá, E.S., Farhangmehr, M. and Pinho, J.C., 2016. The Context and Outcomes of
Entrepreneurial Marketing as a Decision-Making Process Under Uncertainty.
In Rediscovering the Essentiality of Marketing (pp. 353-354). Springer, Cham.
Gilmore, A. and Pattinson, H., 2020. Four questions of entrepreneurial marketing education:
Perspectives of university educators. Journal of Business Research, 113, pp.189-197.
Ismail, M. and Afthanorhan, A., 2018. Application of Entrepreneurial Marketing to the
Marketing Mix: Why it Matters to SMEs in Malaysia?. International Journal of
Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 8(12).
O'Cass, A. and Morrish, S., 2016. Anatomy of entrepreneurial marketing. Journal of Strategic
Marketing, 24(1), pp.2-4.
Whalen, P. and Gilmore, A., 2016. Anatomy of competitive advantage: towards a contingency
theory of entrepreneurial marketing. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(1), pp.5-19.
Whalen, P.S. and Akaka, M.A., 2016. A dynamic market conceptualization for entrepreneurial
marketing: the co-creation of opportunities. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 24(1), pp.61-
75.
Yang, M. and Gabrielsson, P., 2017. Entrepreneurial marketing of international high-tech
business-to-business new ventures: A decision-making process perspective. Industrial
Marketing Management, 64, pp.147-160.
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