Marketing Strategies: SMEs, Medium, and Large Enterprises in the UK

This report provides an in-depth analysis of entrepreneurial marketing, focusing on the practices of small and micro-enterprises (SMEs), medium-sized businesses, and large corporations. It begins with an introduction to the concept of entrepreneurial marketing, highlighting the importance of SMEs in the UK economy. The main body of the report delves into the diverse marketing strategies employed by each business size, including innovative and word-of-mouth marketing for SMEs, competency and relationship marketing for medium-sized businesses, and paid and co-branding marketing for large enterprises. The report then compares the marketing approaches of SMEs, medium, and large businesses, emphasizing differences in marketing teams, customer segments, and marketing practices. Furthermore, it explores Schumpeter's theory of innovation, explaining its relevance to SMEs and providing real-world examples like CafePod Coffee Co. and Marshfield Bakery. The report concludes with a critical evaluation of SME marketing practices, underscoring the benefits of innovative and word-of-mouth strategies in building customer relationships and driving business growth. The report highlights how SMEs can leverage innovation to reduce costs, increase productivity, and build brand loyalty.

Entrepreneurial Marketing

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
References:.......................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Small business entrepreneurship are the enterprise working with objective and goal to
innovate to reduce the production cost and increase the profitability with sole proprietorship.
Micro entrepreneurship are the like small business with less than 10 employees with low capital
and enjoys the closer relationship with customers (Blankson, Cowan and Darley, 2018). Hence
SMEs are the source of economic development of the UK. The report outline the marketing
practices of the small, micro, medium and large sized businesses and difference between
marketing of SMEs and medium or large business are discussed. Further in report entrepreneurial
theory of innovation is discussed in context of SME and critically marketing practices of SMEs
are analysed.
MAIN BODY
Marketing is the implementation to make the customer aware and familiar to the product
and service served by the organisation. Marketing is the necessary to reach the objectives and
goals of the firm (Geiger and Kjellberg, 2021). SME, medium and large sized businesses have
different marketing practice to make there product visible in the eyes of the customers:
Marketing practice of Small and micro (SME) business entrepreneurship:
 Innovative marketing- SME are innovative and creative with there ideas and so are
there marketing practices, thus small and micro business employ the innovative
marketing which are with innovative tactics to attract the consumers to support the small
and micro businesses. These innovations are widely influenced by the latest technology.
Small and micro firm does not have a separate marketing team to plan and implement
there marketing strategies in the market therefore with limited resources they gather
information and apply it to craft innovation tactics which are customer oriented (Gure
and Karugu, 2018). Hence, this form of marketing practice is simple, answering, reactive,
competitive and opportunistic in nature. This marketing also helps in identification of
innovative risk management.
 Word of mouth marketing- Word of mouth marketing is informal marketing practice by
the small and micro organisation, where the focus is on retaining the customers who are
satisfied and happy with the service provided by the entrepreneur. In this marketing
practice the entrepreneur or owner of the firm interact physically with the customer or on
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the phone calls to create a unique and positive impact on customers mind towards the
new product and services. The aim of this marketing is to make satisfied customer loyal
towards the brand and also assure customer towards quality of service. Therefore
implementation of word of mouth technique is best for the SME as they are highly
interested in building good customer relationship and maintaining there customers for
long period as there survival is dependent on them (Hassan and Yazdanifard, 2019).
Marketing practices of Medium sized business entrepreneurship:
 Competency marketing: Core competencies are skills, features, expertise of the firm
which provide them with competitive advantage in the market and using those
competencies the medium sized business build there marketing strategies to convey the
consumers about the unique competency of there firm from other competitors in market.
This marketing practice helps the firm to capture the market position, build more
customers, increase the revenue and brand loyalty. Hence competency marketing is the
powerful tool for medium sized business to stand against the other competitors of the
industry and develop the brand image.
 Relationship marketing: Relationship with customer, investors, partners and other
people who contribute in success and growth of the medium sized firms is a vital factor to
be maintained and cherished. Relationship marketing is one of the tactic to build such
relationship with customers, investors and other peoples to build brand loyalty, customer
trust in service or product so that firm can have life time values to flourish its business
(INDONESIA, 2018). This marketing practice is highly adopted by the medium size
business to grow and maintain the stability in market with the customers and partners as
this helps the firm to build more customers and also attract large size companies to make
acquisition with them which results in higher revenue.
Marketing practices of large sized business entrepreneurship:
 Paid marketing: Large sized business are firm with large number of employees and high
capital. Therefore these firms use paid marketing practice to avail there products to the
consumers in fancy and attractive manner. Paid marketing the traditional approach where
large size business advertise there brand on televisions, magazines and newspapers. Now
in recent era the paid marketing is in form of pay per click, SEO and other social
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platforms. Hence for large size companies this is highly beneficial and feasible to
encounter there product and services by new customers online.
 Co- branding marketing: The well known marketing practice adopted by the large sized
business where two well known large sized business brand unite and promote the product
and service provided by them in market. This marketing practice is boost the brand image
, increase the customer base as the customer of one brand enters the another brand also,
profitability and market share are increased (Kanapickiene and Spicas, 2019). Thus this
marketing practice is turned as the advantage for the large sized companies as they often
lead to merger and partnership for long run.
Difference between marketing of SME , medium and large sized business
Basis SME Medium-sized business Large-sized business
Marketing
team
SME are the small
organisation with the one
owner and less employees
and with less capital
therefore there is no
marketing team of SME
the marketing research and
strategies are developed
by the owner or manager.
Thus there marketing are
innovative and in formal.
Medium sized business
are the enterprise with
less than 100 employee
and capital is raised by
investors therefore they
have marketing team to
develop the marketing
strategies and practices
that company will
employ for profitability
and productivity (Min
and Jeong, 2019).
Large sized business are
big companies with
heavy capital and large
number of employees,
therefore they hire the
whole marketing
companies for there
marketing of products
and services in
accordance to make
there product visible in
larger market areas.
Customer and
market
segment
SME are the small and
micro business with
limited and local
customers and market
segments. Marketing
practices utilized by the
SME are to influence and
Medium-sized business
have moderate number
of customers and there
loyalty towards the brand
is important for firm.
Marketing of medium
sized business is based
Large sized firm are
always trying to grab
new customers to
increase the revenue
and productivity of the
business. The marketing
of large sized business
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retain there local and
regular customers in order
to survive in local market
segment.
on capturing new
customer segment and
retaining the existing
ones.
is usually build to
attract luge volume of
customer around the
globe(Raman and
Menon, 2018).
Schumpeter’s Theory of Innovation
Theory of innovation is advised by the J.A. Schumpeter who believes that the every
entrepreneurship is the the innovation of new things and entrepreneur is the innovator of new
accumulation. This entrepreneur is not only the one who operate the enterprise or owns the firm
but a person who innovates something completely different. Innovation theory of Schumpeter is
the core of the SMEs and helps in the economic development because Small and Micro business
work on formula to reduce the price and increase the profitability. Schumpeter has 5 basis of this
theory which are mentioned underneath:
 Innovation of new product that a customer is not aware of and hasn't experienced earlier,
or a product with new quality and features.
 Innovation of the new methods or process of production, introduction of new machinery,
new technique to produce or handle commercial commodities. This reduces the cost of
production and increase the profitability and productivity (Rungani and Potgieter, 2018).
 Innovation and opening of new market means market which already might exist but one
is entering first time in the that market with something existing or new as a commercial
purpose.
 Discovery of new source of supply of raw materials means the location of supply of raw
material which is not been exploited by the entrepreneur earlier in the firm.
 Innovation of management that is the repositioning of the firm in the industry by adopting
monopoly or breaking monopoly of others in market.
Above theory is implemented by the various SMEs of the UK to innovate new products and
services. As the market of SME are small therefore innovation in market is not implemented by
the SME. This theory encourage the innovation in the small and micro business of the UK to
increase the economy. For example small and micro enterprise of UK, CafePod coffee Co. and
Marshfield Bakery are the enterprise with consistent innovation in there products to survive the
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market. These firms have adopted the theory of innovation with the first aspect innovation in
products and services and the second aspect innovation in process of production. The innovations
of these firms are:
CoffeePod Coffee Co. - they use CO2 decaffeination method which is natural method to remove
proportion of caffeine from coffee which is less harmful to health. Their coffee pods are
recyclable. The innovative idea of the firm to innovate new product with the new process to
attract the consumers with the thought of environment safety and sustainability is unique. This
will help firm to stand against the competitors and build brand loyalty.
Marshfield Bakery- they supposed to serve hand made snacks like biscuits, cakes, seasonal food
and etc. They allow their customers to see how their food is prepared, what all ingredients is
used to make that particular dish. The firm has adopted the innovation in management where the
customers trust is build up with innovation in process of production. Hence, results in brand
loyalty and identification.
Hence, It is beneficial for SMEs because SMEs have less funding system so they can not grow
with the help of finance but they can only become famous when they introduce some new ideas
which is unique from others(Sartipi, 2020).
Critical evaluation of marketing practices of SMEs
It is evaluated that SME is extremely benefited from the Schumpeter's theory of
innovation as the theory leads the small and micro business to innovate in product and services
they offer to customers and also helps in improving and enhancing the quality of product. The
marketing practice of the SME innovative marketing influenced by the theory of innovation as
this factor helps in market penetration, brand repositioning, product diversification with
innovative and unique ideas that are applied to develop a innovative marketing strategy. It is
analysed that the innovative marketing helps the SME in becoming customer oriented as these
innovations are crafted on the basis of customer needs and demands (Blankson, Cowan and
Darley, 2018). The innovative marketing practice of the SME is useful in fulfilment of the goal
of SME that is reduce the production cost and increase productivity. SME another marketing
practice word of mouth is also healthful to business in building customer relationship. This
marketing practice needs no capital investment and which helps in reducing the production cost
which also reduces the buying price for customers. Word of mouth marketing helps the small
businesses in motivating the others to talk about there products. This marketing practice of SME
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has a potential to speedily attract the customers and response towards the brand are also positive.
Word of mouth advertising by SME build trust and friendly relationship between buyers and
sellers of the firm. Hence the marketing practices of the SME foster the economic condition of
the business and engrave long term relationship with the customers. Brand loyalty and brand
awareness is the advantage of these marketing strategies (Geiger and Kjellberg, 2021).
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that the SME business entrepreneurship is the
enterprise with less employees, less capital but highest in innovation and creativity. Marketing
practices of SME such as innovative marketing and word of mouth marketing are the effective
and efficient practices to develop the firms revenue and the customer relationship. SME are more
customer oriented and differ from medium and large sized business on the basis of marketing
team and customer segment. Entrepreneurial theory of innovation by Schumpeter is used to
critically evaluate the benefits of marketing practices of SME. Thus SME has benefited in terms
of innovation in products and there marketing skills.
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References:
Books and Journals
Blankson, C., Cowan, K. and Darley, W.K., 2018. Marketing practices of rural micro and small
businesses in Ghana: The role of public policy.Journal of Macromarketing. 38(1).
pp.29-56.
Geiger, S. and Kjellberg, H., 2021. Market mash ups: The process of combinatorial market
innovation. Journal of Business Research. 124. pp.445-457.
Gure, A.K. and Karugu, J., 2018. Strategic management practices and performance of small and
micro enterprises in Nairobi City County, Kenya. International Academic Journal of
Human Resource and Business Administration. 3(1). pp.1-26.
Hassan, A. and Yazdanifard, R., 2019. Global Marketing Practices that Created Controversies
and How They Could Possibly Be Avoided. International Journal of Management,
Accounting & Economics. 6(8). pp.640-654.
INDONESIA, M.P.I., 2018. Competitive advantage and product innovation: Key success of
Batik SMEs marketing performance in Indonesia. Academy of Strategic Management
Journal. 17(2).
Kanapickiene, R. and Spicas, R., 2019. Credit risk assessment model for small and micro-
enterprises: the case of Lithuania. Risks. 7(2). p.67.
Min, S., So, K.K.F. and Jeong, M., 2019. Consumer adoption of the Uber mobile application:
Insights from diffusion of innovation theory and technology acceptance model. Journal
of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 36(7). pp.770-783.
Raman, R. and Menon, P., 2018. Using social media for innovation–market segmentation of
family firms. International Journal of Innovation Science.
Rungani, E.C. and Potgieter, M., 2018. The impact of financial support on the success of small,
medium and micro enterprises in the Eastern Cape province.Acta Commercii. 18(1).
pp.1-12.
Sartipi, F., 2020. Diffusion of Innovation Theory in the Realm of Environmental Construction.
Journal of Construction Materials.1. pp.4-2.
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