Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Framework For Creating Opportunity With Competitive Angles
Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Framework For Creating Opportunity With Competitive Angles
Entrepreneurial Marketing: A Framework For Creating Opportunity With Competitive Angles
Michael J. Swenson
Brigham Young University
Gary K. Rhoads
Brigham Young University
David B. Whitlark
Brigham Young University
Recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing strategies and tactics are
critical for any enterprise. Entrepreneurs, in particular, continually search for and seek to develop
opportunities in the marketplace. We present a framework for opportunity recognition and marketing
strategy development, designed to integrate marketing theory and practice.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the search for entrepreneurial relevance in business schools has been given additional
impetus. Entrepreneurs complain that business schools often fail to meet their needs. Their major concern
is that the traditional marketing strategies and tactics of Fortune 500 companies simply don’t work for
start-up companies. Because of this, entrepreneurs have given additional stimulus to the search for
managerial relevance in business schools. The purpose of our paper is to present a framework for
opportunity recognition and marketing strategy development, designed for entrepreneurs.
The framework for opportunity recognition and marketing strategy evolves from the relevant
marketing literature, from field interviews and observations that identify best marketing practices of
successful entrepreneurs as well as pitfalls of startup failures. This research initiates a process of
identifying and categorizing various approaches, techniques, tactics, and methods that might be useful in
guiding entrepreneurs in recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing
strategies. Furthermore, the classification framework provides a means of organizing strategic decision-
making activities into groups that are amenable to systematic investigation.
The basic premise of the framework is that information about the marketplace has value to
entrepreneurs in competitive markets. The resulting framework, delineated in Figure 1, presents a
systematic approach to evaluate and execute entrepreneurial marketing: (1) creating opportunity; (2)
multiplying the effect; (3) leveraging relationships; (4) accelerating the process; (5) making profits. The
framework has been tested with graduate and undergraduate business students, would-be entrepreneurs,
and practicing entrepreneurs.
Opportunities are hard to spot because, often, they look like simple tactics or angles. For startups, the
choice of competitive angle is what really determines winners and losers. Successful products and
services have competitive angles. The first test in evaluating a business idea or opportunity is to look for
the competitive angle. We define a competitive angle by its components. A competitive angle has five
facets, dimensions or qualities. These are (1) need to believe, (2) reason to believe, (3) blows away
expectations, (4) quantifiable support, and (5) unique product claim (Rhoads, Swenson, and Whitlark,
2010).
Need to Believe
First, is there a need to believe? Is there enough pain (or pleasure) to make people really want to
purchase the product? If there is no need or problem (opportunity) for consumers, then there is no
solution, and with no solution, there is no company. So, the first facet of identifying a competitive angle
is to understand the consumers’ need to believe that there is enough pain (pleasure) to motivate them to
purchase the new product.
Reason to Believe
The desire to believe that there is a better product to ease pain or increase pleasure is a powerful
force. This leads to the next element of a competitive angle—reason to believe. Does the product touch
the human sense of believability? That is, will consumers “believe” that the product can deliver on its
claims? Said another way, is there reason to believe that the product will deliver value to consumers?
Quantifiable Support
A related element to “desire to believe” is quantifiable support. What facts and figures enhance the
product’s claims? What is the quantifiable support for product distinctions? This is a must for the
analytical buyer and for risky, big-ticket purchases.
For entrepreneurs, the notion of the multiplying effect is to identify and partner with people who have
a significant influence over the target market and who can catapult the entrepreneur’s idea to the
forefront. Certainly, entrepreneurs have two generic choices about how to grow and develop the business.
They can do it on their own or they can solicit help from others. The age-old adage of “If you want
something done right, do it yourself” has two qualifiers: (1) only if you can do it well, and (2) only if you
have the bandwidth and energy to do it well. Many entrepreneurs try, at first, to do it on their own. They
want complete control of market research, product design, finance, accounting, production, marketing,
sales, distribution, etc. Some can do it all, many cannot. Our experience as researchers, marketers, and
entrepreneurs suggests that finding the right people to help grow the business is an important determinant
of success for entrepreneurs. This is particularly true in the marketing function.
An entrepreneur increases the probability of success when he/she connects with people who are
connected to and have influence over the target market (e.g., Gladwell, 2002). Such connections provide
introductions and recommendations that lend credibility to the entrepreneur and to his/her product
offering (e.g., Heiman and Sanchez, 1987).
LEVERAGING RELATIONSHIPS
Leveraging relationships with advisors, suppliers, and customers has the potential to increase business
success. Entrepreneurs are counseled to find company advisors as soon as possible to save time,
frustration, and headaches in the early stages (Lusk and Harrison, 2002). Advisors with experience and
knowledge may provide strategic and tactical guidance. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should leverage
To accelerate the process, entrepreneurs must target their efforts and resources and drive the market.
There are a number of ways to segment a market into manageable chunks. The mainstream marketing
textbooks promote the usual dividing lines separating groups of people. Things like demographics,
psychographics, lifestyles, benefits sought, product usage, etc. Our favorite segmentation approach,
however, is borrowed from politics. Political strategists and candidates look at the world and their task in
very simple terms. Voters are separated into three groups—Pro, Swing, and Anti. Just to make things a
little more interesting, we refer to the groups as Love, Swing, and Hate. A key step in accelerating the
process is to discover what the Love Group loves about the product and take this message to the
undecided or to the Swing Group. We call this selling to the Swing Group through the eyes of the Love
Group.
We frequently ask marketing managers, “Who is in your Love Group?” We rarely receive a
satisfactory answer, however. The fact is that most companies can’t identify who faithfully purchases
their products beyond offering up a few demographics like average age, gender split, and regional sales
percentages. Entrepreneurs can’t afford to be that cavalier. The Love Group is their lifeblood. Just like a
political candidate, entrepreneurs must know and retain their Love Group while at the same time help the
fence sitters see their product through the eyes of the Love Group. Entrepreneurs don’t need 50 percent of
the popular vote to succeed, but nevertheless need a strong core audience that they thoroughly understand.
By thoroughly understand, we are talking about drawing together a customer profile that looks more like
a Mona Lisa than a stick figure. What do customers look like, how do they express themselves, what do
they read and watch, where do they live, what vehicles do they drive, what are their hopes and aspirations,
and most important, which of our product features and benefits really get them going?
Entrepreneurs like the simple Love-Swing-Hate approach to attacking the marketplace, but often
point out that their new products, many of which are just in the idea stage, don’t have a Love Group. They
raise an important point and put themselves on the threshold of discovering what really sets a successful
entrepreneur apart from a frustrated, would-be entrepreneur. Successful entrepreneurs don’t expect their
Love Group to find them; they aggressively seek out their Love Group. “Build it and they will come,”
rarely works in today’s world of information overload and product proliferation. Realizing we don’t have
a Love Group is the first step in beginning to prospect to find a Love Group.
There are many ways to prospect for a Love Group, but we suggest bringing eight to twelve people
together that should benefit from the new product, feed them pizza, and solicit their impressions. After
explaining the product concept, the researcher asks questions like, “Who would love this product; what
would they love about it; where and how would they use it?” Or if a little more adventuresome, the
MAKING PROFITS
To drive profits, successful entrepreneurs get products and ideas out quickly, involve early-adopting
customers, identify specific buying and usage situations, tap into revenue streams that complement core
products, and learn to sell.
Most new products fail. Starting with the Booz Allen Hamilton study in the 1980s, research shows
again and again that new products have about a one in ten chance of success (Booz Allen Hamilton,
1980). We are not alarmed by the low percent of success. There is a lot of failure in the marketplace, but
there also is a lot of success.
Entrepreneurs cannot afford to spend years perfecting a product idea. To identify a winner, they need
to get the ideas out quickly and involve early-adopting customers in the design process. We admit the
thought of putting out a less-than-perfect product is painful, but the prospect of never striking gold, when
gold is all around us, is even more painful.
Perfect products don’t guarantee entrepreneurial success. Combining a good product with the right
angle or high-value application is more important than finding absolute perfection out of the starting gate.
Most customers, particularly early adopters, are surprisingly forgiving when a fresh idea appears to have
real merit.
Successful entrepreneurs often turn good ideas into great ideas by fine-tuning the details to address a
specific usage situation. They find a situation to dominate. By understanding the usage situation, the
entrepreneur can easily understand needs, wants, and how to deliver value. Consumers look for products
and make purchase decisions based on situational needs not according to some demographic profile. The
DISCUSSION
At this stage we are not claiming that our framework is complete. Our purpose is to initiate a process
of identifying and categorizing various approaches, techniques, and methods that might be useful in
guiding entrepreneurs in recognizing market opportunities and then developing responsive marketing
strategies. Furthermore, the classification framework provides a means for organizing strategic decision-
making activities into groups that are amenable to systematic investigation.
REFERENCES
Barwise, P. (2004). Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters Most,
Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Bhid, A. (1998). The Road Well Traveled, Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Booz Allen Hamilton (1982). New Products Management for the 1980s, New York: Booz Allen
Hamilton, Inc.
Gadiesh, O. & J.L. Gilbert (1998). Profit Pools: A Fresh Look at Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 76,
May-June, 139-147.
Gladwell, M. (2002). The Tipping Point, New York: Little Brown and Company.
Hamel, G. & C.K. Prahalad (2005). Strategic Intent. Harvard Business Review, 83, July-August, 148-161.
Heiman, S.E. & D. Sanchez (1987). The New Conceptual Selling, New York: Warner Books.
Lusk, J. & K. Harrison (2002). The Mouse Driver Chronicles, Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.
Narver, J.C., S.F. Slater, & D.L. MacLachlan (2004). Responsive and Proactive Market Orientation and
New-Product Success. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 21, (5), 334-347.
Rhoads, G., M. Swenson, & D. Whitlark (2010). Boom Start: Principles of Entrepreneurial Marketing,
Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.