Introduction
Small and medium-sized (SME) business organizations are essential constituents in a national economy. In a highly competitive and dynamic economic environment today, proper utilization of marketing techniques is vital for a firm’s successful performance. Entrepreneurial marketing is a relatively new concept that has to utilize specific approaches for resolving individual issues (Jayawarna, Jones, Lam, & Phua, 2014).
To plan a strategy for a new venture, an entrepreneur has to address multiple problems, including financing, resources, efficiency, targeted population, and many others, not to fail. That is why it is essential to investigate the question of the influential elements in entrepreneurial marketing. The article chosen for analysis is entitled “Effective entrepreneurial marketing on Facebook – A longitudinal study” by Fink, Koller, Gartner, Floh, and Harms. The contemporary world of information and technology presents a variety of both challenges and opportunities for a small business which, when utilized rationally, can contribute to a venture’s performance.
Article Critique
Fink et al. (2018) present a longitudinal study of the marketing tools application in a long-term perspective on Facebook as one of the biggest social media platforms in the modern world. In the authors’ opinion, social media’s rapid evolution and its ability to spread information fast present advantages for entrepreneurial marketing. One of the main benefits available online is celebrity endorsement that enables transforming “the positive image of the celebrity to the sponsor’s brand and ultimately to heighten purchase intention” (Fink et al., 2018, para. 3). Also, the character of users’ grouping on Facebook allows ventures to use community-based marketing that addresses specific groups of people who share common interests.
However, the changeable and hectic nature of Facebook provides its threats to the stability of a firm’s performance. For a small emerging venture, it might be challenging to fit the pace of the informational shifts and to adjust its policy according to new requirements. The study is carried out on the basis of the information integration theory and utilizes data about celebrity-endorsed brands presented on Facebook and their effect on community fans’ purchasing preferences.
The research concludes that celebrity endorsement on social media increases the level of purchase intention among active users in a long-term perspective (Fink et al., 2018). The results contribute to the research scope on the issue of entrepreneurial marketing.
The Article’s Contribution to the Understanding of Entrepreneurial Marketing
The analyzed article contributes to the overall perception of the concept of marketing as it emerges in the contemporary technologically advanced and quality demanding society. For small enterprises, it is important to develop not only within their home countries but also internationally (Zeriti, Robson, Spyropoulou, & Leonidou, 2014). Within this framework, innovation and technology should be prioritized by a small firm on its way to development (Chomvilailuk, 2016).
According to Fink et al. (2018), social media is a powerful tool in the hands of marketing specialists because it has no boundaries and provides access to information. Access to data and the ability to influence consumers with its help allows solving issues of financing, finding the targeted population, and others.
New small business ventures tend to fail more often if they are applied with poor marketing techniques. This issue is acutely relevant for small firms that lack financing and seek investors’ support, thus being exposed to the influence of the funding firm’s interests (Homburg, Hahn, Bornemann, & Sandner, 2014). Thus, prioritizing the business vision of the funding venture, an entrepreneurial organization becomes deprived of its original ideas and ambitions, which may ultimately lead to a failure of the enterprise.
For small business marketing, at its initial stages of development, a process of entrepreneurial learning is essential. Entrepreneurial learning is a concept of acquiring, transforming, and using the scope of knowledge a person has that apply to the opening of a new venture (Leiva, Alegre, & Monge, 2014).
The capability to utilize necessary data in a current situation is crucial for small business success. Learning the peculiarities of the locations, cultural differences between customers and producers, as well as According to Leiva et al. (2014), the accumulated or acquired knowledge is “the most relevant resource a company can possess to generate competitive advantage and superior sustainable performance” (p. 132). Therefore, small business should concentrate on the available information about the field it is involved in and the data that can be retrieved from similar companies or parent firms.
A key to a successful entrepreneurial performance lies in access to and proper utilization of the necessary information. Such an approach contributes to the “dynamic capabilities” of an enterprise that constitute the ability of leaders to incorporate resources, processes, and trends in business into an effective decision-making process (Gupta, Dutta, & Chen, 2014, p. 158). In general, knowledge and learning are the integral parts of the entrepreneurial orientation as a significant influence of a company’s long-term efficiency and successful existence (Kelly, 2016). Entrepreneurial learning and orientation are better understood when addressed from the perspective of the ideas discussed by Fink et al. (2018) because access to information has a significant influence on marketing today.
The Ways the Article Could Improve SME Practice
The analyzed study could be applied to SME practice improvement in several ways. Firstly, it emphasizes the importance of an innovative thinking direction that is relevant to the modern technology-oriented business environment. Secondly, the results of the research amplify the necessity of information utilization in entrepreneurial marketing, with social media being a priority. Finally, the authors of the article imply that informational awareness, entrepreneurial learning, and orientation are vital in the competitive world of SME.
Conclusion
In summary, marketing for small business is a narrow sphere that requires specific tools and approaches. In the modern world of technology and information, it is essential for an entrepreneur to have a dynamic capability to adjust to the unpredictable business environment. It is possible when utilizing the techniques of entrepreneurial learning and orientation for the popularization of a brand. Traditional tools applied in a modern way, as celebrity endorsement on Facebook, could contribute to SME sustainable performance.
References
Chomvilailuk, R. (2016). Disruptive innovation, entrepreneurial marketing, and competitive advantages. International Journal of Business and Economics, 8(1). Web.
Fink, M., Koller, M., Gartner, J., Floh, A., & Harms, R. (2018). Effective entrepreneurial marketing on Facebook – A longitudinal study. Journal of Business Research. Web.
Gupta, V. K., Dutta, D. K., & Chen, X. (2014). Entrepreneurial orientation capability and firm performance under conditions of organizational learning. Journal of Managerial Issues, 26(2), 157-173.
Homburg, C., Hahn, A., Bornemann, T., & Sandner, P. (2014). The role of chief marketing officers for venture capital funding: Endowing new ventures with marketing legitimacy. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(5), 625-644.
Jayawarna, D., Jones, O., Lam, W., & Phua, S. (2014). The performance of entrepreneurial ventures: Examining the role of marketing practices. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 21(4), 565-587. Web.
Kelly, T. G. (2016). Entrepreneurial orientation: What is it and why might it be a hidden strategy for building long-term enterprise value? The Journal of Private Equity, 19(2) 7-14.
Leiva, J. C., Alegre, J., & Monge, R. (2014). The influence of entrepreneurial learning in new firms’ performance: A study in Costa Rica. Innovar: Revista de ciencias administrativas y sociales, 24, 129-140.
Zeriti, A., Robson, M. J., Spyropoulou, S., & Leonidou, C. N. (2014). Sustainable export marketing strategy fit and performance. Journal of International Marketing, 22(4), 44-66.