From the Inside Flap
More often than not, the reason for the success of a new venture isn’t technology–it’s marketing. Marketing plays a crucial role not only in developing, producing, and selling products or services but also in guiding recruiting efforts and raising capital. And yet, far too many ventures are begun without careful pre-venture marketing–which can prove to be a costly and often fatal mistake.
Combining the wisdom of successful entrepreneurs with Wharton business expertise, Entrepreneurial Marketing provides entrepreneurs with the marketing concepts, methods, tactics, and strategies that can reduce the failure rate of new ventures by as much as sixty percent. This is the first book to combine sophisticated marketing approaches–such as Web-based segmentation and positioning–with practical guidance on how to apply them in entrepreneurial situations.
The authors reveal how to identify and build successful business opportunities–including many in e-commerce–while taking into consideration the constraints of typical entrepreneurial firms, such as limited finances and manpower. Their experience with dozens of companies, as well as the results of their recent survey of Inc. 500 companies conducted with Inc. magazine (detailed here for the first time), lets them offer new insights into the types of marketing programs and distribution channels used in diverse business settings.
You’ll discover how adopting entrepreneurial marketing thinking will help you:
- Answer the crucial "What am I selling to whom?" question through positioning and segmentation
- Select, develop, and evaluate new products and services and set pricing to maximize profitability
- Make the most efficient use of P.R. and publicity in launches and initial rollouts
- Manage sales reps effectively and improve productivity
- Tackle advertising decisions in tested, "non-traditional" ways
- Hire and keep the best people
- Raise the funds you need to succeed
The authors also include guerrilla techniques for viral and promotional marketing and creative, leveraged approaches to gaining visibility and name recognition on the Web. You’ll see how to make connections with customers, suppliers, investors, and even stakeholders, as well as learn proven ways to build a strong brand.
The book adeptly addresses the key challenges of the new millennium–such as globalization, corporate consolidation, and new governmental regulation–that you must consider when designing your marketing strategy.
Featuring real-world company examples, Entrepreneurial Marketing gives your entire business a sound core proposition to build on and shows you how to make the best use of your time, money, and effort in growing your business.
From the Back Cover
Exploit the powerful marketing/segmentation opportunities for new ventures
Marketing is of critical importance to the success of any entrepreneurial venture–and this book gives you the marketing methods, tools, and tactics necessary for successfully building and launching your new business opportunity, especially for e-commerce. Entrepreneurial Marketing combines entrepreneurial expertise with Wharton School business know-how to provide sophisticated marketing approaches that can dramatically reduce the failure rate of new ventures. By adopting entrepreneurial marketing thinking, you’ll master effective ways to:
- Identify your target market(s)
- Develop and evaluate new products and services
- Determine the role of the sales force
- Get the most from advertising and publicity
- Utilize the Internet for name recognition and brand building
"If you’re unconvinced that marketing makes or breaks entrepreneurial ventures, you’ll change your mind after reading this book. The Internet, global distribution, and consolidation all create new challenges and opportunities for today’s entrepreneurs. The authors offer sound advice and the same kind of solid direction you would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy from a consulting firm. I’ve used many of these techniques, with Len Lodish’s help, to grow our business from 50f the market to over 50%."–Ralph Guild, Chairman and CEO, Interep
"This book is filled with valuable and productive concepts, methods, ideas, and paradigms. These concepts have been an important contribution to Synergy’s performance–four consecutive appearances on the Inc. 500 list and a compound growth rate of 80% to current profitable revenue in excess of $20,000,000–all from initial capital of less than $100,000. A must have for entrepreneurs."–Mark Stiffler, Founder and CEO, Synergy, Inc.
