Marketing Communications Strategy

Marketing Communications Strategy

Marketing Communications Strategy

Part - 1

Marketing Communications Strategy & Small To Medium Sized Businesses

With over three million small businesses in the UK and large increases in the numbers of VAT registered firms and self-employed workers since the early 1980s, the application of marketing principles and management techniques to small businesses should be an important topic for practitioners and academics interested in small business management. While there are many practical publications (manuals) on “how to do marketing in small businesses”, there is a paucity of academic research in the area, particularly in very small and start-up businesses.

There is evidence that small business failures can result from a lack of marketing, or poor marketing practice, including planning and implementation(Fill 2005). Not all small businesses want to grow, but all businesses need to adapt to changing environments and changing customer needs. Marketing facilitates this process.

Marketing is relevant for small and large firms. A knowledge and understanding of the marketplace reduces risk and contributes to understanding customer needs. However, marketing practice is situation specific and dependent on several factors, for example, the nature of the markets served, the growth stage of the firm, the types of product or service offered, and the quality of management. Sophisticated marketing theories frequently have little meaning for the micro business owner-manager.

Much of the research into marketing in small businesses concludes that it is frequently underutilized and misunderstood by small business owner-managers. Kitchen (2005), in a longitudinal study of small firms in the Belfast area, has made a strong contribution to the understanding of market practice in small firms and concludes that marketing is often seen as peripheral to small firms' requirements. This view is partly due to a credibility gap when the small firm obtains sales and profits without planning its marketing activities. Additionally, entrepreneurs are not always receptive to marketing unless there is a need for growth/expansion, or profits/revenue level off or fall. However, there is other evidence that small businesses are very aware of the need for marketing, even if they do not always do it. In many instances small business owners perceive marketing as purely “selling, advertising or promotion” (Dibb 2006).

Small businesses typically develop and implement marketing strategies within severe resource constraints, and with day-to-day pressures of business, marketing may seem an unnecessary luxury. However, as the enterprise moves along the growth cycle, the pressure for systematic planning and the associated information needs increases. The added cost of implementing the marketing function must be weighed against the possible consequences of living with a greater level of risk and uncertainty (Jobber 2004). A study of Enterprise Agency supported businesses (and therefore of particular relevance for the research reported here) found that the most frequently cited problems were marketing or selling the product or service, followed by financial control and unsuitable premises. Marketing and selling were more problematic for those with a turnover of less than £20,000. Businesses failed because their business concept was weak and inadequately defined, and because the owner-managers lacked ...