The main topic in chapter 4 of The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship is, as the title of this blog suggests is Marketing. Ali and Seiders expound on the various concepts and principles surrounding Marketing and how the Entrepreneur can benefit from its effective use. Admittedly, I am not very business savvy as I opted for the pure technical path in both my academic and professional careers. However, being that I, along with a few friends, have decided to explore our entrepreneurial prowess this chapter addresses several problems that we've encountered along the way.One of our biggest problems that the book covers in the section titled "Entrepreneurs Face Unique Marketing Challenges" is the lack of financial resources as well as expertise. We know marketing is a critical component of success but personal capital investments usually results in a passive marketing strategy. Another problem the authors mention that we've encountered is how marketing decisions can be undermined and/or muddled strong convictions and biases. I remember one of our first marketing meetings in which my business partners considered investing in trinket marketing: buttons, mugs, pens, etc...; a strategy I emphatically deplored (at least for our business model). The decision was tabled indefinitely; mainly because I was the Vice President and the Secretary- meaning I recorded and distributed the meeting minutes.
Other topics that I found interesting were sub-sections on Public Relations and Guerrilla Marketing under section "Marketing Communication Strategy". While we realized PR and Guerilla Marketing (though we called it poor man marketing -remember we're not business savvy) were types of strategies I don't think we truly valued their worth. We treated it as a last alternative rather than a bona fide approach which may have resulted in passive undertakings. With the knowledge acquired from reading chapter 4 I believe it would worthwhile to revisit and refine our current marketing techniques. I will definitely raise my concerns in this weekend's meeting.
