Entrepreneurial marketing is less about a single marketing strategy and more about a marketing spirit that differentiates itself from traditional marketing practices. It eschews many of the fundamental principles of marketing because they are typically designed for large, well established firms. Entrepreneurial marketing utilizes a toolkit of new and unorthodox marketing practices to help emerging firms gain a foothold in crowded markets.

In competitive markets, it can be easy to get lost in the crowd. One of the biggest challenges for entrepreneurs is standing out from their competitors. Marketing in new, unusual, or aggressive ways is the best way to illustrate what makes a business unique. Below are some marketing strategies that entrepreneurs have used successfully in the past. A company can direct all of its marketing efforts towards one strategy, or use several of them at once.

• Relationship Marketing – Focuses on creating a strong link between the brand and the customer.
• Expeditionary Marketing – Involves creating markets and developing innovative products. Companies act as leaders rather than followers.
• One to One Marketing - Customers are marketed to as individuals. All marketing efforts are personalized.
• Real Time Marketing – Uses the power of technology to interact with a customer in a real time.
• Viral Marketing – Places marketing messages on the Internet so they can be shared and expanded on by customers.
• Digital Marketing – Leverages the power of Internet tools like email and social networking to support marketing efforts

Many entrepreneurial marketing strategies are born out of necessity. New businesses might have 10, five, or just one person working on their marketing efforts. They work within limited budgets and have access to a fraction of the resources that their major competitors have. Luxuries like graphic design teams and advertising consultants are often outside the means of start-ups, requiring them to find ways to make the maximum impact with limited resources.

The most common features of entrepreneurial marketing include innovation, risk taking, and being proactive. Entrepreneurial marketing campaigns try to highlight the company's greatest strengths while emphasizing their value to the customer. Focusing on innovative products or exemplary customer service is a way to stand out from competitors. They make this pitch using cheap and accessible tools including viral videos, Tweets, Facebook pages, and email marketing. Any and all marketing strategies can be considered as long as they produce results. (See also Guerrilla Marketing)

5 Benefits of Networking

As an entrepreneur, networking is a key activity that is not only fun, but critical to your personal growth and business development.

1. Shared Knowledge

Networking is great for sharing ideas and knowledge. Whether it’s asking for feedback or discussing your point of view, it will help you expand your knowledge and allow you to see things from another perspective.

It is also likely that within a group there will be those who have already been where you are today. This provides you with an opportunity to learn and avoid some of the common pitfalls they experienced.

2. Opportunities

It’s natural that networking will result in opportunities. The thing you will not know is when or how they will materialise. Whether it’s a referral, offer partnership or request for your service or product, it is important to be ready to seize opportunities when they come along.

3. Connections

Remember you are not just gaining exposure to the people in the room, you are building connections with their network too. If someone they know has a need that matches your business, if you have made an impression, you will likely get a referral.

And remember it’s not just a one-way street. If someone in your network matches a business you encounter at an event, don’t hesitate to share their details. It will only strengthen your relationship.

4. Increased confidence

By regularly networking, and pushing yourself to talk to people you don’t know, it will help increase your confidence. This is an important attribute as a business owner, because your business growth is dependent on talking to people and making connections.

5. Raising your profile

Being visible and getting noticed is a big benefit of networking. By regularly attending business and social events, people will begin to recognise you. This can you help to build your reputation as a knowledgeable, reliable and supportive person by offering useful information or tips to people who need it. You are also more likely to get more leads and referrals as you will be the one that pops into their head when they need what you offer.