Entrepreneurial and SME marketing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consider marketing and its relevance to entrepreneurs and small to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs), and how entrepreneurs and SMEs owner/managers adapt and use marketing for their specific requirements during the life of an enterprise. Initially, the paper will give some background to the subject, including how entrepreneurs and SMEs owner/managers are defined and their value to the economy.Design/methodology/approachThe discussion draws from the academic literature and from experience of working with entrepreneurs and SMEs over a number of years. The background characteristics and frameworks of entrepreneurial and SMEs marketing are considered, with emphasis on a pragmatic approach, to try to understand how entrepreneurs and SMEs actually “do” business.FindingsThe main body of the paper focuses on the nature of entrepreneurial marketing typically used by SMEs. The key themes of the discussion are how entrepreneurs and SME owner/managers adapt standard marketing frameworks to suit their own enterprises, how they use networks to improve their business activity, the use and development of marketing management competencies and how they try to use and develop innovative marketing.Research limitations/implicationsFinally, the paper comments on the inter‐relationships and relevance of entrepreneurship and marketing for each other.Originality/valueIn practice, entrepreneurial and SMEs marketing is quite different from the marketing frameworks described in the standard marketing textbooks used to teach most undergraduate students. This paper illustrates how entrepreneurs and SMEs adapt and use marketing according to the needs of their enterprises.