Every time I talk to other small business owners or hop on LinkedIn, I hear the same refrain. It’s getting harder to find new customers. I’m not sure what marketing mix will work this year.

It’s a tough time to be a startup or small business — 81% of small business owners say they’re worried about how the economy will affect their business. As a small business owner, I can attest that it’s hard to invest your hard-earned revenue and time into marketing. With fewer resources, small businesses need a different approach to compete. That approach is entrepreneurial marketing.

Table of Contents

• What is entrepreneurial marketing?
• Entrepreneurial Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
• The Characteristics of Entrepreneurial Marketing
• Entrepreneurial Marketing Tactics

Entrepreneurial Marketing vs Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing takes a structured, systematic approach to create and implement a marketing strategy using a wide variety of channels and an advertising budget. Typically, companies have an in-house marketing team and agencies to plan and launch campaigns.

Entrepreneurs may or may not have an ad budget or marketing team — so they have to be scrappy. Instead of agencies and large campaigns, they rely on thought leadership, organic social media and web content, and word-of-mouth to reach new customers.

Ultimately, entrepreneurial marketing is more agile, authentic, and relationship-focused than traditional marketing.

Choosing the Right Marketing Mix

One area where entrepreneurial and traditional marketing differs is in their marketing mix and choice of channels. While corporations use a broad approach of digital marketing, email, and even radio, TV, and print, entrepreneurs must focus their resources on just a few channels that are affordable and effective.

I learned that 38% of small business owners only use one marketing channel regularly, leaving a huge opportunity for growth. Mindy Anderson, CEO and on-demand CMO for startups, recommends that companies start with three marketing channels and do those well before scaling up.

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The Characteristics of Entrepreneurial Marketing

Here’s what makes entrepreneurial marketing different — and what makes it work.

Authentic

As an entrepreneur, you can’t drop a lot of money on an expensive photo or video shoot. But what you do have is authenticity.

Startups can connect with buyers by creating low-budget content like a behind-the-scenes or day-in-the-life video. They can share founder insights, wins, and even struggles to humanize their brand and endear potential customers.

Focused

Many startups are still figuring out their ideal buyer, market positioning, and value proposition. By focusing on a very specific ideal buyer and a specific problem that you solve, you can stand out from competitors and attract new customers.

“If you don’t understand your differentiation and positioning in the market and who you’re speaking to, you have a mismatch in expectations,” says Anderson. “Your services or product positioning has to address a void in the market — what specific problem are you solving right now?”

For this targeted approach to work, everyone on your team should have a consistent and clear understanding of your positioning, mission, and ideal customer profile.

Nimble

Most corporations set their marketing budget for a year, then have little flexibility to change it until the following year. As an entrepreneur, you don’t have the luxury of waiting that long. If your marketing strategy isn’t working, you need to adapt it quickly.

Take risks with new tactics, but test often and optimize your campaigns before scaling efforts. For instance, you could start with a small paid campaign on Facebook or LinkedIn, measure to see what works, and put more dollars behind what does.

“Don’t try to boil the ocean,” shares Anderson. “Focus on three primary target areas for marketing, test them, iterate, and pivot if something doesn’t work.”

Relationship-Based

Above all, entrepreneurial marketing is built on relationships. You need relationships to build partnerships with brands and influencers that will introduce your product to new audiences. You need good customer relationships to ask for testimonials and referrals. And you need a relationship-focused approach to sales.

“Ditch the pitch,” recommends Anderson. “Work on relationship building and focus on getting to know that person and finding out what their pain points are. Eventually, you can have a discovery conversation about solving the problems that they have, but you have to go about it in a human way. When you do social media marketing, you want to get people to understand that you’re really in the market to help solve a problem, and you’re very passionate about it.”

Get started with HubSpot’s software for startups.

Entrepreneurial Marketing Tactics

So, what does entrepreneurial marketing look like for scrappy brands? Here are a few of the marketing tactics that work best for startups and small businesses.

1. Organic Social Media Marketing

When you can’t afford a large ad campaign, you can still build an audience with organic social media content. Aim to create useful, relevant content for customers on the social media channel where your audience spends the most time.

Keyword research and customer listening can help you determine which topics your customers care about for posts. If you’re a B2B company, LinkedIn is the place to be. You can engage professionals with case studies, live event streaming, newsletters, and direct outreach to prospects.

A lot of startups are also seeing success on TikTok. Engaging videos that are quick to get to the point do well there and offer high visibility fast.

2. Referral Program

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https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/invite/terms

Last year, I joined a local coworking space. A friend referred me, so we both received a free month of coworking. That was over $100 in each of our pockets — a win for me, a win for my friend, and a win for the business that gained a new customer.

A referral program incentivizes current customers to share about you with a tangible reward and incentivizes their friends and family with an offer and solid social proof. Dropbox and PayPal both have legendary referral programs. The great part about referrals is that they don’t cost you anything until you’ve made a sale. Now, that’s efficient!

3. Thought Leadership

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The best part about a small business is that you can be more personal. People connect with leaders and the people behind the brands, and that’s a huge advantage that enterprise businesses don’t have. I follow marketing thought leaders like Rand Fishkin, Kyle Lacy, and Lex Winship — and I’ve learned about brands I might otherwise not have.

Thought leadership is a tactic that positions entrepreneurs as experts in their fields, often through guest articles, speaking engagements, or social media posts. By sharing a leader’s values and expertise, you can build credibility, visibility, and trust.

4. Partnerships

Entrepreneurs excel at relationships, but most don’t realize that’s their superpower. Startups can expand their reach by joining a partner ecosystem or teaming up with a complementary brand.

Startups can market their business through co-branded content, joint webinars, and link-sharing in newsletters. When established as a true partnership (not a sponsorship), there’s no cost, and both brands can benefit from shared audiences and social proof.

5. User-Generated Content

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The best person to tell new customers about you is your happy customers. Customer content is more relatable and trustworthy than content from a brand. Encourage customers to create user-generated content (UGC) to share their experiences with others.

The most obvious distribution channel for UGC is the one most used by entrepreneurs — social media. Repost UGC on your channels and incentivize customers to share it on their own accounts. You can also distribute UGC through your website, email marketing, and video platforms like YouTube.

“Show your social selling proof by testimonials of happy customers. Keep sharing them and people will slowly but surely catch on, and they will see the value that you are delivering time and time again and respond to that authentically,” says Anderson.

6. Video Marketing

Video marketing is one of the top tactics small business owners use, and 75% of them say they’re satisfied with the results it brings them.

Again, don’t shy away because of a lack of budget or a lack of production skills. With simple equipment, you can create authentic, helpful videos that show your personality and value.

If you’re a B2C business, consider short-form videos to entertain or showcase products. On the B2B side, create a helpful tutorial showing what your software can do or a short thought leader video sharing insights on the market.

Build your customer base with entrepreneurial marketing.

If I were starting a new business tomorrow, I would embrace entrepreneur marketing as a fresh and flexible approach to reach new customers. Whether your business is retail, home services, ecommerce, or software, entrepreneurial marketing can help you grow — while staying under budget.

Your business idea is creative, and your marketing can be too. I’ve seen companies grow their business by embracing authenticity, focusing on targeted audiences, and leveraging relationships — one meaningful interaction at a time.