Objective: The ultimate objective of this study is to facilitate the transition of startups toward Lean Marketing. This objective is pursued through the development of a comprehensive model encompassing the core elements and enablers of Lean Marketing in startups, together with the design of an instrument for assessing the current state of Lean Marketing implementation in such firms.
Method: This study is applied in terms of purpose and adopts a descriptive–analytical approach. In the first stage, the relevant literature was reviewed to identify the constituent elements and enabling factors of Lean Marketing. Ultimately, 37 relevant studies were subjected to in-depth content analysis to extract the core elements and enablers of the Lean Marketing concept. Following the initial extraction, redundant, overlapping, and semantically similar indicators were eliminated or merged into more comprehensive constructs. As a result, 18 core elements and 26 enabling factors were identified from the literature. Subsequently, the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) method was applied based on the judgments of ten experts, reducing the framework to 10 core elements and 6 enablers. Force Field Analysis (FFA) was then employed to determine the relative importance and weights of the enabling factors. In addition, Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) was used to identify the hierarchical relationships among the Lean Marketing elements. Based on these findings, the final research model was developed, and a researcher-developed questionnaire was designed accordingly. Finally, the Lean Marketing status of 49 startups was assessed and analyzed using the proposed instrument.
Results: According to the results of the Force Field Analysis, knowledgeable and expert leadership (weight = 0.18), data-driven decision-making and customer feedback (weight = 0.16), and commitment of top management and stakeholders (weight = 0.13) were identified as the most influential enablers of Lean Marketing in startups. The ISM results revealed that focus on creating customer value was positioned at the first level of the model, indicating its pivotal role in achieving Lean Marketing, whereas focus on effective goal-setting in marketing activities was identified as the foundational element at the fifth level. The final model illustrates the hierarchical relationships among the constituent elements together with the enabling factors and their respective weights. Among the 49 startups, the scores for the Lean Marketing elements ranged from 22 to 87, with a mean score of 67.87 out of 100. Likewise, the scores for the Lean Marketing enablers ranged from 50 to 70, with a mean score of 66.11 out of 100.
Conclusion: Overall, the level of Lean Marketing in the participating startups can be classified as moderate. The numerical findings indicate that although some Lean Marketing elements and enablers have been implemented to a certain extent, the imbalance between their scores and the substantial variation across firms suggest that the integrated and systematic implementation of Lean Marketing has not yet been fully achieved. Therefore, a considerable proportion of startups require more targeted strategies, stronger managerial infrastructure, and the development of a Lean organizational culture to achieve effective implementation of Lean Marketing.