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UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO DE JANEIRO 
INSTITUTO COPPEAD DE ADMINISTRAÇÃO 
 
 
 
 
BIANCA LOPES BEZERRA 
 
 
 
 
 
POSITIONING OF DIGITAL INFLUENCER 
AND CONSUMER ENTREPRENEURS: 
A Case of Educational Content Marketing Strategies 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rio de Janeiro 
2020
 
 
 
BIANCA LOPES BEZERRA 
 
 
 
 
 
POSITIONING OF DIGITAL INFLUENCER 
AND CONSUMER ENTREPRENEURS: 
A Case of Educational Content Marketing Strategies 
 
 
 
 
 
Master’s dissertation presented to the COPPEAD Graduate School of Business, Universidade 
Federal do Rio de Janeiro, as part of the mandatory requirements in order to obtain the title of 
Master in Business Administration (M.Sc.). 
 
Supervisor: Prof. Roberta Dias Campos, Ph.D. 
 
 
Rio de Janeiro 
2020 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BIANCA LOPES BEZERRA 
 
 
POSITIONING OF DIGITAL INFLUENCER 
AND CONSUMER ENTREPRENEURS: 
A Case of Educational Content Marketing Strategies 
 
 
Master’s dissertation presented to the COPPEAD Graduate School of Business, Universidade 
Federal do Rio de Janeiro, as part of the mandatory requirements in order to obtain the title of 
Master in Business Administration (M.Sc.). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rio de Janeiro 
2020
 
 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 
Firstly, I would like to highlight the importance of this Master in my development personally and 
professionally. For this I thank all the people that were with me throughout this journey: 
To my family and fiancée, thank you for supporting me and cheering for me at all times. I would not be 
the same without you, you are my rock. 
To my advisor Roberta, thank you for being an inspiration professionally and for life, for being there 
for me, teaching me so much and allowing this final step to be one of the greatest moments. 
To all my friends outside and inside COPPEAD, you made the moments from this period of my life so 
much more joyful and wonderful to be lived. Thank you for being a part of it all. 
To all my professors at COPPEAD, thank you for sharing your knowledge and helping me grow as a 
person and a professional. You are all forever marked in my life. 
To the members of the board, thank you for accepting to evaluate my work and being partners in this 
final journey of this Masters. I am extremely grateful and happy for your contribution to my work. 
And finally, I would like to thank God. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“O que vale na vida não é o ponto de partida e sim a caminhada. 
Caminhando e semeando, no fim terás o que colher” (Cora Coralina)
 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
 
LOPES BEZERRA, Bianca. Positioning of Influencer and Consumer Entrepreneurs: A 
Case of Educational Content Marketing Strategies. Rio de Janeiro, 2020. 68 pp. [total pages] 
Dissertation (Master's Degree in Business Administration) - COPPEAD Graduate School of 
Business, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2019. 
 
The present works aims at discussing the construction of a voice from influencer and consumer 
entrepreneurs through training other consumers. The investigation was based on a case study 
of influencers entrepreneurs, starting as consumer entrepreneurs, who have training platforms 
among other businesses. By means of this educational content, this thesis will attempt to 
understand the marketing strategies behind these training activities that allow the influencers 
and consumer entrepreneurs to build and establish themselves. Consumer entrepreneurship is 
beginning to be a more concentrated field of study, however, the marketing strategies specific 
to this entrepreneurship, although of interest, have not yet been fully explored. Thus, the 
findings show amongst other elements how consumer and influencer entrepreneurs attempt to 
combine traditional and nontraditional marketing strategies, as outlined in literature, in order to 
update themselves to the digital realm and to construct their own identity as a voice and a brand 
in the digital environment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Keywords: Influencer, Consumer, Entrepreneurship, Education, Digital, Marketing. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
LIST OF ILUSTRATIONS 
Figure 1 - Consumer entrepreneurial process (Shah & Tripsas, 2007) .................................... 15 
Figure 2 - Consumer x Traditional Entrepreneur (produced by author) .................................. 17 
Figure 3 - Category of digital entrepreneurship (Hull et al., 2007) .......................................... 18 
Figure 4 - Typology of influencers (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018) ....................................... 19 
Figure 5 - Influencer Scheme (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018) ............................................... 20 
Figure 6 - Marketing Processes (Stokes, 2000) ........................................................................ 22 
Figure 7 - Tudo Orna Business Development (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018) ....... 27 
Figure 8 - Tudo Orna Press Kit 2019 (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2019) .................... 27 
Figure 9 - Business view (Efeito Orna Handout) ..................................................................... 31 
Figure 10 - Manifesto (Efeito Orna Instagram) ........................................................................ 31 
Figure 11 - Motivation (Efeito Orna Instagram) ...................................................................... 32 
Figure 12 - Motivation (Efeito Orna Instagram) ...................................................................... 32 
Figure 13 - Target types (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................... 33 
Figure 14 - Target profile (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................. 34 
Figure 15 - Target Persona (Efeito Orna Instagram) ................................................................ 34 
Figure 16 - TEDx Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) ...................................................................... 35 
Figure 17 - Forbes Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) ..................................................................... 35 
Figure 18 - Claudia Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................... 36 
Figure 19 - Mulheres do Efeito (Efeito Orna Instagram) ......................................................... 37 
Figure 20 - Mulheres do Efeito (Efeito Orna Instagram) ......................................................... 37 
Figure 21 - Ambassadors (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................. 38 
Figure 22 - Lia Camargo (Efeito Orna Instagram) ................................................................... 38 
Figure 23 - Niina Secrets (Efeito Orna Instagram)................................................................... 39 
Figure 24 - Lucielle Assis (Efeito Orna Instagram) ................................................................. 39 
Figure 25 - Karla Lopes (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................... 39 
Figure 26 - Larissa Cunegundes (Efeito Orna Instagram) ........................................................ 40 
Figure 27 - Thalitha Ferraz (Efeito Orna Instagram) ............................................................... 40 
Figure 28 - Analidia Lopes (Efeito Orna Instagram) ............................................................... 40 
Figure 29 - Mapping Influencers (Efeito Orna Handout) ......................................................... 41 
Figure 30 - Approval rate (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................. 42 
Figure 31 - Student Testimony (Efeito Orna Instagram) .......................................................... 42 
Figure 32 - Student Testimony (EfeitoOrna Instagram) .......................................................... 42 
 
 
 
Figure 33 - Fan Art (Efeito Orna Instagram) ............................................................................ 43 
Figure 34 - Table of costs (Efeito Orna Instagram) .................................................................. 43 
Figure 35 - Color Meanings (Efeito Orna Instagram) .............................................................. 44 
Figure 36 - Concept of emotional design (Efeito Orna Instagram) .......................................... 44 
Figure 37 - Concept of Purpose (Efeito Orna Instagram) ........................................................ 44 
Figure 38 - Elon Musk and Company Innovation (Efeito Orna Instagram) ............................. 45 
Figure 39 - Michele Obama and Empowerment (Efeito Orna Instagram) ............................... 45 
Figure 40 - Photography for Orna Brand (Efeito Orna Instagram) .......................................... 45 
Figure 41 - Collaboration in Orna Coffee Shop (Efeito Orna Instagram) ................................ 46 
Figure 42 - Branding Concept (Efeito Orna Handout) ............................................................. 53 
Figure 43 - Steps to endeavor (Efeito Orna Handout) .............................................................. 54 
Figure 44 - Web of Effect (Efeito Orna Handout).................................................................... 54 
Figure 45 - Description of Web of Effect (Efeito Orna Handout)............................................ 55 
Figure 46 - Steps of Orna Group Endeavoring (Efeito Orna Handout).................................... 56 
Figure 47 - Orna Commercial Approach (Efeito Orna Handout) ............................................. 57 
Figure 48 - Orna Group Development (Efeito Orna Handout) ................................................ 58 
Figure 49 - Web of Effect for Orna (Efeito Orna Handout) ..................................................... 59 
Figure 50 - Media Kit and Exercise (Efeito Orna Handout) .................................................... 59 
 
LIST OF TABLES 
Table 1 - Direct Author References (produced by author) ....................................................... 49 
Table 2 - Indirect Author References (produced by author) .................................................... 50 
Table 3 - Repeated Author References (produced by author) .................................................. 51 
Table 4 - Repeated Media References (produced by author) ................................................... 51 
Table 5 - Main Themes References (produced by author) ....................................................... 52 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
CONTENTS 
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 10 
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................ 13 
2.1 CONSUMER AS A NEW FORM OF ENTREPRENEUR ...................................... 13 
2.2 DIGITAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND THE INFLUENCER FIGURE .............. 17 
2.3 ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING AND BRAND MANAGEMENT .............. 21 
2.4 DIGITAL AND INFLUENCER MARKETING ...................................................... 23 
3. THE ORNA CASE .................................................................................................. 24 
4. METHOD ................................................................................................................ 28 
5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................... 29 
5.1 DEFINITIONS AND VIEWS OF ORNA EFFECT ................................................. 29 
5.2 LEGITIMIZATION CONTENT AND DISCOURSE ON INSTAGRAM .............. 35 
5.3 CONCEPTUAL ENGINEERING OF THE COURSE ............................................. 46 
5.4 DEVELOPED AUTHORIAL MODELS AND TOOLS .......................................... 52 
5.5 APPLICATION OF THE TOOLS ON ORNA GROUP AND TO OTHERS .......... 56 
6. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 59 
7. LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH ...................... 62 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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1. INTRODUCTION 
 “Over the past several years, so-called "digital talent" have matured from being 
the millennial outliers of the media world to being becoming part of 
daily life for middle America and the rest of the globe. (…) They are 
not only the media and entertainment "pitchmen" of the 21st century 
but have the capability of becoming brands in and of themselves. 
Much like how 20th century tastemakers Oprah Winfrey and 
Martha Stewart became moguls creating media and product brands 
around their lifestyles through broadcast and print, influencers are 
poised to create the next mega-brands through social media” 
(Forbes, 2017). 
 
Social media influencers are at the center of the creation of new relevant market voices and 
brands. Forbes (2017) compares them, as a trend, to notable human brands of the previous 
century that used their lifestyle and values to create a branding platform. National Geographic 
(2019) has also defined influencers as the modern entrepreneurs, with their newly created 
brands and ways of marketing products that focus more on building connection with followers 
than actually selling of products and services. This movement has been also named by 
consultancies and companies as indie brands. Indie brands are new, mainly digital, independent 
brands, who have grown more than 40% per year in Brazilian Cosmetics industry (Brazil 
Beauty News, 2019). They are defined as following non-traditional marketing by means of 
using digital and social media for development due to small budget and the digital space being 
where they may arise and may follow more attentively consumer ethos and develop better as 
brands (Ly, 2017). 
Moreover, there has been a highlight in importance for the media of influencers as voices for 
the market. Business magazines and even LinkedIn with an award of Top Voice (Propmark, 
2018) have helped giving importance to their discourse within the business, marketing and the 
general market environment, specially within the digital ecosystem. In Brazil, 76% of young 
Brazilians dream to endeavor (FIRJAN, 2016) and there is growth in the general number of 
entrepreneurs in the country (Revista Pequenas Empresas & Grandes Negócios, 2018, October 
30). This trend points to a market of content that has been fulfilled by digital influencers. 
Several influencers become important sources of training and content for new influencers or 
even regular consumers. Examples of this are the several courses from the case here analyzed 
 
 
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of Tudo Orna entrepreneurs and influencers and their educational enterprise (Efeito Orna 
website1), an online course from blogger Jéssica Belcost with lessons on how to become a 
famous and successful blogger (Jéssica Belcost, 2016) and even Whindersson Nunes, a famous 
Brazilian influencer, also giving a course to teach about influencer, digital business and content 
production2. 
A type of influencer recently defined in literature matches this profile brought by the examples, 
which is of the infotainer. This type of influencer builds its content based on both information 
and entertainment, being these themes worked on isolated or matched. That is, entertainment is 
related to the informative domain, but pure information can play in a part as well as solely 
entertainment content, depending on the influencer’s objective. The audience usually relates to 
this influencer by their domain subject or on a personal level, having both these possibilities of 
development among the influencer’s identity. That means that influencers are no longer just 
seen as entertainmentor personal level connected individuals (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018). 
In this sense, educational content becomes for some influencers a new offer that complement 
their portfolio. 
The phenomenon of interest for this research is to understand how digital entrepreneurs, which 
have a sort of influence and originate as consumers, construct their entrepreneurial brands 
through an influential voice. The point of interest is the creation of a voice and a brand in a 
digital environment through the activity of training other consumers. This seems relevant also 
as these influencers are retrofeeding, through digital tools and social media, the market system 
by building their legitimate and influent voice as digital entrepreneurs and by teaching others 
how to develop entrepreneurship, elaborating their content on this basis. 
Previous research explored the concept of consumer entrepreneur in general (Agarwal and 
Shah, 2014; Berthon et al, 2007; Biraghi et al, 2018; Boyaval and Herbert, 2018; Guercini and 
Cova, 2018; Hamdi-Kidar and Vellera, 2018; Mardon et al., 2018; Martin and Schouten, 2014; 
Pagano et al., 2018; Ranfagni and Runfola, 2018; Shah and Tripsas, 2007). However, the 
business tactics related to marketing that emerge from the practice of consumer 
entrepreneurship have not yet been fully explored, which might be urged based on the relevance 
that has been given to marketing as a motor for entrepreneurship (Alqahtani and Uslay, 2018; 
Gilmore et al., 2018; Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019). 
 
1 https://efeitoorna.com/produtos/ 
2 http://cursodowhindersson.com.br/blog/inscricao/ 
 
 
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Furthermore, so far, literature has considered influencer marketing as well as consumer 
entrepreneurship, but has not addressed this formation of an entrepreneurial and influential 
voice by those influencers and consumers in the realm of the digital ecosystem. Therefore, this 
thesis examines the content digital marketing practice related to consumer and influencer 
entrepreneurship considering a Brazilian consumer business case, which may exemplify this 
construction. Regarding method, the choice is of a qualitative case study due to its applicability 
for the explanation (e.g.: motives, practices, reasons) of contemporary phenomenon relating to 
real-world context, to its functionality for modern phenomena and to its relevance for the 
comprehension of business and managerial processes (Yin, 2017). 
The present study identified educational content being given by influencers accompanied by 
other usual content and businesses. The context analyzed is the Tudo Orna consumer 
entrepreneurs who have online and offline businesses, as well as platforms to discuss their 
entrepreneurial development. Tudo Orna is a blog enterprise of three sisters that led to the 
creation of other diverse businesses with the Orna landmark and a training platform. 
The case of Tudo Orna’s was selected based on: (1) their example applying to a variety of 
entrepreneur attitudes by consumers as they represent both online and offline entrepreneurship 
formats with diverse product, service and content offers, although they’re online focused; (2) 
their managerial and social media impact depicted by their repercussion on the media, which 
include reports of their enterprise development in well-known Brazilian magazines such as 
Revista Pequenas Empresas & Grandes Negócios (2019 July 9; 2018 July 16) as well as reports 
of their entrepreneurial influence with the sisters being portrayed as Forbes Brazil Top People 
Under 30 in the Design, Style and Art industry to be looked at (Mari, Lima, Arbex, Iodice, 
Andrade, Mello, Teixeira and Lauro, 2018) and as Top Voice 2018 in LinkedIn (Propmark, 
2018, November 21); (3) the fact that they are consumer and influencer entrepreneurs who also 
propose to teach and produce content about entrepreneurship, marketing basis, digital tools and 
strategies (e.g.: through educational services, products and social media). 
Having the context and case in mind, the current study analyzes the influencer as a form of 
consumer and digital entrepreneur and the main marketing tactics, through educational content, 
that emerges from their entrepreneurship developments within the digital ecosystem. That is, 
their used marketing tactics, which are not yet fully explored by literature and which occur by 
means of content production in the digital environment in order to develop themselves as 
entrepreneurial voices. The hypothesis is that the influencers build their social and commercial 
 
 
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process, a process of diffusing their entrepreneurial ideas, in a different form than the known 
marketing formats of interaction and positioning from traditional entrepreneurs / companies. 
The idea is that influencer entrepreneurs, similar to consumer and digital entrepreneurs, have a 
particular form of positioning and using marketing content strategies in their grown digital 
environment, especially with a voice being given to these entrepreneurs and to initiatives such 
as educational content for endeavoring. 
The contribution of the present work is to showcase the strategies and constructions that are 
behind the consumer and digital entrepreneurial view of consumer/influencer’s and their means 
of constructing this view and exposing it through content (for teaching and for communicating). 
For this reason, this thesis analyzes literature on consumer entrepreneurship, digital 
entrepreneurship and marketing applied to entrepreneurship as well as influencers and its tactics 
considering the differences with what is traditionally done and studied in entrepreneurship. To 
complement the literature, by presenting the Orna case and analyzing both an educational 
content and Instagram account of influencer and consumer entrepreneurs in the digital sphere, 
the complementation of the gap within the marketing strategies specific to consumer, influencer 
and digital entrepreneur together will attempt to be filled. 
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 
2.1 Consumer as a new form of entrepreneur 
There has been an increase on research perspectives regarding the “consumer entrepreneurship” 
with its diverse expressions and a differentiation of it from the “classic entrepreneur” (Shah and 
Tripsas, 2007), the “conventional entrepreneur” (Guercini and Cova, 2018) or a traditional 
perspective of entrepreneur (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). This new classification of 
entrepreneur points to an apparent relevance in the distinction of entrepreneurial profiles, 
calling for further exploration of the defining elements behind these definitions and their 
surrounding processes. 
According to scholars, the concept of entrepreneurship is considered as new value creation 
made by the identification of an opportunity in the market and the elaboration of marketable 
goods or services as a solution, which can be based on new or old ventures (Hull et al., 2007; 
Kraus et al., 2019). In other words, entrepreneurship is a process, made by an individual, which 
encompasses the identification of a market or business opportunity and establishment of a new 
 
 
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means-end relationships for it not frameworks (e.g.: new product x new pricing strategy), the 
activities involved in seizing this opportunity and the actions strategically elaborated to develop 
and manage it, applied both to digital and non-digital contexts (Baron and Shane, 2007; Shane 
and Venkataraman, 2000). 
Aligning with this definition, the entrepreneur is primarily comprehended as an individual who 
identifies a business or market opportunity and subsequently exploits it (Shane and 
Venkataraman, 2000). This drives the notion of the traditional, classic or conventional 
entrepreneur, which can be attributed to a business inserted individual. The traditional 
entrepreneur develops and emerges through the stages, in thisparticular order, of 
acknowledgment of an opportunity, analysis of its potential for business building and then 
business development, being leveraged by prior experience, knowledge and influence (Guercini 
and Cova, 2018; Shah and Tripsas, 2007; Shane and Venkataraman, 2000). This encompasses 
the description of both an employee entrepreneur and an academic entrepreneur who start a 
business venture by identifying opportunities fostered by respectively business knowledge and 
technical knowledge of the market and its offerings (Agarwal and Shah, 2014). Thus, the 
business formation from the traditional entrepreneur, precedes actions such as investments and 
market offer development (prototyping, testing and producing). This process initially designed 
as calculated and linear is complemented by feedback reception from stakeholders and by 
conformed adaptation added during the market penetration (Shah and Tripsas, 2007). 
Conversely, the consumer entrepreneur as currently understood differs from this traditional 
profile of entrepreneur by altering the known path and motivation for business development. 
Also perceived as an unconventional entrepreneur (Guercini and Cova, 2018), this consumer 
entrepreneur’s endeavor develops from a dissatisfaction with a personally experienced market 
offer followed by a creation of a new solution intended for their private use and based on a 
passion. For example, dissatisfaction with some clothes creation and then building of a new 
type of clothing based on their passion and demand for it. Afterwards, this may become a 
business venture on account of communal incentive and interaction with the endeavor, which 
generates market opportunity perception (Agarwal and Shah, 2014). Moreover, the consumer 
entrepreneur differs as the development actions of the business such as prototyping, testing, 
sharing and creating the market offer precedes the opportunity analysis and as their influence 
for development are need-related knowledge, with a system of use perspective and diversity of 
backgrounds unlike the traditional entrepreneur focused on the endeavor’s area. 
 
 
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Additionally, the feedback and adaptation processes of their enterprise occur before foundation 
of the company and include the participation of the community and/or public (Shah and Tripsas, 
2007). This involvement in the potential community and/or public is a central element that 
provides advantages of inside and firsthand information about the market offer and its probable 
consumers, of validation of the potential business as well as of valuable idea generation 
originated from collective creative contribution (Biraghi et al., 2018; Guercini and Cova, 2018; 
Martin and Schouten, 2014; Shah and Tripsas, 2007). 
The model below showcases the basis of this described entrepreneurial process development of 
consumer entrepreneurs: 
 
Figure 1 - Consumer entrepreneurial process (Shah & Tripsas, 2007)3 
Furthermore, reinforcing this assessment and the importance of consumers in the market, 
Martin and Schouten (2014) demonstrate the importance of the consumer factor in the 
endeavoring process showcasing situations in which the consumers produce markets. The 
scholars discovered that consumers could mobilize multiple actors to constitute products, 
practices and infrastructures that interlink communities of practice which then translate into a 
fully functioning market driven by consumer entrepreneurship. The mapped market emergence 
process starts with a consumer innovation which translates consumer desire and a solution to 
certain existing constraints on market offer, henceforth there emerges a consumption 
metacommunity which is a community formed around this new solution which creates 
infrastructures, practices and communication (important elements of market formation); and 
finally the market catalyzes and matures with a networked consumption community organized 
and formed around this new solution that creates a new market (Martin and Schouten, 2014). 
 
3 Asymmetries relate to individual’s knowledge bases and unique framing to what assists problem solving. These 
characteristics show why some individuals are more likely to discover an opportunity than others (Shah & Tripsas, 
2007) 
 
 
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That is, the consumer has the potential to relate to the community, which alters and boosts their 
process of development within the market. 
Additionally, fostering this entrepreneurial development is the empowerment of consumers in 
the market, “the megaphone effect” which was a turning point that allowed ordinary consumers 
to be well-known in a certain area, short of having professional experiences, by means of their 
own actions, without the mediation of institutional entities or the hold of institutional and family 
positions. This also resulted in initial entrepreneurial actions such as content production, 
achieved also trough consumption and public interaction with other consumers. In this process, 
there occurs the development of cultural capital (e.g.: capacity to exercise taste – understanding 
of the level of goodness of a subject through knowledge – accumulated through repeated 
displays), basis for endeavoring, that can lead to exchange for other forms of capital such as 
social (e.g.: relational connections) and economic (e.g.: resources such as money). This 
construction of capitals is fed by the consumer, community and the market dynamics itself, 
indicating again the important elements of consumer entrepreneurship role and processes 
(McQuarrie et al, 2012). 
Moreover, the factors attributed to consumers assuming this entrepreneur role and engaging in 
this development process are shown to be intrinsic motivations (e.g.: passion, enjoyment, 
willingness to help others) rather than mainly extrinsic motivations (e.g.: economic benefit, 
profit intentions, search for recognition) derived from the traditional entrepreneur (Hamdi-
Kidar and Vellera, 2018; Ranfagni and Runfola, 2018; Shah and Tripsas, 2007). Research has 
also outlined some of the justified reasons for consumer endeavoring: “(1) dissatisfaction with 
a product/service category; (2) sense of pleasure or enjoyment and the desire to take up a 
challenge; (3) personal belief in the success of the project; (4) social relations; and (5) financial 
benefits” (Hamdi-Kidar and Vellera, 2018, p. 468). The passion for a consumption is also 
connected with the will to endeavor and in this passion the roles associated with self-identity 
creation are significant (Cardon et al. 2009; Ranfagni and Runfola, 2018). That means perhaps 
the role of the personal brand of the consumer might affect and incentive the corporate brand 
being used as root for the business endeavoring, transposing both brands and establishing 
through this competitive advantage (Pihl, 2013). This related to the characteristic of the 
consumer entrepreneur of using their consumers abilities, connections to communities or 
publics and knowledge (personal brand) to become an entrepreneur. 
 
 
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By means of all these definitions and propositions, it is possible to comprehend consumer 
entrepreneurship as driven by a passion and consumed offer need, which may relate to a 
community, and as developed through market exploration and interactions leading to better 
market knowledge and opportunity seizing. The following table resumed the differences 
between the traditional and consumer entrepreneur. 
 
Figure 2 - Consumer x Traditional Entrepreneur (produced by author) 
2.2 Digital entrepreneurship and the influencer figure 
Another important differentiation is of digital and traditional entrepreneurship. As seen, new 
value creation is the definition of entrepreneurship. Digital entrepreneurship in this sense is a 
subcategory in which some part of traditional formats and physical elements of a companyare 
digitalized, be it the product itself, distribution processes, etc. The degree of digitization may 
related to: “(1) the degree of digital marketing undertaken by a firm, (2) a firm’s digital selling, 
(3) the digital nature of a firm’s good or service, (4) the digital distribution potential of a good 
or service, (5) the potential digital interactions with key external stakeholders within the value 
chain, and (6) the digital potential of virtual internal activities associated with a firm’s 
operation” (Hull et al., 2007, p.7). 
There are certain levels (mild, moderate and extreme) of digital entrepreneurship defined based 
on the degree of use of digital in the management categories of marketing, distribution, etc. 
Mild has a clear proximity with traditional management structures whereas extreme leans 
towards the digital ecosystem. 
 
 
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Figure 3 - Category of digital entrepreneurship (Hull et al., 2007) 
Thus, the main infrastructure of digital entrepreneurship is the degree of digitization, with 
information technology used to create, market, distribute and deliver the product. Therefore, 
this entrepreneurship relates to both management and information systems. One key aspect is 
the involvement in digital interactions and digital media. These include de employment of 
computer mediated communication systems (CMC; Communications taking place through 
computers) which is essential to digital entrepreneurship, its maintenance and development 
(Hull et al., 2007). 
With it, digital entrepreneurs emphasize market orientation, meeting consumer needs, instead 
of focusing solely on technological challenges, especially with the digital environment that 
facilitates it being information-rich with accessible tools and means for reaching consumers. 
That is as CMC permits the reach of larger audiences and consumer with less time and place 
restrictions (Hair et al, 2012). This also applies to the web 2.0, which are “web technologies 
that allow individual users to interact with and create content to benefit the whole connected 
community” (Hair et al, 2012, p.7) . 
Furthermore, within digital technologies of digital entrepreneurship, which encompass digital 
artifacts (components and content), digital platforms (sets of services and architecture) and 
digital infrastructure (tools and systems), there is a constant development and retrofeeding of 
the digital ecosystem through updates, new developments and resignification. That is, there are 
less boundaries within the environment but more freedom of creation and development through 
generativity which is technology’s capability to produce change driven by varied and 
heterogeneous audiences (Nambisan, 2017). Digitization in entrepreneurship also leads to less 
 
 
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predefinition of the entrepreneurial agency spot – i.e. where the entrepreneur forms ideas and 
gathers resources. This is due to more actors involved in the process, allowed by systems such 
as crowdfunding. 
Basically, digital entrepreneurship is the search for opportunities based on digital media and 
other information and communication technologies (Kraus et al, 2019), that is, the digital 
ecosystem. In the placement of this, the digital ecosystem is known as the environment in which 
all platforms and content influence each other mutually and are within a bigger social, economic 
and cultural structure. All the time the frontiers are renegotiated between private and public and 
in these negotiations, there is the rise of the influencer (Souza, 2019). This is since sociability 
also follows the change in these frontiers and consumers are empowered to shift between private 
and public as well, enabling the rise of the influencer. 
The digital influencer in this environment, thus, is an empowered consumer that through sharing 
their opinion and content, allowed by the internet, ends up influencing decisions of others which 
turn to be their audiences. There is no one definition on literature, but those can also be seen as 
individuals who build an audience in social media platforms with an entrepreneurial drive to 
build social capital, authenticity and engagement (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018; Cotter, 2019) 
and with it consequently build economic capital. Nevertheless, this constructed influence can 
permeate many realms and be of buying products or simply consuming certain types of content. 
The classification from Gross and Wangenheim defines four big types of influencers: the hobby 
content producers, the informers, the entertainers and the infotainers (mixture of informatives 
with entertainers) (2018) The type of content depends on the profile of the influencer and their 
objective of having more or less scope of content and audiences. 
 
Figure 4 - Typology of influencers (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018) 
 
 
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Figure 5 - Influencer Scheme (Gross and Wangenheim, 2018) 
The influencer can also, as a consumer empowered, be acknowledged in entrepreneurship as a 
consumer entrepreneur as well, especially through tribal entrepreneurship in which tribe 
members become entrepreneurs using the insider knowledge in order to introduce new products, 
for reasoning of dissatisfaction or other with consumption (Mardon et al, 2018). Those insider 
tribe members entrepreneurs, because of their knowledge and resonance with the tribe, are here 
considered not just consumers but influencers in this sense. This occurs not only in general 
environments, but within digital, especially with the already addressed empowerment of 
consumers. That is why this figure of the influencer entrepreneur is important for 
entrepreneurship, in terms of digital and consumer entrepreneurship. 
The applied tribal entrepreneurship may emerge from niche markets such as tattoo (Bengtsson 
et al, 2005) but also from more conventional markets such as fashion and beauty (Mardon et al, 
2018). The tribe is different from brand public and other formations in social media because of 
the direct interaction of tribe members and the active discussion around the tribe topic. The 
basis is not just knowledge of tribe but the emotional bond construction within tribe which is 
made with loyalty as the foundation for determining negative (critique, condemnation and 
censorship) or positive (support, acknowledgment and acceptance) emotional reactions of the 
tribe to the entrepreneur. In order to maintain bond with tribe and enable commercialization, 
tribe entrepreneurs (consumers and influencers) must avoid perceptions of untrustworthiness 
and betrayal, which is hard to manage (Mardon et al, 2018). The tribal entrepreneur must 
manage not only their emotional labour, and but also that of the tribe as well as the knowledge 
 
 
21 
 
and commercialization. This also indicated profiles of digital, consumer as well as influencer 
entrepreneurship. Nonetheless, the specificities of managing these knowledge and emotional 
bonds through marketing and branding activities needs exploration. 
2.3 Entrepreneurial Marketing and Brand Management 
The marketing basis, strategies and tools behind consumer, influencer and digital 
entrepreneurship, compared to traditional entrepreneurship have not been fully investigated in 
literature. Especially regarding content building through educational initiatives. So far, scholars 
have mainly attempted to understand traditional marketing and a novel denominated 
entrepreneurial marketing. Within this, academics have questioned traditional marketing 
approaches and proposed the possibility of creation new marketing paradigms (Sadiku-Dushi 
et al., 2019), but still not indicating the difference of a consumer entrepreneurship approach. 
Regarding what has been investigated to date, traditional marketing is perceived as planned and 
directed strategies based on perceived market needs and market knowledge that correspond to 
consumer orientation and are intendedto control markets and market dynamics as well as to 
determine the perceived consumer value (Hills and Hultman, 2013; Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019; 
Stokes, 2000). Entrepreneurial marketing, on the other hand, is seen as a process of value 
creation made through development of intuitive analysis of market needs which generates 
market dynamics (Hills and Hultman, 2013; Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019; Stokes, 2000). Besides, 
this value can be constructed through new approaches to elements of the marketing mix and 
use of strategies exploring unexplored market opportunities through creating same enhanced or 
new improved logic of markets (Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019; Schindehutte et al., 2001). The 
following figure shows a comparison between the marketing approaches delimiting its 
characteristics: 
 
 
22 
 
 
Figure 6 - Marketing Processes (Stokes, 2000) 
A significant addition to these marketing perspectives are the developments of digital practices 
and entrepreneurship proven to potentialize and empower businesses and consumers (Ferreira, 
Fernandes and Ferreira, 2019; Hair et al, 2012; Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014) as well as of 
branding which has been described as a marketing practice directed towards differentiation that 
connects internal and external environments nurturing and creating market assets (Abimbola, 
2001; Erenkol and Öztaş, 2015). Both as marketing means relate to this movement in the 
direction of value creation and might give hints into important strategic structures and tools of 
consumer entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship marketing. 
All in all, it can be implied that traditional entrepreneurs started developing consumer-oriented 
approaches through marketing considering their purpose of market penetration and their process 
building that corresponds to traditional marketing. However, researches point to a movement 
of deconstruction of traditional marketing, incorporating more entrepreneurial marketing 
perspectives to it. Yet, up until now there has been no exploration of what marketing strategies 
and tools are used by consumer entrepreneurs in opposition to these probable traditional 
entrepreneurs’ marketing movements and of the reasoning behind a probable differentiation. 
Besides, considering this knowledge gap, there is also potential space for investigation relating 
to marketing supporting new venture development (Sadiku-Dushi et al., 2019). Therefore, this 
research attempts better investigate the marketing strategies, specifically related to content, 
used by digital influencer and consumer and how they relate to traditional in terms of novel 
propositions. 
 
 
 
 
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2.4 Digital and Influencer Marketing 
Grasping on the subject, digital marketing is said to deliver customer relationship management 
more accurately, through the use of digital means and media to pursue marketing objectives 
(Hull et al, 2007). Considering marketing for digital purposes and its market orientation, social 
media and social networking are means used and recommended for digital entrepreneurs to 
achieve their business goals, being an ultimate market orientation tool for creating dialogue 
between company and individual consumers in a relationship-directed and collaborative way 
(Hair et al, 2013). This is why relationship marketing and hearing consumers is also pointed as 
paramount for digital entrepreneurs which do not have the physical environment and need to 
compensate for it in the digital environment by means of the technologies at hand such as 
computer mediated communications. 
In this scenario, social media platforms are an upcoming tool for building marketing strategies 
and constructing branding for digital businesses or endeavors. The goals of social production, 
including that of digital influencer and consumer entrepreneurs, are also said to relate to self-
branding strategies as their individuality is linked to that of the business (Kuehn, 2016). 
Working on an image entrepreneurship, this type of branding tactic focuses on the self and in 
the projection of authenticity of image. It works bases on constant management of the 
personality related to the audience and then in turn evaluation and legitimization by others 
(Kuehn, 2016). Authenticity is an important indicator of legitimization and is evaluated in the 
sense of loyalty to reality and to oneself. Other tools are feedback reception and affect with 
others. However, one careful point is that there is a blur between engagement and coercion, in 
which correspondence to oneself follows a guideline of what is appropriate, specially involving 
corporate interests in self-branding (Kuehn, 2016). 
Influencer marketing can also help understand better this subject as brands search for both users 
as brand ambassadors and how to get to users via influencers. This type of communication and 
marketing strategy is a derivation of word of mouth strategies and help achieve greater reach to 
the messages. From the need to influence the decision of the target, the influencer as someone 
with impact on a group of people, can achieve the marketing goal and provide expansion and 
diversification to marketing within the new digital ecosystem of companies (Coll and Mico, 
2019). Nevertheless, the specific ways in which this authenticity from their image 
entrepreneurship and this diversification and expansion are constructed are not yet fully 
 
 
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explored in literature. Neither are the mechanisms which are of educational content regarding 
entrepreneurship and marketing, which are the purpose of analysis of this research. 
3. THE ORNA CASE 
To better understand the phenomenon and the pathways to influencer and consumer 
entrepreneur, it is of use to better understand the Orna case example used here. Tudo Orna 
started as a blog in 2010 created by three sisters Julia, Débora and Bárbara Alcântara. The aim 
of the blog was to talk about fashion and life experiences, and it was based on personal interests 
and passion. When the Tudo Orna sisters first started, blogging was not a business, and they 
had to evolve together with the market in order to turn their blog into a business as they saw 
potential in it. To pursue such a goal, they united with other blogs from their town Curitiba and 
created Fashion Sul collective, where all the blogs could dialogue and begin treating their 
activity as a business, monetizing more effectively and positioning themselves to the market. 
This was an important step in Tudo Orna evolution as a blog, using communities alliances to 
foster content entrepreneurship (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2015, November 20; 
Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018; Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018, July 15; Alcântara; 
Alcântara & Alcântara, 2019). 
Afterwards, the consumer entrepreneurs began being recognized in their market and started to 
provide lectures and workshops on subjects such as fashion and content production. This also 
enhanced their interest in projecting their town Curitiba, and even their country Brazil, to the 
world. With this in mind and considering their progress, in 2014, they created the online brand 
Orna which was a business for selling through a website platform handmade handbags and 
accessories with minimalistic design that were supposed to be slow fashion and have long 
durability. The underpinning intention of this business was grounded on product offer desires 
as well as on the sisters’ wish and idea of taking the experience of Tudo Orna to a physical 
product, applying their expertise in fashion as well as expressing their identity and knowledge 
into a consumable good. (Alcântara, J., 2016, June 20; Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018; 
Alcântara, & Alcântara, 2018, July 15; Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2019). 
Nevertheless, wanting to continue in their projection through marketable goods, the Alcântaras 
launched in 2016 an online makeup brand: OrnaMake Up. This was also built on the basis of 
their interests and their audience’s requests. Concerning the offer, the production was national, 
as with Orna, and had designs and elements relating to the Curitiba culture. According to them, 
 
 
25 
 
the intention was not to create just for the sake of creating, but to really elaborate something 
that would be valuable for the consumer, that would project their identity, be sustainable and 
foster the national and local culture of Brazil and Curitiba through product selection and 
production (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018; Alcântara, & Alcântara, 2018, July 15; 
Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2019). Recently, they changed the brand name to Orna 
Formula in an attempt to broaden its offers encompassing skin care products. The business was 
also chosen through a worldwide selection to become part, starting in 2019, of the Sephora 
Stand Accelerate program in the USA. This is part of the Alcântara entrepreneurs’ process of 
internationalizing their businesses (Tudo Orna, 2019 May 30). 
Still, their main means of expression at ends of 2016 had always been online as all their 
businesses were online based despite being physical products. But the entrepreneurs expressed 
that they wanted to go further and to inspire people to believe in themselves, express themselves 
and launch their own projects. This was part of the Tudo Orna ideology, and they wanted to 
translate all these beliefs and their identity into a real offline space which could stimulate people 
to endeavor and make things happen as with the Orna enterprises. Hence, with this wish 
together with the desire of their selected partners to open a coffee shop which would have the 
best of all coffee shop experiences in one place, they launched Orna Café in 2017 (Alcântara, 
Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018; Alcântara, & Alcântara, 2018, July 15; Alcântara, Alcântara & 
Alcântara, 2019). 
The coffee shop was firstly launched online, with an Instagram account that provided visibility 
to all the process and creation of the coffee shop and encouraged the followers to interact and 
give their opinions on the construction of the place, the menus, the decoration etc. This is, 
according to the sisters, one of the reasons the enterprise was so well received in their debut, 
because people already knew and were part of Orna Café. Before the launch, the Instagram 
account had more than 40 thousand followers. Moreover, once more, business developed had a 
lot of references to Curitiba in their decoration and projects, maintaining the idea of projecting 
Brazil and Curitiba to the world. They also sold coffee grains that were locally produced in 
Brazil together with some Orna product such as hats, mugs, t-shirts and even a recyclable straw. 
The coffee shop was made to encourage entrepreneurship, so they were also some elements in 
the shop for that, such as a board to build Canvas or SWOT analysis. Therefore, all the Orna 
Café’s experience was thought about to project the ideology and identity of the sisters and Tudo 
 
 
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Orna fostering what they believed in in every detail (Alcântara, & Alcântara, 2018, July 15; 
Tudo Orna, 2018, March 14) 
Also in 2017, meaning to create a movement that provided incentive to people to take their 
ideas out of paper and express themselves, the entrepreneurs launched an education online 
platform, Efeito Orna, made to teach people what they had learned with their entrepreneurial 
experiences. The courses (Efeito Orna, Deixe sua marca and Influencer – O acelerador da sua 
marca) and social media content explored themes such as entrepreneurship, marketing 
strategies, creativity, branding, personal branding, trend forecasting, storytelling and content as 
well as influencer marketing, besides bringing in some tools created by the sisters. This new 
venture was directed at their followers and also at anyone who wanted to start endeavoring or 
wanted to bring in new ideas and insights for their business. It again was a form of expressing 
the ideology of the brand which is to foster entrepreneurship, self-expression, creativity and 
sustainability bringing in also the identity of the sisters and their landmarks (Alcântara, 
Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018). 
Besides all these endeavors, the Alcântaras also had another one in 2015. When Débora, one of 
the sisters, decided to move in with her future husband, she found herself needing to decorate 
and reform an entire apartment. Bringing in the creative and enterprising spirit of Tudo Orna, 
Débora decided to create an Instagram account for her house, @apartamento.33, to share all the 
process with her followers. With this came the idea of inviting brands to sponsor the house 
construction. This new idea turned out to be successful with a lot of media coverage around it 
(Alcântara, Alcântara, & Alcântara, 2019). Decoration and construction brands would join in, 
giving away their products and services, receiving in return the visibility and publicity of the 
Instagram which has 185,000 followers. This initiative led other people to also create and share 
their home decoration and construction on Instagram. Some of those profiles became, like 
@apartamento.33, respectable media vehicles. It was the first apartment to be constructed by 
advertising brands and it open up a new way of advertising and media expression (Alcântara, 
& Alcântara, 2018, July 15; Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018). This demonstrates the 
profile of marketing initiatives creation from the Orna entrepreneurs. 
All in all, their case showcases a variety of consumer development of business and influencer 
entrepreneurship, through multiple examples, whose development was attributed to “observing 
promptly the market fluctuations and easily adapting to new market changes” (Alcântara, 
 
 
27 
 
Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018) and whose motivation came from passion and consumer 
observation and need, as seen in literature for the phenomenon. 
 
Figure 7 - Tudo Orna Business Development (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2018) 
 
Figure 8 - Tudo Orna Press Kit 2019 (Alcântara, Alcântara & Alcântara, 2019) 
 
 
 
 
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4. METHOD 
To construct this research, the best chosen approach is qualitative research because it considers 
both the phenomenon and its context (cultural, social, temporal, institutional and personal 
spheres) and provides further detail regarding data (Belk, Fischer, & Kozinets, 2013). 
Moreover, given the research objective, case study was selected as research design since it 
enables investigating a contemporary phenomenon, understanding its foundations, and 
identifying theoretical concepts or principles in it (Yin, 2017). Specifically, as the effort is to 
investigate a business creation and its marketing practice approach, this fits as a research 
strategy. 
The selection of a single case for this design realization was due to the possibility of in-depth 
analysis and fuller comprehension of the dynamics of the phenomenon within its context and 
what it implies, besides the differentiation and applicability of the case selected (Stake, 1995; 
Yin, 2017). That is, investigating the layers of the marketing application in consumer 
entrepreneurship required focus in more profundity into one case example in order to be able 
to examine the foundation of this management practice, its strategies and tools. 
Efeito Orna initiative from the Tudo Orna single case was selected as the main source of 
analysis since, as the entrepreneurship and marketing content front of the Orna enterprises, it 
explicitly exposes the marketing processes of this consumer entrepreneurship including 
strategies, tools and practices. Efeito Orna is an online educational project created as part of the 
Orna enterprises, that provides learnings through online courses, books, e-books, tools and free 
materials on social medias (videos,podcasts, organizers, workshops, tools and content). The 
used description for it is of a school of professional development that is a means of 
transformation for people, in terms of mindset and business, made through experience sharing. 
As such, it is mainly based on teaching marketing and digital tactics as well as entrepreneurship. 
In 2016, the founders already did some presential courses in Curitiba and São Paulo cities to 
share this related knowledge but wanted to have a bigger reach and impact which is why Efeito 
Orna was created as a digital platform. Therefore, the motivation for making Efeito Orna can 
be seen as to share knowledge, assist people and help develop the market. 
The set of data collected from this source consisted of: materials consisting of 13 handouts from 
the Efeito Orna main course; and 681 posts content on Efeito Orna Instagram account from the 
years of 2017, 2018 and 2019 (158, 377 and 146 posts respectively). These two types of data 
sustained triangulation (Yin, 2017) and contained varied content regarding Tudo Orna’s 
 
 
29 
 
enterprises, development and marketing tools, practices and strategies. The research scope also 
included the search of social media of the used references in the courses to better understand 
their relevance. Moreover, the material from Efeito Orna course and Instagram had its use 
authorized by the owners of Tudo Orna, after contact via e-mail. 
All data was manually collected and afterwards analyzed using the software Atlas.Ti for 
qualitative data analysis. The intended strategy for analyzing the data (Miles, Huberman, & 
Saldaña, 2014), considering objective, was to establish: descriptive codes for types and basis of 
curatorship of content and propagation of content; process codes for defining the way in which 
those are used; causational codes for elaborating on how those were conducted; and subcodes 
to outline in further detail the strategies and practices used and their application in the context 
studied. 
5. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 
5.1 Definitions and views of Orna Effect 
The main course and flagship of Efeito Orna, launched in 2017, is the homonymous Efeito Orna 
about digital entrepreneurship and marketing/branding tools applied to the digital environment. 
The course is composed of video classes, divides in 9 modules and with bonus classes about 
planners, mapping influencers, use of WordPress, use of Pinterest, life philosophy and vision 
of prosperity). The classes were given by the founders of Orna group (three sisters), but also 
had the participation in bonus classes of a contact in Pinterest, a WordPress developed, the 
founder’s father and business partner and a professional in human development. Besides the 
focus on marketing and branding for digital entrepreneurship, the course covered themes such 
as education, creativity, creative economy, psychology applied to business, monetization, 
negotiation, project and business development, and content creation. 
The course was organized as follows: 
- Module 1 (Introduction): Reason of the course and vision about education, introduction 
of the teachers, discourse about luck applied to life and business and a case of success 
of the Orna Group. 
- Module 2 (Blog and entrepreneurship): Market of blogs, importance of partnerships, 
blog as a business, costs, planning, monetization, reason of business and identification 
of talents and creative economy. 
 
 
30 
 
- Module 3 (Branding): Definitions of Branding, visual identity, content creation, digital 
branding, storytelling and personal branding. 
- Module 4 (Media Kit): Definitions and constructions of Media Kit (applied to press and 
to digital environment as well) 
- Module 5 (Notable projects): Definitions and examples of content and brand building 
projects development 
- Module 6 (Negotiation): Definition of negotiation, basis of negotiation, tricks for 
persuasion, importance of presales and post sales, professional ethics and integrated 
communication 
- Module 7 (Extraordinary content / Content Production) : Highlighting and 
differentiation of content, digital moodboard, social media as shop windows, content 
forecasting, planning guidelines and development of extraordinary content 
- Module 8 (Creation of the Orna Brands): Basis for brand development and the P’s of 
Marketing 
- Module 9 (Course summary): Summary of content and application of the Web of Effect 
tool (created by the founders) to the Orna brand. 
- Bonus modules: Mapping of influencers, use of WordPress, use of Pinterest and life 
philosophy and vision of prosperity. 
Besides the classes, the course initiated with a workshop of introduction which presented the 
authorial tool “Web of Effect”, developed with the purpose of instrumentalizing the diagnosis 
of digital branding, separating and evaluating the pillars of branding and digital positioning. 
Overall, with the workshop and the tool presentation, it is possible to see the expression of 
business view of the Orna Group, that is a guideline for the course. The business view, thus, is 
formed by branding view and digital presence view (also called digital positioning) combined. 
In addition, the concept of belief, as presented by the founders, is the basis for both the branding 
and the digital spheres, complementing also the business view. The founders defined the 
concept as the basis of everything: “When you believe in your business, you want to share it 
with everyone, and you should do it. Externalize your ideas in all the opportunities to make 
others also believe in you” (Free translation – From Module 1 Handout / Efeito Orna). 
Concerning more deeply the two spheres of branding and digital presence and how they are 
connected and fundamental to Orna’s view, two other concepts are presented: reason and 
content. The concept of reason is presented as connected to the purpose, beliefs and ideals of a 
 
 
31 
 
brand and thus linked to the branding dimension whereas the content is said to be the speech of 
a brand applied to social media and linked thus to digital positioning. Reason/purpose and 
content, as branding and digital positioning, are then presented as connected, interdependent 
although analyzed separately. This shows again the vision of the business, following these 
pillars of branding and digital positioning/presence (separated although complementary) which 
are sustained by belief in the brand, idea and business. These ideals help understand why so 
much of digital and branding are considered throughout the course and how these are the main 
points made by the whole course of the modules. 
 
Figure 9 - Business view (Efeito Orna Handout) 
Adding to this, the Orna philosophy shows a manifesto in defense of creating and endeavoring, 
also pointing out characteristics such of motivation, creation and creativity that are part of the 
main arguments of the course and can be noticed in their Instagram posts. 
 
Figure 10 - Manifesto (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 11 - Motivation (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 12 - Motivation (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
Overall, considering this course proposal, the target of Orna Effect declared by the Orna group 
was of people wanting to be updated and/or informed about entrepreneurship and digital 
branding, including subjects such as negotiation, organization and content creation and 
regardless of the field of business or study. There were 3 profiles of people separated for the 
course: (1) beginners, that have a project, an idea or a dream but do not know what to do or 
how to start; (2) entrepreneurs, that have or started a business and want to perfect in business 
and techniques of communication and branding; (3) unquiet minds, anyone, entrepreneur or 
not, that wants to perfect themselves professionally and be updated (see figure 13). This 
emphasizes a broad profile of peoplebut nevertheless with interest within the specific areas that 
Orna group focuses and has course content to offer: business/entrepreneurship pathways; 
branding, digital and communication techniques. 
 
 
33 
 
 
Figure 13 - Target types (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
Nevertheless, the complement of Instagram posts data exhibited as well as content show a 
tendency towards the female public and towards a defense of female empowerment in business. 
The data from the first students of 2017, for instance, attests this predominance with 93% of 
female students (see figure 14). Also, the virtual assistant of the Orna group, demonstrates 
clearly the type of persona to which the brand and Efeito Orna address. That is as the assistant 
is a grown woman, typically Brazilian (black skin, dark hair), with serious garments (blazer, 
blouse), with touches of fashion (in the combination of colors and use of red lipstick) (see figure 
15). Therefore, this persona reinforces the tendency to directly relate to the female Brazilian 
public, valuing the creative feminine side associated with fashion with the serious and sober 
side associated with business. These two aspects also relate to the type of content (creative and 
businesswise) that is present within the course. 
 
 
34 
 
 
Figure 14 - Target profile (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 15 - Target Persona (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
Generally, as the analysis attempts to understand, the Orna Effect advocates for an 
entrepreneurship and development of business in the digital environment that is associated with 
state of mind, personal development and mainly digital positioning, branding and 
communication, which are the main areas of teaching. The courses, thus, does not give emphasis 
to other aspects such as distribution, pricing, accounting and finance while teaching about 
digital entrepreneurship and its constructions. The focus is mainly in entrepreneurship through 
marketing and specially branding, applied to the digital ecosystem. Therefore, this analysis 
regarded what these main aspects and curatorship of content implied about this endeavoring 
within consumers and influencers and their use of digital, marketing and branding tools in the 
development of businesses, specially through content (educational and social media content). 
In depth, the material was investigated based on the following aspects: content strategies in 
Instagram; and typology of references and conceptual engineering, tools and frameworks 
 
 
35 
 
approached in the course. These aspects were further observed within content of Instagram 
account of the course as well as in the handouts of the Orna Effect course to better understand 
the construction of course content and structure relating to branding and marketing applied to 
digital entrepreneurship. The attempt was to grasp on what is different from classical and 
adapted views of the digital and consumer entrepreneurship and their marketing applications. 
5.2 Legitimization content and discourse on Instagram 
The first fundamental strategy for the propagation and legitimization of the course are the 
informative posts about the accomplishments of the Orna founders within the media and the 
market. Known media vehicles such as Forbes and Brazilian magazine Claudia are shown 
presenting the founders as Brazilian talents and entrepreneurs, side by side with market figures 
such as Camila Farani (known entrepreneur from the program Shark Tank Brazil). Other posts 
such as with the founders in events such as TEDx showcase the relevancy of the speech of the 
Orna group, legitimating again their voice as important thinkers and latterly entrepreneurs. 
 
Figure 16 - TEDx Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 17 - Forbes Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 18 - Claudia Post (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
This type of content legitimizes the founders through association, via reinforcement of their 
importance by known media vehicles and platforms, which are aligned with digital and/or 
entrepreneurship. That is: TEDx is aligned with up to date voices of the new business and social 
ecosystem, which includes digital; Forbes is aligned as a voice for business, including digital; 
and Claudia is aligned as an important voice for women, be it in business or society. This 
demonstrates a common practice of association in marketing, already known in business, but 
with a twist of new relationships and associations created that tend to lean towards two points: 
digital business being present in originally non-digital business spheres (Forbes magazine, for 
example) and in very digital environments and movements (TEDx, for example). 
Another strategy is the creation and development of a series of posts in the Orna Effect blog 
entitled “Women of Effect”, which tells stories of the students in the courses and their 
businesses and endeavors, possibly (there is no data in Instagram) emphasizing the impact of 
the course for the female entrepreneurs. This strategy also emphasizes the feminine public and 
empowerment of entrepreneurs that is an aspect of Efeito Orna’s objective (see figures 19 and 
20). Giving spotlight to the students, their businesses and learnings is a tactic that promotes 
visibility (to the course, the students and its impact) as well as reinforces the discourse of Orna 
Effect as a tool for building brands and endeavoring. Once more, this legitimizes and sustains 
the discourse of the brand and the course regarding what it stands for and applying the branding, 
creative and communication strategies that are taught within the course. It also shows something 
more in line with digital possibilities of proximity with consumers that were not present 
previously in marketing and content strategies in such a degree. 
 
 
 
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Figure 19 - Mulheres do Efeito (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 20 - Mulheres do Efeito (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Another similar strategy on Instagram is the creation of a group of female ambassadors, former 
students of the course, to support the studies and foment collaboration within the students of 
the Orna Effect course (see figure 21). This also reinforces the female empowerment, as those 
are all women, and is within the discourse of motivation and importance of female 
businesswomen and partnerships, sustaining the branding strategy of Efeito Orna as well as 
relating to important aspects of partnership within the course syllabus and association with 
peers as a legitimization and discourse strategy for the course. 
 
 
38 
 
 
Figure 21 - Ambassadors (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
Furthermore, another format of propagation of the course, that is not explicit as payed or 
organic, is a series of posts (and reposts) on Instagram with influencers of diverse sizes 
promoting the course with the same type of layout and photo composition (holding a cell phone 
or tablet or laptop with the Orna Effect symbol). Among the influencers are posts with Lia 
Camargo (currently with 314 thousand followers), Nina Secrets (currently with 3,6 million 
followers), Lucielle Assis (currently with 82,3 thousand followers), Karla Lopes (currently with 
25,3 thousand followers), Larissa Cunegundes (currently with 94,9 thousand followers), Thalita 
Ferraz (currently with 805 thousand followers) and Analídia Lopes (currently with 1,1 million 
followers) (see figures 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28). Most of these posts, with the same 
composition, have testimonies valuing the course, the content and giving incentive towards 
subscription in the free workshop that precedes the complete course. Some of the posts cite 
points such as pricing of branding, marketing and entrepreneurship courses, and also the 
importance of studying tools connected to the digital ecosystems (respectively posts of Larissa 
and Karla Lopes – figures 25 and 26). 
 
Figure 22 - Lia Camargo (EfeitoOrna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 23 - Niina Secrets (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 24 - Lucielle Assis (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 25 - Karla Lopes (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 26 - Larissa Cunegundes (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 27 - Thalitha Ferraz (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 28 - Analidia Lopes (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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The possible investment in this strategy of influencers reinforces the discourse of the Orna 
entrepreneurs during the course, which values influencers in the construction and 
communication of brands. As mentioned, there is an extra class and handout (see figure 29) 
about the subject, which is focused on mapping influencers as a strategic tool for brands. In 
figure 29 of the cover of the handout, it is possible to see the discourse describing that being 
influencers other than entrepreneurs helped the development of business strategies, implicating 
a value in the double specialty of development of content and business (as influencers and as 
entrepreneurs) that can, thus, be seen in the strategies within the Instagram of Efeito Orna and 
also in the content of the course. This type of strategy, therefore, be considered a new 
development in digital and entrepreneurship. 
 
Figure 29 - Mapping Influencers (Efeito Orna Handout) 
Another tactic for the course, organic and spontaneous as well as build (filmed within Orna 
Coffee Shop), is the use of testimonials, from general students, about the course as well as 
fanarts made by them about the course. The rate of approval of the course from students, 
according to a post, is of 90% (see figure 30), and their satisfaction can be exposed through the 
content developed on Instagram to fundament and demonstrate the relevancy of Orna Effect 
and establish more connection with the public and emphasize the important view of people 
consuming the courses. This strategy shows value for the content creation and discourse of each 
student, with credit given to every repost and post, creating an exchange of value between the 
student and the influencer entrepreneurs – one values the course and the other appreciates the 
 
 
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student/person (see figures 31, 32 and 33). Again, due to digital possibilities of proximity, this 
is an enhancement of consumer development strategies in marketing traditionally. 
 
Figure 30 - Approval rate (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 31 - Student Testimony (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 32 - Student Testimony (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 33 - Fan Art (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
The last point of discourse found on Instagram are content that emphasize and give information 
relating to the course (branding and entrepreneurship). That is, of free content that adds to the 
course or that is even within the course. This exhibits another development of traditional 
marketing, through sampling, in digital, in the format of content. Moreover, these function as 
samplings as well as adding value to what is said in the course with more material. There is 
content: (1) about concepts such as digital branding and social media and tools such as table of 
costs and meanings of colors (see figures 34, 35, 36 and 37); (2) of references in the market 
(personalities, market cases and ideas) (see figures 38 and 39); and (3) examples of Orna brands 
application of teachings, concepts etc. (see figures 40 and 41). Those show that the content of 
the course also inspires the agenda of posts, as they go through similar subjects, and also help 
firm what is within the Orna Effect structure and what they intent to address. 
 
Figure 34 - Table of costs (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
 
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Figure 35 - Color Meanings (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 36 - Concept of emotional design (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 37 - Concept of Purpose (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 38 - Elon Musk and Company Innovation (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 39 - Michele Obama and Empowerment (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
Figure 40 - Photography for Orna Brand (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
 
 
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Figure 41 - Collaboration in Orna Coffee Shop (Efeito Orna Instagram) 
Again, the main themes discussed before of branding and marketing for digital entrepreneurship 
through content strategies is reinforced using the own material of the course in the Instagram 
strategy and content. The content also shows a movement of keeping within the market (with 
fresh news from Elon Musk and popular concepts such as that of purpose from Simon Sinek) 
while applying concepts and cultivating visions connected to communication, digital and 
branding for endeavoring. The examples of Orna (content type 3) also show how these are not 
only discoursed within the course and Instagram, but also constructed and communicated 
through their own use in the Orna group, legitimizing even more within the content and 
discourse of Efeito Orna, their application and relevance. 
5.3 Conceptual engineering of the course 
The content of the course, as well as the references used, were analyzed and organized in tables 
in a way as to explicit the implicit logics of content building of the course. There was noticed a 
content engineering that is built upon the mobilization of many sources and concepts, of specific 
nature, that compose a new set, authorial and particular. This engineering intends to deal with 
the challenge of talking about conventional themes such as branding, design and marketing in 
a new and the emergent context of digital and consumer entrepreneurship, which may require 
adjustment of what is traditional in management. The types of sources were separated in the 
emergent categories of authors (researchers (thinkers), professionals (doers), personalities 
(talkers), business gurus (one-man concept)), press and websites (media), brand cases, Orna 
references and references of tools. The first ones of people (researchers, professionals, 
 
 
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personalities and business gurus) are the most used throughout the course and were the focus 
of the analysis. 
The areas of all the authors and sources are of business but have relationship with branding and 
marketing, although with variations of psychology and motivation. In terms of function, the 
sources are indirect, categorized by Orna Effect as additional sources or sources of information 
for future and further studies of the course themes appearing at the end of each section in the 
handouts. Nonetheless, there are also direct references, which are cited in the handout text 
together with the teachings and not by the end. Those latter ones have the function to help 
support ideas, concepts and developments proposed in the course. Unlike the first type, they are 
mostly further explained and credited for the ideas being used whereas the end indirect sources 
although some have importance for the ideas of the handout, appear as mainly additional, 
backup points to add about the content being taught. 
Regarding media sources, most were used to corroborate with articles bringing or reflecting 
ideas proposed in the course modules with branding cases, information about brands or 
information about the market, especially digital. Websites and press were piled together and 
even though the numbers were not researched, some of the media was considered reliable for 
the course even though it was not traditional such as websites like Meio&Mensagem4, 
Administradores5 versus Epoca magazine6. In addition, the brand cases used exemplified more 
deeply that the brand case was in order to provide further information in the course, showing 
applicability of teachings on real life cases, including Orna group’s cases used. Nevertheless, 
most of those were indirect and additional content for the consumer, much similarly to websites 
and press (media). It becomes clear, thus, that both these