Small business marketing environments can affect your business more than by what your do and say in your marketing.
By including these marketing environments in your marketing and business plans, you open many opportunities for your business.
You need to consider the following ten small business marketing environments as you plan your small business marketing.
Small Business Marketing Environment 1: Your Business And Employees
Don’t ever forget that each of your employees have interactions with many people outside of your business. If they are happy, feel good about your business, and believe in your product, they can be one of your greatest marketing assets.
Small Business Marketing Environment 2: The Businesses That Serve You
The businesses that you purchase from determine how efficiently you make your product and conduct your business. Some even provide cooperative advertising and promotion opportunities.
Small Business Marketing Environment 3: The Businesses That Deliver Your Products
Some distributors enhance your marketing by telling others they serve about your business. Because distribution is an important part of the marketing mix, how well they deliver your products also influences your marketing, your ability to get products to customers, and even your price.
Small Business Marketing Environment 4: Retailers
The businesses that retail your product influence your marketing and sales. They can promote your product, feature it, or just stick it on a back shelf. Thus, they can help or hurt your marketing efforts.
Small Business Marketing Environment 5: Competitors
Businesses that sell competitive products, unwillingly influence your marketing. They may not want to help you, but knowing their strengths and weaknesses can be a great asset to your marketing. When competitors are weak but you are strong, you have a distinguishing characteristic that you can market.
Small Business Marketing Environment 6: Other People
Publics influence your business in other ways besides buying your product. Their support can be a great marketing boost. Their lack of support often requires public relations marketing to diminish their influence on potential buyers and other publics.
Small Business Marketing Environment 7: Customers
Many small business owners think primarily of present and potential customers when they think of marketing – marketing to them. But who your customers are and whether they are individuals or businesses influences how you market to them.
Small Business Marketing Environment 8: Factual Characteristics
Knowing factual characteristics (demographics) about your target market reveals much about their attitudes, values, concerns and buying preferences. People differ by factual characteristics such as income, type of occupation, amount of education, their race and gender. The more you know about them, the better you can design marketing that appeals to them.
Small Business Marketing Environment 9: Economics
Economic situations influence what sells and how much of those products sell. During recessionary economies, people often eliminate unnecessary expenses. During inflationary economies people spend more and on more luxury products. Thus, different economic situations call for different marketing strategies and tactics.
Small Business Marketing Environment 10: Natural Resources
Natural resources influence your product’s price because the less a resource is available, the more you have to pay for it. To continue to make a profit, you have to pass that price on to your customers. This, in turn, influences if and how much of your product will sell.
Small Business Marketing Environment: Conclusion
Each of the ten small business marketing environments influence your marketing by what is said and done within that environment. In addition, each has a direct or indirect influence on some aspect of the marketing mix which affects your business’ success.
