Small Business Marketing Environments That Affect Your Marketing

Small business marketing environments influence your small business marketing in numerous ways besides just marketing strategies and tactics.

Considering these environments can complement your marketing strategies and tactics. They also impact your business across the marketing mix.

This article covers the top ten small business marketing environments that you need to consider as you plan and market you business.

Small Business Marketing Environment 1: Your Employees and Business

Your employees affect your business by more than the tasks that you pay them for. They also influence your marketing by what they say about your product and business. Treat them well and use ethical business practices, and they will make good comments to others that enhance your marketing.

Small Business Marketing Environment 2: Vendors

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: People Who Sell Your Product In Their Stores

What people who sell your product think about it and say to their customers influences your marketing. It addition, they have the power to feature your product or put it on a back shelf. Their decisions have a direct influence on your sales.

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: People Who Buy Your Product

The more you know about the people who buy your product or are likely to, the better you can design your marketing to meet their emotional and rational needs, and thus to appeal to them effectively.

Small Business Marketing Environment 8: Demographics

You need to know as much as possible about your customers because demographics influence which appeals will be effective in your marketing. People differ by age, income, education level, occupation type, gender and race. By knowing these demographics, you can predict a lot about your customers’ personality and their buying behavior.

Small Business Marketing Environment 9: Economic Situations

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: Nature

Nature is limited. It can provide us with only so many resources before the supply diminishes and costs go up. If demand for a resource exceeds the supply, it’s price goes up. This in turn forces prices to go up for all products that require that resource for production or distribution. So nature influences the marketing mix.

Small Business Marketing Environment: In 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.