Small Business Marketing Environments Influence Your Business
Small business marketing environments have as much effect on your business as what you do through advertising, promotions, and public relations.
If you, as a small business owner, only think of marketing as what you do to promote and advertise your product or service, you are missing many opportunities to improve your marketing.
The following small business marketing environments affect your marketing in ways that you may haven’t considered before.
Small Business Marketing Environment 1: Your Employees and Business
Everyone working in your business enhances or diminishes your marketing. If your employees make positive comments about your business to others, that’s good marketing. If they make negative comments, it hurts your ability to market.
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 People Who Distribute Your Products
Businesses that distribute your products usually serve many other businesses. In their contact with others their comments can influence the perception of your business and product. They also affect how well you can get your product to your customers.
Small Business Marketing Environment 4: People Who Sell Your Product In Their Stores
Which retailers carry your product, the type of customers they attract, and whether they feature your products in their advertising all affect your marketing. In addition, how well they display your product in their stores or whether they’ll even give you shelf space influences your marketing.
Small Business Marketing Environment 5: Businesses That Sell Competing Products
Of course, competitors are generally not going to willingly help you market, but how your product and business compares to theirs is an important marketing consideration. You need to know as much as possible about your competitors so you can determine your ideal distinguishing characteristic. Then you should promote that distinguishing characteristic throughout your marketing messages and consider it in all your marketing strategies.
Small Business Marketing Environment 6: External Publics
People external to your business still have an influence on it. For example, government officials can help or injured your marketing, business and industry with regulations.
Small Business Marketing Environment 7: Target Market
By now, you should know that there’s more to marketing than just efforts to reach and sell to your target market . Still your target market have the greatest influence on your sales so you should learn all you can about target market members in order to base your marketing on what ideal appeals to them.
Small Business Marketing Environment 8: Firmographics and 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: 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: 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: Summary
Marketing is much more than what you state and do to attract potential customers. It includes a mix of product, price, promotion, distribution and other elements that are influenced by different small business marketing environments.
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