Top Ten Small Business Marketing Environments | Small Business

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

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 have not 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: The Businesses That Serve You

Some people from whom you purchase will help your marketing through cooperative advertising and promotions. In addition, they determine how effectively you can make your product.

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

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 will even give you shelf space influences your marketing.

Small Business Marketing Environment 5: People Who Compete With You

Knowing all you can about your competitors and their products has a great effect on your marketing. If you know the pros and cons of their businesses and products and how yours compares, you'll know what to emphasize in your marketing messages.

Small Business Marketing Environment 6: Publics

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

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: Demographics

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: The Economy

Economics affect how much money people have to spend, the types of products they buy, and what most influences their buying decisions. People and businesses spend money differently in various economic situations. So the economy can be an asset or detriment to your marketing.

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 includes every element in the marketing mix, not just what you do and say to get customers. Thus, you should consider the influence of the ten small business marketing environments covered in this article because they affect elements like pricing, promotion and distribution.

About the Author

You can get more in-depth information on each of these small business marketing environments or Linda Morton's free report: marketing your small business marketing your small business.

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