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.
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 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 People You Purchase From
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: Distributors
People who deliver your product to your customers influence your marketing because they determine how well you effectively and efficiently distribute your product to your customers. In addition, they will talk about your business to other businesses that they serve. If what they say is positive, that’s good marketing. If not, your marketing has to work double to overcome their negative statements.
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: 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: 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
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 best appeals to them.
Small Business Marketing Environment 8: Factual Characteristics
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: The Economy
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: 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: 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.