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Running Head: HOW MARKETING ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS DECISIONS
How do elements of a marketing environment affect marketing decision-making?
Whitney Nass
Globe University
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HOW MARKETING ENVIRONMENT AFFECTS DECISIONS
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How do elements of a marketing environment affect marketing decision-making?
Before a company can begin to promote their service or product they must first
understand the elements of their marketing environment. This could entail a good amount of
research about the community surrounding them and exploration into their customer clientele. A
marketing environment encompasses all outside factors that could affect a business's ability to
construct and preserve relationships with consumers. The components of a marketing
environment that effect marketing decision-making can include the changing preferences of
customers, the competition, the general economy and culture, and the legal and regulatory
environment.
The first element of the marketing environment to investigate is the changing preference
of specific customers. One step to completing this is to look at the demographics of the
company's target consumer. The demographics will tell the company what type of person should
be buying their service or product. "Demographic segmentation is concerned with factors such
as age, occupation, life stage, sexual orientation, family size, religion, ethnicity, education and
nationality" (Blythe, 2009, para. 13). Research about all of these aspects will help form a target
market or the people being persuaded to buy a product.
Another aspect to take into consideration is the ever-changing consumer preferences and
market trends. If a company does not stay up to date on current trends, sales lack. The internet
is a large factor to the transforming market trend. "Ad retargeting works by utilizing browser
cookies to track the websites that users visit. Once they leave a certain site, the products or
services they viewed will be shown to them again in advertisements" (DeMers, 2013, para. 6). If
someone has accesses a website featuring a product then they’re reminded of that product as they
browse other internet sites. It also gives the consumer some familiarity with the product by
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seeing it more often. Facebook is a prime example of advertisement on social media. The
consumer logs into their personal account on their computer and right on the home page of the
website are advertisements that have been tailored to that consumer's needs and wants. If a
business isn't using this technique to their advantage they could fall behind their competitors.
Another way to fall behind competition is through pricing. "If competitors are able to
offer their product for a much lower price, a marketing strategy must stress the fact that the
product is of higher quality, that the warranty is better, or that the product lasts longer" (Strain,
n.d., para. 4). When a consumer goes to a local store such as Target and wants to buy paper
towels, they are given a few options. There are the name brand paper towels and the Target
brand Up & Up paper towels. The name brand paper towels are going to cost more than the
Target brand. Target is competing with the competitors that are in its store by offering lower
prices for the same product. By shelving the products next to each other, consumers are able to
compare price and value differences. The name brands are offering their product at a higher
price with advertisements such as five times more durable or contests that a wet paper towel can
hold a bowling ball and won't break. Changing the marketing strategy of a product can keep you
ahead of your competitors.
An example of a store re-evaluating their marketing strategy in order to keep up with
their competition is J.C. Penney's. They have ditched the coupons and advertised sales for low
prices every day. Their competition, Macy's, did this in 2005 by trying to limit the number of
sales and coupons they handed out. According to Macy's spokesman Jim Sluzewski, "the
customer stopped shopping. Macy's reinstated promotions, then slowed them down gradually so
that the customer wasn't in shock" (Mattioli, 2012, para. 8). J.C. Penney's seems to be following
in their competitors footsteps by also slowly bringing back sales and low price days of the week
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to draw customers back in. Both companies are attempting to maintain relevancy in the current
economic state.
The overall economy, where a product is established, has an immense influence on your
marketing decisions. The United States experienced a growth in the economy during the new
millennium. Consumers were willing to spend money on expensive items such as automobiles,
watches, and vacations. When the economy began to decline, consumers started to curb what
they were spending on extravagant items. Marketers had to adjust their marketing strategy by
offering products tailored to consumers with modest incomes (Nickels, 2013, p. 365). After the
economy declined consumers weren't willing to pay premium costs for a product; they were
looking to save wherever they could. During a decline in the economy a product needs to show
consumers that they were of high quality at a lower price. In a prosperous economy a product is
able to be marketed as a luxury good or only for the purpose of convenience. Another aspect to
the economy is the sociocultural factors that affect the economy and business and service
development. "One of the fastest-growing segments of the U.S. population in the 21st century is
people over 65" (Nickels, 2013, p. 365). Adults over the age of 65 have separate needs from an
adult who is 30. Someone who is marketing the growing population of adults over 65 would
invest in nursing homes, prescription drugs, and health care. Age is not the only sociocultural
factor that affects an economy; education, language, social organization, family, role, and status
in the economy also play a part in the sociocultural factors of an audience.
A marketing strategy also needs to take the political and regulatory environment into
consideration. Restrictions that are set in place by politicians on a business, are meant to protect
consumers. Cigarettes and tobacco are prime examples of regulations being enforced on the
product. All cigarette and tobacco containers are required to have a warning label attached to
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them. The Food and Drug Administration has been working diligently to put restrictions on the
newest popular trend electronic cigarettes. According to Dennis, the government's plan is to
limit sales to minors, stop the free samples, require health warning labels, and list ingredients on
the product. Also, scientific evidence would be needed before e-cigarettes can make claims
relating to a person's health (2014, para. 2). Regulations made on a product will impact how the
product can be marketed and which audience it can be marketed to.
It is important to understand that the marketing environment is continually changing and
growing. Companies are having to be innovative and strategize when adapting their product to
the environmental adjustments of the marketplace. Before marketing a product or service,
research the changing preferences of targeted customers. The demographics of consumers such
as ethnicity, age, and lifestyle will shape the targeted consumers. Consider using the internet as
a tool to keep up to the competitors. Keep track of the economy as it experiences growth or
decline. Lastly, check the political and regulatory restrictions on the product to ensure the
product is following all legal requirements. By doing this, companies can ensure the best
marketing strategies to use for their environment.
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References
Demers, J. (2013, September 17). The Top 7 Online Marketing Trends That Will Dominate
2014. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/17/thetop-7-online-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/
Dennis, B. (2014, April 23). FDA outlines plan to regulate e-cigarettes. The Washington Post.
p.A.1. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com
Mattioli, D. (2012, June 19). Penney to Tweak Message, but Not Its Strategy. The Wall Street
Journal, p.B.3. Retrieved from http://www.online.wsj.com/news/articles/
Nickels, B., McHugh, J., McHugh, S. (2013). Understanding Business (10th ed.) [VitalSource
ebook]. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Blythe, J. (2009). Segmentation. In Key concepts in marketing. Retrieved from
http://proxy.msbcollege.edu/login?url=http://search.credoreference.com.proxy.msbcolleg
e.edu/content/entry/sageukmark/segmentation/0
Strain, M. (n.d.). How do Elements of a Marketing Environment Affect Marketing DecisionMaking? Houston Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.smallbusiness.chron.com
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Appendix
1. Who?
a. Who is the author, sponsoring organization, or publisher?
Mary Strain is the author. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English. She has
been a professional editor since 1994.
b. Are they an expert in the field?
No she is not an expert in the marketing field.
2. Why?
a. Why is the author publishing the information?
The author published this information to inform the public.
b. To sell you something? To convince you of a belief? Is the information biased or
balanced? Is the information objective or opinion?
The author is not trying to sell something or to convince the audience of anything.
The information presented is balanced and objective. She does not state an
opinion in the article.
c. Is it a joke? Be aware that propaganda, misinformation and disinformation do
exist.
No it is not a joke. It aligned with other research I had done on the topic.
3. What?
a. What type of source is it? Scholarly/academic? Trade/professional? Popular?
I wanted to give the article more credit than I think it deserved because it came
from the Houston Chronicle. I wasn't even sure what that was but it sounded like
a legitimate source. This is not a scholarly article. It is a popular article with no
credibility.
b. Does this type of source suit your research needs?
Yes, this article is the exact question that I posed. It gives information and prime
examples for the information presented.
4. Can you trust it?
a. Does the author cite his/her sources?
There are 5 references listed and you are able to access these links to where she
got the information from.
b. When was it published or last updated?
The articles on chron.com don't seem to have dates listed with them. I found it
super frustrating that there was no date to go along with this article. I would think
they would want to put a date on it. This also makes me trust the source a little
less.
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c. What is the URL suffix? .com .edu .org .net?
smallbusiness.chron.com Which I learned in high school is not always the most
reliable internet source.
5. How does it compare? How does this website compare to other websites, books, articles,
etc. on the same topic
I tried using the Library as an online resource for this paper. I felt like I wasn't finding
what I needed or I was on information overload with too much information. In the past I
have found those articles to be more credible than a Google search engine. However, this
article is exactly what I needed for my paper and did coincide with other articles that I
found on the topic.
6. Then summarize the website content.
a. How does this website address your question?
This is an informative article that has the elements I needed for my research. I
was able to use quite a lot of the knowledge that I gained from it for my paper. I
was able to use this article as a guideline for what I wanted my paper to entail.
b. What evidence or information does this website give that backs up your answer?
I feel that the article gave me a great amount of information for my research. I just
feel that it wasn't enough information and it missed some key elements to the
marketing environment. It did give me the definition of a marketing environment,
"The marketing environment is everything a company must take into
consideration when developing and presenting a new product." It also gave me,
"If your competitors are able to offer their product for a much lower price than
yours, your marketing strategy must stress the fact that your product is of higher
quality, that your warranty is better, or that you product lasts longer." This quote
got me thinking about how products and stores that I shop at use this strategy. I
felt that the article lacked what I needed for the general economy and culture
examples. It didn't mention age or culture at all in the article. I turned to our
textbook for those answers.