The Marketing Environment

This chapter reviews the marketing environment and outlines the aspects of the changing environmental trends that marketers must address when preparing a strategic marketing plan. Note the emphasis on the consumer and the need to uncover buying patterns and trends that may be affected by outside environmental forces and changes.

Influences on Buying Behavior

Did you ever buy something you knew you shouldn't buy but just couldn't help yourself - something you simply wanted? Maybe it was a spring-break trip to the Bahamas that you really couldn't afford. Objectively, you may have made a bad decision, but not all decisions are made on a purely objective basis. Psychological and social influences come into play. Let's take a closer look at each of these factors.

Psychological Influences

Under this category, we can identify at least five variables:

  1. Motivation. The internal process that causes you to seek certain goals.
  2. Perception. The way you select, organize, and interpret information.
  3. Learning. Knowledge gained through experience and study.
  4. Attitudes. Your predisposition to respond in particular ways because of learned values and beliefs.
  5. Personality. The collection of attributes that characterize an individual.

Social Influences

Here, we find four factors:

  1. Family.
  2. Reference groups. Friends or other people with whom you identify.
  3. Economic or social status.
  4. Culture. Your set of accepted values.

It shouldn't be surprising that marketers are keenly interested in the effect of all these influences on your buying decisions. For instance, suppose the travel agency that sold you your spring-break getaway found that you bought the package because you viewed it as a reward for studying hard and doing well academically. In that case, it might promote student summer-travel programs as rewards for a hard year's work at school.