Marketing Compost (EAWAG) - The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

3 The marketing environment
So far, we have introduced the concept of marketing, considered why it is
important for compost businesses and described some of the main research
methods. This section is concerned with the first marketing step, i.e. understanding
the marketing environment.
Composting businesses operate within a highly complex and dynamic environment,
which is largely impossible to control and often difficult to predict. It
is important for a business to understand the marketing environment, as it can
present a multitude of opportunities and threats. The following table summarises
the external factors and forces of the marketing environment.
Economic Political/Legal Social Environmental Technical
Competitors
Alternative
products
Income of
customers
Economic
cycle
Subsidies for
relevant
sectors
Sympathetic
waste
management
policies
Subsidies for
agriculture
Import/export
regulations
Land reforms
Cultural behaviour
Values, taboos
Attitude towards
waste or compost
Demographic
trends
Education, skills
Environmental
awareness
Climate
Soil
conditions
Water
availability
Agricultural
activities
Land use
planning
Technological
innovations
Change of
agricultural
techniques
Improved
transport
infrastructure
Figure 3.1: Factors influencing a business environment. These factors are hardly ever
static but constantly changing. They may affect your business directly or indirectly
Understanding the marketing environment should not be viewed as a one-off
activity. Since the environment may be constantly changing, it is imperative
for a business to keep abreast of changes.
Some elements of the marketing environment are discussed hereafter in
more detail. Others, such as people’s attitudes, perceptions and awareness,
are discussed in Chapter 4: Market assessment.
Marketing Compost—The marketing environment 31