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I¡¦m not sure if I am taking the right definition of ¡§external environments¡¨ in my answer, but I will talk about them in the way I have learned about them before. There are always a number of external factors that affect customers, and if a marketing team is good they will take all of them into consideration.
Demographics: Defined as: The characteristics of human populations and population segments, especially when used to identify consumer markets. I think this is one of the most important factors to look at because in take into account many things about the population including, but not limited to:
?æ Race
?æ Gender
?æ Average Income
?æ Location
?æ Population
This makes a huge difference in marketing because marketing to middle aged Hispanic females may need a totally different campaign then elderly white males, although they may both be interested in the product. This is generally used in the initial stages of planning to decide if a certain area will even be profitable to market in.
Political Factors: Depending on the political group of the area there may be bans on certain advertising or activities. Certain businesses may be supported more by specific political groups. For example a gun shop may flop in a more democratic area but be a huge success in a primary republican area. You could compare say, Texas and Massachusetts. In Republican Texas the gun ownership percentage is much, much higher then in Democratic Massachusetts.
Economic Factors: This includes things like interest rates, exchange rates, government policies on taxation and spending, among other things. One ...