As you try to draw up your marketing strategy for your start up or existing small business, you need to remember that there are several factors that are outside of your control.
The composition and the behavior of your target market
You cannot change or impact the demographics of your target market neither can you control how they make buying decisions or how they behave with the media. You can only monitor and try to understand the effects of these characteristics upon your marketing plan.
Your competition
Generally comes it two flavors: direct or very similar to your company or indirect or different from you. Either way, you need to study their behavior to determine whether they are competing based on a unique marketing mix based either on price or other elements. You also need to study your channel members or resellers to understand whether you are competing with them.
You Suppliers and Distributors
You cannot control how well they function and whether they can consistently provide you with the goods and services you need. If there are too few suppliers, you may end up being adversely impacted by their inconsistent behavior.
Governmental Organizations
Federal laws are in effect to help customers deal with deceptive and unsafe business practices. At the state and local levels, the laws and their application may vary.
The Economy
The way customers perceive the economy affect their spending habits. When unemployment increases, people tend to spend less on non-essentials.
Technology
The rate at which technology is introduced into society and the rate at which it changes impacts the buying behavior of consumers.
The Media
Can most definitely influence the way your company is perceived both from a product/service standpoint as well as from an image viewpoint.