Environmental Factors of Marketing
This paper will discuss the five environmental factors that influence global and domestic
marketing decisions that organizations must make. These five environmental factors are
technology, demographics, government, culture and economics. Companies are affected
differently by these factors depending on the industry they are in and the size of the
organization. I will be using the Washington Plaza Hotel to illustrate how these
environmental factors affect the hotel industrys marketing decisions. The Washington
Plaza Hotel is a hospitality business located in Washington, DC. They offer services such
as lodging, restaurant, bar, catering and meeting space rental. The Washington Plaza Hotels
major customer base is government, tourist, non-profit organizations, local businesses and
some corporate clientele. Lets now take a look at how these environmental factors affect
the marketing of the hotel.
Environmental Factors that Affect Marketing
Technology
Technology has created a major impact on the way in which all organizations market their
products and services. With the development of the internet, companies are now able to
economically market themselves on a global level. Even smaller companies that were once
not able to capture international business due to the cost factor can now do just that. The
Washington Plaza Hotel is no exception. The hotel industry in DC relies heavily on
tourism as a major part of its client base. Many of these tourists who visit the city are of
foreign nationality. It is important that the Washington Plaza Hotel targets these people
when marketing the company. Not only do they target the tourist but they also target the
international business travelers that come to the city on business related trips. The hotels
website, which gives detailed information about the hotels accommodations and services,
can be accessed by potential customers all over the world. In addition, the Washington
Plaza Hotel has teamed up with such web-based travel services like Orbitz, Expedia,
Travelocity, Etc. in order to capture more of the global market. Before the existence of the
internet, the global market was not easily reachable. Technology has the greatest affect on
marketing for many organizations and certainly for the Washington Plaza Hotel as well as
the hospitality industry itself.
Demographics
Demographics are another environmental factor that plays a big part in the marketing of
the Washington Plaza Hotel. This company is service-based and the customers must come
to the hotel in order to receive those services. In this scenario it is all about location,
location, location. The Washington Plaza Hotel has a lock on that. Located in the heart of
