so here in chapter five we're going to talk about the marketing environment in which we operate we'll talk about two layers of environment the most immediate environment and then the macro environment of course at the center of the entire environment is the consumer sometimes we'll have very direct interaction with our consumer and then other times more direct interaction as I said there are two layers of the environment for the consume between us and the consumer the most immediate environment and the macro environment in the first video of this chapter we're going to focus on the immediate environment and in the second video of the chapter we'll focus on the larger macro environment let's jump in let's take a look at the immediate environment surrounding the consumer the one that ourselves and three other parts are in so you see that in the immediate environment surrounding the consumer there are three other components besides our own company there are the competitors our corporate partners and then the physical environment in which we are interacting let's take take a look first at our own capabilities you remember back with the marketing plan we looked at the SWAT analysis and we looked at our internal strengths and weaknesses this is where the company capabilities come into play we look to see what do we do well our strengths and then what do we have challenges with or what do we need to improve upon our weaknesses a successful marketing company is going to know what capabilities we have so that we can satisfy our customers needs and wants and we'll figure out what our capabilities are and then match them to the needs so that then we're able to satisfy them so for instance if you look at a company like Coke they are good at botling and they know that so then they use those core competencies in order to SA ify their customer needs you look at a company like Southwest Airlines they are good at uh successfully flying customers from point A to B and doing it in a very efficient and effective way with excellent customer service and they know that those are their core competencies that's their company capabilities and so one of the things that we need to know in order to serve the customer well and meet those customer needs is what are our own company capabilities that is part of the SWAT analysis part of the marketing plan knowing what our strengths are what can we play to in order to meet and satisfy the customer needs now as much as we need to know our own strengths and weaknesses we also need to know our own customers our own competitors strength and weaknesses because their strengths and weaknesses are our opportunities and threats so if we know our competitors weaknesses those become our strength if we or our opportunities if we know their their strengths those become our threats this is part of marketing intelligence uh corporate intelligence competitive intelligence so we need to know as much about our competitors As We Know About Us as much as we do our own SWAT we need to do our competitor SWAT this is why it's so important to be well informed about the current news so this is really why I I try to get you involved in reading the Wall Street Journal which is the current news to attempt to get you started on knowing what's current in the news knowing your own competitions strengths and weaknesses those become your opportunities and threats and you can anticipate their reactions to your own firm's Moves In addition to your competition you also have to understand what's going on with your corporate Partners you think about Amazon and the amount of corporate Partners they have particularly in shipping uh often times to get their packages The Last Mile they do need to partner with the United States Postal Service with ups and other shippers in order to get their packages delivered to the customers um there's only one shipping company that delivers to absolutely every us household and that is the US Postal Service so that is a corporate partner of Amazon they have to work with them which means they need to know also their SWAT and they need to know what could be a problem for them what could be a strength for them as much as you know about your own company and your competition you you also need to completely understand who your corporate partners are going back to Southwest Airlines uh their food providers uh the ones who provide the snacks and the drinks on their Airline that's very important to them they're fuel providers that is another very important corporate partner for them these are all things that they need to know and be well advised in last but not least physical environment and here in Florida we have quite a few things that we have to worry about as far as the physical environment of course hurricane season um but we're also the lightning capital of the nation uh we also have tornadoes and so weather can just play a a very key role in business for us here uh so we need to know particularly on the energy side then uh Nationwide and then globally and to be concerned about green marketing and then this this trend of green washing uh perceiving or having customers uh perceive that something is environmentally friendly when it is not so the physical environment becomes a very key fourth player in that most immediate environment around the consumer so when we have interactions with our consumer we do not interact with them in a vacuum uh yes we come to the table to interact with our consumers but there are other key players at the table as well definitely our competitors our corporate partners and of course the physical environment in which we are interacting with them so that wraps up our our most immediate environment now we in the next video we'll turn our eyes to the larger macro environment which all four of us interact with the consumer Within