The marketing environment is made up of two environments, number one being the micro environment which is the immediate environment that effects the company's ability to serve customers, and number two being the macro environment which consist of larger social forces that affect all players in the micro environment.

All groups in a company including Accounting, R&D, Manufacturing, and Top Management are part of a company’s microenvironment, and all of these departments will have an impact on the marketing decisions and actions of the company. For this reason, the marketing manager should try to work closely with these departments and others when establishing a marketing plan.

Distribution channels will also play a role in the microenvironment, with suppliers, middlemen, warehouses and transporters being just a few of the factors that will affect the business, so be aware of these factors and how they will affect you or market planning and decisions.
A question to answer is which customer market will the company operate in including consumer, industrial, reseller, government, and international and each of these markets characteristics should be analyzed on how they will affect the company.

The number of firms that supply a similar product will play a role in the competitive environment, and once you determine the number of competitors, you should then analyze competitive tools that will set you apart from the competition or give the competition an advantage over you, with the first competitive tool that most companies will use being price.

Be aware of the actions of your competitors, and also develop an understanding of the market you are participating in, and what the customers in this market want. A SEPTE analysis is a process that helps in analyzing the macro environment. SEPTE stands for Social environment, Economic environment, Political and Legal environment, Technological environment, and Environmental issues.

Social and environmental factors include demographics and cultural aspects, and these factors affect customer needs and the size of potential markets, and some social factors include population growth rates, population shifts, age structure (youths, young adults, retirees, etc.), and the changing and family structure.

Economic trends can affect the marketing environment in several ways, with fluctuations in real income determining how much consumers will have to spend on discretionary goods and services, and also take into account the income distribution and the average income of your target market. Other economic factors include income, cost of living, interest rates, and savings and borrowing patterns, and these factors can have a substantial impact on the marketplace.

Developments in the political and legal environment can have serious consequences on your marketing efforts, so be aware of legislation regulating business, the effects of government agencies such as the FDA, FCC, or EPA on your company, in addition to growth of public interest groups that positively or negatively affect your business.

Technological factors can lower barriers to entry and influence outsourcing decisions, with some examples of technological factors including R&D activity, automation and rate of technological change, and another factor that may affect the technological environment is if a company concentrates only on minor improvements or major innovations.