Download Marketing Research

Seek and Find
Marketing Research
Marketing-Information
Management LAP 5
Objectives
Describe marketing research and its role in
business decision-making.
Describe the steps of the marketingresearch process.
Objective
Describe marketing research and its
role in business decision-making.
• Marketing researchers use a
systematic process similar to the
scientific method.
• Marketing research is extremely
important for decision-making
about:
 Products
 Prices
 Promotions
 Competitors
 Target markets
• With this knowledge, marketers
contribute to business success.
Important Facts About Marketing Research
• Marketing research is the systematic
gathering, recording, and analyzing
of data about a specific issue,
situation, or concern.
• It helps marketers keep up with
trends and consumers.
• It’s an important component of a
marketing-information management
system.
• It helps businesses to make better
decisions.
• It can vary in size and complexity.
The Role of Marketing Research
in Decision-Making
• Contributes to business
success through informed,
effective decision-making
• Allows decisions to be based
on facts, not opinions, gut
reactions, or past
experiences
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To solve specific marketing problems
• To identify problems that may or may
not be readily apparent
• To help implement the marketing
concept
 Marketing concept: a philosophy of
conducting business that is based on
satisfying customer wants and needs
while achieving company goals
 Marketing research helps identify
those wants and needs.
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To develop a customer profile




Age
Income
Education
Spending patterns
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To analyze the business’s sales and
market share
 How well is the business performing?
 How do its sales compare with
industry sales?
 What is its market share?
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To describe the target market





Who?
How many?
Where?
Likes?
Purchases?
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To determine how to reach the target
market
 What messages appeal to the target
market?
 How frequently should the business
communicate with the target market?
 Which promotional methods appeal to
the target market?
 What advertising media are likely to be
successful?
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To forecast sales and trends
 To predict future sales and trends,
businesses need to know what
customers are buying.
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To be more competitive
 How are we doing compared to our
competitors?
 What could we do to beat the
competition?
 What do customers expect of us and
our competitors?
 What characteristics do customers
associate with different brands?
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To prevent unnecessary financial
losses






What markets should be targeted?
What products should be offered?
What sales channels should be used?
What prices should be charged?
What packaging should be used?
How much inventory should be
carried?
 How should products be promoted?
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To keep up-to-date
 Trends
 Styles
 Buying patterns
How Marketing Research Is Used
• To maintain or determine image
 What are customers saying about the
business?
 Are they satisfied?
The Characteristics
of Marketing Research
• Systematic
 Step-by-step
• Accurate
 Essential in all aspects of
marketing research
 Exact
 Precise
The Characteristics
of Marketing Research
• Objective
 Unbiased
• Thorough
 Sufficient
• Timely
 Due on a specific date
The Characteristics
of Marketing Research
• Reliable
 Producing the same data
every time
• Valid
 Measuring what the
researcher intends to
measure
Who Uses Marketing Research?
• Businesses of all types and sizes
 The business’s size usually
determines how it does marketing
research.
• Large businesses
 Usually have their own marketingresearch departments
 May also hire outside research
consultants
Who Uses Marketing Research?
• Small businesses
 Generally carry out marketing
research on their own
 Use data that they have on hand
 Gather data from published reports
and other sources
 Survey customers to learn about
customers’ wants and needs
Objective
Describe the steps of the
marketing-research process.
The Marketing Research Process:
Identify the Reason for the Research
• Identify the problem, issue, situation,
or concern to be researched.
• Determine:
 What kind of data to collect
 How much data to gather
 Why the data are needed
 Whether lessons learned from
the research will be worth the
potential cost
The Marketing Research Process:
Set Research Objectives
• Objectives:
Objectives fall
Specific
into one
goals
or more
for the
research project
categories
based on the reason for
the research:
 To explore the current situation
(a.k.a. exploratory research)
 Helps researchers to clearly define
reasons for research
 Involves the collection of qualitative
data—respondents’ opinions and
personal interpretations
The Marketing Research Process:
Set Research Objectives
• Objectives fall into one or more
categories based on the reason for
the research:
 To define the current situation (a.k.a.
descriptive research)
 Is used to gather specific data related
to the identified research problem
 Involves the collection of quantitative
data—facts and figures that can be
presented in the form of a chart or
graph
The Marketing Research Process:
Set Research Objectives
• Objectives fall into one or more
categories based on the reason for
the research:
 To test the situation (a.k.a. causal or
conclusive research)
 Focuses on cause and effect
relationships
 Tests “what if” theories
 Determines the impact that one thing
has on another
The Marketing Research Process:
Set Research Objectives
• Objectives fall into one or more
categories based on the reason for
the research:
 To predict future situations (a.k.a.
predictive research)
 Helps to forecast future business
developments
The Marketing Research Process:
Develop a Hypothesis
• Hypothesis: a statement of
the expected outcomes of the
research
 Testable
 Based on the research
objective(s)
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Involves creating a written master
plan for how the research will be
carried out
• Helps to keep the project on track
• Helps ensure that the business and
the researcher have the same
information
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 What types of data are needed?
 Secondary data
 Are collected for purposes other
than the project at hand
 Can be accessed quickly
 Are relatively inexpensive
 Sometimes meet researchers’ needs
 May not directly apply to the
problem at hand
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 What types of data are needed?
 Primary data
 Up-to-date
 Relevant
 Gathered specifically for the project
at hand
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 How much data will be collected?
 The project’s scope affects the
amount of data needed.
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 Where will researchers find the data?
 Sampling: the process of choosing a
representative group of customers to
survey
 Whom should researchers survey?
 How many should be surveyed?
 How should those to survey be
selected?
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 Where will researchers find the data?
 Internal data:
 Usually secondary data
 Found within the business
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 Where will researchers find the data?
 External data
 External secondary data are found
outside the business in publications
written and published by others.
 External primary data are gathered
specifically for the project at hand.
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 What primary data-collection methods
will be used?
 Survey
 Is the most popular data-collection
method
 Involves developing and administering
a questionnaire
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 What primary data-collection methods
will be used?
 Observation
 Involves gathering data by watching
customers physically and/or
electronically
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 What primary data-collection methods
will be used?
 Experiment
 Tests cause and effect relationships
 Includes test marketing
The Marketing Research Process:
Determine the Research Design
• Addresses the following questions:
 How will the data be analyzed?
 The way in which researchers plan to
review and evaluate data affects the
amount of data collected.
 If analyzed by hand, the amount of data
must be limited.
 If analyzed by computer, researchers
can collect much more data.
The Marketing Research Process:
Collect the Needed Data
• Involves surveying, observing,
and/or experimenting
• Is the most expensive step in
the research process
• Can be tedious, leading to
mistakes
The Marketing Research Process:
Analyze the Data
• Data must be analyzed to be useful.
 Data by themselves are just a
collection of facts.
 Data must be evaluated to determine
how they relate to the research
objectives.
 Data that have been interpreted and
transformed into a useful form
become information.
• Data analysis software and statistical
programs can quickly determine what
raw data really mean.
The Marketing Research Process: Make
Recommendations Based on Findings
• When research is complete,
researchers prepare a written
research report and suggest a
course of action for the business.
• The research report includes:
 The original research objectives
and hypothesis
 The research methodology
 Research results
 Limitations to the research
 The researchers’ recommendations
for the business
• Think about your school’s extracurricular activities, CTSOs, or
school-based enterprises.
 Do any of the groups conduct
marketing research?
 If so, what types of data do they
collect?
 How do they collect the data?
 How do they use the data?
• What group could benefit most
from conducting marketing
research?
 Why should the group conduct
research?
 What data should it collect?
 What data-collection methods
should it use?
• Certaine wants to hire the Harrison
& Hayes (H & H) marketingresearch firm to conduct research
on some of its newer products.
• Certaine is offering ample funding.
• There are strings attached:
 Certaine wants to select the
research sample.
 H & H cannot publicize any
derogatory data about the
company or its products.
• H & H is tempted to sign the
contract.
 The firm could make lots of
money
 The project could put H & H
on the “A” list of marketing
researchers.
• What would you do if you were
Harrison and Hayes?
• Would you accept Certaine’s
offer?
MBAResearch
Acknowledgments
Original Developers
Christopher C. Burke,
April J. Miller, MBAResearch
Version 1.0
Copyright © 2010
MBA Research and Curriculum Center®
Digital-based photography sources:
DIGITAL VISION LTD.
Teenager Today
Obj. B: #130271
Photos copyright Digital Vision Ltd., all rights reserved.
833 Fourth Ave. SW, Suite 800 Calgary, AB, Canada T2P 3T5
Copyright:
All photographic digital images on this CD are owned by
the aforementioned photographic resources or their
licensors and are protected by the United States copyright
laws, international treaty provisions, and applicable laws.
No title to or intellectual property rights to the images on
this CD are transferred to you. These sources retain all
rights and are not to be used, digitally copied, transferred,
or manipulated in any way. To do so is a violation of
federal copyright laws.