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Conducting and Using Market Research
For Marketing & Sales Managers
Your step-by-step guide to gathering the right information needed to develop a more effective
marketing strategy.
Benefit from attending this 2 day training course and learn how to:
1. Determine whether and when market research will add value to your organisation
2. Identify what specific information would enable you to improve your marketing strategy
3. Analyse the data collected and convert it into useful marketing information
4. Save money by correctly applying market research information to your marketing strategy
5. Improve the sales performance of existing products or services through correctly researching
the product life-cycle
6. Minimise financial losses by testing packaging, advertising and marketing strategies prior to
costly production
“Marketing Intelligence” – It’s a catchy phrase, is it not? It is also a phrase that describes one of the
most important tools needed to survive in business today: without an understanding of the
environment in which your company, product or service competes, you have little more than luck to
rely on for the success of your business.
Understanding customer behaviour and market perceptions, coupled with a keen awareness of the
nature and activities of your competition is vital when planning a marketing strategy. Thus, it is
imperative that your company gathers current and accurate information about the market in which
your business contends. Not only will this information provide explanations for the current
performance of your business and its products or service, it will also enable you to recognise ways of
increasing your bottom-line through innovative marketing.
Although research projects in South Africa tend to be outsourced, it is vital to understand exactly
what information you need, whether this information could be gathered through market research
and how this should be done.
This intensive 2-day training course has been developed to provide marketing and business
professionals with invaluable insight into the actual value and process of market research.
Understanding the process of market research and the various methods of conducting research, will
enable you to:
 Determine whether and when market research will add value to your business
 Select the supplier best suited to conduct your research project
 Effectively assist your supplier to guarantee the success of the project
 Correctly analyse the information gained and use it to improve your bottom-line
Are you interested in acquiring and utilising relevant knowledge about customer behaviour and
perceptions as well as the nature and activities of your competition, to improve your company’s
performance?
If so, then this is a course you cannot afford to miss!
1. An introduction to market research
Information about the market in which your business operates is vital to the success of your
organisation. In order to market your product or service effectively, you have to know who
your customers are and why they buy your product. In addition, knowledge of your
competition will enable you to stay one step ahead when competing for the buying power of
new existing customers
 Defining market research, marketing research, business espionage and competitive
intelligence
 Determining whether and when market research will add value to your business
 Getting and using the information you really ned to improve your bottom-line
 Evaluating various ethical dilemmas in market research
2. Determining what information you require and finding the best way of getting it
Market information is crucial to developing an effective marketing strategy. It is, however,
vital to ensure you base your marketing strategy on relevant and accurate information to
ensure success.
 Identifying clear marketing and research objectives
 How will you know when you have gathered enough of the correct information
through research?
 Evaluating different methods of gathering the correct information
Comparing primary and secondary research
Conducting informal research
Using test markets for experimental research
 Understanding when and how to conduct descriptive and / or causal research
 Designing a research project that is guaranteed to deliver accurate and appropriate
information to enable you to improve your marketing strategies
3. Avoiding the most common pitfalls guaranteed to ruin a perfectly good research project
The best way to ensure that your research project delivers the wrong information is to
attach incorrect values to the answers it delivers. This session will highlight all the aspects
you should avoid in order to ensure that your marketing strategy and activities are not based
on incorrect market and marketing information.
 Ensure that you do not rely on market information gathered through incorrect
methods
 Don’t conduct your research with the wrong people, ask the wrong questions or
incorrectly analyse your data
 Use the available research tools correctly
 Don’t combine and compare data gathered through different research methods
4. Selecting the right respondents for your survey
Addressing the right questions to the wrong people will probably deliver answers that seem
to be correct. Unfortunately, probably is just not good enough: it is vital to ensure that you
ask the right questions to the right people in order to obtain the correct information on
which to base your marketing activities.
 Identifying the potential for product re-launches and line –extensions that will
improve your sales performance
 Predicting the need for renewals and re-launches of existing products in order to
minimise financial losses
 Knowing when to discontinue a product
5. Understanding the techniques and applications of different research methodologies
Although there are various methods of obtaining the information you require from your
respondents, it is important to understand which technique will give you the most
comprehensive and reliable information.
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Using quantitative research for numerical and factual information
Identifying consumers’ options, attitudes and motivations through qualitative
research
Exploring different data collection opportunities
Discovering different techniques used to acquire accurate information
6. Applying the knowledge gained from market research to improve your marketing results
Even the most accurate and relevant information has no value to your business if it is not
used to improve your bottom-line. It is imperative that the information gathered from the
research project is correctly analysed and applied in your business activities.
 Analysing the data collected and converting this into useful information
 Applying rules of thumb to determine how close this information beings you to the
actual truth
 Extracting hidden relationships and implicit information from your research results
 Progressing from data, to information, to productive action
7. Research and the product life-cycle
The performance of a product is determined by customer needs and interest. As consumer
behaviour Is influenced by ever-changing circumstances, it is vital to ensure that you are
constantly updating your knowledge of your market and the preferences and actions of your
customers. This will enable you to monitor the reasons of changing product performance
levels and devise new ways of improving wanting performance.
 Using marketing research to answer “consumer call” for new products
 Determining the viability of new product ideas through research
 Researching packaging, advertising and marketing strategies in order to predict their
success
 Following your product’s fortunes – monitoring the performance of your existing
products
 Identifying the potential for product re-launches and line –extensions that will
improve your sales performance
 Predicting the need for renewals and re-launches of existing products in order to
minimise financial losses
 Knowing when to discontinue a product
8. Conducting effective advertising research
It is said that 50% of advertising is a waste of money – the only problem is determining
which 50% that is. Advertising research aims to solve this problem as it enables advertisers
to measure the value of planned and existing advertising campaigns.
 Saving money by testing advertising concepts prior to production of costly
advertisements
 Can research actually evaluate the potential impact of an advertisement?
 Measuring the on-going value of a current advertisement and predicting wear-out
9. Selecting the right research supplier
Ensure that you outsource your research project to the supplier that will deliver results. Find
out how to monitor and manage the relationship with your supplier to ensure the success of
your research project.
 Getting to know the South African marketing research industry
 Briefing potential suppliers on your research requirements
 Evaluating and choosing the supplier best suited to provide your research needs
 Monitoring the progress of the research project through effectively managing the
relationship with your supplier
Who should attend?
This course has been developed to assist all marketers and business managers in obtaining
information that can be used to improve their bottom-line, from their market and current
customers. It will be of particular interest to:
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Marketing Managers
Trade marketing managers
Product managers
Brand managers
Channel managers
Sales managers
Business development managers
Regional and divisional managers
General managers
Government and non-government organisational Officials concerned with public opinions
and needs