MKTG13-303 Chapter 1-7: Marketing Research Textbook Notes
The role of Marketing Research and the research process24/05/2017 1:16:00 PM
Market Research is the systematic and objective process of generating information for aid in
making marketing decisions
• Qualitative research – interviews, case studies and online bulletin boards, group
discussion boards
• Using the research to shape advertising strategy – which should reflect customer
satisfaction
• Market research uses approaches that help organisations meet better more important
outcomes
The nature of Marketing research
• Different marketing question require information about how customers, distributors
and competitors will respond to marketing decisions
• Marketing research is one of the principal tools for answering such questions because
it links the consumer, the customer and the public to the marketer with information
used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine and
evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance and improve understand
of marketing as a process.
• Task is to help specify and supply accurate information to reduce the uncertainty in
decision making
Marketing research defined
• Marketing research is defined as the systematic and objective process of generating
information to aid in making marketing decisions
• Process includes
o Specifying what info is required
o Designing the method for collecting info
o Managing and implementing the collection of data
o Analysing the results
o Communicating the findings and their implications
• Accurate information = objective marketing researchers
• Research should be detached rather than bias – value of research is then reduced
• Without objectivity research is valueless
• The object of research is to faciliatate the managerial decision making process for all
aspects of the firms marketing mix: pricing, promotion, distribution and product
decisions.
• Research can suggest directions for changes in the marketing mix but it cannot ensure
correct marketing execution
Basic research and applied research
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• Basic research attempts to expand the limits of knowledge, not aimed at solving a
particular pragmatic proble,.
o Basic marketing research findings cannot be immediately implemented by a
marketing executive
o Basic research is conducted to verify the acceptability of a given theory or to
learn more about a certain concept
• Applied research is conducted when a decision must be made about a specific real-life
problem
o Studies undertaken to answer question about specific problems or to make
decisions about particular courses of action
• Both employ the scientific method to answer the questions at hand
o Scientific method refers to the techniques and procedure used to recognise and
understand the marketing phenomena
Market Strategy Development Stages
• Identifying and evaluating opportunities
o A mere description of some social or economic activity, such as trend in
consumer purchasing may help managers recognise problems and identify
opportunities for enriching marketing efforts
o Estimates of market potential or predictions about future environmental
conditions allow managers to evaluate opportunities
▪ Accurate sales forcasts are most useful pieces of planning information
▪ flybuys
• Analysing market segments and selecting target markets
o
• Planning and implementing a marketing mix that will satisfy customers needs and
meet the objectives of the organisation
o Plan and execute
o Product Research
▪ Includes studies designed to evaluate and develop new products and to
learn how to adapt existing product lines
▪ Product test - strength and weaknesses, or determines whether a
finished product performs better than competing brand or according to
expectations
▪ Brand names – whether name is appropriate for products
▪ Package testing – size, colour, shape, ease of use.
o Pricing research
▪ Analysing market performance A competitive pricing study is a typical
marketing research project of this type. However, research designed to
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learn the ideal price for a product, or to determine if consumers will
pay a price high enough to cover cost,
o Distribution Research
▪ Where the products are distributed
▪ research focused on developing and improving the efficiency of
channels of distribution is important to many organisations.
o Promotion Research
▪ Research that investigates the effectiveness of premiums, coupons,
sampling deals and other sales promotions is classified as promotion
research. Promotion research includes buyer motivation studies to
generate ideas for copy development, media research and studies of
advertising effectiveness. However, the most time, money and effort
are spent on advertising research.
• Analysing marketing performance
o Performance monitoring research is the research that regularly provides
feedback for evaluation and control of marketing activity
▪ Using the UPC codes on products to develop market share analysis
▪ Sales analysis
When is marketing research needed?
• Time constraints
• The availability of the data
• The nature of the decision to be made
• The value of the research information in relation to costs
Business Trends in marketing research
• Global marketing research
• Growth of the Internet and social media
Stages in the research process
• Defining the problem
• Planning a research design
• Planning a sample
• Collecting the data
• Analysing the data
• Formulating the conclusions and preparing the report
• Alternative in the research process
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