Marketing ResearchMKTG 4133

What will be your skills?

Objectives:

• Marketing Background

• Marketing and marketing research defined

• Different areas of marketing research

• Desirable qualities of marketing research

What is the importance of the “brand” and how would you identify a “strong brand?”

“Push” versus “Pull”

• “Push” implies involvement or dependence on intermediaries in the promotional flow.

• “Pull” is promotion directed at the consumer.

Distribution “Intensity”

• Number of retailers carrying the product

• Spatial convenience

• Strength of the brand?

Marketing Management over a Product’s Life Cycle

• Promotion

• Pricing

• Distribution

Price Sensitivity

• If a product category is highly “price” sensitive, is it attractive or unattractive to marketers?

• How do marketers change price sensitivity?

MARKETING RESEARCH

…the process of designing, gathering, analyzing and reporting of information that may be used to solve a specific marketing problem. (Burns and

Bush, 1998)

American Marketing Association

• The American Marketing Association has defined marketing research as the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information - information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process.

that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information

• Consumer:

• Customer

• Public:

• Long-Run Profitability

…information used to identify and define marketing opportunities…

• Market Opportunities/Strategy Development– Geographic markets

– Categories without strong brands

– Large, highly concentrated markets

and problems…

• Situation Analysis– Defining the research question, or underlying

problem– Symptoms:

– Situation analysis wades through the symptoms and finds the mismatch in elements of the marketing mix.

…refine, and evaluate marketing actions

Marketing Mix

Pricing

Product

Distribution

Promotion

All elements of the marketing mix must be “coordinatedand refined” to meet the needs of the segment, and each elementsmay justify a specific research project(s).

What are the characteristics of strong brand?

• Awareness

• Price premium

• Brand loyalty

• Brand characters, celebrities, associations

“Tyson to put its own name on IBP meat”(8/27/02)

BY CRISTAL CODY, |ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE • SPRINGDALE —

   Tyson said it will replace the Thomas E. Wilson label with the Tyson brand on roasts and other further processed beef and pork products and fresh, prepackaged pork.

   The company initially will convert all branded fresh beef to clear packaging with no brand.   

   Tyson launched a $13 million Thomas E. Wilson national advertising campaign in January.   

monitor marketing performance;

• Internal research approach:

• Profitability:

• Administration of marketing programs,

and improve understanding of marketing as a process.

• Applied vs. Basic Research– Marketing research conducted by firms to

address a problem specific to its needs is viewed as applied research.

– Research conducted for the sake of extending general knowledge, without respect to addressing specific problems, is basic research.

– Marketing academics do some of both...

Inaccuracies in MR

• All forms of research have some form of error, either related to measurement, sampling, or limitations of the design.

• MR is no exception--we recognize it, attempt to control for it, and design the research in recognition of the tradeoffs.

• Additionally, the dynamics of market behavior cause MR to have a short-life span.

Constraints Determining Usefulness of Marketing Research

• Is sufficient time available before a managerial decision must be made?

• Is the information on hand inadequate for making a decision?

• Is the decision of considerable strategic or tactical importance?

• Does the value of the research information exceed the cost of conducting research?

Objectivity

• The results of marketing research have substantial effects on the firm’s resources.

• This provides incentives for biasing the study, misrepresenting the results for short-term benefit.

• In the long-run, the truth is learned, and firms bear the costs of these biases.

• Marketing researchers must make every effort to eliminate bias and retain objectivity.

“…links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer

through information