Marketing ResearchMarketing Information Systems

What is Marketing Research?

•Marketing research is the process and methods used to:▫gather information▫analyze it▫report findings related to marketing goods

and services

Why Use Marketing Research?

•Determine consumers’ attitudes and

preferences

•Test product features

•Determine market size and growth

•Learn about competitive products

•Understand how company is perceived by public

•Determine buying cycles

Who Uses Marketing Research?

•Small businesses – informal research

done by managers and other employees

•Medium sized companies – dedicated

department

•Large companies – contract outside

research companies

Marketing Information Systems

•Marketing information system – set of procedures and methods that regularly generates, stores, analyzes, and distributes information for use in making marketing and other business decisions

Marketing Information Systems

•What to include?▫Customer profile data – studies,

demographics, shopping patterns▫Company records – sales, production,

supplier▫Competitors’ records – prices, products,

market share▫Government data – price trends, laws,

economics▫Marketing research reports – produced and

sold by research firms

Marketing Information Systems

•Database marketing – is a process of designing, creating, and managing customer lists.

•Also referred to as customer relationship management (CRM)

•List contain information about individuals’ characteristics and transactions with a business.

•Valued customer cards

Types of Marketing Research

•Quantitative research – “how many” or “how much”▫Focuses on large numbers of people:

quantity▫Surveys or questionnaires

•Qualitative research – “why” or “how”▫Focuses on smaller numbers of people:

quality▫In depth interviews, focus groups

Major Areas of Marketing Research

•Attitude Research

•Market Intelligence

•Media Research

•Product Research

Attitude Research

•Attitude research – designed to obtain information on how people feel about certain products, services, companies, or ideas.

•Also known as opinion research•Examples

▫Mail or telephone satisfaction studies▫Opinion polls▫Focus groups or consumer panels

Market Intelligence

•Market intelligence – concerned with the size and location of a market, the competition, and the segmentation within the market for a particular product or service

•Uses a combination of existing data and new research

Media Research

•Media research – focuses on issues of media effectiveness, selection, frequency, and ratings

•Which media is most effective for advertising to a particular market?

Product Research

•Product research - centers on evaluating product design, package design, product usage, and consumer acceptance of new and existing products

Marketing Research Issues?

•New Coke - What happened?

•Facebook – How do you like the new

layout?