Chapter 5 Marketing Research and Information Systems Marketing research is the systematic design collection interpretation and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific marketing problems or take advantage of marketing opportunities o Process of gathering information that is not currently available Marketers approach marketing research with a logical process o 1 locating and defining problems issues 2 designing the research project 3 collecting data 4 interpreting research findings 5 reporting research findings o Locating defining an issue focuses on uncovering the nature and boundaries of a situation or question related to marketing strategy or implementation first sign of a problem is the failure to obtain an objective declining sales increasing expenses decreasing profit Customer Relationship Management CRM is based on analysis of existing customers firm often defines a problem by finding a new way to adjust for biases stemming from existing customers o Create a research design is an overall plan for obtaining the info needed to address the issue Formulate a hypothesis o Markets can conduct exploratory or conclusive research which differ in their formalization and flexibility rather than the specific research method used Exploratory research is conducted to gather more information about a problem or to make a tentative hypothesis more specific used to better understand a problem and to identify decision alternatives Conclusive Research is designed to verify insights through objective procedures and to help marketers in making decisions used when marketers have one or more alternatives in mind and needs assistance in the final stages of decision making Descriptive research research conducted to clarify the characteristics of certain phenomena to solve a problem o Range from general surveys of customers educations occupations to specifics on how often they consume a sports drink o Experimental research allows marketers to make casual inferences about relationships independent and dependent variables can provide stronger evidence of cause an effect A research technique must be reliable and valid o Reliability exists when a research technique produces almost identical results in different trials o Validity exists when a research method measures what is supposed to be measured o Primary Data collected is data observed and recorded or collected directly from respondents To collect primary data researchers use sampling methods surveys and observations and it is very costly Sampling in marketing research is the process of selecting representative units from a total population Probability sampling every element in the population being studied has a known chance of being selected for study Random sampling all units in a population have equal chance of appearing in the sample Stratified sampling the population of interest is divided into groups according to a common attribute and a random sample is chosen in each group o Secondary data is compiled both inside and outside the organization for some purpose other than the current investigation general reports sales records sale patterns accounting records Competitive information from sales force is important o No probability sampling subjective and has no way to calculate the likelihood that a specific element of the population will be chosen o Quota Sampling researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily chose participants from each group o Crowd sourcing combines the words crowd and outsourcing and calls for taking tasks usually performed by a marketer and outsourcing them to a crowd Facebook pages o Focus group interview is used to observe group interactions when members are exposed to an idea or concept conducted informally with out a structured questionnaire in small groups of 8 12 Questions must be clear easy to understand and directed towards specific objectives on a questionnaire o Researchers need to define an objective before trying to develop a questionnaire Interpreting Research Findings tabulate data find a statistical interpretation Marketing Information System MIS is a framework for the day to day management and structuring of information gathered regularly from sources both inside and outside the organization cont info about prices expenses sales o Main focus is on data storage and retrieval starts by identifying decision needs that require certain information and then the firm can monitor that information o Most MIS have databases that allow them to get company records o CRM incorporates building a database of current potential customers delivering messages to customers tracking customer relationships o Helps reactivate inactive customers remove unprofitable customers identify active customers who should be targeted o Single source data is information provided by a single firm on household demographics purchases and responses Marketing decision support system MDSS is a customized computer software that aids marketing managers in decision making by helping them anticipate the effects of certain decisions o Help predict sales forecasts effects of sales For research outside the USA first phase involves a detailed search for and analysis of secondary data to gain a greater understanding of a particular marketing environment Second phase involves field research using many of the methods for obtaining consumer preferences Chapter 6 A market involves people who have the needs ability willingness and authority to purchase a product A consumer market consists of purchasers and household members who intend to consume or benefit from the purchased products and do not buy products to make a profit B2C Business Market individuals or groups that purchase a specific kind of product for one of 3 purchases resale direct use in producing other products or in general daily operations B2B Step 1 Identify the appropriate targeting strategy o Target market is a group of people org for which a business creates and maintains a marketing mix for them o Undifferentiated targeting strategy a strategy in which an organization designs a single marketing mix and directs it at the entire market for a particular product One product with little variation staples commodities Only effective when a large proportion of customers in a total market have similar needs for the product homogeneous market and the organization must be able to develop and maintain a single marketing mix that satisfies customers needs o
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