Chapter 1 Marketing Research Companies conduct Market Research in order to learn more about their customers All companies share a common problem they need information in order to obtain their goals effectively Different companies require different information that can be collected in different ways Service markers use results from marketing research to determine customer satisfaction Politicians use info to plan campaigns Marketing Research MR is a vital activity that can be done in many ways but the main functions are to Gather data Transform the data into useful information that managers can use to make decisions Data Information Action Marketer s main goal is to satisfy the needs of both the customer and the marketer Focus efforts on the 4P s Product price place and promotion Marketing Research the organization s formal communication link with the environment Gather and interprets data from environment to use in developing implementing and monitoring the firm s marketing plans Three major categories of firms that conduct market research 1 Producers of products and services 2 Advertising agencies 3 Marketing research companies MR began to grow after World War II once firms understood they no longer could just sell what they make but had to look at the market to see what they needed the firms to sell Consumers began to have more choices requiring marketing to have a more dominant role in the firm s business strategy Large corporations started building their marketing department to gauge how their customers were feeling about their organization and their products as well as to see who exactly their customers were Advertising began to rely on research to show what the most effective time and manner of reaching the target market was Advertising agencies often use MR to view how effective their campaign was or was not Also conducted before hand to see the potential of their marketing message Some firms provide syndicated research Collect certain info on a regular basis and then sell to clients Include The Nielson Company product movement data and TV ratings and Arbitron US radio audiences Not designed for a specific client but designed and collected to be sold to multiple clients Firms can specialize in custom designed research Collect data and return it directly to the research sponsor Limited service firms Not only collect the data but also analyze it for the client Full service research services for Fortune 500 clients Conduct large scale qualitative or quantitative studies from start to finish using various of data collection techniques US government provides published statistics one of the world s largest producers of marketing facts and research Three important reasons for learning about marketing research 1 Marketing research can be rewarding taking data and converting the information to be 2 To learn how to be a smarter consumer of research results how to evaluate the research used by marketing managers results you are shown 3 Gain an appreciation of the process what it can and cannot do Research Process a general sequence of steps that can be followed when designing and conducting research 1 First and most important step in the MR process is to define the problem to be solved Research is then designed to provide the needed information Should be specified and agreed upon by managers in the form of a research request agreement 2 Decide which research design is appropriate Ex exploratory descriptive or casual Depends on how much is known about the problem Exploratory used when little is known about the phenomenon qualitative research Clearly defined problems required descriptive or casual research Descriptive involves describing a population and casual design uses experiments to ID cause and effect relationships quantitative research Secondary data data that have already been collected for some purpose other than the question at hand Less expensive and can be obtained and analyzed quicker Should be looked at first before conducting more specific and expensive research Primary data collected specifically for the study Researchers must decide what method to use for the study ad then design the data collection forms for the research The right sample must be selected determined from the population Can use a probability sample and a nonprobability sample The size of the sample is determined by the size of the population and the size of the firm s research project statistics Data is useless unless analyzed and interpreted to solve the researcher s problem Most analysis is straightforward including frequency counts or simple descriptive Sometimes cross tabulation is used or multivariate analysis A written research report is prepared that summarizes the research s results and conclusions The only part of the process that most other people will ever see Must be clear and accurate and relaying the information and analysis Marketing Research Ethics the principles values and standards of conduct followed by marketing researchers Goal of an MR project is to uncover the truth about a topic of interest Advocacy research research that is conducted to support a position rather than to find the truth about an issue Researchers may word questions in a way to solicit the answers and responses they want Might select a sample they know supports a certain position Fraudulent practices and must be avoided Sugging contacting people under the guise of marketing research when the real goal is to sell products or services Difference between what is ethical and what is legal good ethics is good business Chapter 2 The Research Question It is critical to properly design research in the beginning in order to avoid any problems concerning the method or even the subject of the project You can get perfectly valid answers for your research only to end up finding out that you were asking the wrong questions Costly and time consuming mistake The Coca Cola Company s experience with New Coke in 1984 is one of the biggest marketing blunders in history 4 million in marketing research conducted through blind taste tests to compare Coke Pepsi and New Coke Indicated that the new formula was preferred by consumers used to solve the taste problem thought to have plagued the product since the introduction of Pepsi The new sweeter taste was preferred but people did not like that the century old Coke with history and tradition was being discontinued Today the Coca Cola freestyle with over 100 flavors is being introduced
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