MARKETING RESEARCH IN

PRACTICE
CHAPTER ONE

What is Marketing Research

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

What is Marketing Research

Information is 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.

Marketing Research Defined

Marketing research is
defined as: the
systematic and
objective process of
generating
information for aid in
making marketing
decisions.

Marketing Research Defined

This process includes:

specifying what information is required;

designing the method for collecting information;
managing and implementing the collection of data;
analyzing the results; and
communicating the findings and their
implications.

Information Reduces Uncertainity

Goal of Marketing Research

Marketing research is
the systematic
gathering, recording,
and analysis of data
about issues relating
to marketing products
and services.

Goal of Marketing Research

The goal of marketing
research is to identify
and assess how
changing elements of
the marketing mix
impacts customer
behavior.

Marketing Research Types

Basic Research
Applied Research

Basic Research
Attempts to expand the limits of knowledge
Not directly involved in the solution to a
pragmatic problem

Basic Research Example

Do consumers experience cognitive dissonance
in low-involvement situations?

Applied Research
Conducted when a decision must be made about
a specific real-life problem

Applied Research Example

Should McDonalds add Italian pasta dinners to
its menu?
Marketing research told McDonalds it should not.

Should McDonalds add a Whopper Stopper

burger to its menu?
Research says, yes it should.

Scientific Method
The analysis and interpretation of empirical
evidence (facts from observation or
experimentation) to confirm or disprove prior
conceptions

Stages in Developing and Implementing a

Marketing Strategy
Identifying and evaluating opportunities
Analyzing market segments and selecting target
markets
Planning and implementing a marketing mix
Analyzing market performance

Identifying and Evaluating

Opportunities
Examples:
Home cooking is on the decline. Purchase of precooked
home replacement meals is on the rise
Number of investors trading stock on the Internet is
growing

Analyze Market Segments and

Select Target Markets
Examples:
PTV Sports, while monitoring about demographic
trends, will try to learn about the youth of Pakistan
Morning Show Programs will need to assess the number
of females in Pakistan

Plan and Implement a Marketing Mix

Price: Coca-Cola does a competitive pricing analysis
Distribution: Q-Mobile investigates dealer service
program
Product: Oreo conducts taste test
Promotion: How many consumers like Tum Hi Toh
Ho slogan?

Analyze Marketing Performance

This years market share is compared to last
years.
Did brand image change after new advertising?

Performance-Monitoring Research
Research that regularly provides feedback for
evaluation and control
Indicates things are or are not going as planned
Research may be required to explain why
something went wrong

Determining When to Conduct

Marketing Research

Time Constraints
Availability of Data
Nature of the Decision
Benefits versus Costs

Why Marketing Research is Needed?

The task of Marketing Research is to provide
management with relevant, accurate, reliable,
valid, and current information.
Competitive marketing environment and the
ever-increasing costs attributed to poor decision
making require that marketing research provide
sound information.
Sound decisions are not based on gut feeling,
intuition, or even pure judgment.

Complications of Marketing Research

Marketing Research
decisions are complicated by
interactions between the
controllable marketing
variables of product, pricing,
promotion, and distribution;
and by uncontrollable
environmental factors such
as general economic
conditions, technology,
public policies and laws,
political environment,
competition, and social and
cultural changes.

The Marketing Research Procedure

Defining the
problem and
research
objectives

Developing the
research plan
for collecting
information

Implementing
the research
plan,
collecting and
analyzing the
data

Interpreting
and reporting
the findings