Marketing research: an introduction (MR, unit 1)

Marketing research – any info. gathering & analysis that aids marketing process as a whole.

Market research – research into the characteristics of a market (studying under 30s, as opposed to 65+). Acquisition of primary data about customers and customer attitudes.

Scope of marketing research (5 elements MPPSD):

1. Market research - Forecasting demand, sales forecast by segment, analysis of market shares, market trends, industry trends, acquisition studies
2. Product research - Likely acceptance of new products, analysis of substitutes, comparison of competitors’ products, test marketing, brand name generation & testing, packaging design studies, testing existing products
3. Price research - Competitor price analysis, cost analysis, profit analysis, market potential, sales potential, volume sale forecast, customer perception, elasticity of demand, credit terms
4. Sales promotion research - Effects of campaigns, analyse advertising media choice, evaluate sales force performance, decide on sales territories, copy research, public image studies, own & competitor advertising studies
5. Distribution research - Planning channel decisions, design & location of distribution centres, in-house v. outsourced, export/international studies, channel coverage studies

Knowledge management (MR, unit 1)

Knowledge – information in people’s minds which may not be formally recorded
Knowledge-based economy – based on application of knowledge
Knowledge management – indentify & analyse knowledge. Plan & control actions to develop knowledge assets in order to fulfil org’s objectives. Knowledge assets – sum of the knowledge a business owns re markets, products, technologies, resources, skills & systems

• Organisation’s ability to use knowledge is now more important than land or capital
• Must be applied in order to have value
• Required to produce unique products at lower cost than competitors
• Can create new ideas, insights and interpretations for decision making

Knowledge management programme – Processes to create, protect and use explicit knowledge (an org knows it has). Processes to discover and release tacit knowledge (not formally documented, invisible & intangible, low motivation to share hard-won experience)

Example: Half of Google’s new product launches— including Google News and Google Suggest— stem from Google’s 20 percent time policy, which allows engineers to spend one day a week on pet projects and personal pursuits.

Where does knowledge reside?

• Create communities & informal networks (share common interest, cut across units). Results in exchange if info and a shared language that enables smooth flow of information.
• Look at knowledge-related business outcomes e.g. product development (tangible outcome from invisible knowledge)

Important to motivate employees to share this. Emphasise in corporate culture, evaluations & rewards.

Information types, decision making & commissioning research (MR, unit 1)

Types of information (DCDP)

• Descriptive – e.g. which products are being bought and where
• Comparative – e.g. how good is our after-sales support v. competitor
• Diagnostic – intended to explain customer behaviour e.g. why buying less product A
• Predictive – attempts to determine outcome of marketing actions e.g. how would customers respond if product available in larger sized packs?

Information & decision making
Information’s required for all levels of decision making in an org, whether strategic, tactical or operational

• Strategic: product/market decisions, product life cycles, product development, entry into new markets, investing in technology to provide better info., database development
• Tactical: short-term pricing, discounting, promotional campaigns, advertising, distribution, product service levels, customer service levels, packaging, planning sale territories
• Operational: pricing, competitor tracking, customer & consumer research, distribution channels, sales and market budgets, database management

What to specify when commissioning research: (RBTOMR)

1. Rationale – how need arose, what intend to do with
2. Budget – benefits should outway collection costs
3. Timescale – impacts of scale and type of research
4. Objectives – precise information required, as clear as possible
5. Methods – outline only, sets out scale of search, segments, mixture of qualitative and quantitative
6. Reports – final presentation: style, charts, graphs

Marketing management & information (MR, unit 1)

Managers need to do analyse, plan, implement and control (APIC):

• Analysis – full company analysis (markets and marketing environment) & SWOT feeds PIC
• Planning – strategic planning decides what to do with each business unit. Decide which marketing strategies will meet overall strategic objectives.
• Implementation – people at all levels of system must work together
• Control - measure ongoing market performance, determine causes of serious gaps and take corrective action

The organisation’s marketing information requirements:

Question	Examples of info required	Sources of info
Where are we now? (strategic, financial & marketing analysis)	- current sales & market share by product/market - cust. attitudes & behaviours - corp. & compt. image - competitor’s market share, their S&W	- accounting system - customer database - market analysis/surveys customer surveys - int/ext analysis - competitor analysis
Where do we want to be? (strategic direction & strategy formulation)	- market forecasts by segment - environmental changes - growth capabilities and O&T - competitor response - new product/market potentials	- industry forecasts & surveys - PESTEL analysis - competitor research - market research
How might we get there? (strategic choice & evaluation)	- marketing mix evaluation - buying behaviour - new product development - risk evaluation - alternative strategic options	- int/ext audits - customer research - concept testing/test marketing - feasibility studies, competitor response modelling, focus groups
How can we ensure survival? (strategic implementation & control)	- budgets - performance evaluation	- internal accounting, production & HR systems - marketing information systems - marketing audit - benchmarking - external financial audit

Marketing research & information (MR, unit 1)

Information for competitive advantage

We live in a knowledge-based economy
Information is a marketing asset:

• Helps increase responsiveness to customer demands
• Identifies new customer opportunities
• Anticipates competitor attacks
• Help adapts services to needs of the marketplace

Must be: UP-TO-DATE, ACCURATE, RELEVANT (UAR)

Examples: Theatre database: name, address, tel., email, date of purchas(es), how often visit the theatre, what other entertainment interested in, do you combine with meal/hotel, frequency of purchases, number of tickets purchased, where heard about this production

Information, technology, markets and marketing
Structure of markets is changing – creating new marketing techniques & channels
More opportunities to develop global markets too

Examples: Online ad spend is expected to overtake TV in 2009 - reversing the business model since mid C20th. Last year, online adspend grew by 38% to a current market share 16% (2007). Signs show that the credit crunch isn't having much impact.