Topic Six: Marketing Information Systems 1

 ALERT: We could spend the entire semester on this topic and not cover it in its entirety therefore every effort will be made to talk to the learning outcomes only. 2

 Understand the concept of a marketing information system with particular emphasis on the need for information to make sensible marketing decisions, where that information can be obtained from, and how it can be best disseminated to the people who need it.  Grasp the fundamental importance of market intelligence to marketing in the context of NZ SME’s, especially when derived from personal business networks  Understand the concept of Reliability and Validity  Be able to discriminate between primary and secondary research and data, and quantitative and qualitative research  Be able to describe the marketing research process from a project design point of view. 3

 Being in business is all about beating the odds; in marketing this is about being able to make more informed marketing decisions more often  This involves taking up & using relevant information obtained from the external and internal environment in sufficient time to make better than average decisions.  This can be a strategic asset that, in some quarters, can be regarded as a source for SCA 4

A marketing information system comprises of the resources and processes used to:  Gather relevant information  Assemble relevant information  Analyse relevant information  Disseminate relevant information  To make reasonable decisions 5

 “NEEDING TO KNOW”  Requiring information and insight to make Marketing Mix decisions. (Beating the Odds) Flows onto…  “FINDING OUT”  Marketing Intelligence  Personal business networks  Internal records  Marketing research Flows onto… 6

 “WORKING IT OUT”  Synthesising: Chunking the bits together  Analysing: Breaking out the bits Flows onto…  “KEEPING TRACK OF THE ISSUES”  Target markets  Distribution systems  Competitors  Macro-environmental factors Flows onto… 7

 “INTERNAL POLITICAL PROCESSES”  How do we know what we know?  How do we use what we know?  What questions do we ask?  What questions do we not ask?  Who is in the loop? 8

 Marketing information obtained from both formal and informal sources. Formal Sources include: Scheduled meetings with suppliers, distributors and sales staff  Industry associations plus many more Informal sources include:  Feedback from customers  Co-workers  Acquaintances  Media sources etc 9

 In New Zealand SME’s rely heavily on marketing intelligence to make sense of what is going on around them.  Cultivating ‘hard business networks’ (e.g. regional development initiatives) is intended to enhance this information dissemination. 10

There are risks:  Too Open: with members of your network can get your commercial secrets pinched  Too Closed: no one will want to share information with you because you give nothing away  Often Biased through self-selection: you are ‘wired’ to those most close to you and may not necessarily gain the most truthful or factual information 11

 In contrast to marketing intelligence, market research is an organised search for specific marketing information. 12

 There are a huge amount of differing types of market research, too many for this course e.g.  Advertising research  Business economics and corporate research  Corporate responsibility research  Product research  Sales and market research 13

1. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? ◦ Explore an issue? ◦ Describe an issue? ◦ Solve an issue? 2. HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO IT? ◦ Primary Research – this is special to your issue ◦ Secondary Research – data mining ◦ Hard Numbers – Quantitative ◦ Soft Impressions – Qualitative Fast vs Cheap vs High Quality Time, Budget, Skills, Action Standards 14

 WHO DO YOU WANT TO TALK TO?  HOW MANY DO YOU WANT TO TALK TO? 3. FIELDWORK – “Off you go then” ◦ The point of return! ◦ Quality checks 4. ANALYSING DATA AND REPORTING The end users and decision makers 15

 Reliability: the accuracy or truthfulness of any research data.  Important because we need to know the preciseness of the information we are using. Was this gained from talking to friends or from a carefully designed sample of informants? 16

 Validity: How suitable or how relevant is the information to your marketing decision or problem (most important)  It is very easy to research accurately the wrong things. Marketing information that is high in validity stands up to being extremely relevant to your marketing decision. 17

 “Desk or library research” involving collecting data from existing sources.  The best way of thinking of this sort of research is one of ‘fact finding’ & ‘looking it up’  Be Careful of: ◦ Age ◦ Validity ◦ Accuracy etc 18

 Primary research is gathering new information expressly to suit the specific needs of a defined marketing decision.  Much more (than secondary research) ◦ Complex ◦ Costly ◦ Lengthy 19

 Quantitative Research: Empirical research; collecting statistical data of sufficient scale as to be capable of being analysed using recognised statistical techniques.  Often used on large scale marketing problems where you are interested in picking out significant issues and trends e.g. opinion polls 20

 Qualitative Research: Often a marketer does not need hard statistical data, but wants indicative feedback or responses; this is qualitative research design e.g. focus groups 21

1. BUDGET, TIME AND SKILLS 2. SPEED VS COST VS QUALITY 3. RELIABILITY – ACCURACY! 4. VALIDITY – ON TARGET! (ACTION STANDARDS) 5. POLITICAL ISSUES 6. PREVIOUS RESEARCH (CONTINUITY) 7. COWBOYS, WANNABES & JUNK RESEARCH 8. ERROR – RANDOM, SYSTEMATIC, NON-RESPONSE 9. PET TECHNIQUES 10. MARKET INTELLIGENCE 11. CREATIVE POWER! 22