Marketing Research

Good marketing requires much more than just creativity and technical tools. It requires research! Who needs it? Who wants it? Where should it be sold? What price should be set? Do people know about the product/service? Is there competition? Market research helps marketing managers make decisions.

MARKET RESEARCH is the systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data to make informed marketing decisions

So….when do we need to do marketing research?

We will conduct Marketing Research when a business needs to make a marketing decision…. i.e.: Introduce new product Change existing product Location for new store Where / When / How to advertise

There are 4 steps in the “Marketing Research” process….they are: 1.Determine the problem / set objectives 2.Collect the information 3.Tabulate the Data 4.Analyze the Data Let’s take a look at each……..

Step 1: Determine the Problem / Set Objectives What exactly are you researching / trying to find out? i.e.: Is there demand for my product? Where should it be sold? What price should I charge? Do people know about the product? Did we choose the correct target market & are we reaching them? Is there competition close by and what are their products and prices? We need to clearly define what we want to find out before we can move on……

Step 2: Collect Information How are you going to find and gather the required information? There are a variety of ways….but they can all be classified as either “primary” or “secondary” Let’s take a look at each…….

A. PRIMARY RESEARCH / DATA Primary data is unanalyzed, current information collected by a researcher for a specific purpose There are two main types: 1. Qualitative 2. Quantitative Let’s take a look at each……

1. Qualitative Used to measure peoples’ reactions, responses or feelings toward a given subject problem Researcher is the data gathering instrument Aims for a complete, detailed, rich description Researcher may only know roughly in advance what they are looking for…..the responses guide you its goal is to understand behaviour in a natural setting Let’s look at a few examples…….

Observation –Collect information by recording the actions of the person being observed without interacting or communicating with the person in order to keep the situation as “real” as possible –Purpose – see how people behave and react rather than have them predict and recall responses

Focus Group Interviews –A small group of people brought together to discuss a particular product or problem –It combines the features of an interview with those of the observation method of collecting data –The focus group participants are carefully selected to represent the larger target market

2. Quantitative Data is in the form of numbers and statistics Aim is to classify features, count them and construct statistical models in an attempt to explain what is observed Involves collecting data by surveying a representative sample of a target market population Researchers use the results of the sample to make predictions about the opinions and behaviours of the entire target market »IE - Opinion polls – Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, RC Cola There are several main types:

Test Marketing –Produce a small amount of product and sell it in a representative test centre (ie – Kitchener) –Based upon the results, the company may make predictions on the larger target market

Surveys –A set of carefully planned questions that are used to gather data. –There are a variety of formats (verbal, written, phone, internet, mail, in-person, etc)

B. SECONDARY RESEARCH / DATA Is marketing research information that has been collected and published by others It involves searching for this type of information in order to be able to later analyze and interpret the data to improve their company’s marketing efforts Although it is limited because the information is secondhand, it is usually much cheaper to conduct than primary research

Sources of Secondary Data: It is available from a variety of sources i.e.: Books Periodicals / Magazines Internet Marketing Professionals (i.e. – industry analysis) Libraries (databases, indexes, etc) Canada Census

Secondary data can be used by any business to help develop its marketing strategy Let’s look at an example:

Seaman’s Beverages Located in PEI Considering expanding into Ontario They might: Buy a marketing firm’s beverage industry analysis They may read magazines focused on the beverage industry (i.e. – Beverage World) Use the internet for periodicals, articles or other relevant research Use the library to search their databases and indexes for information

Step 3: Tabulate the Information Once we have collected the data, we must organize it in a manner that we can begin to understand and make sense of the data Depending on the research, we can classify and count our responses the actual tallying is contingent upon the type and scope of the research conducted

Step 4: Analyze the Information Once we have tallied the information, we need to look at it and ask ourselves “What does it mean ?” What “learning” have we gained as a result of our efforts? by looking for patterns, we can begin to make sense of the data and to use this information to help us reach our research and marketing objectives

The Purpose of Market Research