 Marketing Information System: A set of procedures and methods that regularly generates, stores, analyzes, and distributes information for use in making marketing and other business decisions.  Database Marketing: A process of designing, creating, and managing customer lists that contain information about an individual’s characteristics and transactions with a business; also known as customer relationship management (CMR)  Database: A collection of related information about a specific topic.

 Marketing research involves the process and methods used to gather information, analyze it, and report findings related to marketing goods and services.  Marketing research is most often used by companies to: ◦ Determine customers’ attitudes and preferences ◦ Test product features ◦ Determine market size and growth potential ◦ Learn about competitive products. ◦ Determine buying cycles ◦ Understand how the company is perceived by the public.

 The information obtained from research helps businesses increase sales and profits. Research answers questions about what products, who will buy the products, and how the products will be promoted.

 Small business usually do not have separate research specialists or departments. There, marketing research is done informally by the owners, managers, or employees, or they hire outside service providers who specialize in market research.  Larger companies often have in-house research departments and marketing personnel to plan and conduct marketing research.  But even larger companies sometimes contract with outside research companies because of their specialized expertise.

 Attitude and opinion research: Marketers conduct this type of research to discover how people feel about their products, services, or ideas. Satisfaction surveys, such as those sent after a visit to the hospital, and opinion polls, such as those used by political campaigns.  Market Intelligence: Research is used to gather information about an existing or potential market for market intelligence. It defines the size, location, and makeup of the market. This type of research is often done before a new product launch. It is used to guide the marketing efforts for the new product.  Media Research: This type of research is used to determine the effectiveness of the various media to advertise a good or service. It can be conducted before or after a media campaign.

 Quantitative research answers questions that start with “how many” or “how much.” ◦ This type of research usually gathers information from large numbers of people.  Qualitative research focuses on smaller numbers of people (usually fewer than 100) and tries to answer questions about “why” or “how”. ◦ This type of research relies heavily on in-depth interviews, rather than surveys that have been constructed ahead of time. Most marketing research combines quantitative and qualitative methods.

 The trend toward global marketplace means increased international competition for U.S. companies, which must improve or change products frequently to hold on their customers.  Another important trend is the use of both internal and external information in managing a business.

1. Defining the problem: The problem or research issue is identified and goals are set to solve the problem. 2. Obtaining Data: Researchers obtain data from primary and secondary sources. 3. Analyzing DATA: Researchers compile, analyze, and interpret the data. 4. Recommending Solutions: Researchers come up with potential solutions to the problem and present them in a report. 5. Applying The Results: The research results are put into action.

 Primary research data can be obtained through company research projects or specialized research organizations. Large companies frequently have their own marketing research staff to conduct primary research for the company.  However, both large and small companies make use of research organizations.

 A questionnaire has validity when the questions asked measure what was intended to be measure. A research designs a questionnaire to measure a retail sore’s customer service. Questionnaires that are poorly written or that do not address customer service will not have validity.  Research questionnaires should also have reliability. Reliability exists when a research technique produces nearly identical results in repeated trials. Reliability requires that the questions ask for the same type of information from all the respondents.  Questions should be clear and easily understood so that all participants understand the questions the question in the same way.

 Survey questions can be either open-ended or forced-choice. Open-ended questions ask respondents to construct their own response to a question. “What changes or additions to this coat would you recommend?” is an example of an open-ended question.  Forced-choice questions ask respondents to choose answers from possibilities given on a questionnaire. Forced-choice questions are the simplest questions to write and the easiest to tabulate.

 Two-choice questions give the respondent only two options, usually yes or no. Yes/no questions should be used only when asking for a response on one issue.  Yes/no questions are most often used as filter questions. Filter questions help to guide respondents to answer only those questions that apply.  In cases in which there is a range of choices and yes/no questions are not appropriate, you would use multiple-choice questions, rating-scale questions, or level-of-agreement questions for your survey.

 Multiple-choice questions give the respondent several choices. When constructing multiple-choice questions, it is important to make the options mutually exclusive and comprehensive enough to include every possible response.  In order to be sure that all options are covered, many surveys have a space for the option “other.”  For example- A rental company might ask its customers the following question: ◦ When you have a choice of all the car rental companies listed below, which do you prefer? (check one) ◦ Alamo Hertz ◦ Avis National ◦ Budget Thrifty ◦ Dollar Other ◦ Enterprise

 Other forced-choice questions may ask respondents to rate a product or service based upon a scale.  A variety of scales may be used, such as a rating scale from very satisfied to very dissatisfied, or from excellent to poor.  For example ◦ How would you rate your reception by the front desk staff? ◦ Helpfulness  Excellent Good Fair Below Average ◦ Check In Speed  Excellent Good Fair Below Average ◦ Offering Info About Resort  Excellent Good Fair Below Average ◦ Use of Your Name  Excellent Good Fair Below Average