Developing Marketing Information

MANAGING MARKETING INFORMATION

Previewing the Concepts—CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

1. Explain the importance of information to the company.

2. Define the marketing information system and discuss its parts.

3. Outline the steps in the marketing research process.

4. Explain how companies analyze and distribute marketing information.

5. Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face, including public policy and ethics issues.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Introduction

a. Increasingly, marketers are viewing information not just as an input for making better decisions but also as an important strategic asset and marketing tool.

1). A company’s information may prove to be its chief competitive advantage.

2). Having up-to-date information is essential.

3). Often marketers complain that information of the right kind is not available.

4). Most marketers do not need more information, they need better information.

b. A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to marketing decision makers.

c. MIS begins and ends with information users.

d. The MIS helps information users to:

1). Assess information needs. 2). Develop needed information. 3). Distribute information.

Assessing Marketing Information Needs

a. The first step in developing an effective and efficient MIS is assessing information needs.

1). A good marketing information system balances the information managers would like to have versus what they really need and what is feasible to offer.

2). Interviews of managers help pinpoint the information that they would like.

3). A company needs to assess the benefits of having an item of information versus

the cost of obtaining that information.

4). The MIS must watch the marketing environment in order to provide decision makers with information they should have to make key marketing decisions.

5). Sometimes the company cannot provide the needed information.

6). The costs of obtaining, processing, storing, and delivering information can mount quickly.

7). Marketers should not assume that additional information will always be worth obtaining.

Developing Marketing Information

a. The second step in developing a MIS is to develop information. Information needed by managers can be obtained from internal data, marketing

intelligence, and marketing research.

b. Internal databases consist of electronic collections of information obtained from data sources within the company.

1). Internal databases can usually be accessed more quickly and cheaply than other information sources. These forms of reports are used regularly.

2). However, problems do exist.

a). Because internal information was collected for other purposes, it may be incomplete.

b). It may be in the wrong form.

c). Data ages quickly.

d). Because of the volume of information generated by companies, it is often difficult to keep track of information and accessibility is often difficult.

Marketing Intelligence

c. Marketing intelligence is the systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment.

1). Marketing intelligence information can be gathered from many sources:

a). Company personnel (such as executives, engineers, purchasing agents, or the sales force).

b). Suppliers, resellers, and key customers.

c). Information on competitors (often found in annual reports, speeches, press releases, Web pages, business publications, trade shows, and advertisements).

d). Analyzing competitors’ products after purchase by the company’s intelligence department.

e). Look for new patents or patent applications.

f). Information can be bought from outside suppliers.

g). Online databases (charge fees).

Marketing Research

d. Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of ata and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization.

1). Every marketer needs research.

2). Marketing research can be done by an internal department or it can be done by an outside firm.

e. The marketing research process consists of four steps: defining the problem and research objectives, developing the research plan, implementing the research plan, and interpreting and reporting the findings.

f. Step 1—Defining the Problem and Research Objectives.

1). The marketing manager and the researcher must work closely together to define the problem carefully and agree on the research objectives.

2). Marketing managers must know enough about marketing research to help in the planning and to interpret research results.

3). Defining the problem and research objectives is often the hardest step in the process.

4). After the problem has been defined carefully, the manager and researcher must set the research objectives. The three general types of objectives are:

a). Exploratory research where the objective is to gather preliminary information that will help define the problem and suggest hypotheses.

b). Descriptive research is where the intent is to describe things such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of customers who buy the product.

c). Causal research is research to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships.

5). The statement of the problem and research objectives will guide the entire research process.

6). It is always best to put the problem and research objectives statements in writing so agreement can be reached and everyone knows the direction of the research effort.

g. Step #2—Developing the Research Plan

1). In developing the research plan, the attempt is to determine the information needed (outline sources of secondary data), develop a plan for gathering it efficiently, and presenting the plan to marketing management.

2). The plan spells out specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and instruments that researchers will use to gather primary data.

3). The firm should know what data already exists before the process of collecting new data begins.

4). Research objectives must be translated into specific information needs.

5). The research plan should be presented in a written proposal.

6). Gathering data can include:

a). Secondary data is information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose.

b). Primary data is information collected for the specific purpose at hand.

7). Gathering secondary data. Researchers usually start by gathering secondary data.

a). Sources of secondary data include both internal and external sources.

b). Companies can buy secondary data reports from outside suppliers.

c). Information can be obtained by using commercial online databases.

Examples include CompuServe, Dialog, and Lexis-Nexus.

d). Advantages of secondary data include:

1]. It can usually be obtained more quickly and at a lower cost than primary data.

2]. Sometimes data can be provided that an individual company could not collect on its own.

e). Some problems with collecting secondary data includes:

1]. The needed information might not exist.

2]. Even if the data is found, it might not be useable.

3]. The researcher must evaluate secondary information to make certain it is relevant, accurate, current, and impartial.

 

 

 

8). Planning Primary Data Collection. A plan for primary data collection calls for a number of decisions on research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and research instruments.

a). Research approaches can be listed as:

1]. Observational research where information is gained by observing relevant people, actions, and situations. However, some things such as feelings, attitudes, motives, and private behavior cannot be observed. However, ethnographic research combines intensive observation with customer interviews and can gain deep insight into how customers buy and live with their products. Mechanical observation can be obtained via machines or computer. This is where electronic monitoring systems link consumers’ exposure to television advertising and promotion (measured using people meters) with what they buy in stores (measured using store checkout scanners). Observational research can be used to obtain information that people are unwilling or unable to provide. On the Internet, cookies can be used to get bits of information on Web surfers.

2]. Survey research is the gathering of primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior. Survey research is best suited for gathering descriptive information. Survey research is the most widely used form of primary data collection.

a]. Using huge consumer panels, some firms provide marketers with comprehensive looks at buying patterns using single-source data systems.

b]. The major advantage of survey research is flexibility.

c]. Disadvantages include the respondent being unwilling to respond, giving inaccurate answers, or unwilling to spend the time to answer.

3]. Experimental research involves the gathering of primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in group responses. This form of research tries to explain cause-and-effect relationships. Observation and surveys may be used to collect information in experimental research.

a]. Best suited for gathering causal information.

b). Contact methods can be listed as:

1]. Mail questionnaires.

2]. Telephone interviewing.

3]. Personal interviewing (which can be either individual or group interviewing). A form of personal interviewing is focus-group interviewing. Focus-group interviewing consists of inviting six to ten people to gather for a few hours with a trained interviewer to talk about a product, service, or organization. The interviewer “focuses” the group discussion on important issues.

4]. Computer assisted interviewing is a new method being used in the technology age present today. Consumers read questions from a computer screen and respond.

5]. Online (Internet) marketing research can consist of Internet surveys, experiments, or online focus groups. Many experts predict that online research will soon be the primary tool of marketing researchers.

c). Sampling plans are used to outline how samples will be constructed and used.

1]. A sample is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole.

2]. Marketing researchers usually draw conclusions about large groups of consumers by studying a small sample of the total consumer population.

3]. Designing a sample calls for three decisions:

a]. Who is to be surveyed (sampling unit)?

b]. How many people should be surveyed (sample size)?

c]. How should the sample be chosen (sampling procedure)?

d). Research instruments can be divided into two main categories:

1]. The questionnaire is by far the most common instrument. It consists of a set of questions presented to a respondent for his or her answers. In preparing the questionnaire, the marketing researcher needs to decide:

a]. What questions to ask.

b]. The form of the questions.

1.} Closed-end questions are questions that include all the possible answers and allow subjects to make choices among them.

2.} Open-end questions are questions that allow respondents to answer in their own words.

c]. The wording of questions.

d]. The ordering of questions.

2]. Mechanical instruments are also used to collect information. Two common forms are people meters and supermarket scanners. Other forms of mechanical instruments measure subjects’ physical responses.

a]. A galvanometer measures strength of interest or emotions aroused by a subject’s exposure to different stimuli, such as an ad or picture.

b]. Eye cameras are used to study respondents’ eye movements to determine at what points their eyes focus first and how long they linger on a given item.

h. Step #3—Implementing the Research Plan.At this stage, the marketing researcher puts the research plan into action. This involves collecting, processing, and analyzing the information.

1). Data collection is generally the most expensive part of the research process. Researchers must now process and analyze the collected data and isolate important information and findings.

i. Step #4—Interpreting and reporting the findings.

1). The market researcher must now interpret the findings, draw conclusions, and report them to management.

2). The researchers should keep from overwhelming managers with numbers and fancy statistical techniques.

3). Researchers should present important findings that are useful in the major decisions faced by management.

4). Interpretation should not be left only to researchers. Marketing managers will also have important insights into the problems.

5). Interpretation is an important phase of the marketing process. The best research is meaningless if the manager blindly accepts wrong interpretations from the researcher.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30