(Textbook Page 15)
Marketing research exists to help managers make better marketing decisions by providing relevant insights into the marketing environment, competition and consumers’ behaviour, needs and attitudes. With objective market information, marketers are more confident in the outcomes of their decisions and are better able to convince others of the wisdom of their decision.
Marketing research deals with the observation, collection, processing, analysis and communication of information on people’s attitudes, feelings, intentions, personal characteristics and behaviour towards products, services.
More specifically, it specifies the information required to address a marketing issue, designs the methods for collecting the pertinent information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the resultant data, transforms the findings into usable marketing insights, communicates the insights and implications and recommends a course of action.
Marketing research can be divided into primary research (generating new data and information) and secondary research (retrieving information not initially collected for the purpose at hand). It can focus on understanding the operating environment for brands in the marketplace (market research), help companies develop and optimize new product ideas (innovation research), track the relationship between an organization and its customers (loyalty research), test advertising before it is launched and track its effectiveness (communications research), focus on government policy, corporate reputation and political positioning and messaging (public affairs).
Marketing research is used by any person or organization who needs information from the public. The bulk of commercial marketing research is conducted for firms that market their products and services to the public, by governments, industry associations and advertising agencies.
Marketing research companies range from full-service, global firms to mid-sized firms that may specialize in a specific aspect of research, to independent market researchers who provide services to a small number of clients or form ‘virtual’ firms to tackle specific projects.
Market researchers can be suppliers with roles that include responsibility for relations with the clients (client service), managing the studies (research managers), specialize in statistical analyses (marketing science), questionnaire scripting, interviewing, data processing, qualitative moderating and recruiting, panel and community management. Roles on the client side might include insights manager, brand manager, marketing manager or research and development.
Research firms may conduct custom research, tailored to a specific client’s needs, standardized studies that are always done the same way across an industry, syndicated studies designed and completed by the firm and then offered to any client that needs the information, omnibus services that cost-effectively carry a few questions for a number of clients on the same questionnaire.
Marketing research is only one component in the marketing decision-making process. It doesn’t dictate decisions, but reduces risk by supporting more informed decisions. It supports decisions from strategic planning to specific tactical decisions.
