Entrepreneurship

MARKETING

Market Research
 It is the process of gathering information which will make the company more aware of how the people,
the company hopes to sell to, will react to the company’s current or potential products or services.
 It is undertaken so that an entrepreneur can have information needed to make informed business
decisions about start-up, innovation, growth and the 7Ps.

Reasons Why Business Owners

1. Identify 3. Set realistic
potential 2. Understand targets
customers existing
customers

4. Develop 5. Examine and

effective solve business
strategies problems

6. Prepare for
7. Identify
business
business
expansion
opportunities

According to the Guide to Market Research and Analysis (2015), to conduct market research, it is important to
set clear goals for the market research activity and define what are needed to be known and why.
MARKET RESEARCH TYPE
A. Primary Research- is information gathered directly from the respondents who answered set of questions.
This information is usually collected through surveys, observation, focused group discussion or experimentation.
*Surveys- are the most common way to gather primary research with the use of questionnaire or
interview schedule.
Guidelines in designing or constructing your own research questionnaire:
 Keep it short as simple as possible
 Make sure it is visually appealing and easy to read
 Move from general questions to specific questions
 Make sure questions are brief and easy to understood
*Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) – These can be moderated group interviews and brainstorming
sessions that provide information on user’s needs and behaviors. These are now gaining wider usage in
market research due to substantial information gathered given a time limit.
FGDs can be useful for the following type of discussions:
1) Exploratory- Obtain information on general attitudes, understand the circumstances under which
customers might require your product or service, understand their desired outcomes.
2) Feature Prioritization- If trade-offs have to be made among various customer needs, focus groups
can be helpful in prioritizing them.
3) Comparative Analysis- Understand where else customers go to get similar information, services or
products and what attract them to source sources.
4) Trend explanation- If you notice a trend in the way that customers use your website( for example,
they always use the search function rather than navigating through the structured product list),
then focus groups can be used to better understand why this is happening.

Prepared by: Ms. Sherly May M. Polido

Entrepreneurship

Following considerations in the use of FGDs in market research by the Canada Business Network:
 Limit the length of the session to between 90 and 120 minutes.
 Generally, conduct focus groups with 8 to 10 participants per group (recruit 10 to 12 participants to
ensure the 8 to 10 show up).
 Use a semi-structured or open-format discussion.
 Strive for uniformity in the group’s composition. For example, it may not be advisable to have
business customers and retail customers in the same focus group, if their needs are very different.
 If you feel that group influence is likely to be a strong factor (participants will be influenced
greatly by what others are saying), the personal interviews or smaller groups may be an option to
consider than FGD.
*Personal Interviews- are traditional method of data collection which is normally done on a face-to-face
manner with the respondents.
Personal Interview can be used in the following situations:
 The topic is too personal or sensitive to be discussed in a group, or confidentiality of the
participant is required.
 A person’s opinion may easily be influenced by others in a group.
 The interview respondents are executives from competing firms who would be reluctant to open
up in a group situation.
 The interview respondents are busy and it is difficult to schedule group sessions, or it is
important to visit interview respondents individually at their convenience.
Following considerations in the use of personal interview in market research:
 It can be helpful to use a list of mostly open- ended questions to be in person or by telephone.
 An in-depth interview gives participants the opportunity to express their views.
 Interviews typically last from 15 to 40 minutes, but they can last longer depending on the
participant’s interest in the topic.
 This technique allows the interviewer to get detailed descriptions of individual experiences.
B. Secondary Research- It gathers data from existing available resources like company records, data bases,
research reports published in the media, internet search engines, libraries, and books which answer the question
at hand. It is normally less time consuming than primary research, and can be less expensive as well. Existing
company records such as sales invoices, receipts and formal complaints are important secondary resources that
business can utilize.
Another key secondary resource is statistical data from official statistics providers (like National Statistics
Office; NEDA; Department of Trade and Industry) and other organizations (Marketing Associations; Chambers
of Commerce; Industry Associations). These statistics in turn can feed into analytical papers and market profiles
that can help to put the numbers in context.

BRANDING
 It is the use of a name, term, symbol, or design—or a combination of these—to identify a product.
 It encompasses the use of brand names, trademarks and practically all other means of product
identification.
* Brand Name
 Is a word, letter, or a group of words or letters.
 It connects a product with the benefits a customer can expect. The connection may learned from past
consumer experience, from the company’s promotion, or other advertising strategies.
*Brand Logos
 Are graphic marks or symbols commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even
individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition.
*Trademark
 Includes only those words, symbols, or marks that are legally registered for use by a single company.

Prepared by: Ms. Sherly May M. Polido

Entrepreneurship

*Service Mark
 It is the same as a trademark except that it refers to a service offering.

Prepared by: Ms. Sherly May M. Polido