Chapter 4

● Marketing Research
○ The process of planning, collecting and analyzing data relevant to marketing decisions
● Marketing Analytics
○ Use of data to optimize marketing decisions

3 functional roles of marketing research

● Descriptive
○ Presenting factual statements
■ What are historical sales trends?
● Diagnostic
○ Explaining relationship within data
■ What is the impact on sales if...
● Predictive
○ Predicting the results of a marketing decision
■ What is the impact on sales if...
What? How? Why?
● Research can be...
● Qualitative – non-numerical – Observing
● Quantitative – Numerical – actual answer

● Qualitative – How do they get their information?

○ Survey's – Text, social media, email, phone
○ Product Testing
○ Advertising Testing
○ Satisfaction and Loyalty
○ Pricing Research
○ Testing Brand Awareness
●
Brand Development Index
● BDI is how developed your brand is

The Marketing Research Process

● Step 1 – Identity the problem
○ The most important step in the process
■ "Garbage in – Garbage out"
○ Must differentiate between a management decision and a research problem
■ A management decision is often a big picture dilemma – what they need
to do?
● What should be done about a restaurant's slow sales?
■ A research problem identifies what information needs to be gathered –
what do they need to know?
● What factors go into a customer's decision to dine at a
particular restaurant?
● Marketing Research Objective
○ Specific information needed to solve a marketing research issue
○ Developed as a series of question that decision makers need to know to make a
marketing decision
○ Guide the overall approach necessary to meet the objectives and answer the research
question
● Step 2 – Design the Research
○ Plan the research design and gather secondary data
■ Which question(s) will be answered, how and when data will be
gathered, and how the data will be analyzed
 ■ Determined which of two research designs to use
○ Research Design Process
● The Research Design Process
○ Research design in a process
○ Researchers begin with exploratory research to provide clarity and structure to the
problem and try to find any existing studies that might help identify key variables
○ Then, based on the exploratory research, the researcher chooses which type of
descriptive research to solve the problem

● Step 3 – Specify the sampling procedure

○ Can't talk to everyone, so must select a subset of the population – a sample
■ Population of interest must be defined
■ Must the sample be representative of population?
● Yes: probability sample
● No: nonprobability sample
■ Types of errors that can occur must be acknowledged
● Probability Sample

● Nonprobability Sample
○ Little or no attempt to create a representative cross section in the sample
■ Most common is a convenience sample
● Step 4 – Collect Primary Data
 ● Primary Data Collection

● Qualitative Data Collection Methods

Depth Interviews Focus Groups

● ●
One to one Small groups of people with different characteristics
● Costly ● Guided discussions
● Time
Consuming

● Survey Research

● Observational Methods
● Ethnographic Research
○ Watching people in a natural setting to gain a deeper understanding of what makes
people do what they do

● Experiments
○ Casual method of research to collect primary data
■ One or more variables is altered
■ Observe the impact of the altered variables on another – generally sales
■ Laboratory or field

● Probability Sample

● Nonprobability Sample
○ Little or no attempt to create a representative cross section in the sample
■ Most common is a convenience sample

● Types of Errors
○ Measure error
■ Occurs when the information desired by the researcher differs from the
information provided by the measurement process
○ Sampling error
■ Occurs when a sample does not represent the target population
○ Frame error
■ When the sample drawn from a population differs from the target
population
 ○ Random error
■ Occurs when the selected sample is an important representation of the
overall population
■ How accurately the chosen sample's true average (mean) value reflects
the population's true average (mean) value

● Step 5 - Analyze the data

○ Interpret and draw conclusions from the mass of collected data

● Step 6 – Present the Report

○ Clear, concise statement of the research issue studied; the objectives; and simple
explanation of the methodology
○ Summary of major findings
○ Conclusion with recommendations

● Step 7 – Provide Follow-up

○ Internal research provider
■ Answer further questions and support decisions
○ External research provider
■ Schedule follow-up with client to manage client relationship

● The Impact of Technology on Marketing Research and Marketing Analytics

○ Big Data
■ Exponential growth in the volume, variety, and velocity of information
■ The development of complex new tools to analyze and create meaning
from the data
■ Gathered both online and offline
■ Big data tool sets allow companies to understand consumers better
○ BUT... how do you use or even access the data?
■ Data visualization
● The engine for bringing patterns to light
● Create ability for managers to share, describe, and explain
what has been discovered
○ Big Data could be seen as disruptive to market research, but there is room for both
■ Big data analytics can uncover who bought a product, how often, where,
etc., but it doesn't answer the question WHY

● Marketing Analytics and Marketing Strategy

○ Marketing Research
■ Simpler data analysis
■ Answers predefined questions
○ Marketing Analytics
■ Larger data sets, more-complex analysis methods
 ■ Seeks to find new insights

○ Data used in marketing analytics

■ Inside the company
● Sales data from check-out scanning software
● Website data
● Interactions on social media sites
● Other communications
■ Outside the company
● Government sources
● Supply chain partners
● Commercial data sources