Principles of Marketing

UNIT – 4 [Contd.]
Marketing Research
Questionnaire Construction
Characteristics of good questionnaire
Significance of questionnaire
Development of questionnaire
Questionnaire formats
Components for marketing plan
SWOT Analysis
 Research Questionnaire
It is a set of predetermined questions for all
respondents that serves as a primary research
instrument in survey research.
It is a valid instrument to get reliable and factual
information
Characteristic of a Good Questionnaire
 Should be concerned with specific and relevant topic
 Should be short and specific
 Directions and wording should be simple, clear and
easy to understand
 Questions should be objective to far as possible
 Embarrassing questions, presuming questions and
hypothetical questions should be avoided
 Should be presented in a good and logical sequence
 Questionnaire Construction
Significance of Good Questionnaire
 To be use for the survey method
 To get the clear responses
 To limit or restrict the responses
 To not to deviate from the research objective
 To avoid long question
 To not to involve personal and private thoughts

Procedure for Questionnaire Development

To specify what information will be sought
 To determine the type of questionnaire and method of
administration
To determine the content of individual questions
To determine the form of response to each question
 Questionnaire Construction
Questionnaire Formats
 Self-administered surveys
 Face-to-face interviews
 Telephone surveys
 Computer assisted and Web-based
 E-mail
Questionnaire for Self-administrated surveys
 Respondents complete on their own
Best designed for
● Measuring variables with numerous values or
response categories
● Investigating attitudes and opinions not usually
observable
● Describing characteristics of a large population
 Questionnaire Construction
Questionnaire for Self-administrated surveys
 Response rates tend to be lowest for mailed
questionnaires
● As low as 20 – 30%
● Low response rate affects generalization
 More standardization of the questions
 An increased reliability over other qualitative methods
 Response patterns can vary
 Closed-ended items limit the researcher
● Adjust for differences in respondents
● Clarify misunderstood items
● Explain ambiguity
 Not suitable for all audiences
● Young children
 Questionnaire Construction
Computer Assisted and Web-Based Questionnaire
 Way to create and administer self-administered
questionnaires
 Marketing researchers find response rates increase
 This is not across the board
 Questionnaires (especially short ones) can be sent via
email
● Or provide internet link to site which hosts survey
Web-Based Surveys
 Create own web page or hire a commercial company
 Allow for instant data coding
 Need to be able to write code or use software
 Maybe less time and costs
 Access is a huge issue (affecting generalization)
 Questionnaire Construction
Face to Face Interview Questionnaire
 Reading questionnaire items in a face-to-face or
telephone situation
 Unstructured or in-depth
● Suited for exploratory research
● Either with one person or in focus groups
● Open-ended items
● Cannot standardize
● Good for complex situations
 Structured
● Consider role of interviewer
♦ Style ♦ Personal characteristics
● Influenced by the process
● Training is critical
 Questionnaire Construction
Face to Face Interview Questionnaire
 Response rates tend to be highest with face-to-face
interviews
Issues / Drawbacks Face to face interviews)
 More time taking
 Applicable for only smaller samples
 Involves higher cost
Telephone Survey
Most popular method
Less costly affair
Less time consumption
Less subjective to interviewer
As compared to face-to-face
Often conducted with computers
 Components for Marketing Plan
1. Executive Summary
● Serves as an introduction to the marketing plan and
helps the reader understand the purpose of the
marketing plan.
● This is important because its giving the reader insight
on the marketing plan.
2. Situation Analysis
● Where an organization stands both internally and
externally.
● This is important because this shows the weakness
and strengths of the business.
3. Desired Target Market
● The target market is what the company desires to
reach.
 Components for Marketing Plan
4. Marking Goals and Objectives
● Goals are what the business hopes to accomplish.
● Objectives should be measurable, specific, and spell out
how to meet those goals.
● These are important because without goals the business
would not have a reason to stay a business.
5. Marketing Strategies and Programs
● Provides information about the organization planned and
the marketing mix.
● This is important because this is going to help the
organization expansion because it now have strategies that
will help the business growth. It can also have different
promotional plans.
6. Financial Plan
● Provides detail on the expected expenses and profits.
 Components for Marketing Plan
7. Target Market
● A well-designed target market description identifies
your most likely buyers.
● This is important as it insight to discuss at least two or
three levels of segmentation.
8. Positioning
● What is the perception of your brand in the
marketplace?
● it is important as it compels branding and marketing
messages that clearly communicate how marketers want
to be perceived.
9. Performance and Implementation
● Marketers explain their expected results and indicate how
the marketing plan’s progress will be measured.
● This is important because they are able to explain their
 Components for Marketing Plan
10. Competitive Analysis
● It provides information about who your competitors are
and how your products and services are different.
● Knowing the complete ins and outs of your
competitors will help you better position your business
and stand out from the competition
11. Market Trends
● Market trend shows path of sales goals. It answers
that “How will I find and attract my most likely buyers?”
● This is important as it guides and explains the entire
marketplace and then break down into specific tactics
12. Appendices
● Any charts or graphs related to marketing plans.
● This is important because it can show the growth of a
business or it may show how sales will change by doing
SWOT Analysis
Put your firm under
the magnifying
glass in
such a fashion that
you may find the
way to grow your
company
or increase your
earnings
 SWOT Analysis
 SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to
evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats involved in a business.
 A simple and structured planning tool.
 A scan of the internal and external factors.
 It involves specifying the objective of the business and
identifying the internal and external factors that are
favorable and unfavorable to achieve that objective.
 This technique is credited to Albert Humphrey.
 It provides the knowledge needed to understand the
current situation in order to make more effective
decisions.
 SWOT analysis can be applied to:
● An entire organization.
 SWOT Analysis
When SWOT analysis is Used?
● When reviewing the position and health of an
organization.
● Allows to examine the gap between where we
are now and where we need to be.
● As a basis to evaluate the performance over
time.
● To assess a strategic option:
♦ Investment opportunity.
♦ A potential partnership..
● Prior the development of a new strategic plan.
● Prior launching a new product
● In preventive crisis management.
 SWOT Analysis
Benefits of SWOT analysis
● Encourages strategic thinking.
● Reveals the direction of change.
● It is simplicity to encourage the participation
without prior knowledge of the technique.
SWOT analysis allows to answer
 How can we maintain and emphasize our
strengths?
 How can we compensate our weaknesses?
 How can we exploit opportunities?
 How can we anticipate future threats and
protect ourselves against them or reduce their
effects?
 SWOT Analysis
 It Involves identifying the key internal and
external factors that are helping or hindering
reaching your goals.
Internal Factors: strengths and weaknesses
that internal to the organization and under control:
• Corporate culture and image.
• Leadership and human
resource capabilities.
• Competitive priorities.
• Organization structure.
• Performance systems.
 SWOT Analysis
 External Factors are the opportunities and
threats presented by the environment external to
the organization:
• Market trends.
• Competitive position.
• Economic conditions.
• Legislations considerations
• Political considerations
• Technological considerations
• Socio-cultural consideration
 SWOT Analysis
 Strengths – The internal capabilities
that put the business or project at a
competitive advantage.
 Weaknesses – Internal deficiencies
that may inhibit or limit achieving the
goals.
 Opportunities – The events and
elements that the business or project
could exploit to its advantage.
 Threats – The unfavorable events and
barriers that may have a negative effect
 SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
 What advantages does your company have?
 What do you do better than anyone else?
 What unique or lowest-cost resources do you
have access to?
 What do people in your market see as your
strengths?
What factors mean that you "get the sale
Weaknesses:
 What could you improve?
 What should you avoid?
 What are people in your market likely to see as
weaknesses?
 What factors lose you sales?
 SWOT Analysis
Opportunities:
 Where are the good opportunities facing you?
 What are the interesting trends you are aware
of?
Useful opportunities can come from such as
:
 Changes in technology and markets on both a
broad and narrow scale.
 Changes in government policy related to your
field.
 Changes in social patterns, population profiles,
lifestyle changes.
 Local events.
 SWOT Analysis
Threats:
 What obstacles do you face?
 What is your competition doing that you
should be worried about?
 Are the required specifications for your job,
products or services changing?
 Is changing technology threatening your
position?
 Do you have bad debt or cash-flow
problems?
 Could any of your weaknesses seriously
threaten your business?