Managing Marketing Information

Marketing Information Consumer needs and motives for buying are difficult to determine. Required by companies to obtain customer and market insights Generated in great quantities with the help of information technology and online sources

Customer Insight Fresh understanding of customers and the market derived from marketing information Becomes the basis for creating customer value and relationship Used to develop a competitive advantage Customer insights teams–Formed to obtain real value of marketing research and marketing information

Information Overload “In this oh so overwhelming information age, it’s all too easy to be buried, burdened, and burned out by data overload.”

Marketing Information System (MIS) Consists of people and procedures to: Assess information needs Develop the needed information Help decision makers to use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights

The Marketing Information System

Assessing Marketing Information Needs A good MIS balances the information users would like to have against: What they really need What is feasible to offer Obtaining, analyzing, storing, and delivering information using an MIS is expensive. Firms must decide whether the value of the insights gained from more information is worth the cost.

Developing Marketing Information Information needed can be obtained from: Internal databases Competitive marketing intelligence Marketing research

Internal Databases Electronic collections of consumer and market information within a company’s network Advantage: Information can be accessed quickly and economically. Disadvantages: Data ages rapidly and may be incomplete. Maintenance and storage of data is expensive.

Competitive Marketing Intelligence About consumers, competitors, and developments in the marketing environment Systematic collection and analysis of information Observing consumers Quizzing the company’s own employees Benchmarking competitors’ products Researching on the Internet Monitoring social media buzz Techniques

Competitive Marketing Intelligence Advantages: Gain insights about consumer opinions and their association with the brand Gain early warnings of competitor strategies, new product launches or changing markets, and potential competitive strengths and weaknesses Help firms to protect their own information Disadvantage: May involve ethical issues

Marketing Research Systematic design, collection, analysis, and reporting of data Relevant to a specific marketing situation facing an organization Approaches followed by firms: Use own research departments Hire outside research specialists Purchase data collected by outside firms

The Marketing Research Process

Defining the Problem and Research Objectives Used to gather preliminary information Helps to define problems and suggest hypotheses Exploratory research Used to better describe the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers Descriptive research Used to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships Causal research

Research Plan Outlines sources of existing data Spells out: Specific research approaches Contact methods Sampling plans Instruments that researchers will use to gather new data

Research Plan Should be presented in a written proposal Topics covered in a research plan: Management problems and research objectives Information to be obtained How the results will help management’s decision making Estimated research costs Type of data required

Secondary Data Information that already exists Collected for another purpose Sources: Company’s internal database Purchased from outside suppliers Commercial online databases Internet search engines

Secondary Data Advantages Can be obtained quickly and at a low cost Can provide data that an individual company cannot collect on its own Disadvantages Researchers may not get all the data they need Information might not be very usable

Primary Data Information collected for the specific purpose at hand

Planning Primary Data Collection

Research Approaches Gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions, and situations Ethnographic research: Sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their natural environments Observational research Asking people questions about their knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior Survey research Selecting matched groups of subjects, giving them different treatments, controlling related factors, and checking for differences in group responses Experimental research

Mail, Telephone, and Personal Interviewing Mail questionnaires are used to collect large amounts of information at a low cost per respondent. Telephone interviewing gathers information quickly, while providing flexibility. Personal interviewing methods: Individual interviewing Group interviewing

Strengths and Weaknesses of Contact Methods

Online Marketing Research Data is collected through: Internet surveys Online focus groups: Focus group interviewing conducted online Web-based experiments Tracking consumers’ online behavior

Online Behavioral & Social Tracking and Targeting Provides the passion and spontaneity of unsolicited consumer opinions Online listening Uses online consumer tracking data to target advertisements and marketing offers to specific consumers Behavioral targeting Mines individual online social connections and conversations from social networking sites Social targeting

Sampling Plan Sample: Segment of the population selected to represent the population as a whole Decisions required for sampling design: Sampling unit - People to be studied Sample size - Number of people to be studied Sampling procedure - Method of choosing the people to be studied

Types of Samples Probability samples: Simple random sample Stratified random sample Cluster (area) sample Nonprobability samples: Convenience sample Judgment sample Quota sample

Research Instruments Questionnaires can be administered in person, by phone, by , or online. Closed-end questions Open-end questions Mechanical instruments include: People meters Checkout scanners Neuromarketing

Implementing the Research Plan Researchers should guard against various problems. Interacting with respondents Quality of participants’ responses Interviewers who make mistakes or take shortcuts Data collection Check for accuracy Code for analysis Processing the data Tabulate results Compute statistical measures Analyzing the data

Interpreting and Reporting Findings Responsibilities of the market researcher: Interpret the findings Draw conclusions Report findings to management Responsibilities of managers and researchers: Work together closely when interpreting research results Share responsibility for the research process and resulting decisions

Distributing and Using Marketing Information MIS must make information readily available for decision-making. Routine information for decision making Non-routine information for special situations Intranets and extranets facilitate the information sharing process.

Marketing Research in Small Businesses and Nonprofit Organizations Secondary data collection Observation Surveys Experiments Obtaining good marketing insights Think carefully about the research objectives Formulate questions in advance Recognize the biases introduced by smaller samples and less skilled researchers Conduct the research systematically Responsibility of managers

International Marketing Research The problems faced include: Dealing with diverse markets Finding good secondary data in foreign markets Developing good samples Reaching respondents Handling differences in culture, language, and attitudes toward marketing research The cost of research is high but the cost of not doing it is higher.

Intrusions on Consumer Privacy Failure to address privacy issues results in: Angry, less cooperative consumers Increased government intervention Best approach for researchers: Asking only for the information they need Using the information responsibly to provide customer value Avoiding sharing the information without the customer’s permission