Market Research ... Before you do anything in marketing you first have to do Market Research – the gathering, recording, analysing, and presenting information relevant to the marketing process – there are two main types Primary Research - First hand, collected yourself Questionnaires Surveys Interviews Secondary Research – uses data that already exists Web-sites Magazines Leaflets Catalogues

So, how should you construct your questionnaire? Must be quick and easy to fill out Questions must be suitable for the user Questions must be clear and avoid confusion You must firstly consider the info’ you want to find out – the questions must be designed to get this info’ You should use a mixture of open (no fixed answer) and closed questions (specific answer required) Closed questions are easier to analyse and should be used when possible Use tick boxes etc – easier to fill in.

Examples of good practice What age are you? Under 18  18 – 25  26 – 35  36- 45  Over 45  Please indicate your top three preferred choices, using 1,2,3 - from the list below Ford ….. Fiat ….. Volvo ….. BMW ….. VW ….. I love marmite Strongly agree ….. agree ….. Neither agree or disagree ….. Disagree ….. Strongly disagree …..

Examples of bad practice What age are you? 0 - 18  18 – 25  25 – 35  35- 45  45 - 100  What is your favourite car make? ………………….. What’s wrong about asking for an “open” response like this? What’s wrong here?

TASK ... Pg 131 Advantages and Disadvantages for Research METHODS

Who will buy these products?

Socio-Economic grouping – Occupation/ earning bracket etc Throughout the whole process you must consider the characteristics of your target customers – Market Segmentation Male/Female Age group Socio-Economic grouping – Occupation/ earning bracket etc Life style habits Geographical location Ethnic Group

homework Provide 2 advantages and 2 disadvantages for each of the following types of Primary research: Method Adv Disadv Interviews 1 2 Questionnaires Observation