Bell Ringer  List some reasons why you think that some new businesses have almost immediate success while others fail miserably. The main idea: Successful companies must be able to understand the needs and wants of customers. Marketing research provides information to help a business plan, solve problems and make decisions regarding its products and services.

 Marketing Information Systems Marketing Co-Op: Chapter 28.1

 The process and methods used to gather information, analyze it, and report findings related to marketing goods and services

 Identify opportunities in marketing  Solve marketing problems  Implement marketing plans  Monitor marketing performance and effectiveness

 Determine customer attitudes and preferences  Test product features  Determine market size and growth potential  Learn about competitors  Determine buying cycles  Understand company’s public perception

 If businesses don’t pay attention to marketing research they could make costly marketing mistakes about:  What products to produce  What price to sell product for  Who will buy the product  How to promote the product

 Individual Businesses  Various manufacturers  Wholesalers  Retailers  Local, state and federal governments  Non-profit organizations

 Marketing Research Example:  Stouffers:13 years doing research before starting Lean Cuisine  They studies consumers interest and health dieting  They studied panelist to determine what people liked/disliked about their healthy meals $125 Million  When they launched the Lean Cuisine line it was a major success with $125 Million in sales in the first year

 Define: What is database marketing?  A process of designing, creating and managing customer lists  Identify: What data should be included in marketing information systems?  Customer profile data, company records, competitors records  Analyze: What are some uses for customer lists?  Locating, selecting and targeting customers with special programs

 Database marketing, or customer relationship management, is the process of designing creating and managing consumer lists  Database marketing lists are developed from the following:  Face-to-face sales  Direct mail  Telephone or purchases  Service requests  Website visits

 The information collected about consumers is stored in computer databases  Example: American Express  Their database includes what customers buy, where they buy it, where they dine out and how much money they spend  The company uses this info to send their card members special customized offers on products, hotels, restaurants, etc

 Customer Loyalty Programs  Many businesses use loyalty programs  The program offers discounts and other rewards to shop at a specific retailer  Companies use the loyalty to cards to compile information in their databases

 Types, Trends, and Limitations of Marketing Research Marketing Co-Op 28.2

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Quantitative  Answers questions has to “how many” or “how much”  Relies heavily on questionnaires to obtain info Qualitative  Focuses on small number of people  Answers questions as to “why” or “how”

Attitude Research  Also known as opinion research -designed to obtain info on how people feel  For example: Best Buy Geek Squad  Calling after service to see how satisfied the customer was with their service

Market Intelligence  Concerned with:  the location and size of a market  the competition  segmentation within the market for a particular product  Data is used to assemble a profile of:  Present and potential customers  Competition  The overall industry  Helps define target markets for particular products and services

Media Research  Also know as advertising research  Determines the effectiveness of various media to advertise a good or service  Can be conducted before or after a media campaign  Media Research measures:  Audience  Audience – number of people exposed to the media  Frequency  Frequency – number of times a viewer is exposed to the media  Reach  Reach – percentage of the target audience that sees the media  Ratings  Ratings – total number of audience impressions delivered over a set period of time

Product Research  Evaluates a products design, packaging and usage  Information is also collected about competitors products  Product and packaging is designed, tested, and changed if needed

Limitations of Marketing Research  The amount of information that is gathered is limited by the amount of money and time a company can afford to spend  Test markets may give feedback, but it doesn’t mean they will buy the product later