marketing-chpt 04 lecture

7/29/2019 Marketing-Chpt 04 Lecture

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Chapter 4- slide 1Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.

Publishing as Prentice Hall

Chapter 4:

Managing Marketing Information

to Gain Customer Insights


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Learning ObjectivesAfter studying this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Explain the importance of information to thecompany and its understanding of the

marketplace.2. Define the marketing information system and

discuss its parts.

3. Outline the steps in the marketing researchprocess.

4. Explain how companies analyze and distributemarketing information.


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4.1 Marketing Information andCustomer Insights

To produce superior value and satisfaction for customers,companies need information at almost every turn.

Companies also need an abundance of information oncompetitors, resellers, and other actors and forces in themarketplace.

A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people,equipment, and procedures to gather, sort, analyze,evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurateinformation to marketing decision makers.

Figure 4.1 shows the marketing information system.

The figure shows that the MIS begins and ends withinformation users marketing managers, internal andexternal partners, and others who need marketinginformation.


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Figure 4.1: The Marketing Information System


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4.2 Assessing Marketing InformationNeeds

The MIS primarily serves the companys marketing andother managers.

However, it may also provide information to externalpartners, such as suppliers or marketing servicesagencies.

A good MIS balances the information users would like tohave against what they really needand what isfeasibleto offer.

The company begins by interviewing managers to findout what information they would like.

The MIS must monitor the marketing environment inorder to provide decision makers with information theyshould have to make key marketing decisions.

The costs of obtaining, processing, sorting, anddelivering information can mount quickly.


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4.3 Developing Marketing Information

Marketers can obtain the needed information frominternal data, marketing intelligence, and marketingresearch.

4.3.1 Internal Data

Many companies build extensive internal databases,electronic collections of information obtained from datasources within the company.

Marketing managers can readily access and work withinformation in the database to identify marketing

opportunities and problems, plan programs, andevaluate performance.

Information in the database can come from manysources, including accounting department, operationsreports, and marketing department.


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Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.


4.3.2 Competitive Marketing Intelligence Competitive Marketing intelligenceis systematic

collection and analysis of publicly availableinformation about consumers, competitors anddevelopments in the marketplace.

The goal of competitive marketing intelligence is toimprove strategic decision making, assess and trackcompetitors actions, and provide early warning ofopportunities and threats.

Competitive intelligence gathering techniques rangefrom quizzing the companys own employees andbenchmarking competitors products to researchingthe Internet, lurking around industry trade shows,and rooting through rivals trash bins.





4.4 Marketing Research

Marketing research is the systematic design, collection,analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specificmarketing situation facing an organization.

Companies use marketing research in a wide variety ofsituations.

For example, marketing research can help marketersassess market potential and market share; understandcustomer satisfaction and purchase behaviour; andmeasure the effectiveness of pricing, product,distribution, and promotion activities.

Some large companies have their own research

departments that work with marketing managers onmarketing research projects.

The marketing research process has four steps, seeFigure 4.2.





Figure 4.2: The Marketing Research Process


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4.4.1 Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Marketing managers and researchers must workclosely together to define the problem and agree onresearch objectives.

Defining the problem and research objectives isoften the hardest step in the research process.

After the problem hs been defined carefully, themanager and researcher must set the researchobjectives.

A marketing research project might have one of

three types of objectives: exploratory, descriptive, orcausal research.

The statement of the problem and researchobjectives guides the entire research process.


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Chapter 4- slide 11Copyright 2012 Pearson Education, Inc.Publishing as Prentice Hall

4.4.2 Developing the Research Plan

Once the research problems and objectives have beendefined, researchers must determine the exactinformation needed, develop a plan for gathering itefficiently, and present the plan to management.

The research plan outlines sources of existing data and

spells out the specific research approaches, contactmethods, sampling plans, and instruments thatresearchers will use to gather new data.

To meet the managers information needs, the researchplan can call for gathering secondary data, primary data,or both.

Secondary data consist of information that already existssomewhere, having been collected for another purpose.

Primary data: consist of information collected for thespecific purpose at hand.


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4.4.3 Gathering Secondary Data Researchers usually start by gathering secondary data.

The companys internal database provides a good startingpoint.

However, the company can also tap a wide assortment of

external information sources, including commercial dataservices and government sources.

Advantages: obtained quickly; less expensive thanprimary data.

Disadvantages: Information may not exist or may not be

useable. Evaluate the following when judging the quality of

secondary data: relevancy, accuracy, currency, andimpartiality.


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4.4.4 Primary Data Collection Secondary data provide a good starting point for

research and often help to define problems andresearch objectives.

In most cases, however, the company must also

collect primary data. Just as researchers must carefully evaluate the

quality of secondary information, they also musttake great care when collecting primary data tomake sure that it will be relevant, accurate, current,and unbiased.

Table 4.2 shows that designing a plan for primarydata collection calls for a number of decisions.


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Table 4.2: Planning Primary Data Collection


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Research Approaches: Research approaches for gathering

primary data include observation, surveys, andexperiments.

Observational research involves gathering primary data byobserving relevant people, actions, and situations.

Examples include: mystery shoppers, traffic counters, and

mechanical observation. Survey research is the gathering of primary data by asking

people questions about their knowledge, attitudes,preferences, and buying behaviour.

Experimental research is the gathering of primary data by

selecting matched groups of subjects, giving themdifferent treatments, controlling related factors, andchecking for differences in group responses.

Experimental research tries to explain cause-and-effectrelationships.


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Contact Methods: Information can be

collected by mail, by telephone, via personal

interview, or online.

Table 4.3 shows the strengths and

weaknesses of each of these contact

methods.

Each contact method has its strengths andweaknesses.


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Table 4.3: Strengths and Weaknesses of Contact Methods


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Sampling Plan: Marketing researchers usually drawconclusions about large groups of consumers bystudying a small sample of the total consumerpopulation.

A sample is a segment of the population selected to

represent the population as a whole. Designing the sample requires three decisions.

First, whois to be surveyed (what sampling unit)?

Second, how manypeople should be surveyed (whatsample size)?

Third, howshould the people in the sample bechosen (what sampling procedure)?

Table 4.4 describes different kinds of samples.


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Table 4.4: Types of Samples


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Research Instruments: In collecting primary data,

marketing researchers have a choice of two mainresearch instruments the questionnaire andmechanical devices.

The questionnaire is by far the most commoninstrument, whether administered in person, byphone, or online.

Questionnaire can be closed-endedor open-ended.

Researchers should also use care in the wordingandordering of questions.

Besides questionnaire, researchers also usemechanical instruments to monitor consumerbehaviour, such as supermarket scanner, peoplemeter, galvanometer, and eye camera.


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4.4.5 Implementing the Research Plan Implementing the research plan involves collecting,

processing, and analyzing the information.

Data collection can be carried out by the companysmarketing research staff or by outside firms.

The data collection phase of the marketing researchprocess is generally the most expensive and the mostsubject to error.

Researchers must process and analyse the collecteddata to isolate important information and findings.

They need to check data for accuracy and completenessand code it for analysis.

The researchers then tabulate the results and computeaverages and other statistical measures.


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4.4.6 Interpreting and Reporting the Findings The market researcher must now interpret the

findings, draw conclusions, and report them tomanagement.

The researcher should not try to overwhelm managers

with numbers and fancy statistical techniques.

Rather, the researcher should present importantfindings that are useful in making the major decisionsfaced by management.

Managers and researchers must work together closelywhen interpreting research results, and both mustshare responsibility for the research process andresulting decisions.


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4.5 Analyzing and Using MarketingInformation

Information gathered in internal databases andthrough marketing intelligence and marketingresearch usually requires more analysis.

And managers may need help in applying the

information to their marketing problems anddecisions.

This help may include advanced statistical analysis tolearn more about both the relationships within a setof data and their statistical reliability.

Such analysis allows managers to go beyond meansand standard deviations in the data and to answerquestions about markets, marketing activities, andoutcomes.


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4.5.1 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM helps manage detailed information aboutindividual customers and carefully manage customertouch points in order to maximise customer loyalty.

CRM offers many benefits and can help a firm gain acompetitive advantage.

By understanding customers better, they can providehigher levels of customer service and develop deepercustomer relationships.

They can use CRM to pinpoint high-value customers,target them more effectively, cross-sell the companys

products, and create offers tailored to specific customerrequirements.

Technology alone cannot build profitable customerrelationships.


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4.5.2 Distributing and Using Marketing Information

Marketing information has no value until it is used tomake better marketing decisions.

Thus, the marketing information system must make theinformation available to the managers and others whomake marketing decisions or deal with customers on aday-to-day basis.

In some cases, this means providing managers withregular performance reports, intelligence updates, andreports on the results of research studies.

But marketing managers may also need nonroutineinformation for special situations and on-the-spotdecisions.

Intranets and extranets help distribute information tocompany employees and value-network members.

marketing-chpt 04 lecture

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