MARKET RESEARCH

… is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of data about issues relating to marketing products and services.

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Define Marketing Problems and Opportunities• Identifying and define the problems ie:

• Launching a new product or service• Low awareness of the company and its products or

services• Low utilisation of company products or services• A poor company image and reputation• Problems with product or service• The UNKNOWN!!

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Set Objectives, Budget and Timetables• Objective

• What do you want to know? • Is it exploratory, follow-up… • What do you want to get out of it?• For example, if you lower your price by 10 percent, what increased sales volume

should you expect? What impact will this strategy have on your profit?

• Budget• What can you afford? • What will you get for it? • Will it ADD to your business?

• Timetables• Plan it. How does it fit with seasonality / PLC?• If business is cyclical, establish target dates that will allow the best accessibility to

your market.

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Select Research Types, Methods and Techniques

• There are two types of research: • Primary research or original information gathered for a specific

purpose and • Secondary research or information that already exists somewhere

• Both types of research have a number of activities and methods of conducting associated with them.

• Secondary research is usually faster and less expensive • Gathering secondary research may be as simple as

Googling

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Design Research Instruments• The most common research instrument is the

questionnaire. • Poorly designed questionnaires do not uncover the information

you are seeking. • Pretest any question with a few people to see which questions

are being misunderstood or are not effective in drawing out the type of response you are interested in. Keep these tips in mind when designing your market research questionnaire.

• Keep it simple.• Include instructions for answering all

questions included on the survey.• Begin the survey with general questions and

move towards more specific questions.• Keep each question brief.

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Questionnaire Pt 2There are two common formats for questions:• Closed-ended questions

• Respondents choose from possible answers included on the questionnaire. Types of closed-end questions include:

• True/False questions which offer respondents the ability to answer yes or no.

• Multiple choice questions which offer respondents one or more choices from a list of several answers.

• Scales refer to questions that ask respondents to rank their answers or measure their answer at a particular point on a scale.

• Open-ended questions• Respondents answer questions in their own

words. Completely unstructured questions allow respondents to answer any way they choose. Types of open-ended questions include:

• Word association questions ask respondents to state the first word that comes to mind when a particular word is mentioned.

• Sentence, story or picture completion questions ask respondents to complete partial sentences, stories or pictures in their own words.

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Collect Data• To help you obtain clear, unbiased and reliable results, collect the

data under the direction of experienced researchers

• Before beginning the collection of data, it is important to train, educate and supervise your research staff

• An untrained staff person conducting primary research may lead to interviewer bias

• Stick to the objectives and rules associated with the methods and techniques you have established

• Try to be as scientific as possible in gathering your information

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Organise and Analyse DataSome helpful tips for organising and analysing your data are:

• Look for relevant data that focuses on your immediate market needs

• Rely on subjective information only as support for more general findings of objective research

• Look for consistency across different data sources. As an example, are the market demographics provided to you consistent with your survey results?

• Quantify your results ie look for common opinions that may be combined.

• Read between the lines. Interpret don’t just report…

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Present & Use Marketing Research Findings• Present it in an organised manner to

the decision makers of the business.

• Also, you may want to conduct a company-wide informational training seminar using the information.

• The data gathered was created to help guide your business decisions, so it needs to be readily accessible and understandable to the decision makers.

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How To…

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Questions?

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