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Chapter
4
Conducting
Marketing
Research

THE MARKETING PROCESS

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Learning Objectives
1. What is the scope of marketing research?
2. What steps are involved in conducting good
marketing research?
3. What are the best metrics for measuring
marketing productivity?

“There are three types of companies:

those who make things happen; those
who watch things happen; and those
who wonder what happened.”

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CONTENTS OF THE
MARKETING PLAN
• Executive Summary
• Market Summary
• SWOT Analysis
• Marketing Strategy, Target Markets,
Positioning,
• Marketing Mix
• Objectives (marketing, financial)
• Financial Projections
• Implementation

The Scope of
marketing research
• American Marketing Association
– Marketing research is the function that links
the consumer, customer, and public to the
marketer through information—information
used to identify and define marketing
opportunities and problems; generate, refine,
and evaluate marketing actions; monitor
marketing performance; and improve
understanding of marketing as a process.

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The Scope of
marketing research
• Importance of marketing insights
– Generating insights (how and why we observe
certain effects in the marketplace)

The Scope of
marketing research
• Who Does Marketing Research?

 Marketing departments in big firms

 Everyone at small firms
 Syndicated-service research firms
 Custom marketing research firms
 Specialty-line marketing research firms

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• “Marketing is becoming a battle based

more on information than on sales power”
– (Kotler)

• "Great wisdom not applied to action and

behavior is meaningless data“
– (Peter Drucker)

MARKETING RESEARCHER
DEFINED
Systematic design, collection,
analysis, and reporting of data and
findings relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing a
company.

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The Marketing Research Process

Step 1
• Define the problem

• Define the decision alternatives

• Define the research objectives

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Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
I. Data sources
– Secondary data vs. primary data

Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
II. Research approaches

 Observational research
 Focus group research
 Survey research
 Behavioral research

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Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
III. Research instruments

Questionnaires

Qualitative measures

Technological devices

Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
• Technological devices
– Galvanometer
– Tachistoscope
– Eye-tracking
– Facial detection
– Skin sensors
– Brain wave scanners
– Audiometer
– GPS

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Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
IV. Sampling plan
– Sampling unit: Whom should we survey?

– Sample size: How many people should we

survey?

– Sampling procedure: How should we choose

the respondents?

Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
V. Contact methods

 Mail
 Telephone
 Personal
 Online

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Step 2: Develop the Research

Plan
I. Data Sources (Primary – Secondary)
II. Research Approaches (Exploratory – Conclusive)
III. Research Instruments (Qualitative – Technological)
IV. Sampling Plan (Unit – Size – Procedures)
V. Contact Methods (Personal – non-personal)

Step 3 to Step 6

Step 3: Collect the Information

Step 4: Analyze the Information

Step 5: Present the Findings

Step 6: Make the Decision

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Measuring Marketing
Productivity
• Marketing metrics

• Marketing-mix
modeling

• Marketing
dashboards

MARKETING-MIX MODELING
• Analyzes data from a variety of sources, such as
retailer scanner data, company shipment data,
pricing, media, and promotion spending data, to
understand more precisely the effects of specific
marketing activities

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Research is to see what everybody

else has seen, and to think what
nobody else has thought.

Albert Szent – Physiologist

Nobile Prize winner 1937
Discovered Vitamin C
1893 – 1986

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