Understanding Marketing & Research Basics

• Marketing is connecting a firm and consumer through communication, content, value creation, strategy, relationship building, loyalty, and delivery.
• Marketing research connects marketing and the marketplace.
• The role of marketing research is to gather data and transform it into useful information for business decisions.
• Marketing research involves designing, gathering, analyzing, and reporting information to solve a specific problem.
• It links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer.
• Marketing research helps to gather information for smarter decisions.
• Marketing research is needed when there are time constraints, data availability issues, and the decision has strategic or tactical importance.
• Marketing research is needed when the value of the research information is expected to exceed the cost.
• A mean of 0.19 for consumers aged 20-25 who shop online needs clarification for its significance.

Market Research Firms

• Marketing research firms include producers of products and services (consumer insights departments) like Unilever, Pepsico, Lays, and Netflix.
• Advertising agencies and marketing research companies like Nielsen and Intage Group are also marketing research firms.
  • Limited service firms specialize in one or a few marketing research activities.
  • Full-service firms can conduct the entire marketing research project.

Ethical Considerations

• Marketing research ethics involve ensuring data and processes are not questionable, harmful, or involve hacking.
• Crowdsourcing creates customer collaboration and obtains services or ideas from large groups, often online.
• Marketing requires effective decision-making based on customer information.

Formulating the Problem

• It is important to understand the situations where managers must make solutions among decision alternatives.
• Defining the problem is an important step in marketing research and problems may or may not be easily identified.
• An opportunity is a potentially favorable circumstance that a company can perform successfully.

Steps to Formulate the Problem

• Meet with the client to build connections, clarify needs, and find target markets.
• Planned change in response to problems can change intentionally, or be unplanned and happen spontaneously.
• Conduct a SWOT analysis to clarify problems through strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• State the client's decision problem in the form of a statement or problem statement.
• Present clients with goals, understand the role of marketing research, and understand client perspectives
  • Discovery-oriented research collects facts to form strategy, and is common with unplanned change.
  • Strategy-oriented is implementing planned changes, like strategy and how.

Developing Research Objectives

• Research questions can be asked and conducted to solve the decision problem.
• Research objectives can be written as statements or questions.
• They solve the bigger picture.

Population and Census

• Population is the entire group under study.
• Census is when information is collected from or about each relevant population member.
• Sampling determines what is likely true for a population based on data from a subset of that population.
  • Target population leads to sample population.

Target Population and Sampling Frame

• Target population is the group that a researcher wants to study
• Defining population for the product/service involves all individuals or objects that meet requirements for membership.
• Sampling frames include parameters that are characteristics of the target population, and statistics, which are the characteristics or measure of a sample that we draw as representative of the target population.
• A sample is a subset of the population.

Selecting Sampling Procedure

• Probability sampling is how members of the population have a known chance of selection.
  • Examples include convenience, judgment, quota, and snowball sampling.
• Non-probability sampling is how chances of selecting members from the population are unknown.
  • Examples include simple random, systematic, stratified, and cluster methods.
• Sampling method are related to representativeness.
• Only a probability sample is truly representative of a population.
• Sample size determines accuracy of findings.

Determinants for Sample Size

• Sample size formula: n/ (1-BCI)(1-I)(1-R)(1-NC)
  • BCI (bad contact information), I (ineligible elements in a sampling frame), R (estimated proportion of refusals), NC (estimated proportion of elements that can't be contacted).
  • Round the answer to the nearest whole number.
  • 200/ (1-0.09)(1-0.02)(1-0.15)(1-.05) = 278.
• Other methods include using 5% of the population, conventional sample size, and costing basis.

Research Design

• Qualitative vs. Quantitative analysis is a key point.
• A master plan specifies the methods for collecting and analyzing information to solve specific marketing problems.

Main Types of Research Design

• Exploratory qualitative research collects unstructured information.
  • Usually conducted at the outset of research projects.
  • Qualitative data collection methods are most appropriate, like focus groups, in-depth interviews, literature search, and case analysis.
• Descriptive quantitative research describes phenomena of interest.
  • Describes customers, segments customers, makes predictions, and determines relationships.
• Causal quantitative research attempts to uncover what factor(s) caused some events.
  • Attempts to uncover relationships in an "if x, then y" format.
  • Experiments manipulate independent variables while controlling for extraneous variables.

Types of Descriptive Research

• Longitudinal Research
  • Continuous longitudinal research continuously makes repeated measurements of the same variable and asks the same questions every year, such as Nike surveying customers.
  • Discontinuous longitudinal research collects information on how many panels vary; like Adidas surveying customers every 1-3 years.
• Cross Sectional

AB Testing

• AB Testing is how to determine if your campaign work
  • Version A is the the control
• Version B is version A with changes

Primary Data

• Data is gathered specifically for the investigation at hand with 7 types.
  • Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics help better understand customers.
  • Personality and lifestyle information helps ads make better choices.
  • Attitudes are people's perception of the brand.
  • Awareness and knowledge measure what customers do/don't know or believe.
    • Tests of memory include unaided recall, aided recall, and recognition.
• Primary data can be obtained through communication and observation.
  • Observation can be structured vs. unstructured or disguised vs. undisguised.
• Secondary data repurposes existing marketing research.
• Data is not gathered for the immediate study but for some other purpose.
  • Internal secondary data includes previous data from receipts.
• External includes standardized info that companies sell

Ethnographic Research

• Stemming from anthropology, ethnographic research studies human behavior in a natural context involving observation in a physical setting.
• A study of human bheavior in its natural context involving observation or behavior in a physical setting
• Netnography conducts ethnographic research in an online setting.

Structured vs Unstructured Data

• Primary Data can be gathered through Communication
  • Structured: close ended questions; example, "How satisfied were you with your recent purchase?"
  • Unstructured: open ended questions; example, "Please provide a brief description of your level of satisfaction with your recent purchase."
• Unstructured informal research is conducted to explore what we don't know about the marketing problem.
• Focus groups and in-depth interviews are an example of qualitative data, where the biggest difference being group dynamics.

In Depth Interviews

• Interviews can be non-directive, semi-structured, and focused on the individual.
  • Probing the interview for information is important.
  • Used to gain an idea of what the subject thinks about something or why they behave in a certain way.
• Laddering identifies and reveals product values assciated with customer attributes and data
• It is unbiased and reveals indepth information

Best Practices for Qualitative Research

• The study is recorded and uses a developed question guide.
• It involves probing further, and the interviewer should remain unbiased and set a time limit.
• Both roles are established along with rapport
• And both let the person that if being intervieweee speak

Develop Question Guide

• Include:
  • An intro
  • Topics
  • A closing using the BRONS technique

Focus Groups

• Focus groups necessitate participant selection, including prescreening and recruiting.
• Group composition should be homogeneous in product usage, demographics, and socioeconomic characteristics.
• The group should have a common base of experience.
• Traditional formats include 8-12 participants and online formats include 4-6.
• Smaller groups are used if the session is highly exploratory and extensive probing is necessary.
• Processes to conduct a study includes selecting, moderation, recruitment, and documentation.
• Select facility/recruit participants
• Select moderator/create discussion guide
• Conduct focus group
• Prepare focus group report

Types of Focus Groups

• Traditional which have 8-12 respondents that meet in a dedicated room with a 1-way mirror for viewing.
• Online respondents and/or communicate clients an view online

Social Bias

• Respodents answers they believe are socially acceptable

Administering Questionnaires

• Common methods
  • Through interview
  • Phone
  • Mail
  • Inet

NO RESPONSE BIAS

• Differences between people
• They are used to target not the population

Measurement

• Rules assign numbers to a quantity

Scales of Measurement

• NOIR Metrics
  • Labeling objects
  • Metric measuring exact differences; which has a continuum with an extreme
• Non metric are you asking for labels.
  • Nominal, labeling objects
  • Ordinal, indicate relationships

Important Scales

• Likert, sematic differential scale
• Potential error- random error and bias for both
• Relabiliby measurements provided consisted data

Developing Hypothesis and Testing

• NOIR
  • Nominal: labeling objects
  • Ordinal: ranking objects
  • Interval: measure unobservable variables and intensity of positive/negative
  • Ratio: true zero point
• Potential Errors,
• Social desirability bias,
• Bias: not about someone that dont answer

The Hypotheses

• Unproven
• Assumption of phenomenon
• test for truth
• H0, Null
• HA, test in fabor

Developing Experiments

• Procedure
• Design Quesion
• Determine Measure
• wording
• Launch
• And test with a consent form

Good Flow

• Make sense Screes and warms

Data Analysis

• Validation process in interviews
• It is cleaned
• Sorting. -Imputation
• Process estimating
• Data Coding