Tutorials: Attend 5-9 for Compulsory 10% PDF

Marketing information and customer insights: To create value for customers and build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want Customer needs and buying motives are often anything but obvious To gain good customer insights ma...

Marketing information and customer insights: To create value for customers and build meaningful relationships with them, marketers must first gain fresh, deep insights into what customers need and want Customer needs and buying motives are often anything but obvious To gain good customer insights marketers must effectively manage marketing information from a wide range of sources Marketing information and 'big data' Digital technologies are causing an information explosion Marketing managers are overloaded with data and often feel overwhelmed by it Big data - refers to the huge and complex data sets generated by todays sophisticated information generation, collection, storage and analysis technologies Marketing analytics and AI: Marketing analytics ○ Tools and technologies used in making sound marketing decisions ○ Lead to effective outcomes and return on marketing environment Such analytics employ AI technology by which machines think and learn in a way that looks and feels human but with a lot more analytical capacity 1. Marketers us AI to assess, address, service and sell to customers. Can you think of some examples? Using and managing marketing information: The real value of marketing research and marketing information lies in how they are used Customer insights are fresh understanding of customers and marketplace derived from marketing information that becomes the basis for creating customer value and relationships A marketing information system (MKIS) consists of people and procedures dedicated to assessing information needs, developing the needed information and helping decision makers use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights It helps users to analyse and use the information to: ○ Develop customer insights ○ Make marketing decisions ○ Manage customer relationships 1. A good MKIS balances the information users would like to have against what they really need and what is feasible to offer. What do you think this means in practice? The marketing information system: Developing marketing information: Internal data ○ Internal databases are electronic collections of consumer and market information obtained from data sources within the company's own network ○ Harnessing such information can provide powerful customer insights and a competitive advantage ○ Keeping the database current requires a major effort Competitive marketing intelligence ○ Is the systematic monitoring, collection and analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors and developments in the marketing environment ○ Good marketing intelligence can help marketers to gain insights into how consumers talk about and connect with their brands 1. What are some of the challenges involved in using and managing internal data bases effectively Marketing research: Is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data relevant to a specific marketing situations facing and organization ○ Gives marketers insights into customer motivations, purchase behaviour and satisfaction ○ Helps marketers to assess market potential and market share, or to measure the effectiveness of price, place, promotion and product ○ Comprises both qualitative research and quantitative research 1. The growing use of marketing intelligence raises a number of ethical issues, can you think of some examples? The marketing research process: 1. Defining the problem and research objectives ○ Exploratory research - marketing research used to gather preliminary information that will help define the problem, and to suggest hypotheses ○ Descriptive research - marketing research used to describe marketing problems, situations or markets ○ Casual research - marketing research used to test hypotheses about cause-and-effect relationships ○ Manager often start with exploratory research and then follow with descriptive or casual research Determining research scope: ○ ○ Uncovering the nature and boundaries related to marketing strategy or implementation Departures from normal or expected marketing results Typical problems requiring research Discover reasons for exceeding/not meeting goals Evidence of possible or potential market opportunities In identifying the problem, marketers need to Define the nature/scope of the situation Yield clear definition of research need Determine precisely what research is to uncover Decide how the research will be used Question will be in test on comparing qualitative research vs quantitative Reliability and validity: Reliability ○ A condition existing when a research technique produces almost identical results in repeated trials ○ Also considered as 'repeatability' if results can be replicated Validity ○ A condition existing when a research method measures what it is supposed to measure 1. Developing the research plan The research plan outlines: ○ Sources of existing data ○ Specific research approaches and contact methods ○ Sampling plans and instruments Research objectives must be translated into specific information needs The research plan can call for gathering secondary data, primary data or both ○ Secondary data - consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose ○ Primary data - consists of information collected for the specific purpose at hand 1. Given that market research is so important, why do you think so many companies neglect to conduct research? Collecting and preparing data: 1. In which situation(s) is primary data more valuable than secondary data? Primary data collecting: Research must take great care when collecting primary data to ensure the data will be ○ Relevant ○ Accurate ○ Current ○ Unbiased Methods of collecting primary data: Research approaches ○ Observational research - involves gathering primary data by observing relevant people, actions and situations Ethnographical research - is a form of observational research that involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their 'natural habitats' ○ Survey research - is the approach best suited for gathering descriptive information ○ Experimental research - is the approach best suited for gathering casual information 1. How would a marketing of a new restaurant use observational, survey and experimental research? Descriptive survey methods: Gathering secondary data: Secondary data can be sourced form the company's internal database, government sources, periodicals and books, and commercial data services Using commercial online databases, marketing researchers can conduct their own searches of secondary data sources e.g. ○ Commercial websites ○ Industry associations, government agencies, business publications, news media ○ Internet search engines The researchers must evaluate secondary information carefully to make certain it is: ○ Relevant (fits research project needs) ○ ○ ○ Accurate (reliably collected and reported) Current (up-to-date enough for current decisions) Impartial (objectively collected and reported) Sampling terms: Population ○ All the elements, units or individuals of interest to researchers for a specific study Sample ○ A limited number of units chose to represent the characteristics of the population Sampling ○ the process of selecting representative units from a total population Types of sampling: Probability sampling: Random sampling - all units in a population have an equal chance of appearing in a sample Stratified sampling - the population is divided into groups according to a common attribute; a random sample is then chosen within each group Cluster sampling - natural clusters within the population are used to facilitate sample selection Non-probability sampling: Researchers divide the population into groups and then arbitrarily choose participants from each group On the basis of random choice or personal whim, rather than any reason or system Sampling plan: Is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole Designing the sample requires three decisions: ○ Sampling unit - who is to be studied ○ Sample size - how many people should be included ○ Sampling procedure - how should the people in the sample be chosen? Contact methods: Personal interviewing - takes two forms: ○ Individual interviewing - talking with people in their homes or offices, on the street or in malls ○ Group interviewing - interviewing small groups of people to meet with a trained interviewer to talk about a product, service or organisation ○ Focus group interviewing - the interviewer 'focuses' the group discussion on important issues Online marketing research involves collecting primary data online through ○ Internet surveys, online panels, experiments, content analysis, online focus groups, brand communities ○ Offers real advantages Speed Low cost Accessible to both large and small businesses Predictive analytics involves extracting information from data and using to generate predictions for each individual customer or prospect 1. Should people be 'incentivised' as a way of encouraging them to agree to be interviewed? Qualitative web-based research approaches ○ Online depth interviews ○ Focus groups ○ Blogs ○ Social networks Online focus groups involve gathering a small group of people online with a trained moderator to; ○ Chat about a product, service, or organisation ○ Gain qualitative insights about consumer attitudes and behaviours 1. What are some other advantages of online marketing research? Netnographic research involves monitoring online communities of interest to gain customer insights from posts online forums, blogs, and social media generally Online behavioural targeting involves using online data to target ads and offers to specific consumers Privacy is an explosive issue facing online researchers 1. At what point sophisticated online research become consumer stalking? 1. Implementing the research plan Putting the marketing research plan into action involves collecting, processing and analysing the information Data collection can be carried out by the company's marketing research staff or by outside organisations Researchers must guard against problems with data collection techniques and technologies, data, quality and timeliness Research instruments ○ Questionnaires ○ Mechanical devices 1. What are some advantages and disadvantages of using a question and mechanical devices 1. Interpreting and reporting the findings Interpretation should not be left only to researchers ○ Researchers are often experts in research design and statistics, but the marketing manager knows more about the problem and the decisions that must be made Transform the results into information: Clear, objective view on findings Point out deficiencies Formal, written document Determine level of detail and supporting data Summary/recommendations first if decision markers do not have time to study how the results were obtained Customer relationship management 1. What are some other uses and benefits of CRM? Other marketing information considerations: Marketing research in small businesses and not-for-profit organizations can obtain good marketing insights through observational, formal surveys or secondary data -many associations, local media and govt agencies provide special help International marketing organisations ○ International researchers follow the same steps as domestic researchers but often face more and different problems such as: Dealing with diverse markets in many different countries Cultural differences Difficulty both in finding good secondary data and analysing it ○ Some of the largest research services organisations operate of a worldwide scale 1. What are some other problems faced by international researchers compared to domestic researchers? Public policy and ethics in marketing research ○ Increasing consumer privacy concerns have become a major problem for the marketing research industry ○ Researchers should ask only for the information they need, use it responsibly to provide customer value and avoid sharing information without the customers permission ○ Each company must accept responsibility for policing the conduct and reporting of its own marketing research ○ The marketing research industry is considering several options for responding to this problem Codes of practice Standards Other initiatives