Lecture Principles of Marketing - Chapter 4: Managing Marketing information

Chapter four explain the importance of information to the company and its understanding of the marketplace, define the marketing information system and discuss its parts, outline the steps in the marketing research process, explain how companies analyze and distribute marketing information, discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face, including public policy and ethics issues.

Chapter Four

Managing Marketing

Information

Roadmap: Previewing the Concepts

1 Explain the importance of information to

the company and its understanding of the marketplace.

2 Define the marketing information system

and discuss its parts.

3 Outline the steps in the marketing research

process.

4 Explain how companies analyze and

distribute marketing information.

5 Discuss the special issues some marketing

researchers face, including public policy

and ethics issues.

The Situation

 Firm began by offering

classically styled,

high-quality leather handbags.

 Women needed only two

purses in brown or black

 Mid-1990s: sales slowed

 Consumer preferences

changed as more women

entered the workforce.

 Designer bags made

Coach’s look plain.

Coach – Research Revamps Strategy

Case Study

Research’s Role

 Method: Interviews 14,000 women annually Watches trends for “market voids.”

 Key research findings:

1) desire for “fashion pizzazz” in handbags

2) “Usage voids.”

 New products are created

to fill voids (wristlets, fabric bags, Signature line, etc.).

 Sales and earnings grow.

The Importance of Marketing Information

 Companies need information about

Marketing Information System

 An MIS consists of people, equipment, and procedures to gather, sort,

analyze, evaluate, and distribute

needed, timely, and accurate

information to marketing decision

makers.

 The MIS helps managers to:

1 Assess information needs

2 Develop needed information

Assessing Information Needs

 A good MIS balances the information

users would like against what they

really need and what is feasible to

offer.

 Sometimes the company cannot

provide the needed information

because it is not available or due to

MIS limitations.

 Have to decide whether the benefits of more information are worth the costs.

Developing Marketing Information

 Internal Databases: Electronic collections of information obtained from data sources

within the company.

 Marketing Intelligence: Systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about competitors and developments in the marketing environment.

 Marketing Research: Systematic design,

collection, analysis, and reporting of data

relevant to a specific marketing situation

facing an organization.

Defining Problem & Objectives

 Exploratory Research:

define the problem and suggest hypotheses.

 Descriptive Research:

product, demographics and attitudes).

 Causal Research:

relationships.

The Marketing Research Process

 Defining the problem and research

objectives

 Developing the research plan

 Implementing the research plan

 Interpreting and reporting the findings

Developing the Research Plan

 Includes:

– Determining the exact information needed.

– Developing a plan for gathering it efficiently.

– Presenting the written plan to management.

 Outlines:

– Sources of existing data

– Specific research approaches

– Contact methods

– Sampling plans

– Instruments for data collection

Gathering Secondary Data

 Information that already exists

somewhere:

– Internal databases

– Commercial data services

– Government sources

 Available more quickly and at a lower

cost than primary data.

 Must be relevant, accurate, current, and impartial.

Primary Data Collection

 Consists of information collected for

the specific purpose at hand.

 Must be relevant, accurate, current, and unbiased.

Observational Research

 The gathering of primary data by

observing relevant people, actions, and situations.

Experimental Research

 Tries to explain cause-and-effect

relationships.

 Involves:

– selecting matched groups of subjects

– giving different treatments

– controlling unrelated factors

– checking differences in group responses

– Focus group interviewing

 Online marketing research

– Surveys

– Experiments

– Focus groups

Sampling Plan

 Sample: segment of the population selected

to represent the population as a whole.

 Sampling requires three decisions:

Primary Data Collection

 Questionnaires:

– What questions to ask?

– Form of each question?

• Closed-ended

• Open-ended

– Wording?

– Ordering?

Primary Data Collection

Implementing the Research Plan

 Collecting the data

– Most expensive phase

– Subject to error

 Processing the data

– Check for accuracy

– Code for analysis

 Analyzing the data

– Tabulate results

Interpreting and Reporting Findings

 Interpret the findings

 Draw conclusions

 Report to management

– Present findings and conclusions that will

be most helpful to decision making.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

 Many companies utilize CRM.

– Capture customer information from all sources – Analyze it in depth.

– Apply the results to build stronger relationships.

 Companies look for customer touch points.

 CRM analysts develop data warehouses and use data mining techniques to find

information out about customers.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

 Benefits of CRM:

– Offer better customer service and develop

deeper customer relationships.

– Pinpoint and target high-value customers

more effectively.

– Better able to cross-sell products and

develop offers tailored to customers.

Distributing and Using Marketing Information

 Routine information for decision making

 Nonroutine information for special situations

 Intranets

 Extranets

Other Marketing Research Considerations

 Marketing research in small businesses and nonprofit organizations

 International marketing research

 Public policy and ethics in marketing

research

– Consumer privacy

– Misuse of research findings

Rest Stop: Reviewing the Concepts

1 Explain the importance of information to

the company and its understanding of the marketplace.

2 Define the marketing information system

and discuss its parts.

3 Outline the steps in the marketing

research process.

4 Explain how companies analyze and

distribute marketing information.

5 Discuss the special issues some

marketing researchers face, including

public policy and ethics issues.