4

Principles
Principles of
of
Marketing
Marketing

Managing Marketing Information

 Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
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

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 Chapter Outline

1. Assessing Marketing Information Needs

2. Developing Marketing Information
3. Marketing Research
4. Analyzing Marketing Information
5. Distributing and Using Marketing
Information
6. Other Marketing Information
Considerations

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 Assessing Marketing
Information Needs

Marketing information system (MIS) consists

of people, equipment, and procedures to
gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute
needed, timely, and accurate information to
marketing decision makers
• Assess the information needs
• Develop needed information
• Analyze information
• Distribute information

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 Assessing Marketing
Information Needs

MIS provides information to the company’s

marketing and other managers and
external partners such as suppliers,
resellers, and marketing service agencies

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Assessing Marketing
Information Needs

Characteristics of a good MIS balances the

information users would like to have
against what they need and what is
feasible to offer

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Developing Marketing Information

Marketers can obtain information from:

• Internal data
• Marketing intelligence
• Marketing research

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Developing Marketing Information
Internal Data

Internal databases are electronic collections of

consumer and market information obtained from
data sources within the company network,
including accounting, marketing, customer
service, and sales departments

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Developing Marketing Information

Advantages and Disadvantage of Internal Databases

Advantages: Disadvantages:
• Incomplete information
• Can be accessed more • Wrong form for decision
quickly making
• Less expensive • Timeliness of information
• Amount of information
• Need for sophisticated
equipment and techniques

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Developing Marketing Information
Marketing Intelligence

Marketing intelligence is the systematic collection and

analysis of publicly available information about
competitors and developments in the marketplace

The goal of marketing intelligence is to improve strategic

decision making, assess and track competitors’ actions,
and provide early warning of opportunities and threats

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 Marketing Research

Marketing research is the systematic

design, collection, analysis, and reporting
of data relevant to a specific marketing
situation facing an organization

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 Marketing Research

Steps in the marketing research process

1. Defining the problem and research objectives
2. Developing the research plan
3. Implementing the plan
4. Interpreting and reporting the findings

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 Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Types of objectives
• Exploratory research
• Descriptive research
• Causal research

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 Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives

Exploratory research is the gathering of preliminary

information that will help to define the problem and
suggest hypotheses
Descriptive research is to describe things such as market
potential for a product or the demographics and
attitudes of consumers who buy the product
Causal research is to test hypotheses about cause-and-
effect relationships

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 Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan

Research plan outlines sources of existing

data and spells out the specific research
approaches, contact methods, sampling
plans, and instruments that researchers
will use to gather data

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 Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan

Research plan is a written proposal that includes:

• Management problem
• Research objectives
• Information needed
• How the results will help management decisions
• Budget

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 Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan

Secondary data consists of information that

already exists somewhere, having been
collected for another purpose

Primary data consists of information gathered

for the special research plan

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 Marketing Research
Marketing Research

Disadvantages:
Advantages:
• Availability
• Speed
• Relevance
• Cost
• Accuracy
Provides data that
•
a company cannot • Impartial
collect on its own

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 Marketing Research
Primary Data Collection

• Research approaches
• Contact methods
• Sampling plan
• Research instruments

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 Marketing Research
Research Approaches

Observational research involves gathering primary

data by observing relevant people, actions, and
situations
Ethnographic research involves sending trained
observers to watch and interact with consumers
in their natural environment

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 Marketing Research
Research Approaches

Survey research is the most widely used method

and is best for descriptive information—
knowledge, attitudes, preferences, and buying
behavior
• Flexible
• People can be unable or unwilling to answer
• Gives misleading or pleasing answers
• Privacy concerns

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 Marketing Research
Research Approaches

Experimental research is best for gathering

causal information—cause-and-effect
relationships

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods

• Mail questionnaires
• Collect large amounts of information
• Low cost
• Less bias with no interviewer present
• Lack of flexibility
• Low response rate
• Lack of control of sample

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods

• Telephone interviewing
• Collects information quickly
• More flexible than mail questionnaires
• Interviewers can explain difficult questions
• Higher response rates than mail questionnaires
• Interviewers communicate directly with respondents
• Higher cost than mail questionnaires
• Potential interviewer bias

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods

Mail, telephone, and personal interviewing

• Personal interviewing
• Individual interviewing
• Group interviewing

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods

• Personal interviewing
• Individual interviewing
• Involves talking with people at home or the office, on the
street, or in shopping malls
• Flexible
• More expensive than telephone interviews
• Group interviewing or focus group interviewing
• Involves inviting six to 10 people to talk with a trained
moderator

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Online marketing research
• Internet surveys
• Online panels
• Online experiments
• Online focus groups

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 Marketing Research
Contact Methods

Online marketing research

• Low cost
• Speed to administer
• Fast results
• Good for hard-to-reach groups
• Hard to control who’s in the sample
• Lack of interaction
• Privacy concerns

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 Marketing Research
Sampling Plan

Sample is a segment of the population

selected for marketing research to
represent the population as a whole
• Who is to be surveyed?
• How many people should be surveyed?
• How should the people be chosen?

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 Marketing Research
Sampling Plan

Probability samples: Each population member

has a known chance of being included in the
sample

Non-probability samples: Used when probability

sampling costs too much or takes too much
time

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 Marketing Research
Research Instruments

• Questionnaires
• Mechanical devices

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 Marketing Research
Research Instruments

Questionnaires
• Most common
• Administered in person, by phone, or online
• Flexible

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 Marketing Research
Research Instruments
Closed-end questions include all possible answers,
and subjects make choices among them
• Provide answers that are easier to interpret and
tabulate

Open-end questions allow respondents to answer in

their own words
• Useful in exploratory research

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 Marketing Research
Implementing the Research Plan

• Collecting the information

• Processing the information
• Analyzing the information

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)
CRM consists of sophisticated software and
analytical tools that integrate customer
information from all sources, analyze it
in depth, and apply the results to build
stronger customer relationships

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)

Data warehouses are comprehensive companywide

electronic databases of finely tuned detailed customer
information
• Uses
• To understand customers better
• To provide higher levels of customer service
• To develop deeper customer relationships
• To identify high-value customers

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Analyzing Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management
Touch points: Every contact between the customer and company
• Customer purchases
• Sales force contacts
• Service and support calls
• Web site visits
• Satisfaction surveys
• Credit and payment interactions
• Research studies

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 Distributing and Using
Marketing Information

Information distribution involves entering

information into databases and making it
available in a time- useable manner
• Intranet provides information to employees
and other stakeholders
• Extranet provides information to key
customers and suppliers

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 Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations

Need information about their industry,

competitors, potential customers, and
reactions to new offers

Must track changes in customer needs and

wants, reactions to new products, and
changes in the competitive environment

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 Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and
Nonprofit Organizations

Sources of marketing information:

• Observing their environment
• Monitoring competitor advertising
• Evaluating customer mix
• Visiting competitors
• Conducting informal surveys
• Conducting simple experiments

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 Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Marketing Research in Small Businesses and Nonprofit
Organizations

Sources of marketing information:

• Secondary data
• Trade associations
• Chambers of Commerce
• Government agencies
• Media

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 Other Marketing Information
Considerations
International Marketing Research

Additional and different challenges

• Level of economic development
• Culture
• Customs
• Buying patterns
• Difficulty in collecting secondary data
• Hard-to-reach respondents

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 Other Marketing Information
Considerations
Public Policy and Ethics in Marketing Research

• Intrusions on consumer privacy

• Consumer resentment
• Misuse of research findings

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PowerPoint created by:
Ronald Heimler

• Dowling College, MBA

• Georgetown University, BS Business
Administration
• Adjunct Professor, LIM College, NY
• Adjunct Professor, Long Island University,
NY
• Lecturer, California Polytechnic State
University, Pomona, CA
• President, Walter Heimler, Inc.