Market research

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Marketing
Key concepts

Product / Pricing / Promotion
Distribution / Service / Retail
Brand management
Account-based marketing
Marketing effectiveness
Market research
Marketing strategy
Marketing management
Market dominance

Promotional content

Advertising / Branding
Direct marketing / Personal Sales
Product placement / Public relations
Publicity / Sales promotion
Sex in advertising / Underwriting

Promotional media

Printing / Publication / Broadcasting
Out-of-home / Internet marketing
Point of sale / Novelty items
Digital marketing / In-game
Word of mouth

Market research often refers to either primary or secondary research.[1] Secondary research involves a company using information compiled from various sources, which is about a new or existing product. The advantages of secondary research are that it is relatively cheap and easily accessible. Disadvantages of secondary research are that it is often not specific to your area of research and the data used can be biased and difficult to validate. Primary market research involves both qualitative research (such as focus groups or one-on-one interviews) and quantitative research (such as surveys) as well as field tests or observations conducted for or tailored specifically to that product. Primary research, which is also called field research or original research, is useful for finding new information and getting customers' views on products. Its advantages are that it provides up to date, relevant, and specific information about your product. The disadvantages are that it is expensive to collect, time consuming, and needs a large sample size to be accurate.

A list of questions that can be answered through market research:

  • What is happening in the market? What are the trends? Who are the competitors?
  • How do consumers talk about the products in the market?
  • Which needs are important? Are the needs being met by current products?

Contents

[edit] Market research for business/insurance planning

Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe. It can also involve discovering how they act. Once that research is completed, it can be used to determine how to market your product.

Examples of market research would be in the form of questionnaires and surveys.

For starting up a business, there are some important things:

  • Market information

Market information is known as the prices of the different commodities in the market, the supply and the demand. Information about the markets can be obtained from several different varieties and formats.

Examples of market information questions are:

  1. Who are the customers?
  2. Where are they located and how can they be contacted?
  3. What quantity and quality do they want?
  4. When is the best time to sell?
  • Market segmentation

Market segmentation is the division of the market or population into subgroups with similar motivations. it is a widely used basis for segmenting on geographic differences, personality differences, demographic differences, technographic differences, use of product differences, and psychographic differences.

The upward or downward movements of a market, during a period of time. The market size is more difficult to estimate if you are starting with something completely new. In this case, you will have to derive the figures from the number of potential customers or customer segments. [Ilar 1998]

But besides information about the target market you also need information about your competitor, your customers, products etc. Lastly, you need to measure marketing effectiveness. A few techniques are:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ [Burns 2001]
  • Bradley, Nigel Marketing Research. Tools and Techniques.Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007 ISBN-10: 0-19-928196-3 ISBN-13: 978-0-19-928196-1
  • Marder, Eric The Laws of Choice -- Predicting Customer Behavior (The Free Press division of Simon and Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-83545-2
  • Visha Consultants (nd)Market Research, Marketing Research. Tools and Techniques.
  • Young, Charles E, The Advertising Handbook, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, WA, April 2005. ISBN 0-9765574-0-1
  • Kotler, Philip and Armstrong, Gary Principles of Marketing Pearson, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 2007 ISBN13 978-0-13-239002-6, ISBN10 0-13-239002-7

[edit] External links

  • Honomichil Top 50 - 2007 business report covers the top players in the U.S. marketing research industry. Each company profile reviews the organization’s leadership, revenues and continuing and new business interests. A chart detailing the top 50 organizations is also included for easy reference.


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