Marketing Research

and
MIS
SYLLABUS
•Meaning - Steps involved in marketing research
•areas of marketing research.
•Marketing Information System (MIS): Need, Importance
•Elements of good MIS - components of MIS,
•Experiential Marketing,
•Postmodern Marketing,
•Big data Analytics and its use in Marketing process,
•Marketing sustainability and ethics.
 e d
f in
e
D Marketing Research

The systematic design, collection, analysis, and

reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing the company.
Marketing Research Process
Marketing Research Process

1. Define the problem & research objectives:

■ Research Design
1. Exploratory – to gather preliminary data to
shed light on the real nature of the problem
& suggest possible solutions/new ideas
2. Descriptive – to ascertain certain
magnitudes
3. Causal – to test a cause-and-effect
relationship
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2. Developing the Research Plan
■ Calls for decisions on data sources,
research approaches, research instruments,
sampling plan, & contact methods.
1. Data sources – can be primary (gathered
for specific project) or secondary (already
existing).
2. Research approaches:
■ Observational research – gathered by
observing relevant sample & settings.

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■ Focus-group research – focus group is a
gathering of 6-10 people who are invited to
spend a few hours with a skilled moderator to
discuss a product, service etc.
It is a useful exploratory step to take
before designing a large-scale survey.
■ Survey research – best suited for descriptive
research, to learn about people’s knowledge,
beliefs, preferences etc.

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■ Experimental research – most scientifically
valid research.
■ Best suited for causal research, calls for
selecting matched groups of subjects,
subjecting them to different treatments,
controlling extraneous variables & checking
whether observed response differences are
statistically significant.

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3. Research instruments:
■ Questionnaires – Open-end questions allow
respondents to answer in their own words,
while close-end questions prespecify all
possible answers & respondents make a
choice among them.
■ Open-end questions reveal more while
close-end questions provide answers that
are easier to interpret & tabulate.
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■ Mechanical instruments – galvanometers
measure interest by exposure to specific
ad/picture, tachistoscope flashes an ad
repeatedly to measure recall/specific points of
interest, audiometer is attached to TV sets to
record channel viewing ( to calculate TRPs –
Television Rating Point).

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4. Sampling Plan:
■ Sampling unit – target population that will
be sampled. Once sampling unit is
determined, a sampling frame must be
developed so that everyone in the target
population has an equal chance of being
sampled.
■ Sampling procedure – to obtain a
representative sample, a probability sample
of the population should be drawn. This
allows calculation of confidence limits for
sampling error.
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Probability & Nonprobability Samples

■ Probability Sample:
1. Simple random sample – every member
has an equal chance of selection
2. Stratified random sample – population
divided into mutually exclusive groups
(age etc.) & random samples drawn from
each
3. Cluster sample – 2 + sample groups
drawn for interview
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Nonprobability Sample

1. Convenience sample – select most accessible

population
2. Judgment sample – good prospects for
accurate information
3. Quota sample – prescribed no. of people in
each of several categories

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5. Contact methods:
■ Mail questionnaire
■ Telephone interviewing
■ Personal interviewing – arranged & intercept.
Most versatile method, since interviewer can
study body language too. But this is also the
most expensive & is also subject to interviewer
bias or distortion.

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3. Collect the
information
■ Bias
■ Respondents may not be at home, may refuse to
cooperate, may give biased/dishonest answers
& even some interviewers may be biased or
dishonest.
■ Technology has helped in making this task
easier (thanks to computers & telecom).

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4. Analyze the
information

■ Researcher tabulates the data & develops

frequency distributions.
■ Averages & measures of dispersion are
calculated for major variables.
■ Advanced statistical techniques are applied to
extract pertinent findings from the collected data.

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5. Present the findings

■ Researcher should not overwhelm management

with lots of numbers & fancy statistical
techniques, but should present major findings
that are pertinent to the major marketing
decisions facing management.

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Characteristics of good MR

■ Scientific method
■ Research creativity
■ Multiple methods
■ Interdependence of models & data
■ Value & cost of information
■ Healthy skepticism
■ Ethical marketing

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 Marketing Information System
Meaning
Features
■ The Marketing Information System refers to the
■ Computer Based System
systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, ■ Quick, Selective,
storage and dissemination of the market ■ Accurate Information
information, from both the internal and external ■ Easy Accessibility
sources, to the marketers on a regular, ■ Inter-related Components
continuous basis to make better decisions. ■ Future Oriented
■ Supports Decision Making
■ Input - focuses on collecting relevant internal
■ Consistent information
and external data to analyze and interpret.
■ Applicable at levels of Management
■ Output - relates to distributing the findings
to all essential internal marketing team
members and managers.
Marketing Information Systems - Input

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Marketing Information System – Flow Diagram

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Marketing Information System - Output

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 Experiential Marketing
Meaning

■ Also called engagement marketing,

experiential marketing is a marketing
strategy that immerses customers
within a product or deeply engages
them.
■ In short, experiential marketing enables
consumers to not just buy products or
services from a brand, but to actually
experience the brand.
■ Emotional connections between the
brand and the consumer are created
through memorable and unique
experiences
Benefits
■ Personalized engagement
■ Stronger connection between product and
emotion
■ Creation of a positive
touchpoint
■ Social shareability
 Methods
■ This marketing strategy easily attracts and engages people by using
interactive methods and ensures an unforgettable experience.
■ Businesses utilize the technique and communicate with their
consumers face-to-face to establish emotional connections,
lasting memories, positive impressions, etc.
■ Eventually, it improves clients’ relationships with a brand and
customer lifetime value.
■ The method requires organizing various offline events such as
samplings, in-store activities, shows, events, and product
showcases that help a brand interact with customers, better
understand their needs and problems, obtain valuable customer
insights, and establish strong relationships with their audience.

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Types of experiential marketing

■ guerrilla marketing (relies heavily on unconventional

methods and often includes the effect of surprise,
interactive emotions, risk, and provocativeness);
■ brand activation (involves an event or any other type of
interaction that encourages customers to act);
■ event marketing (entails a display, presentation, or
themed exhibit to provide the audience with an
unforgettable experience);
■ retail installations (POP marketing is about a smart
placement of products in retail stores that aims at their
promotion).
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Postmodern Marketing
■ Postmodern Marketing is a term derived from postmodern philosophical
movements where there are cultural tendencies of inherent suspicion
towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative.
■ Postmodern marketing takes this same philosophical perspective and
applies it to the way advertising initiatives are handled in the current post-
World War II era.
■ Postmodern marketing is approaching or has passed through a new era in
advertising, branding, and strategic brand thinking.
■ Postmodern marketing is inherently focused on customized experiences
where broad market generalizations are no-longer applied or implemented
on behalf of branded communications.
■ As a result, the ad aged "art and science" debate around creative, media,
marketing and branding are put to an end.
■ With a postmodern marketing approach a one-to-one communication is
created between real humans.

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Modern Vs Post-Modern marketing Approach
Modern Marketing Approach Postmodern Marketing Approach
Multi-Purpose World or Dimensional
Single World or Flat Ecosystem
Ecosystem
Fixed Flexible

Traditional New Media

One-to-Many One-to-One

Static Interactive or Immersive

Brand Endorsed/Created Marketing Consumer Endorsed/Created Marketing

Broad Generalization Individual Customization

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Conditions of Post-Modern Approach

■ Hyper reality: Relating to simulations or simulated experiences.

Tourist attractions, amusement parks and "subculture"
vacation destinations are known for their ability in creating
hyper-real “immersive worlds”.
■ Fragmentation: Adheres to many marketing disciplines. These
being media space, consumer attention, consumption habits, and
communication/messaging strategies.
■ Reversals of production and consumption: A condition that occurs
when the roles of consumer and marketer change. This is when
consumers become “brand ambassadors” for a company and voice
concern, opinion and align their beliefs with that of the brand
through a number of traditional and non-traditional media channels.

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Conditions of Post-Modern Approach
■ Decentering of the subject: Occurs when a brand personifies the
product or service being marketed. As a result, the promoted
item become a "Hero" or a new-age savior.
■ Paradoxical juxtaposition: The ultimate state of postmodern
marketing. This condition allows consumers and brand managers to
act in the moment and adjust to changing landscapes, tone,
pressure, and emotional cues. As a result, they are able to
represent a different self-image and avoid moments of conformity to
single, set brand guidelines, perceived reputations and roles.
■ Loss of commitment: An outcome of many postmodern marketing
experiences can result in loss of commitment amongst brand
ambassadors and loyalists. This is usually driven from the inability
for brand managers to adhere to or recreate the level of consumer
engagement needed retain the same level of consumer interest
and interaction.

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Big data Analytics
■ Big data analytics is the often complex process of examining big
data to uncover information, such as hidden patterns, correlations,
market trends and customer preferences that can help
organizations make informed business decisions.
■ On a broad scale, data analytics technologies and techniques give
organizations a way to analyze data sets and gather new
information.
■ Business intelligence (BI) queries answer basic questions about
business operations and performance.
■ Big data analytics is a form of advanced analytics, which
involve complex applications with elements such as predictive
models, statistical algorithms and what-if analysis powered by
analytics systems.
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How does Big Analytics work?
■ Data analysts, data scientists, predictive modelers, statisticians and other
analytics professionals collect, process, clean and analyze growing volumes
of structured transaction data as well as other forms of data not used by
conventional BI and analytics programs.
■ Four steps of the big data analytics process:
1. Data professionals collect data from a variety of different sources.
Often, it is a mix of semi- structured and unstructured data. While
each organization will use different data streams, some common sources
include:
• internet clickstream data;
• web server logs;
• cloud applications;
• mobile applications;
• social media content;
• text from customer emails and survey responses;
• mobile phone records; and
• machine data captured by sensors connected to the internet 1-34
of things (IoT).
How does Big Analytics work?
2. Data is prepared and processed.
After data is collected and stored in a data warehouse or data
lake, data professionals must organize, configure and partition the data
properly for analytical queries. Thorough data preparation and
processing makes for higher performance from analytical queries.

3. Data is cleansed to improve its quality.

Data professionals scrub the data using scripting tools or data quality
software. They look for any errors or inconsistencies, such as
duplications or formatting mistakes, and organize and tidy up the data.

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How does Big Analytics work?
4. The collected, processed and cleaned data is analyzed with analytics
software. This includes tools for:
• data mining, which sifts through data sets in search of patterns and
relationships
• predictive analytics, which builds models to forecast customer behavior and
other future actions, scenarios and trends
• machine learning, which taps various algorithms to analyze large data sets
• deep learning, which is a more advanced offshoot of machine learning
• text mining and statistical analysis software
• artificial intelligence (AI)
• mainstream business intelligence software
• data visualization tools

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Big data Analytics and its use in Marketing
process
■ Customer acquisition and retention
■ Targeted ads
■ Product development
■ Price optimization
■ Supply chain and channel analytics
■ Risk management
■ Improved decision-making

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 Marketing sustainability and ethics
■ The American Marketing Association commits itself to promoting the
highest standard of professional ethical norms and values for its
members.
■ Norms are established standards of conduct that are expected and
maintained by society and/or professional organizations.
■ Values represent the collective conception of what communities find
desirable, important and ethically proper.
■ Values also serve as the criteria for evaluating our own personal
actions and the actions of others.
■ In this role, marketers are expected to embrace the highest
professional ethical norms and the ethical values implied by our
responsibility toward multiple stakeholders (e.g., customers,
employees, investors, peers, channel members, regulators and
the host community). 1-38
Ethical Norms
■ 1. Do no harm. This means consciously avoiding harmful
actions or omissions by embodying high ethical
standards and adhering to all applicable laws and
regulations in the choices we make.
■ 2. Foster trust in the marketing system. This means
striving for good faith and fair dealing so as to contribute
toward the efficacy of the exchange process as well as
avoiding deception in product design, pricing,
communication, and delivery of distribution.
■ 3. Embrace ethical values. This means building
relationships and enhancing consumer confidence in the
integrity of marketing by affirming these core values:
honesty, responsibility, fairness, respect, transparency
and citizenship. 1-626
Ethical Values
■ Honesty
■ to be forthright in dealings with customers and stakeholders. To this
end, we will:
◻ Strive to be truthful in all situations and at all times.
◻ Offer products of value that do what we claim in
our
communications.
◻ Stand behind our products if they fail to deliver their
claimed
benefits.
◻ Honor our explicit and implicit commitments and promises.

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Ethical Values
■ Responsibility
■ to accept the consequences of our marketing decisions and
strategies. To this end, we will:
■ Strive to serve the needs of customers.
■ Avoid using coercion with all stakeholders.
■ Acknowledge the social obligations to stakeholders that come with
increased marketing and economic power.
■ Recognize our special commitments to vulnerable market segments
such as children, seniors, the economically impoverished, market
illiterates and others who may be substantially disadvantaged.
■ Consider environmental stewardship in our decision-making

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Ethical Values
■ Fairness
■ to balance justly the needs of the buyer with the interests of the
seller. To this end, we will:
◻ Represent products in a clear way in selling, advertising and other forms
of communication; this includes the avoidance of false, misleading and
deceptive promotion.
◻ Reject manipulations and sales tactics that harm customer trust.
◻ Revise to engage in price fixing, predatory pricing, price gouging or
“bait-and-switch” tactics.
◻ Avoid knowing participation in conflicts of interest.
◻ Seek to protect the private information of customers, employees and
partners

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Ethical Values
■ Respect
■ to acknowledge the basic human dignity of all stakeholders. To
this end, we will:
◻ Value individual differences and avoid stereotyping customers or
depicting demographic groups (e.g., gender, race, sexual orientation) in
a negative or dehumanizing way.
◻ Listen to the needs of customers and make all reasonable efforts to
monitor and improve their satisfaction on an ongoing basis.
◻ Make every effort to understand and respectfully treat buyers, suppliers,
intermediaries and distributors from all cultures.
◻ Acknowledge the contributions of others, such as consultants,
employees and coworkers, to marketing endeavors.
◻ Treat everyone, including our competitors, as we would wish to be
treated.

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Ethical Values
■ Transparency
■ to create a spirit of openness in marketing operations. To this end,
we will:
◻ Strive to communicate clearly with all constituencies.
◻ Accept constructive criticism from customers and other
stakeholders.
◻ Explain and take appropriate action regarding significant product
or service risks, component substitutions or other foreseeable
eventualities that could affect customers or their perception of
the purchase decision.
◻ Disclose list prices and terms of financing as well as available
price deals and adjustments
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Ethical Values
■ Citizenship
■ to fulfill the economic, legal, philanthropic, and societal
responsibilities that serve stakeholders. To this end, we will:
◻ Strive to protect the ecological environment in the execution of
marketing campaigns.
◻ Give back to the community through volunteerism and charitable
donations.
◻ Contribute to the overall betterment of marketing and its
reputation.
◻ Urge supply chain members to ensure that trade is fair for all
participants, including producers in developing countries

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