Back to: Marketing SS1
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING PLANS
1. It provides direction for all your marketing effort.
2. It helps define specific tasks.
3. It helps to identify prerequisites to planned activities.
4. If more than one person is involved, it helps you to define areas of responsibility.
5. It can give you insight into new markets that may have previously been overlooked.
6. It enables you to create clear guidelines for evaluating the effectiveness of g different marketing methods.
7. It can help raise finance for capital expenditure.
8. It prevents time wasting on ineffectual marketing activities.
9. It saves money by helping to ensure that the marketing budget is spent effectively.
10. It will generate more clients by communicating effectively.
MARKETING RESEARCH
Managers need information in order to introduce products and services that create value in the mind of the customer. But the perception of value is a subjective one, and what customers value this year may be quite different from what they will value next year. As such, the attributes that create value cannot simply be deduced from common knowledge; rather, data must be collected and analysed. The goal of marketing research is to provide the facts and direction that managers need to make their more important marketing decisions.
Marketing research is therefore the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data abou problem relating to marketing of goods and services.
Research vs. Market Research
These terms are often used interchangeably, but technically, there is a difference.
Market research deals specifically with thei gathering of information about a market’s size and trends. Marketing research, on the other hand, covers a wider range of activities. While i may involve market research, marketing research is a more general systematic process that can be applied to a variety of marketing problems.
Marketing reasearch comprises:
(1) Market research: Identification of specific market and measurement of its size and other characteristics.
(2) Product research: Identification of aneed or want and the characteristics of the good or service that will satisfy it.
(3) Consumer research: Identification of the preferences, motivations, and buying behaviour of the targeted customers. Information for marketing research is collected from direct observation of 3. the consumers (such as in retail stores), mail surveys, telephone or face-to face interviews, and from published sources (such as demographic).
REASONS FOR MARKETING RESEARCH
There are so many reasons for carrying out marketing research. These are:
1. Introduction of new product or service: Any new business, or introduction of a new product or service th that the company is thinking of offering, needs marketing research. Developing T des a good understanding of the product and developing a good business plan based an on marketing research help provide a solid foundation for your offering.
2. Customer development: Next to understanding the product or service you are offering, understanding the customer who will be buying it is paramount. In a consumer-based business, understanding the demographics and psychographics of a target market can be determined by looking at previous purchase behaviour or through a needs analysis. In a business which sells to other businesses, understanding their needs can be a little more difficult. However, this can be understood by doing surveys of focus groups.
3. Competition analysis: You need to understand your competitors. For most small businesses, getting a general idea of your competitors is usually sufficient. However, the larger companies, larger market potentials, or more costly the product, the more detailed the analysis needs to be done.
4. Marketing/Advertising 3 development: Doing “marketing” research to make sure that the look and feel of marketing is in order. Messaging is also another good reason for doing market research. By reviewing with your buyers on how, for example, a product O package or a logo looks, you can make sure the visual image of your offering is attractive and that your customers are getting the right messaging.
5. Customer satisfaction: After your customers have purchased your product or service, following up with them to understand their satisfaction of that purchase is necessary. Understanding To why they liked or disliked your offering and the reasons the customers purchased your product or service over that of your nocompetitors can provide a basis of what could be your competitive advantage.
USES OF FEEDBACK IN MARKETING RESEARCH
1. It can be used to change product features.
2. Packaging can be improved from feedback obtained.
3. Price level can be reduced or increased.
4. Advertising can be intensified.
5. Sales promotion can be introduced.
6. The product can be repositioned.
7. Channels of distribution can be changed.
8. Some channel member can be dropped.
9. Salesman can be motivated to perform more.
10. A company can extend its marketing activities to international mar kets.
SUMMARY OF REASONS FOR
MARKETING RESEARCH
1. To provide possible solution to marketing problems.
2. To determine why consumers prefer a certain brand.
3. To get first-hand information on the needs of consumers.
4. To study how consumers respond to a new product.
5. To make sales forecasting easy.
6. To determine the appropriate price of a product.
7. To help allocate salesmen to territories.
8. To enhance the organisation’s competitiveness.
9. To determine the effect of promotional activities.
10. To determine ho a particular product.
11. To identify competing products in s in th market.
12. To identify business opportunities.
REVISION QUESTIONS
1. Define a market plan.
2. Explain the following key elements in market plan
(a) Situation analysis
(b) Target audience
(c) Goal
(d) Strategies and tactics
(e) Budget breakdown.gi
3. 130 Mention five importance of marketing z plan.
4. What is a marketing research?
5. What are the reasons for marketing reseach?
6. (a) Explain five stages in marketing planning.
(b) State five uses of feedback in mar keting research.
7. The State five reasons companies conduct marketing research.
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