The Marketing Research Planning Process

Marketing research is very important component of a business used to identify and define the opportunities and problems that they will encounter on the market. The aim

The most challenging part of conducting marketing research knows what to do with the information after it has all been gathered. The findings must be organized and translated into useful information that can be evaluated, categorized, and interpreted for the purpose it was gathered. Usually, this process involves the use of internal marketing professions who compile information into software programs that store and sort the information into useful charts, graphs, or reports. Once the information is sorted into useful information, comparisons, findings, and other statistical information should be analyzed to determine where the product(s) will be marketed.

Kotler and Keller (2007) defines Marketing Research Procedure as “The scientific systematically procedure that includes the steps of problem definition, data collection, analysis and reporting of data and findings about certain issue if problem face by that organization”. The significance of decision making of market strategy and marketing depends on the conclusions derived from market research.

Once a company decides to develop or launch a new product or service it is essential that they conduct a thorough and focused marketing research. If this is done any decisions that are based upon the marketing research plan will minimize the risks involved as well as pay dividends. As the business continues to thrive with the new product it is essential for the company to conduct follow up marketing research on their product throughout the lifecycle of the product it will assist the company if better communication with customers, minimize the company’s risk, idenitfy opportunities, and create a standard to measure progress of the service.

A Research Design details the procedures which are necessary for obtaining the information needed to solve marketing research problem.

Marketing research is a very vital part of any marketing intelligence system and helps improve the management decision making by providing information that is relevant, accurate, precise and timely. Every decision that poses unique needs for information and related strategies can be developed based on information gathered through marketing research in action. Too often, marketing research is considered narrow for the collection and analysis of data for others to use but still they come in very handy. Firms can achieve and maintain a competitive advantage through the creative use of this market information. Thus marketing research can be defined as the decisions made on the basis of input information

Data analysis is the process of going through all the verbal, literary and visual data that has been collected and being summarized into a possible conclusion for the research to proceed.

Every marketing plan needs to involve some level of marketing research to validate any marketing initiative and to understand what your customers really want. But what are the best research methods to use to suit your specific business needs?

Marketing research is “the process of defining a marketing problem and opportunity, systematically collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions.” (Kerin, Hartley, & Rudelius, 2015) Marketers use marketing research to improve and reduce the risk of marketing decisions.

The marketing research process as described by Kotler and Keller (2006:103) consists of the following steps:

Market research is the process of gaining the relevant information to identify the demands of any gaps in the market. Questionnaires are frequently used in order to collect this information. The questions used in these must be carefully thought out to ensure that you collect the anticipated results so that the business meets its demands. The results gathered allows producers to make decisions

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Objectives: Market research, product research, price research, sales promotion research and distribution research A wide variety of procedures used in marketing research The requirements for and benefits of market segmentation Geographic, demographic and psychographics segmentation The value of marketing information system

Market research is to connect with consumers, public and customers by information. To identify and define the problems and opportunities of market information. Generate and evaluate marketing activities. Market research is needed to resolve a number of issues needed information, design methods for gathering information, management data collection, analyze the results, in the end communicate findings and impact

Importance of the researching process is to achieve a good business by researching anything related to the marketing plan such as; purchasing habits, choosing suitable slogans, advertising recall, and product packaging designs, which are the most important attractive factor for the consumers. But researching everything, particularly with a small business budget is too hard in achieving goals, so what is known as a research brief don’t satisfy all researcher approximate needs. This helps researchers focus their attention on a specific research purpose and understand objectives. For example, if you want to know why people are not buying your product, the researchers know to target consumers who buy competitive products and ask whether they considered your products. (shukla, 2006)

On the overall, marketing entails an evaluation and systematic study of factors that bears upon any operations of business related to selling and acquiring a market (Malhotra, 2004). Marketing research is the initial step that precedes productive activities and it continues as long as business operations