What Market Research?
What is Market Research?
Market research is a form of business research and is generally divided into two categories: consumer market research and business-to-business (B2B) market research, which was previously known as industrial marketing research. Consumer marketing research studies the buying habits of individual people while business-to-business marketing research investigates the markets for products sold by one business to another.
Type of Market Research
Marketing research techniques come in many forms, including:
Ad Tracking – periodic or continuous in-market research to monitor a brand’s performance using measures such as brand awareness, brand preference, and product usage.
Advertising Research – used to predict copy testing or track the efficacy of advertisements for any medium, measured by the ad’s ability to get attention, communicate the message, build the brand’s image, and motivate the consumer to purchase the product or service.
YEADS
- Brand equity research
- Brand name testing
- Commercial eye tracking research
- Concept testing
- Coolhunting
- Buyer decision processes research
- Copy testing
- Customer satisfaction research
- Demand estimation
- Distribution channel audits
- Internet strategic intelligence
- Marketing effectiveness and analytics
- Mystery shopping
- Positioning research
- Price elasticity testing
- Sales forecasting
- Segmentation research
- Online panel
- Store audit
- Test marketing
- Viral Marketing Research
Market Research Method
Methodological, marketing research uses the following types of research designs:
Based on questioning:
- Qualitative marketing research
- Quantitative marketing research
Based on observations:
- Ethnographic studies
- Experimental techniques
Researchers often use more than one research design. They may start with secondary research to get background information, and then conduct a focus group (qualitative research design) to explore the issues. Finally they might do a full nation-wide survey (quantitative research design) in order to devise specific recommendations for the client.
Business to business market research
Business to business (B2B) research is inevitably more complicated than consumer research. The researchers need to know what type of multi-faceted approach will answer the objectives, since seldom is it possible to find the answers using just one method. Finding the right respondents is crucial in B2B research since they are often busy, and may not want to participate. Encouraging them to “open up” is yet another skill required of the B2B researcher. Last, but not least, most business research leads to strategic decisions and this means that the business researcher must have expertise in developing strategies that are strongly rooted in the research findings and acceptable to the client.
There are four key factors that make B2B market research special and different to consumer markets
The decision making unit is far more complex in B2B markets than in consumer markets
B2B products and their applications are more complex than consumer products
B2B marketers address a much smaller number of customers who are very much larger in their consumption of products than is the case in consumer markets
Personal relationships are of critical importance in B2B markets.
Most of B2B market research today is done online, using online panels.
Marketing Research in Small Business and Nonprofit Organizations
Marketing research does not only occur in huge corporations with many employees and a large budget. Marketing information can be derived by observing the environment of their location and the competitions location. Small scale surveys and focus groups are low cost ways to gather information from potential and existing customers. Most secondary data (statistics, demographics, etc.) is available to the public in libraries or on the internet and can be easily accessed by a small business owner.
International Marketing Research
International Marketing Research follows the same path as domestic research, but there are a few more problems that may arise. Customers in international markets may have very different customs, cultures, and expectations from the same company. In this case, secondary information must be collected from each separate country and then combined, or compared. This is time consuming and can be confusing. International Marketing Research relies more on primary data rather than secondary information. Gathering the primary data can be hindered by language, literacy and access to technology.
Commonly used marketing research terms
Market research techniques resemble those used in political polling and social science research. Meta-analysis (also called the Schmidt-Hunter technique) refers to a statistical method of combining data from multiple studies or from several types of studies. Conceptualization means the process of converting vague mental images into definable concepts. Operationalization is the process of converting concepts into specific observable behaviors that a researcher can measure. Precision refers to the exactness of any given measure. Reliability refers to the likelihood that a given operationalized construct will yield the same results if re-measured. Validity refers to the extent to which a measure provides data that captures the meaning of the operationalized construct as defined in the study. It asks, “Are we measuring what we intended to measure?”
Applied research sets out to prove a specific hypothesis of value to the clients paying for the research. For example, a cigarette company might commission research that attempts to show that cigarettes are good for one’s health. Many researchers have ethical misgivings about doing applied research.
Sugging (or selling under the guise of l.market research) forms a sales technique in which sales people pretend to conduct marketing research, but with the real purpose of obtaining buyer motivation and buyer decision-making information to be used in a subsequent sales call.
Frugging comprises the practice of soliciting funds under the pretense of being a research organization.
