MARKETING RESEARCH
Day 1: June 15, 2016
Marketing Research
for the Entrepreneur
VENT150
K. Plesner
Self Employment
Marketing Research
• The Research Process
• Qualitative Res, Focus Group
• What to Research
• Survey Design, Data Analysis
• Secondary Res Sources
• Your Research Plan
• Stats Canada & Industry
Canada searches
• Your Secondary Research
• Your Primary Research
• One-on-one meetings
© 2016 K. Plesner
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Today’s Agenda
Time
Topic
9:00 am - 10:00 am
Your Business & Target Market
10:00 am - 10:30 am Overview of Research
10:30 am - 10:45 am Break
10:45 am - 12:00 pm What to Research
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Secondary Research Sources
2:30 pm - 2:45 pm
Break
2:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Your Secondary Research Plan
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Posted Files
All Marketing Research will be posted on D2L.
1. Go to https://learn.bcit.ca/
2. Log in with your A00 # and password
3. Click on the course:
VENT-0150-0-Self Employment-39953-Lecture/Lab Combo
4. Click on Content to find the files.
My email: karen_plesner@bcit.ca
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At the end of today you will be able to:
1.Marketing Research • Explain why to do research.
Overview
• Describe the steps in the
research process.
2.What to Research
• Outline research topics based
on the business environment.
3.Secondary Research • Explain how to evaluate
secondary data.
• Outline where and how to find
secondary sources.
• Demonstrate how to search
major databases.
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OVERVIEW OF
MARKETING RESEARCH
The Research Process
Decide WHAT to research
Why Conduct Marketing Research?
A Powerful Business Tool…
• Build your business on facts; not gut-feel
 Avoid wasting time & money
 Avoid costly mistakes
 Make data-driven decisions
• Document the market
 Take it to the bank
• Allocation of scares resources for max impact
Ultimate goal… minimize risk
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The Start-up Phase
Research can jump-start a new business:
• Identify key elements of your
business and marketing plan.
• Evaluate market characteristics.
• Identify your target audience.
• Assess your competition.
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The Expansion Phase
As your business grows, you still need research:
• Track customers’ changing needs.
• Measure marketing efficiency.
• Identify new markets and new opportunities.
• Monitor developments and industry trends.
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The Research Process
1. Decide WHAT
to Research
• Define the Research Objectives
2. Determine HOW • Decide the Research Methodology
to Research
3. COLLECT the
Data
• Secondary & Primary Research
4. ANALYZE the
Data
• Qualitative & Quantitative Analyses
5. REPORT the
Findings
• Findings guide your Strategies
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Start with a Plan!
• Before diving into research, you must have a plan.
• The very first step is to define:
1. Research Objective
2. List of Research Topics
3. Methodology
• Your Research Plan is your blueprint.
• As you move through the research process you
may need to adjust it.
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Typical Research Sequence
• Res Objective
• List of Topics
• Methodology
Secondary
Research
Qualitative
Research
• Res Objective
• List of Topics
• Methodology
• Res Objective
• List of Topics
• Methodology
Quantitative
Research
You may not need all three types of research
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WHAT TO RESEARCH
Business Environments
Macro Industry Companies
Far External
No Control
Customers Your Co
Near External
Influence
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Internal
Control
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Macro Environment: PESTEL
Political
Technology
• Stability, change of gov.
“The only constant is change”
• Trends, cloud computing,
business analytics
Economic
• Overall state of the economy
• Gov. support of small bus
• Interest rates, currency
Social
Legal
• Federal: taxes, trade, labour laws
• Provincial: labour regulations,
WCB,
business
registration
• Social trends, CSR, community
• Municipal: zoning, licenses
engagement
Environmental
• Sustainability, green trend
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Near External Environment
Industry
• Industry sector data, market size, trends
Companies
• Competitors: direct, indirect/substitutes
• Suppliers: raw materials, products/services, subcontractors
• Business models: successful businesses in this
industry
Customers
• Target Market: demographic, psychographic,
behavioral, geographic
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Near External Environment: Competitors
•Direct Competitors
• Who, what, where, when, how?
•Indirect Competitors
• Alternatives, substitutes
•Analysis Frameworks:
• Porter’s 5 Forces,
• Strategic CI Matrix
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Porter’s Five Forces
Potential
Entrants
Bargaining power
of suppliers
Supplier
Power
Threat of
new entrants
Industry
Competitors
Threat of
substitutes
Buyer
Power
Bargaining power
of buyers
Substitute
Products
Source: Michael E. Porter Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, (The Free Press, 1980)
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Strategic CI Matrix
Critical
Success Factor
Our CO
Comp1
Comp2
Comp3
Factor 1
Factor 2
Words
Factor 3
… etc.
Numbers
CPM Score
Level of
Threat
Competitive
Counter
Strategies &
Tactics
Words
Words
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Weights are
based on your
market research
Add up to 1.0
Example: CPM
Competitive Profile Matrix
Wal-Mart K-Mart JC Penny
Critical
Success Factor Weight Rating Score Rating Score Rating Score
Market Share
0.2
4
0.8
2
0.4
3
0.6
Price
0.3
4
1.2
4
1.2
3
0.9
Competitive
Financial
0.1
4
0.4
2
0.2
4
0.4
Strength
Product Quality 0.2
2
0.4
2
0.4
3
0.6
Consumer
0.2
2
0.4
2
0.4
2
0.4
Loyalty
3.20
2.60
2.90
1.00
CPM Score
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Rate each company’s ability to compete on the factors
Scale 1-4 or 1-5
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Near External Environment: Customers
Understanding you Target Market
• Demographic Profile
• B2C: age, gender, income, education, # of children, etc.
• B2B: size of co, # of employees, locations, org. structure,
decision makers, etc.
• Psychographic Profile
• Lifestyle, activities, interests, opinions, etc.
• Behavioural Profile
• Produce usage, how, where, when,
how much, etc.
• Geographic Profile
• Where do they live, shop, use the product, etc.
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Ethical Issues
 What information
do you collect?
 How much do you
need to know?
 How will you use
the information?
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ANALYSIS of COMPETITORS'
ONLINE PRESSENCE
Website and Social Media
Evaluation Tools
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Website Evaluation – Free Tools
•Website Analysis
• HubSpot: marketing.grader.com
• WMTips: wmtips.com
• Benchmarking Report (compare us with competitors)
• moz.com/researchtools/ose
• Who is linking to a website
• wholinks2me.com
•Website History
• archive.org
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Website Benchmarking
•HubSpot: marketing.grader.com
• Free Website analysis.
•Plus lots of great cases & white papers.
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Website Analysis: WMTIPS.com
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Website Benchmarking: Looking Back
archive.org
• How a co presented itself in the past.
• Info on a co before a merger or acquisition.
• How the co has evolved in its web presence.
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Drilling Down
•Do not assume competitor’s website is
search-engine-friendly.
• Content management systems can make
content inaccessible to spiders
•Use the "Search this Site" to look for
presentations, speeches, white papers,
spread sheets etc.
Advanced Search:
.ppt, .doc, .pdf, .xls
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Social Media Competitive Intelligence
Social Media is rich on CI data
• About the company and their customers
Analytics examples:
• Sentiment Analysis
• Engagement Tracking
• Share of Voice Analytics
• Follower & Fan Growth
• Influencer Profiling
• Comparative Segmentation Analysis
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Social Media CI Tools
Check out these two great blogs:
46 Free
Social Media
Monitoring
Tools
• HootSuite
• Social Mention
• TwitterCounter
• TwitterAnalytics
• Klout
• Adict-o-matic
• BackTweets
• Boardreader
• Facebook Insights
• Simply Measured
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CI Tweet Report
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So many sources …
So much information …
Can lead to:
Information overload.
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Monitoring & Alerts
•Register for several Monitoring & Alert tools
 Competitive intelligence, reputation
management, infringements monitoring.
• Many tools: free or for a fee.
 Alerts: Google Alert, TalkWalker Alert,
Brandwatch.com
 ChangeDetect.com
 WatchThatPage.com
 CyberAlert.com
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ChangeDetect.com
Marks web page text with
highlights of what has changed.
Example: Vacations To Go
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More Tracking Tools …
• Choose what to track
• Track specific websites
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WHAT TYPE OF RESEARCH?
Secondary
Research
Primary
Research
1. Internal
2. External
1. Qualitative
2. Quantitative
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SECONDARY RESEARCH
Always start with
Secondary Research…
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Secondary Research
Cheap, fast, efficient …
… but watch out for:
 Credibility of the source
 Relevance of the data
 Date of the source
Hint: Write & Cite
Constantly keep track of your sources
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Key Search Points
Research is an organic process…
 Start with a plan, but be prepared to follow
productive lines of inquiry.
 Use different search strategies, engines & tools.
 Look for and explore links on reputable websites.
 Recognize the Limitations of the Data.
 Accept that some data may not be available.
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Advanced Google Search
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Construct a Search Strategy
STEP 1:
Identify main
concepts
STEP 2:
Find keywords,
alternative terms
STEP 5:
Use with multiple
search engines
STEP 3:
Use Boolean
operators
STEP 4:
Use wildcards *
quotes “ ”
brackets ( )
(“hybrid vehicle”- Prius) fuel (economy OR efficien*)
© 2016 K. Plesner
BCIT Library
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Examples of Secondary Sources
Market &
Industry
Passport Euromonitor
Industry Canada
Small Business sites
Industry Associations
Company &
Competition
Article Search
Bus Directories
Company Websites
Alerts & Web Analysis tools
Population &
Consumers
PCensus (VPL)
Stats Canada, BC Stats, Vcr.
Simply Map (Demogr & Prizm)
Conference Board of Canada
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Government Secondary Sources
All levels of government collect data about residents in
their jurisdictions:
 Stats Canada (bcit.ca/library or statcan.ca)
 Industry Canada (bcit.ca/library or ic.gc.ca)
 BC Stats (bcit.ca/library or bcstats.gov.bc.ca)
 Vancouver City (city.vancouver.bc.ca)
 Metro Vancouver (bcit.ca/library or metrovancouver.org)
 Small Business BC (smallbusinessbc.ca)
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BC Stats Report
EXAMPLE: Report & statistics on SME in BC
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For Your Reference…
• The Business Development Bank of Canada
https://www.bdc.ca/en/articles-tools/entrepreneur-toolkit/templates-businessguides/pages/business-plan-template.aspx
• Small Business BC http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca
• City of Vcr http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/areas-of-the-city.aspx
• Vcr Economic Commission http://www.vancouvereconomic.com/
• Business in Vancouver https://www.biv.com/explore/
• Vancouver Board of Trade (Small Business)
https://www.boardoftrade.com/programs/small-business-council
• comScore 2015 Digital Trends in Canada
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Presentations-and-Whitepapers
• PEW Research (US data) pewresearch.org
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Examples of Syndicated Studies
Subscription-Based Research:
 Ipsos-Reid BC Report:
BC Public Opinion, SportsMonitor
 Angus Reid Report
 CRA: Boomer Monitor
 Synovate: Young Asians
 ACNielsen: Media & music reports
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Solving Business Problems
With Secondary Research
Prizm Segmentation
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BCIT Library
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Simply Map Report
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Where do the Urban Young (U2) Live?
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PCensus Burnaby
Photo Credit: BCIT Library
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Targeting
Postal Codes:
• Household income
$60,000+
• 1+ children
© 2016 K. Plesner
Photo Credit: BCIT Library
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Summary Day 1
• Research will lower the risk for your venture.
• Follow the 5 steps in the research process.
• Start with a plan:
• Objectives, Topics, Methodology
• Start by conducting Secondary Research:
• Use secondary data to analyze the business
environment.
• Use a variety of sources & search techniques.
• Carefully evaluate the quality of the sources.
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