THE ROLE OF MARKETING
RESEARCH
Kristina Zikienė
2013, Vytautas Magnus University
Nature of Marketing

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Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and
processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and
exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients,
partners, and society at large.
To make the “right” desicions, based on marketing
activities, management must have timely decision –
making information.
MARKETING RESEARCH IS A PRIMARY
CHANNEL FOR PROVIDING THAT
INFORMATION.
KEY ROLES OF MARKETING RESEARCH

First, as part of the marketing intelligence feedback
process, marketing research provides decision makers
with data on the effectiveness of the current marketing
mix and offers insights into necessary changes;

Second, marketing research is the primary tool for
exploring new oportunities in the marketplace (f.e.
segmentation research and new product research help
identify the most lucrative opportunities for a firm).
Marketing Research Defined
Marketing research is the function that links the
customer, consumer, and public to the marketer through
information – information used to identify and define
marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine,
and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing
performance; and improve understanding of marketing as
a process. Marketing research specifies the information to
required to address these issues, designs the method for
collecting information, manages and implements the data
collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates
the findings and their implications (American Marketing
Association )
Marketing Research Defined
Marketing research is the planning, collection, and
analysis of data relevant to marketing decision making and
the communication of the results of this analysis to
management.
What is Marketing Reseach?
ORGANIZATION
Collecting information
MARKET
Marketing Research Defined
Marketing research is defined as the systematic and
objective process of generating information for aid in
making marketing desicions.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN SYSTEMATIC AND OBJECTIVE?
Systematic means that information is not intuitive or haphazardly gathered.
The term connotes patient study and scientific investigation wherein the
researcher takes another, more careful look at the data to discover all that
is known about the subject.
Objective means, that if the information generated, or data collected and
analyzed, is to be accurate, the marketing research must be objective. The
researcher should be detached and impersonal rather than biased,
attempting to support his or her preconceived ideas. If bias enters into the
research procces, its value is considerably reduced.
Importance of Marketing Research to
Management
Marketing research can be viewed as playing three
functional roles:
Descriptive function
• Includes gathering and presenting statements of fact.
Diagnostic function
• The explanation of data or actions.
Predictive function
• Specification of how to use descriptive and diagnostic
research to predict the results of a planned marketing
decision.
The objects of Marketing Research

Marketing research is used to gather information about:
Company’s macro – environment (Political,
Economic, Socio – cultural, Environmental
and Technological)
Company’s micro – environment (Customers,
Suppliers, Employees, Competitors, Media,
Shareholders)
Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Promotion,
Place)
Customers (Behaviours, Attitudes, Desicions,
Oppinion, Life style,Values, Sociodemographic
characteristics and so on...)
Planning and Implementing a Marketing
Mix
Product Research
 Product research takes many forms and includes studies
designed to evaluate and develop new products and to learn
how to adapt existing product lines.
 Consept testing exposes potential customers to new-products
ideas to judge the concepts’ acceptance and feasibility.
 Product testing determines a product prototype’s strengths
and weaknesses or whether a finished product performs
better than competitive brands or according to expectations.
 Brand name evaluation studies investigate whether the name is
appropriate for the product.
 Package testing assesses size, color, shape, ease of use and
other attributes of the package.
Planning and Implementing a Marketing
Mix
Pricing Research
 Research for learning the ideal price level or determining
if a price high enough to cover costs;
 Can help answer the question, is there a need for
seasonal or quantity discount?
 Can help answer the question, are coupons more
effective than price reductions?
 Can help answer the question, is a brand price elastic or
price inelastic?
 Can help answer the question, how much of a price
difference is best to differentiate items in the product
line?
Planning and Implementing a Marketing
Mix
Distribution Research
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Used to decide about retail sites or warehouse locations;
May be conducted because the actions of one channel
member can greatly affect the performances of other
channel members;
Is needed to gain knowledge about retailer’s and
wholesaler’s operations and/or to learn their reactions to
a manufacturer’s marketing policies.
Planning and Implementing a Marketing
Mix
Promotion Research
 Investigates the effectivness of premiums, coupons,
sampling deals, and other sales promotions;
 Includes buyer motivation studies to generate ideas for
copy development, media research, and studies of
advertising effectivness;
 Helps advertisers decide whether television, newspapers,
magazines, or other media alternatives are the best suited
for conveying the advertiser’s message.
Planning and Implementing the
Integrated Marketing Mix
The individual elements of
the marketing mix do not
work independently of the
other elements of the
marketing mix. Hence,
many research studies
investigate various
combinations of marketing
ingredients to gather
information on what
would be the best possible
marketing program.
Classification of Marketing Research
 Descriptive
v.s. Analytical
 Applied v.s Fundamental
 Quantitative v.s. Qualitative
Classification of Marketing Research
Descriptive
 also known statistical Research;
 include surwey and facts;
 gather sociodemograpfic data.
Analytical
 Use facts or information already awailable
Classification of Marketing Research
Applied
Designed to solve practical problem of the modern world;
For example, applied researches may investigate ways to:

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Improve agricultural crop production;
Treat or cure a specific desease;
Improve the energy efficiency at homes, offices...
Fundamental
Driven by a scientists in a scientific question;
The main motivation is to expand Man’s knowledge, not to
create or invent something:


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How did the universe begins?
What are protons composed of?
Classification of Marketing Research
Quantitative:
•Used to measure how many people feel, think or act in a
particular way;
•Many vehicle used for collecting quantitative information, mostly
researches use surveys, observations and experiments.
Qualitative:
•Used to help us understand how people feel and why they feel
as they do
•It is concerned with collecting in-debt information asking
questions such as why do you say that
•Depth interviews or group discussions are two common
methods used for collecting qualitative information.
•
Classification of Marketing Research
Companies that carry out research studies mostly
do that for two reasons:


identificate problem (Problem Identification
Research);
solve the problem (Problem Solving Research).
Classification of Marketing Research

Problem Identification Research
Research undertaken to help identify problems which are not
necessarily appatent on the surface and yet exits or are likely
to arise in the future. Examples: market potential, market
share, image, market characteristics, sales analysis, forecasting
and trends research.

Problem Solving Research
Research undertaken to help solve specific marketing
problems. Examples: segmentation, product, pricing,
promotion, and distribution research.
Decision to Conduct Marketing Research

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Resources are lacking;
Research results would not be useful;
The opportunity has passed;
The decision already has been made;
Managers cannot agree on what they need to know to make a
decision;
Decision – making information already exists;
The cost of conducting research outweigh the benefits