Five Ms of Advertising
An advertiser has to take decisions on the following aspects:
1. Mission : This refers to the purpose/objective behind advertising. The objectives behind
advertising are varied in character. They include sales promotion, information and guidance
to consumers, developing brand loyalty, market goodwill, facing market competition
effectively, making the products popular/successful and introduction of a new product.
Decision in regard to mission is a basic one as other decisions are to be adjusted as per the
mission or objective or purpose of advertising decided. For consumer products like
chocolate, tooth paste, soap, the mission/objective include facing market competition, sales
promotion and making the product popular in the market.
2. Money : This refers to the finance provided for advertising purpose (advertising budget). It
means the budget allocation made by the company for advertising. Money provided is a
limiting factor as effectiveness of advertising, media used, coverage of advertising, etc. are
related to the funds provided for advertising purpose. Advertising is costly and companies
have to spend crores of rupees for this purpose. Advertising should be always within the
limits of funds provided. Naturally, decisions on advertising package should be adjusted as
per the budget allocation for advertising.
It may be noted that consumer products like tooth paste or chocolate are highly competitive
with many substitutes easily available in the market. Naturally, extensive advertising on TV,
newspapers, radio, etc. is required. These media are costly. Naturally, the
manufacturing/marketing company will have to provide huge money for advertising
purpose.
3. Message : Message is provided through the text of advertisement. The message is given
through written words, pictures, slogans and so on. The message is for the information,
guidance and motivation of prospective buyers. Attractive and meaningful messages give
positive results and the advertising becomes result-oriented. The services of creative writers,
artists, etc. are used for giving attractive message to the consumers. Here, the advertiser has
to decide the message to be given, the media to be used for communicating the message,
the extent of creativity, the specific customer group selected for giving the message and so
on. The message is also related to the decisions taken as regards mission and money
provided for advertising.
For advertising consumer product like chocolate, the message is important. The buyers are
mainly children and others of lower age groups or for the benefit (pleasure and satisfaction)
of younger generation. The advertising message should be simple and easily understandable
with the help of picture or slogan. It should be also attractive and agreeable to younger
generation. The pictures or slogans used should be short and impressive.
4. Media : Media of advertising are already noted previously. The advertiser has to take
decision about the media to be used for advertising purpose. Media differ as regards cost,
coverage, effectiveness and so on. The selection of media depends on the budget provided,
products to be advertised, and features of prospective buyers and so on. Wrong decision on
media may make advertising ineffective and money spent will be wasted. This suggests that
media should be selected properly and decision in this regard is important and critical.
For advertising popular and extensively used consumer items like chocolate, the media
should be selected properly. TV advertising particularly a cartoon channel, advertising in
children books or newspaper supplements for children, advertising on radio programmes for
children, etc.
5. Measure : Measure relates to the effectiveness of advertising. An advertiser will like to make
evaluation of advertisement in order to judge its effectiveness. If an advertisement is not
effective /purposeful, it will be modified or withdrawn. This is necessary for avoiding
expenditure on the advertisement which is not effective or is not likely to give positive
results. An advertiser has to measure the effectiveness of his advertisement programme/
campaign and take suitable decisions. This decision-making as regards effectiveness of
advertising is equally important and essential. Such testing facilitates introduction of suitable
remedial measures, if required.
For measuring effectiveness of chocolate advertising, the post advertising sale is one major
consideration. Demand creation in new market segments or in new age groups is another
consideration for the measurement of advertising effectiveness. Even success of sales promotion
programme is useful for measuring advertising effectiveness.
In brief, like other areas of marketing management, decision-making is necessary in advertising. This
relates to Five Ms - mission, money, message, media and measurement.
Unit 3
The Concept of Publicity
Personal Selling: Sales presentation, determining sales targets
Sales Promotion –Concept and Tools
Concept of Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of
publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists), goods and services,
organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.
From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one component of
marketing. The other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, direct
marketing and personal selling. Examples of promotional tactics include:
 Art exhibitions
 event sponsorship
 Arrange a speech or talk
 Make an analysis or prediction
 Conduct a poll or survey
 Issue a report
 Take a stand on a controversial subject
 Arrange for a testimonial
 Announce an appointment
 Invent then present an award
 Stage a debate
 Organize a tour of your business or projects
 Issue a commendation
The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in
between news stories like on evening TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web
cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting of pictures and videos to websites)
are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be
used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by the media.
Publicity draws on several key themes including birth, love, and death. These are of particular
interest because they are themes in human lives which feature heavily throughout life. In television
serials several couples have emerged during crucial ratings and important publicity times, as a way
to make constant headlines. Also known as a publicity stunt, the pairings may or may not be
according to the fact.
Effectiveness of Publicity
The theory, Any press is good press, has been coined to describe situations where bad behaviour by
people involved with an organization or brand has actually resulted in positive results, due to the
fame and press coverage accrued by such events.
One example would be the Australian Tourism Board's "So where the bloody hell are you?"
advertising campaign that was initially banned in the UK, but the amount of publicity this generated
resulted in the official website for the campaign being swamped with requests to see the banned ad.
The popular sitcom, Married... with Children, achieved skyrocketing ratings after activist Terry
Rakolta petitioned sponsors to withdraw their support from the program
Promotional Mix - Personal Selling
Personal selling is where businesses use people (the “sales force”) to sell the product after
meeting face-to-face with the customer.
The sellers promote the product through their attitude, appearance and specialist product
knowledge. They aim to inform and encourage the customer to buy, or at least trial the product.
A good example of personal selling is found in department stores on the perfume and cosmetic
counters.
A customer can get advice on how to apply the product and can try different products. Products
with relatively high prices, or with complex features, are often sold using personal selling. Great
examples include cars, office equipment (e.g. photocopiers) and many products that are sold by
businesses to other industrial customers.
The main advantages and disadvantages of personal selling can be summarised as follows:
Advantages
Disadvantages
High customer attention
Message is customised
Interactivity
Persuasive impact
Potential for development of relationship
Adaptable
Opportunity to close the sale
High cost
Labour intensive
Expensive
Can only reach a limited number of customers
Point-of-sale merchandising can be said to be a specialist form of personal selling. POS
merchandising involves face-to-face contact between sales representatives of producers and the
retail trade.
A merchandiser will visit a range of suitable retail premises in his/her area and encourage the
retailer to stock products from a range. The visit also provides the opportunity for the merchandiser
to check on stock levels and to check whether the product is being displayed optimally.
Personal Selling
Most personal selling takes place in this way. Personal selling involves a selling process that is
summarised in the following Five Stage Personal Selling Process. The five stages are:
1. Prospecting.
2. Making first contact.
3. The sales call.
4. Objection handling.
5. Closing the sale.
A Five Stage Personal Selling Process.
Stage One - Prospecting.
Prospecting is all about finding prospects, or potential new customers. Prospects should be
'qualified,' which means that they need to be assessed to see if there is business potential, otherwise
you could be wasting your time. In order to qualify your prospects, one needs to:
 Plan a sales approach focused upon the needs of the customer.
 Determine which products or services best meet their needs.
 In order to save time, rank the prospects and leave out those that are least likely to buy.
Stage Two - Making First Contact.
This is the preparation that a salesperson goes through before they meet with the client, for
example via e-mail, telephone or letter. Preparation will make a call more focused.
 Before meeting with the client, set some objectives for the sales call. What is the purpose of
the call? What outcome is desirable before you leave?
 To save time, send some information before you visit. This will wet the prospect's appetite.
 Keep a set of samples at hand, and make sure that they are in very good condition.
 Within the first minute or two, state the purpose of your call so that time with the client is
maximised, and also to demonstrate to the client that you are not wasting his or her time.
Stage Three - The Sales Call (or Sales Presentation).
It is best to be enthusiastic about your product or service. If you are not excited about it, don't
expect your prospect to be excited.
Focus on the real benefits of the product or service to the specific needs of your client, rather than
listing endless lists of features.
Try to be relaxed during the call, and put your client at ease.
Let the client do at least 80% of the talking. This will give you invaluable information on your client's
needs.
Remember to ask plenty of questions. Use open questions, and closed questions i.e. questions that
will only give the answer 'yes' or the answer 'no.' This way you can dictate the direction of the
conversation.
Never be too afraid to ask for the business straight off.
Stage Four - Objection Handling.
Objection handling is the way in which salespeople tackle obstacles put in their way by clients. Some
objections may prove too difficult to handle, and sometimes the client may just take a dislike to you
(aka the hidden objection). Here are some approaches for overcoming objections:
 Firstly, try to anticipate them before they arise.
 'Yes but' technique allows you to accept the objection and then to divert it. For example, a
client may say that they do not like a particular colour, to which the salesperson counters
'Yes but X is also available in many other colours.'
 Ask 'why' the client feels the way that they do.
 'Restate' the objection, and put it back into the client's lap. For example, the client may say,
'I don't like the taste of X,' to which the salesperson responds, 'You don't like the taste of X,'
generating the response 'since I do not like garlic' from the client. The salesperson could
suggest that X is no longer made with garlic to meet the client's needs.
 The sales person could also tactfully and respectfully contradict the client.
Stage Five - Closing the Sale.
This is a very important stage. Often salespeople will leave without ever successfully closing a deal.
Therefore it is vital to learn the skills of closing.
 Just ask for the business! - 'Please may I take an order?' This really works well.
 Look for buying signals (i.e. body language or comments made by the client that they want
to place an order). For example, asking about availability, asking for details such as
discounts, or asking for you to go over something again to clarify.
 Just stop talking, and let the client say 'yes.' Again, this really works.
 The 'summary close' allows the salesperson to summarise everything that the client needs,
based upon the discussions during the call. For example, 'You need product X in blue, by
Friday, packaged accordingly, and delivered to your wife's office.' Then ask for the order.
 The 'alternative close' does not give the client the opportunity to say no, but forces them
towards a yes. For example 'Do you want product X in blue or red?' Cheeky, but effective.
So this is the Five Stage Personal Selling Process. Now have a go at it yourself by completing the
lesson.
The Importance of Sales Targets
Performance-related bonuses and incentives are essential to get the best from your salespeople. The
advantage of sales roles is that the effectiveness of each salesperson can be measured and clearly
determined.
Therefore targets should be set to give a clear indication of what kind of performance is expected,
and incentives should be provided to encourage sales staff to meet and exceed those expectations.
Targets should be broken down into different areas depending on the type of customers being
sought:
 New customers – this is the main role of salespeople, to bring in new customers who have
never previously purchased the product or service.
 Existing customers – it’s likely that there are product or service enhancements that you can
sell to existing customers, known as upselling. Upselling is the key to success for many
businesses as the initial sale only has a small margin. It is upselling that is most profitable.
 Past customers – previous customers should not be considered lost forever. Set targets to
encourage salespeople to pursue past customers.
The exact sales targets will depend on what drives the profitability of your business.
Although you should set final sales targets it’s also important to set activity targets. These are dayto-day activities that your salespeople will carry out, each one increasing the likelihood of bringing in
a successful sale. Possible activity targets include:
 Phone calls – the number of completed phone calls, where a conversation has been held
with a potential customer
 Letters sent out – this refers to the number of prospects targeted. It will often be followed
up with a phone call.
 Leads generated – this figure will enable you to evaluate how effective your salespeople are
at generating leads from each phone call.
 Face-to-face meetings – actual appointments with customers.
With figures for the number of completed sales as well you’ll be able to identify a clear picture of
how many prospects are converted into leads and how many leads into customers.
This can form the basis for identifying leakages in the system, such as a high percentage of
generated leads not resulting in sales, to help you improve the efficiency of your sales staff. You may
decide that it’s best to try to arrange a meeting with prospects if for example sending over
additional information initially often results in the prospect losing interest. Alternatively the
information that is sent over to prospects may need to be improved.
One aspect of the sales target process that is worth noting is that your sales staff should be involved
in the process of deciding appropriate targets, as noted by Joel Deceuster, founder of Deceuster &
Associates:
“By including your salespeople, you give them added motivation to succeed. But without inclusion,
salespeople will figure out the best excuses in the world why they can’t achieve.”
Reassess targets from time to time and evaluate performance. It may be that the geographical areas
for each salesperson to cover are too large, a competitor has introduced a new service which is more
attractive compared to yours, or there’s a general slowdown. Move quickly to resolve any problems,
readjusting sales targets where appropriate.
What is Sales Promotion?
Sales promotion describes promotional methods using special short-term techniques to persuade
members of a target market to respond or undertake certain activity. As a reward, marketers offer
something of value to those responding generally in the form of lower cost of ownership for a
purchased product (e.g., lower purchase price, money back) or the inclusion of additional valueadded material (e.g., something more for the same price).
Sales promotions are often confused with advertising. For instance, a television advertisement
mentioning a contest awarding winners with a free trip to a Caribbean island may give the contest
the appearance of advertising. While the delivery of the marketer’s message through television
media is certainly labeled as advertising, what is contained in the message, namely the contest, is
considered a sales promotion. The factors that distinguish between the two promotional approaches
are:
1. whether the promotion involves a short-term value proposition (e.g., the contest is only
offered for a limited period of time), and
2. the customer must perform some activity in order to be eligible to receive the value
proposition (e.g., customer must enter contest).
The inclusion of a timing constraint and an activity requirement are hallmarks of sales
promotion.
Sales promotions are used by a wide range of organizations in both the consumer and business
markets, though the frequency and spending levels are much greater for consumer products
marketers. One estimate by the Promotion Marketing Association suggests that in the US alone
spending on sales promotion exceeds that of advertising.
Objectives of Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is a tool used to achieve most of the five major promotional objectives discussed in
the Promotion Decisions tutorial:
 Building Product Awareness – Several sales promotion techniques are highly effective in
exposing customers to products for the first time and can serve as key promotional
components in the early stages of new product introduction. Additionally, as part of the
effort to build product awareness, several sales promotion techniques possess the added
advantage of capturing customer information at the time of exposure to the promotion. In
this way sales promotion can act as an effective customer information gathering tool (i.e.,
sales lead generation), which can then be used as part of follow-up marketing efforts.
 Creating Interest – Marketers find that sales promotions are very effective in creating
interest in a product. In fact, creating interest is often considered the most important use of
sales promotion. In the retail industry an appealing sales promotions can significantly
increase customer traffic to retail outlets. Internet marketers can use similar approaches to
bolster the number of website visitors. Another important way to create interest is to move
customers to experience a product. Several sales promotion techniques offer the
opportunity for customers to try products for free or at low cost.
 Providing Information – Generally sales promotion techniques are designed to move
customers to some action and are rarely simply informational in nature. However, some
sales promotions do offer customers access to product information. For instance, a
promotion may allow customers to try a fee-based online service for free for several days.
This free access may include receiving product information via email.
 Stimulating Demand – Next to building initial product awareness, the most important use of
sales promotion is to build demand by convincing customers to make a purchase. Special
promotions, especially those that lower the cost of ownership to the customer (e.g., price
reduction), can be employed to stimulate sales.
 Reinforcing the Brand – Once customers have made a purchase sales promotion can be used
to both encourage additional purchasing and also as a reward for purchase loyalty (see
loyalty programs below). Many companies, including airlines and retail stores, reward good
or “preferred” customers with special promotions, such as email “special deals” and surprise
price reductions at the cash register.
Unit 4
Marketing Research: Definition, nature and scope, Research Procedure
What is Marketing Research? Meaning Definition Features
What is Marketing Research? Meaning
Marketing Research has two words, viz., marketing and research.
1. Marketing means buying and selling activities.
2. Research means a systematic and complete study of a problem. It is done by experts. It uses
scientific methods.
Thus, we can say, “Marketing Research is a systematic method of collecting, recording and analyzing
of data, which is used to solve marketing problems.”
A company faces many marketing problems. It faces problems about consumers, product, market
competition, sales promotion, etc. Marketing research helps to solve these problems.
Marketing research is a systematic process. It first collects data (information) about the marketing
problem. Secondly, it records this data. Then it analysis (studies) this data and draws conclusions
about it. After that, it gives suggestions (advice) for solving the marketing-problem.
So, marketing research helps to solve the marketing problems quickly, correctly and systematically.
Marketing research collects full information about consumers. It finds out the needs and
expectations of the consumers. So the company produces the goods according to the needs and
expectations of the consumers.
Definition of Marketing Research
There are many definitions of marketing research. Some important ones are:
1. According to American Marketing Association (AMA),
“Marketing Research is the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data about problems
relating to the marketing of goods and services.”
2. According to Philip Kotler,
“Marketing research is a systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the
purpose of improved decision-making and control in the marketing of goods and services.”
3. According to Paul Green and Donald Tull,
“Marketing research is the systematic and objective search for, and analysis of, information relevant
to the identification and solution of any problem in the field of marketing.”
4. According to David Luck, Donald Taylor and Hugh Wales,
“Marketing Research is the application of scientific methods in the solution of marketing problems.”
Scope of Marketing Research
The scope of marketing research is very wide and comprehensive. It includes
1. Product Research
Product means the goods and services which are sold to the consumers. It includes consumer
products and industrial products. Product research studies the individual product. It studies the
making and marketing of the product. It studies the colour, size, shape, quality, packaging, brand
name and price of the product. It also deals with product modification, product innovation, product
life cycle, etc. The product is modified (changed) as per the needs and wants of the consumers.
Therefore, the product will not fail in the market.
2. Consumer Research
Consumer is the person who purchases the goods and services. The consumer is the king in the
market. Consumer research studies consumer behaviour. It studies the consumers needs, wants,
likes, dislikes, attitude, age, sex, income, location; buying motives, etc. This data is used to take
decisions about the product, its price, place and promotion.
3. Packaging Research
Packaging research is a part of product research. It studies the package of the product. It improves
the quality of the package. It makes the package more attractive. It makes the package more
convenient for the consumers. It reduces the cost of packaging. It selects a suitable method for
packaging. It also selects suitable packaging material.
4. Pricing Research
Pricing Research studies the pricing of the product. It selects a suitable method of pricing. It fixes the
price for the product. It compares the companies price with the competitor's price. It also fixes the
discount and commission which are given to middlemen. It studies the market price trends. It also
studies the future price trends.
5. Advertising Research
Advertising research studies the advertising of the product. It fixes the advertising objectives. It also
fixes the advertising budget. It decides about the advertising message, layout, copy, slogan,
headline, etc. It selects a suitable media for advertising. It also evaluates the effectiveness of
advertising and other sales promotion techniques.
6. Sales Research
Sales research studies the selling activities of the company. It studies the sales outlets, sales
territories, sales forecasting, sales trends, sales methods, effectiveness of the sales force, etc.
7. Distribution Research
Distribution research studies the channels of distribution. It selects a suitable channel for the
product. It fixes the channel objectives. It identifies the channel functions like storage, grading, etc.
It evaluates the competitor's channel.
8. Policy Research
Policy research studies the company's policies. It evaluates the effectiveness of the marketing
policies, sales policies, distribution policies, pricing policies, inventory policies, etc. Necessary
changes, if any, are made in these policies.
9. International Marketing Research
International marketing research studies the foreign market. It collects data about consumers from
foreign countries. It collects data about the economic and political situation of different countries. It
also collects data about the foreign competitors. This data is very useful for the exporters.
10. Motivation Research
Motivation research studies consumers' buying motives. It studies those factors that motivate
consumers to buy a product. It mainly finds out, Why the consumers buy the product? It also finds
out the causes of consumer behaviour in the market.
11. Market Research
Market research studies the markets, market competition, market trends, etc. It also does sales
forecasting. It estimates the demand for new products. It fixes the sales territories and sales quotas.
12. Media Research
Media research studies various advertising media. The different advertising media are television
(TV), radio, newspapers, magazines, the internet, etc. Media research studies the merits and
demerits of each media. It selects a suitable media for advertising. It does media planning. It also
studies media cost. It helps in sales promotion and to avoid wastage in advertising.
Marketing Research Process
1. Identifying and defining a marketing problem : The first step in the marketing research
procedure is to identify the marketing problem which needs to be solved quickly. The
problem may be related to product, price, market competition, sales promotion and so on.
The research process will start only when the marketing problem is identified and defined
clearly. The researcher has to identify and define the marketing problem in a clear manner.
2. Conducting a preliminary exploration (survey) : The marketing team may suggest many
marketing problems which they face. However, it is not possible to take up all such problems
for research purpose. The researcher has to study such problems and select one major
problem which is suitable for detailed investigation. For this, preliminary investigation is
necessary. A sales manager may suggest a problem of declining sales. The researcher has to
find out the possible reasons and which one is the most important and also suitable for
detailed study. Marketing problems are not researchable and hence such preliminary
exploration is necessary and useful.
3. Determining research objectives : The researcher has to formulate hypothesis to fit the
problem under investigation. It is a tentative explanation of a problem under study. For
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
10.
example, the sales are declining. According to the researcher, this may be due to poor
quality and high price or due to limited interest taken by middlemen or that the product has
become outdated. If the first reason is accepted, the same will be investigated in full. If the
first cause is rejected, he will move to the second for detailed study through data collection.
Determining the data required and their sources : In this stage, the researcher has to decide
the type of data required for his study purpose. The hypothesis guides the data collection
process. The researcher can use primary and/or secondary data for his research project. The
sources of primary and secondary data are different. Similarly, for the collection of primary
data, any one method such as mail survey or telephone survey, or personal interview or
observation or experimentation method can be used. The researcher has to decide the
method which is convenient for data collection and collect the required data accordingly.
Creating research design : Research design is the plan for the conduct of actual research
investigation. Such design provides guideline for the researcher to keep a track on his
actions and to know that he is moving in the right direction on data collection.
The research design contains answers to the following questions:
i.
What is the nature and purpose of study?
ii.
What type of data is required?
iii.
How to collect required data?
iv.
What is the technique of data collection?
v.
How much funds will be required?
vi.
How much time/period will be required for completion of research project?
Designing the Questionnaire : As per the objective of research project, information will be
required. For collection of data, suitable questionnaire will have to be prepared. All
necessary care should be taken in order to prepare ideal questionnaire, so as to collect
required information easily, quickly and correctly.
Designing a sample of respondents : For data collection, a representative group will have to
be selected out of the total i.e. universe. A sample designed should be adequately
representative in character. It must represent the total population under study.
Collecting Data : Data are to be collected as per the method selected for data collection. If
mail survey method is selected, questionnaires will be sent by post to respondents. If
personal interview method is selected, interviewers will be given suitable guidance,
information and training for the conduct of personal interview. Data collection should be
quick and data collected should be reliable, adequate and complete in all respects.
Organising/Processing the data collected : The completed questionnaires are not useful
directly for tabulation and drawing conclusions. They need to be organised /processed
properly for drawing conclusions. For this, scrutiny of data, editing, coding and classification
of data are required. In addition, tabulation of data collected is also essential. Such
processing make data integrated in a compact manner. In addition, the data are made
reliable and suitably arranged for analysis and interpretation. Conclusions can be drawn only
when the collected data are arranged in an orderly manner for detailed study. In short,
processing of data means verification of data collected and the orderly arrangement of data
for analysis and interpretation. The steps in data processing (editing, coding, etc.) are
interrelated and need to be completed properly. The processing of data collected is a type of
office work which can be attended by the office staff under the guidance of researcher. The
processing of data is a lengthy and time-consuming activity and needs to be completed
property. This is necessary for raising accuracy and reliability of the whole research project.
The processing of data collected through marketing research involves the following steps:
Preliminary screening of the data collected,
Editing of the data collected,
Coding of the data collected,
Classification of data into meaningful categories, and
Tabulation of data for easy and quick analysis and interpretation.
Analyzing and interpreting data : Tabulated data can be used for detailed and critical
analysis. The purpose is to establish useful and logical relation between the information and
problem. Analysis of data should be made in a rational manner. This facilitates interpretation
of data in an orderly manner. Conclusions can be drawn after the analysis and interpretation
of data. Such conclusions are useful for suggesting remedial measures. Various statistical
techniques are used for the analysis and interpretation of data. This is necessary so that the
conclusions drawn will be accurate and remedial measures recommended will be
appropriate or result-oriented.
In brief, processing of data collected is one important and critical stage in the research
process. The utility of the whole research process depends upon the manner in which the
data are processed by the researchers. The services of experts should be used for such
processing of data. Similarly, advanced statistical techniques should be used in the analysis
and interpretation of data so that the conclusions drawn will be accurate and useful for the
introduction of appropriate remedial measures. Processing of data is like examining patient
by a doctor. Here, if the diagnosis is accurate, the follow-up treatment (remedial measures)
will be appropriate and the patient will be all right within a short period. The same rule is
applicable to processing of data in the marketing research activity/process.
11. Preparing research report : After drawing conclusions, the researcher can make concert
suggestions/recommendations for solving the marketing problem in a satisfactory manner. A
researcher also prepares a document giving details of research problem, data collected,
conclusions drawn and the recommendations made. Such document is called research
report which is the final outcome of lengthy research process. The report will be prepared in
a suitable format for the convenience of readers. It acts as a self-explanatory document.
12. Presenting research report : The researcher will submit the report to the decision-makers in
the field of marketing. The decision-makers will study the report minutely and find out the
desirability of execution of the recommendations made. The final decision is to be taken by
the decision-makers (marketing managers and top level management) only.
13. Follow-up steps : If the recommendations made are accepted, the decision-makers have to
take follow-up steps for the execution of the recommendations made. The follow-up steps
should be controlled effectively so as to have positive results in the cause of time.
The steps in the MR process (as noted above) are normally used in all MR projects. Certain
modifications are also possible in a specific research project. The research process is lengthy and
time consuming and needs to be completed in a rational and systematic manner. This gives
promising results in the sense that appropriate solution to marketing problem is available.
The researcher has to follow this lengthy MR procedure carefully. He has to take various decisions
while conducting the research work. The research project may be conducted by an outside
consultancy firm or an advertising agency. Sometimes, the research work is conducted internally i.e.
through the marketing research department or sales department. Here, the research department
takes up the major marketing problem (e.g. declining sales or profits of the company) and organise
the research project in order to find out the causes (e.g. causes for declining sales or profit) and
appropriate remedial measures. A sales manager may be asked to organise the research project for
dealing with the problem of declining sales. Here, he has to organise the whole research project and
finalize the details of different steps involved.