Name ________________________
Chap 4 - Section 1 - Graphic Organizer
Date ___________
Customer Insights - Fresh Understanding of customers and the marketplace derived from marketing
information that become the basis for creating customer value and relationships.
Advantages
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By knowing what customers need and want companies are able to use such insights to create value for
customers and to build meaningful relationships
It also helps companies develop competitive advantages
• Competitive Advantage is something your company does better than the competition.
Disadvantages
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However, these insights can be hard to get. These Insights are anything but obvious , and customers
can be unsure of what they want and need.
Information is useless if you don’t know how to analyze it.
You shouldn’t have too much info. You should always have too much info, rather than more info.
MIS – Marketing Information System - People and procedures for assessing information needs,
developing the needed information, and helping descion makers to use the information to generate and
validate actionable customer and market insights.
Developing the MIS System
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The marketing information system primarily serves the company’s marketing and other managers.
Also provides information to external partners , such as suppliers, resellers , or marketing services
agencies.
When making the information system, the company must consider the needs of all these users.
Balancing
 Ask managers what information they really need.
 MIS team must monitor marketing environment so that managers are aware of new and changing
available information.
 The company must decide whether the value of insights gained from additional information is worth
the cost of providing it (both value and cost are often hard to assess).
 Information is worthless by itself; its value comes from its use.
 In many cases, additional info may exceed the returns from improved customer insights and decision
making.
Internal Databases- An electronic collection of consumer and market information obtained from data
sources within the company network.
Internal Sources Include:
1. Marketing Department: The Marketing department has information on customers transaction what the
customer buys, demographics, physiographic personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles and buying
behavior.
2. Customer service department: The Customer Service department has information on customer satisfaction
what the customer likes and dont
3. Accounting department: The Accounting department has information on records of sales, cost, cash flow.
4. The sales force: The sale force reports show the competitors activity what the competition is doing good
and bad in
Advantages of Having an Internal Database
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The information can help a company gain customer insight and an edge on the competition.
Can help the company Identify their best sellers and their worst
Help the Company strengthen customer relationships.
The information is free and easily accessed by the company.
Disadvantages of Having an Internal Database
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The information may have been gathered for a different purpose.
May be incomplete or wrong for making marketing decisions.
The Data may be old.
Managing this information can be tedious and requires highly sophisticated equipment and techniques.
Marketing Intelligence - The systematic collection and analysis of publicly available information about
consumers, competitors and developments in the marketplace
 Goal- To improve strategic decision making by understanding the consumer environment assessing and
tracking competitors actions and providing early warnings of opportunities and threats
Marketing Intelligence Techniques –
1. Monitoring internet buzz EX. Yahoo has a buzz page on the home page
2. Observing consumers first hand EX. Looking at a companies parking lot, full lots indicate plenty of
work and prosperity, half full lots might suggest hard times; Apple launches the new iphone, sony has
an employee go to the mall and watch people inside the apple store to see how many customers are
purchasing the new iphone.
3. Quizzing own employees
4. Competitor intelligence EX. Collected from inside the company executives, engineers, scientists,
purchasing agents, sales force
Marketing Intelligence Concerns
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Some companies even riffle with each other garbage which is legal one it leaves the companies
premises.
Websites can provide competitors with strategies , markets, new products, facilities and other
happenings.
Growing use of marketing intelligence raises number of ethical issues.
Growing use of marketing intelligence also causes the need for companies to protect their own
information while searching for other companies information.