Domain 1 - Market Research (13%) Flashcards
What is the primary objective of market research?
To help you develop a realistic marketing plan
On average, what percentage of firms waste their marketing budgets chasing jobs for which there is no justification?
30%
What is a prerequisite to developing a market research plan?
Taking an inward look at your firm (what market sectors are you in, what geographic territories you’re in, etc.)
What are the 2 most important things to focus on in market research?
- The work that is out there
- Whether the work you have the most experience in will still be available over the next few years
What are some side benefits of market research?
- reducing risk
- achieving a competitive edge
- boosting your firm’s performance
- demonstrating and improving the effectiveness of PR and marketing
- improving the effectiveness of firm’s sales process by giving BD staff sales intelligence
- gain clout w/ lenders
What is market research?
The gathering and evaluating of data regarding consumers’ preferences for products and services
What is the foundation of strategic and marketing planning process? And why?
SWOT analysis, because it allows you to systematically review the internal & external elements that have a direct influence on a company’s success.
Elements of the SWOT analysis
- Strengths - list the factors that are your unique strengths
- Weaknesses - what are the things you don’t do as well as you could?
- Opportunities - what’s changing in the market? Are there new services that could be offered? Broader geographic area?
- Threats - factors that could hurt your current position. What are your competitors doing that threaten your position in the market? Are there any market trends that could negative affect your firm?
What are the four phases of the life cycle of goods & services?
- Development phase (“the newest thing”)
- Growth phase (“it’s heating up”)
- Maturity phase (peaking)
- Decline phase (it’s over)
What is the difference between primary and secondary research?
Primary research = original research that you conduct yourself
Secondary research = research that has already been collected by outside groups
What is the advantage and disadvantage of primary research?
Advantage: no one else has the information you acquire from your exclusive research effort
Disadvantage: it’s time consuming
What is the advantage and disadvantage of secondary research?
Advantage: cheaper, available immediately
Disadvantage: less control over the data
What is the difference between quantitative and qualitative research?
Quantitative research = OBJECTIVE. It is numerically based research.
Qualitative research = SUBJECTIVE. It is verbal and descriptive.
What is a client satisfaction survey?
A method of market research used to gauge clients’ feelings about a project. Often includes elements of perception and market intelligence surveys. Often uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods.
What is the difference between exploratory and confirmatory research?
What is the goal of each?
Exploratory research
- open-ended research and often calls for qualitative data
- goal = explore possibilities and discover new ideas
Confirmatory research
- use hard data to quantify qualities identified in exploratory research
- goal = narrow down a list of options and figure out which one is right
What is Evidence-Based Marketing?
A tool that allows one to gather information from prospective clients and use it to develop a niche-specific campaign for one’s firm.
Ex) A healthcare architect conducts research on how his firm’s design influences healthcare outcomes. They published this evidence in a white paper.
What are some ways you can show off the results of your evidence-based marketing?
- White paper
- Brochure
- Visually appealing email
- Press release summarizing findings
What are the 2 biggest benefits of evidence-based marketing?
- Establishing name recognition in a specific niche area
- Gathering market-specific info to enhance credibility in the field
What is the difference between “push” vs “pull” method of gathering secondary research?
Push = pushes the info to you based on keywords (RSS feeds, Dodge, Reed)
Pull = proactively researching on your own
What are the 4 basic steps of a research project?
- Define the problem
- Collect the data, using a combo of primary & secondary research
- Analyze the data
- Present the findings, verbally or in writing
What are the 3 main methods of ethical reasoning?
- Utility
- Justice
- Rights
What is the Utility approach to ethical reasoning?
Researcher makes a decision based on what will bring the greatest net benefit to society as a whole.
If the benefits outweigh the costs, the action is ethical.
What is the Justice approach to ethical reasoning?
It’s all about fairness.
Will the costs and benefits be spread equally among those affected by the decision? If so, the action is ethical.
What is the Rights approach to ethical reasoning?
The emphasis is placed on individual welfare. If a person’s rights are violated, then the action is unethical regardless of what it produces.
What is the first step in understanding your marketing research objective, and why?
Performing an internal audit
Why? To assess your current position
What are the 5 elements of a company audit?
- Look at your market sectors
- Look at your sub-sectors
- How effective are the services you’re currently providing
- Perform a SWOT analysis
- Look at your competition
What are the 4 stages of a research objective?
- Exploratory/environmental (what is going on out there?)
- Generate options (what are the possible research problems that will help answer my question?)
- Select option (which option is best?)
- Evaluate outcome (how well did we do?)
What is a Research Request Agreement?
A document that clearly states the research problem to be addressed
What are the 6 elements of a Research Request Agreement?
- Background
- Decision problem
- Research problem
- Use
- Population & subgroups
- Logistics (how much time & money)
What is “publicly sourced, no cost” resource material?
Free data sourced by government groups and private-sector entities
What is “privately sourced, no cost” resource material?
Info from a professional organization that conducts a member survey and then makes the results available to their members
What is “privately sourced, low cost” resource material?
Industry or segment surveys
What is “privately sourced, moderate to high cost” resource material?
Primary research that is conducted specifically for you
What are “publicly released corporate documents”?
Investor reports for publicly traded companies