What is Marketing Research? Complete Guide

Do you what is marketing research? and How marketing research process help your business to grow exponentially. 

If No, you’re at right place here we will discuss what is marketing research, definition of marketing research and marketing research process?

Marketing research is simply called the collection of data and information of customers need, want and demand and use it in a proper manner. 

So let’;s learn what is marketing research, definition of marketing research, marketing research process and everything you need to know about marketing research. 

What’s in it for me:

1. What is Marketing Research?

2.Definition of Marketing Research.

3. Marketing Research Process.

1. What is Marketing Research?

Definition of Marketing Research is the systematic design, collection, analysis and reporting of data and finding the solution to the problem facing the company and  It’s a job of a marketing researcher to produce the right information of the customers need, want and demand, also their attitude and buying behaviour.

These types of research conducted by the company itself or through a specialist (third parties companies). Research can be done through Product testing or through surveys.

 

However, it is not limited to large companies with big budgets. For Small Companies, they can hire the services of a marketing research firm or conduct Research in a creative and affordable manner.

The company can perform marketing research to study their competitors, potential customers, and their industries. There are mainly three types of firms which provide Marketing Research:

• – Those firms who collect the data of customers and trade information and sell it at a high price.
• – Those firms hired a specific person for a specific project.
• – Those firms who provide specialized research service.
  I hope you got what is marketing research.

2. Definition Of Marketing Research.

There are so many definitions of marketing research given by different authors, but now we only discuss some major definition, they are as follows:

• According to the American Marketing Association:

                          “The systematic gathering, recording and analysis of data about problems relating to the marketing of goods and services.”

• According to Philip Kotler:

                           “Marketing Research is the systematic problem analysis, model building and fact-finding for the purpose of improved decision making and control in the marketing of goods and services.”

• According to Clark and Clark:

                             “Marketing Research is the careful and objective study of product design, markets, and such transfer activities as physical distribution and warehousing, advertising and sales management.”

• According to P.Cox and R.Good:

                           “Marketing research is a set of procedures and methods that are used to collect, analysis, and to record data about any problem in the field of marketing.”

• According To W. B. Wentz:

                          “Marketing Research is the process of gathering and analyzing information to assist the manager in making a marketing decision. These decisions involve manipulation of the firm’s pricing, product, promotion, and distribution variable.”

3. Marketing Research Process

Marketing research is the most useful tool for the Company to identify the best marketing strategies and helpful in taking the right decisions for a business using Information. 

There are 6 Important steps in the marketing research process are as follow,

Define the Problem and Research Objective.

If you want to start research for any problem, then the first step is to define your problem. Defining the problem should not be either too broadly or too narrow, because a very broad answer for your problem leads to excessive wastage of resources and too narrow an answer for your problem is not properly explained. In these conditions( Too broad and Too narrow), the researcher cannot perform its task in an effective manner.

So it’s very important to define your problem in a direct and point-to-point manner.

The purpose of the research is to collect the data, analyse the data and interpret it for making an effective business decision. The motive of this step is to define the problem and research objectives.

Develop The Research Plan.

After defining your problem, you need to prepare a proper plan for how you can perform a research part.

The researcher can use primary data or secondary data according to the problem. Primary data means the data which is fresh and new data collected for a specific purpose or for a specific project. And secondary data means the data which already exists in the market or somewhere.

The researcher can go with the secondary data first because the data can be collected already by someone, so you can use it. And if the data is incorrect or incomplete, then he can go with primary data for which he has to invest a huge amount of time or money for collecting the new data. 

Now we will about how you can collect the data:

Primary Data- These data can be collected through Exploratory & Specific Research:

Primary data include Surveys, Through experiments, Focus groups and through Questionnaires.

Exploratory Research – It is part of primary data. And as Name suggested the researcher has to explore and collect new information. This type of research is used for the problem which has not been properly explained. It helps us to have a better understanding of the problem, it cannot be considered as a final report of the research. It is the initial research for the problem. Exploratory research means finding the solution for new problems and the problem on which no research has been done yet”.

Specific research – It is the method which is used for collecting primary data in marketing research. The researcher divides the larger groups into smaller groups and then starts a research part in that smaller groups, through surveys, questionnaires etc. It will help the researchers to focus on specific groups and perform a research part in a proper manner.

1. Secondary Data – It is the data which is already present in the market. The researcher can use it for their research. It includes reports, market statistics, trade association or other business in your industries.

For a small business, secondary data is more suitable for them because a small business cannot invest huge amounts of money or time on collecting the data. The data which is already present in the market at low cost and the data which is relevant to their industry can be more beneficial for them instead of conducting new research.  

Secondary data can be collected through:

1. Public Sources – It gives you lots of information, which is related to your industries, about the government department,
2. Commercial Source – Commercial sources include research and trade associations. These sources come from the market reports, from industries data, etc.
3. Educational Institution – These are also an important source of secondary data, because of college institute, university and other educational institute research for their project. So you can also collect the information from them.

Collect The Information.

It is the most expensive part of marketing research. The researcher may collect the data through surveys, telephone interviews, online surveys, face to face interviews, etc. 

But there are some problems that arise in surveys. Some respondents will give you an incorrect answer. Some are inaccessible and cannot be connected with them. When collecting the information, make sure it’s valid and correct.

• Data can be secondary, i.e., collected from magazines and other written articles, company publications, books, etc.

• Data can be primary .i.e., collected through conducting surveys, interviews, etc.

There are two types of sources from which you can collect the information

(a) Internal Sources – It means the researcher can collect the data from the company itself, like accounting data, audience information etc.

(b) External Source – It means the researcher can collect the data from outside the firm, through third parties like agency, etc.

Analyse the information.

Once you collect all the data you need then you have started analysing it. It is the process to extract findings by tabulating the data and developing summary statistics. The researcher may apply some advanced technique in the hope of producing new findings.

The researcher can start their analysing of data through given software like Excel, Minitab, etc. and draw a table and graph and look for the major change in data.

Researchers may test different hypotheses and theories and analysis to test assumptions and the strength of the conclusion.

Present the findings and Make the Decision.

Finally, your research part is done, now its time to present the report to the management. The great way to present your research report is to start with the business problem that was already identified in “define your problem and research objective” (Step 1). 

The research report presents the findings which are relevant to the major marketing decision face by the management. Research findings only provide additional information and insights to the manager and it depends on the researcher’s confidence in the finding, the manager decides to use it or discard it, or carry out more research. 

Conclusion.

Marketing Research can be very beneficial for companies. If you think you know your potential customer well and even if you know how to solve the problem by yourself, the marketing research can uncover the detailed information about your potential customers and also solve your every major problem. 

Yes, it is costly because of gathering the data from other sources, and it requires a huge amount of time and money and the research has to be done on time-to-time because the information and data can’t be the same all time, but once you’ll do marketing research you will know your companies problems and other things in a more detailed manner.

This topic will help you to know, how you can interact with your customers with your product and how you can target your potential customers. So i hope you got what is marketing research, definition of marketing research and what is marketing research process. If you have any doubts regarding what is marketing and marketing research process you can comment below. Don’t forget to share what is marketing research process with your friends.