KALYAN CITY LIFE

Marketing Research plays a significant role in helping Government to perform some of its crucial regulatory functions. It provides an up-to-date market-related data to the government and helps it to monitor, plan, coordinate and regulate the entire economy of its area of jurisdiction. The government studies information provided by MR and uses it to understand the market forces, formulating policies, fixing critical priorities, allocating resources, providing social welfare benefits, regulating a market, stabilising an economy, so on.

Importance of marketing research to government is as follows:

Image credits © Gaurav Akrani.

Concepts of Marketing

The six concepts of marketing are depicted and listed below.

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

These include:

1. The concept of Exchange,
2. The concept of Production,
3. The concept of Product,
4. The concept of Sales,
5. The concept of Marketing, and
6. The concept of Societal.

Qualities of a Good Field Investigator

Field Investigator is a professional who carry out investigations or research works for his employer to gather information and collect data from the concerned respondents (people interviewed by him). He is an individual who is also called an Interviewer. It is so, since, he asks questions and record their respective answers immediately.

In order to become a good field investigator, he must possess essential qualities of head and heart. He must have a good academic background, better command of communication skills, decent personality that is pleasing to others. He must also have a genuine interest in doing his work, maturity in his thoughts, actions and behaviors, and enough determination, integrity and patience to accomplish tasks assigned to him.

There is nothing like a rigid or hard and fast rule about some fixed qualities an investigator must have. However, in order to become proficient and succeed professionally following attributes are essential for him.

Image credits © Gaurav Akrani.

Steps in marketing research process

Following image depicts the steps in a marketing research process.

Difference Between Market Research vs Marketing Research

Following image shows five important points of comparison used to find out the difference between Market Research vs Marketing Research (MR).

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Is marketing research scientific or not?

Marketing research is not a pure science like physics and chemistry. It is a social science. It uses scientific methods for solving marketing problems. It uses an observational and experimental method for collecting data. These methods are very scientific. MR is very practical and systematic. It doesn't use trial or error method or guess work.

We can find out whether marketing research is scientific or not by answering following important questions:

Methods of Conducting a Marketing Audit

Marketing audit is an examination of the marketing activities of company. It must be conducted by impartial persons.

Auditors must be properly qualified, trained and experienced enough to do the audit. They must have a complete knowledge and exposure of marketing.

Image below depicts the methods of conducting a marketing audit.

Scope, Areas or Types of Marketing Audit

There are no fixed guidelines regarding the scope, areas or types of marketing audit. In other words, the scope of marketing audit is not fixed. It changes from company to company. Each company can make its own marketing audit plan. However, the scope of marketing audit must include the following areas or types:

Explain the Characteristics of Marketing Audit

The eight important characteristics of marketing audit are depicted below.

Definition of Marketing Audit

The definition of marketing audit as stated by Abe Schuchman is as follows:

“Marketing audit is a systematic, critical and impartial review and appraisal of the total marketing operation: of the basic objectives and polices and the assumptions which underlie them as well as the methods, procedures, personnel and organization employed to implement the policies and achieve the objectives.”

Abe Schuchman gave this definition of marketing audit in his writings on its first extended discussions. He wrote this discussion for the American Marketing Association (AMA) in 1951.

Meaning of Marketing Audit

The meaning of marketing audit is depicted in the following chart.

Distinguish Between MIS and Marketing Research (MR)

Following image depicts the ten main points which are used to make a comparison or distinction between MIS and Marketing Research (MR).

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Essential Requisites of a Good MIS

The following image depicts the eight essential requisites of a good MIS.

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Components of Marketing Information System MIS

The Marketing Information System abbreviated as MIS, collects, analyses, and supplies only relevant information to the marketing managers.

MIS is a crucial information system and also a valuable marketing tool. It helps not only to plan and implement marketing activities but also to control them systematically. It is not just a system but also a productive asset that grants marketing managers access to various facets of the required information. Without it, the work of the marketing managers would rather be complex and tedious. Without access to relevant information on the market and its elements, it would not be easy to plan marketing strategies and execute them successfully.

MIS is an indispensable tool and an informative asset for managers.

The essential task or role of the Marketing Information System (MIS) is to search and identify the exact information needed by marketing managers. Once the nature of the required information is confirmed, MIS starts collecting and analyzing relevant data. The most significant aspect of the MIS is to supply only relevant, specific, and essential information to the marketing managers at the right time.

The MIS does its information gathering or data collection process through many subsystems called Components.

Features of Marketing Information System MIS

The main characteristics or features of Marketing Information System (MIS):

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Marketing Information System MIS Definition

1. According to Donald Cox and Robert Good,

“An MIS may be defined as a set of procedures and methods for the regular, planned collection, analysis, and presentation of information for use in making marketing decisions. This of course is a step beyond logistics systems, which handle inventory control, orders, and so forth.”

This definition of Marketing Information System (MIS) is referred from a 1937 classic paper titled “How to build a Marketing Information System,” written by Donald F. Cox and Robert E. Good.

2. According to Prof. Mudit Katyani,

“MIS is a planned tactic to do analysis of mainly three system requirements viz., people, information, and technology. It is required at all levels of management in executing operational, managerial, and strategic decisions. Its intention is to design the procedures which give a comprehensive report in a timely manner.”

Objectives of Marketing Research

The main objective of marketing research (MR) is to provide information to the marketing manager. The marketing manager uses this information to make marketing decision and to solve marketing problems.

Need For Marketing Research

In recent years, the scope of business has expanded from local to global level. The size of the production has greatly increased. The production is now centralized, and the consumption centers are widespread. This has created a wide gap between the manufacturer and consumer. This has caused basic problems like what to produce and what to sell.

There is a need for marketing research to solve these problems.

Difference Between Marketing Problem Vs Marketing Research Problem

Following image highlights eight important points used to distinguish between marketing problem vs marketing research (MR) problem.

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Functions of marketing research

The following image depicts five basic functions of marketing research.

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Need and Importance of Marketing Research (MR)

A business faces many types of marketing problems. It faces problems about its product, price, place and promotion. It also faces problems about product design, packaging, branding, marketing channels, advertising, etc. Some marketing problems are very serious. Therefore, in the marketing, managers use marketing research as an important tool to solve marketing problems.

The need and importance of marketing research are depicted below.