What is Marketing Research? Definition, Features, Process, Areas, and Importance

What is Marketing Research?

Marketing research is a process of collecting and analyzing market information to better understand the customers and aid in problem-solving. It is a systematic and scientific way of analyzing the market and gathering relevant information about the problem.

The marketing research is objective in nature. It is the problem-focused approach. Companies conduct it to solve their specific marketing problems.

It helps marketing organizations get updated information about the happening of the market and helps them in decision-making, & problem-solving, and forecasting future trends.

Today, most marketing firms are adopting marketing research where some are using it for a specific problem to solve whereas others are using it as a regular function of the organization. It is an effective tool to get an insight into the market’s different factors.

Objectives of Marketing Research

The following are the main objectives of marketing research:

• Provide updated information about the market to the marketing firm.
• Solve marketing problems of the company.
• To make aware marketing organizations of environmental changes.
• Address the changing preferences of customers.
• Set the right marketing plans and strategies.

Characteristics of Marketing Research

The following are the notable features of good marketing research. They are:

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Systematic

Marketing research is systematic and well-organized. It should follow a step-by-step process to gather, analyze, and distribute the information.

Problem-Based

Usually, market research is conducted to solve the marketing problems of the company. It is mainly done to solve problems. If there is no problem in the company, there is no need to conduct research.

Objective

It is objective in nature i.e. it is unbiased. It is based on facts, data, and scientifically proven methods. It strongly avoids the inclusion of personal interest in the research process.

Scientific Method

It is often said that marketing research is the application of the scientific method of marketing. It uses the hypothesis, testing, and careful observation while analyzing the information.

Informative

The findings of your market research should be understandable to the manager i.e. by the findings of the research managers must be able to make relevant decisions. If the research findings are uninformative, the research is effective.

Multiple Methods

There are multiple methods for conducting research. Marketers can use a number of research methods as per their knowledge, interests, and requirements of the objectives.

Decisive

As making decisions is the primary objective of marketing research, it should be decisive in nature. On the basis of information collected, analyzed, and interpreted the manager must be able to make decisions.

How To Conduct Marketing Research?

Conducting marketing research requires an understanding of the problem the business is facing, setting research objectives, analyzing the data, and coming up with a solution. The following are its main steps.

Define the Problem

The first step in marketing research is defining the marketing problem a business is facing. The problem may be related to a low level of customer satisfaction, a decrease in market share, poor customer service, or any.

Establish Research Objective

Once the problem is identified, the research objective should be established. It is the outcome a company aims to achieve at the end of the research.

The research objective should be specific and achievable. The overall research is based on the established objective and the results will also be checked against it.

Develop A Research Plan

The following step is to create the most effective research plan to collect the most relevant data from multiple sources. Making judgments on the data sources, research methodologies, research tools, sample strategy, and contact strategies is necessary for developing the research plan.

Read Also: Process of Creating a Plan

Collect The Information

Here, the task is to collect the information related to the problem identified in Step 1 and from the sources outlined in the above step. The information can be collected from both primary and secondary sources.

The collected information should be relevant to the marketing problem and if analyzed should give meaning.

Analyze The Information

Information collected from the step above is in raw form. To make it useable, it is necessary to do an analysis.

Choose the data that is relevant to the goal and leave out the rest.
If further information is required to evaluate the analysis, use mathematical or statistical methods or models.

The optimal tool(s) to use can be chosen based on the situation’s historical and current patterns.

Present The Findings

Once the information is analyzed, it is necessary to evaluate the results as to whether or not the result is appropriate to use. The findings then are submitted to the high authorities.

The finding is then evaluated by the marketing managers and if the finding meets the desired standards the decisions are made to solve the marketing problems.

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What Are The Areas of Marketing Research?

There are five areas of the market where marketing research can be used effectively. They are mentioned below:

Advertising Area

This research is aimed at improving the efficiency of advertising of the company. The systematic collection and analysis of data are essential for the creation and assessment of advertising strategies, advertisements, commercials, media campaigns, etc.

Business Economic and Corporate Research

This research is about the economic aspects of the business. It includes studies like long-range & short-range forecasting, studies of business trends, pricing, and plant and warehouse location studies.

CSR Research

CSR research is related to the study of improving the corporate social responsibility of the marketing firm. It may include consumer rights to know study, ecological impact studies, legal constraints, and social values and policies studies.

Sales and Market Research

The systematic collection and examination of data necessary for the creation of sales- and market-based strategies are known as sales and market research.

This includes the measurement of market potentials, sales analysis, distribution channels study, determination of market characteristics, etc.

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Product Research

Product research includes the study of new product development and its potential, competitive product study, testing of existing products, and packaging research.

Why Marketing Research Is Important?

As a marketing manager, you may know who are the customers and what they want, but to know exactly what they want is impossible without research.

The following are some of the marketing research benefits it provides to businesses.

• It helps to understand the market and customers’ needs.
• Helps to design effective marketing plans and strategies.
• Provide ongoing information about the market.
• Provide information about probable opportunities and threats a marketing firm may encounter in the coming days.
• Helps in better planning and decision-making.
• Provide insight into competitors’ plans and strategies.
• Helps marketing firms to adapt to environmental changes.
• Helps to improve the company’s performance and productivity.

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