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When is enough too much? Interpreting Marketing Research and SMstudy

Posted by SMstudy® on April 25, 2016 | Marketing Strategy (MS)

Keywords: research, marketing, big data, metadata, SMstudy,

When is enough too much? Interpreting Marketing Research and SMstudy

Ever look out at the ocean on a cloudy day? The huge gray mass above stretches out to meet the darker gray mass below at a black line on the horizon?

Standing on that beach, some people feel the ocean’s irresistible allure and comforting power. Others feel like they’re being sucked between two insatiable plates that will crush them at that line in the darkness.

An ocean on a cloudy day is an apt comparison for Big Data and metadata. Big Data stretches its expanding, roiling clouds of content over an equally roiling sea of metadata. Both are massive and powerful. They can both be threatening.

The desire to mine Big Data is making billionaires out of “mining equipment companies,” and references to their algorithms, claims of superior computing speed and boasts of expansive storage capacity are everywhere. Big Data is big content, and that content is getting bigger exponentially. How do we find what we need and want? The answer to that question is to be found in marketing research. A company’s marketing research team will develop expertise in web analytics in addition to what they already know about market analytics. They will need to incorporate more and more disciplines to turn data into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into wisdom.

Once one begins to get a handle on Big Data—or at least has a plan on how to handle it—he or she faces that almost surreal world of metadata. From the murky world of spying, the world learned there is useful information that is with the content but is not the content. “Metadata is the ‘data about data’, or the data that can be taken from an individual piece of content,” says Emma Battle in a blog for Success 360.[1]

In 2010, Raffi Kirkovian, a Twitter employee, published a “Map of a Twitter Status Object” that identifies 37 discrete pieces of information contained in a Tweet other than the actual content of the tweet.[2]

Four years later that seems to have grown, “At 140 characters a tweet seems tiny, but it can yield a wealth of information. According to Elasticsearch, a startup that builds software to help companies mine data from social media, there are 150 separate points of so-called metadata in an individual tweet,” says Elizabeth Dwoskin in a Wall Street Journal blog.

For marketing researchers this can be a bonanza, “A marketer can look at tweets sent by their target audience and see that the majority of the tweets have times stamped after 5:00 p.m. The marketer can then conclude that the best time to reach their target audience on Twitter may be after 5:00 p.m.,” says Battle.

How do marketing professionals go from data to decisions? Through interpretation. The data that is collected and analyzed “is used to enable the team to identify patterns, draw conclusions, solve the research problem, and achieve the research objectives,” according to SMstudy® GuideMarketing Research, a book in the SMstudy® Guide series on sales and marketing.[3]

The Guide recommends that data interpretation start with three important inputs: the analyzed data, the research problem and objectives. During the interpretation process, “findings from the research analysis are compiled and reported to the marketing team and senior management and are ultimately used to inform marketing and business decisions.” In deciding what to compile and what to report, the researcher will rely on the research problem and objectives because they “provide a focused and definite direction to the data interpretation process,” according to the SMstudy® Guide.

With focus and direction, the marketing researcher uses three categories of tools to identify patterns and draw conclusions that will meet their company’s or client’s needs: tables, charts and expert judgment. Tables such as spreadsheets by Microsoft and Google help researchers organize large amounts of data. Some, like Microsoft’s Excel, provide a variety of filters and grouping tools for this purpose.

There are thousands of charts available to the market researcher. When one uses the term “chart” to be a category name that includes diagrams and graphs, the number of methods for visually displaying often complex relationships explodes. The SMstudy® Guide highlights bar charts, stratum charts, pictograms and cartograms for their usefulness and broad-based familiarity.

Once one has an excellent collection of tables and charts, something is still needed to make complete sense of them all: expert judgment. “The ability to appropriately interpret the data develops with experience. Inexperienced researchers can sometimes interpret data in a preferred way because of their comfort level with a given method. A researcher should try to seek the opinions of industry experts and research experts, who can provide valuable inputs in choosing the best way to interpret data within the given constraints,” says SMstudy® Guide’s Marketing Research book.

When relevant inputs are processed with appropriate tools, the researcher draws conclusions that are used to solve the research problem and inform marketing decisions. In short, accurately interpreted research means you know the problem AND the best solution options. And knowing is a great feeling between the clouds and the ocean.

 

[1] Battle, Emma. (7/23/14) “Metadata, Mega Data or Big Data What’s in It for Marketers” Success 360. Retrieved on 4/21/16 from www.success360i.com/metadata-mega-data-or-big-data-whats-in-it-for-marketers/   

[2] April 18, 2010 Raffi Kirkorian published a “Map of a Twitter Status Object” http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/TweetMetadata.pdf

[3] For more information about the SMstudy® Guide please, visit http://www.smstudy.com/SMBOKGuide/overview-of-SMstudy-guide

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Importance of Data collection in Marketing Research

Posted by SMstudy® on March 14, 2016 | Marketing Research (MR)

Keywords: marketing research, sales, data collection

Importance of Data collection in Marketing Research

Data collection is an important part of marketing research. Many significant marketing decisions are made based on the analysis of the data collected from a research project. One critical component of data collection is ensuring the quality of the data collected. Specifically, the data should be both high-quality and relevant. Data quality is the degree to which data represents the true situation. High-quality data is accurate, valid, and reliable, and it represents reality faithfully.

In some instances, researchers try to obtain the same data from multiple data sources to ensure the reliability and validity of the data collected. The following characteristics are assessed to determine the quality of data:

Reliability - The data should be reliable such that repeating the same methods produces the same results.

Validity - The data should measure or represent what it is supposed to measure.

Along with the quality of data, other important factors to consider in a research project are the availability of data and the affordability of the process required to collect it. Often the marketing organization already possesses enough information to make sound decisions without additional marketing research.

When adequate information is not available to make a decision, additional data needs to be collected from an appropriate source. If a potential source of data exists, the researcher or the decision-maker must consider the cost of obtaining it. The data should be obtained as quickly as is required to keep the research project on schedule and at an affordable cost. If the data cannot be obtained, or if it cannot be obtained in a timely fashion, the marketing research project should not be conducted.

Researchers have the option of collecting secondary data, primary data, or both. Secondary data is that which has already been collected for purposes other than the problem at hand. Primary data is newly obtained data for a specific purpose or a specific research project.

The marketing researcher needs to decide whether to collect primary data or spend the research budget exclusively on secondary data. Researchers usually prefer to examine the utility of low-cost and readily available secondary data first to see whether they can partly or fully solve the research problem under investigation without collecting costly primary data.

The source of the secondary data can be internal or external. The sources may include books or periodicals, published reports, data services, and computer data banks. When the needed data is non-existent, out-dated, incorrect or inadequate, the researcher needs to collect primary data. Most marketing research projects do include some aspects of primary data collection. Primary data may be obtained from individual consumers, subject matter experts, random samplings of a target segment, organizations, and other sources.

To learn more about data collection, visit http://smstudy.com/Certification/Marketing-Research-Associate and try our free associate course on marekting research.

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Marketing Research

Posted by SMstudy® on December 16, 2015 | Marketing Strategy (MS)

Keywords: marketing research

Marketing Research

When existing marketing research reports are insufficient for understanding a company’s internal environment, the company may choose to conduct new marketing research to fill any gaps in market intelligence. Such marketing research projects generally fall into two categories: primary research and secondary research.

Primary and secondary research can be further categorized as either quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative research involves data collected from a sample set of the target population using questionnaires or surveys with scales or rating systems, then analyzing that data using statistical techniques to identify trends, conditions and opinions. Qualitative research involves data collected from a small group of participants and not analyzed with statistical techniques but used to define a problem, generate or validate hypotheses, explore an issue and reveal insights or motives.

  • Primary Marketing Research about a company’s strengths and weaknesses involves developing a broader understanding of the perceptions and attitudes toward the company’s products by using tools such as interviews, focus groups, and survey questionnaires. These research projects are not limited to learning about customer perceptions and behavior; they may also involve understanding the perceptions of suppliers toward the company’s policies and products, conducting an employee survey to better understand existing capabilities and potential training needs, and evaluating technology that is being used in the marketplace. The means to gather data on a variety of areas where a company needs to know more is available, but the focus should be on discovering areas of improvement and consolidating areas of strength.
  • Secondary Marketing Research involves the use of content and information that is currently available within the company or in the market through primary research that has already been conducted and is readily obtainable through company reports, trade journals, industry publications, and the Internet. Secondary research involves gathering this existing information to better understand the company’s strengths and weaknesses.

Here is an example of Marketing Research:

A medical supply company is looking to extend its product line in the area of Diabetes testing devices. The company has made an assumption that the average age of onset of Type 2 Diabetes is decreasing from the past average of 55 years. The company plans to conduct primary market research and gather existing secondary market research to validate or disprove this assumption.

  • Primary market research may include holding a conference and inviting a cross section of family doctors in the area. Information provided by the doctors can help them understand the current trends.
  • The company can also consider existing secondary market research by reviewing current medical journals to see if there are recorded trends and statistical analyses supporting the theory of a younger population developing Type 2 Diabetes.

If the research collected suggests that the population is indeed demonstrating an increase in onset of Type 2 Diabetes at a younger age, the new product line could include products that will be marketed to a younger age group through the use of technology more suited to a younger demographic. Cell phone apps, cloud storage databases, and the like may be useful and desired by this emerging group.

Understanding a company’s strengths and weaknesses with respect to its ability to meet its customers’ demands and face competition helps the marketing strategy team determine the competitive positioning of the company’s products. A detailed list of strengths and weaknesses should be documented so it can be used as an input to other processes within marketing strategy and other functional strategies. The document may also contain a plan on how to address any weaknesses and capitalize on strengths.

Here is an example of Strengths and Weaknesses:

  • A general overview of strengths and weaknesses of an established local print shop might be as follows:

Strengths: Brand recognition, good knowledge of local market, technology, qualified staff in place, experienced management, and good operational procedures

Weaknesses: Limited ability to support customer requirements for same-day print-on-demand and small-run printing, and lack of infrastructure for online sales and marketing

  • The strengths and weaknesses of a retail clothing store might be as follows:

Strengths: Loyal customer base, exceptional customer service, and differentiated products

Weaknesses: Weak brand image (as compared to competitors’ branding), high costs associated with supply chain, and lack of e-commerce capability

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