Marketing Research
Essays

The current ethics policies are the outcome of years of debates as to what should define morality and fair and appropriate behavior. Nowadays, most institutions in the fields of economy, politics, medicine and law guide…

Globalization has affected all features of every day life. It is present in the social, cultural, technological and even political sectors. Most common however, globalization is present in the economic and business…

There are specific intersections of products and segments in any company where the relationships with customers in specific areas are so valuable they must be managed closely, while other products, are commodity-like,…

The disruptive nature of social networks and their effects on marketing are revolutionizing every aspect customer relationships, including the re-ordering of marketing sales and services strategies. In aggregate social networks are bringing an entirely new level of insight and intelligence into how permission marketing, information acquisition and e-commerce strategies can be accomplished. The highest-performing marketing and sales organizations have successfully integrated the intelligence and insight gained from social networks via analytics and customer listening systems to better tailor selling, product and services strategies (Bampo, Ewing, Mather, Stewart, Wallace, 2008). Social networks have emerged as one of the most important and powerful platforms for aligning permission marketing to customer interest, segment and needs than any other development of the last decade. The insights gained from social networks in these areas are also completely revamping e-commerce strategies with much higher levels of personalization and more adept and agile multichannel marketing and selling strategies as well. The intent of this analysis is to analyze and evaluate how social networks are completely re-ordering the nature of customer relationships. The nascent yet very rapid growth of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM), which is the combining of social networking-based prospect and customer information with the more structured and mature traditional CRM platforms is serving as the basis for many company's strategies in permission marketing, information acquisition and e-commerce strategies (Cooke, Buckley, 2008). The mercurial nature of social networks however has made it difficult for companies to gain greater insights into their customer bases. The reliance on advanced analytics in SCRM and CRM systems has made the task of completing permission marketing achievable. Social networking has however changed the entire dynamic of relationships with prospects, customers and the general public, infusing a much greater level of transparency and authenticity into the process. Ironically the majority of marketers aren't using social networks to listen and respond to customers, creating more effective relationships in the process. Instead the majority of marketers are relying on social networks and their many channels they represent to communicate un-directionally, going so far as to spam prospects and customers alike. What's needed for marketers to drive greater value from social networks is the ability to listen, create trust and sustain strong communication with prospects, customers and stakeholders throughout their spheres of influence. Marketers from both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies have the potential to completely revolutionize their marketing, selling, service and long-term profitability by concentrating on these fundamentals (Doyle, 2007). The best practices of creating a very open, transparent and responsive level of communication throughout social media channels and across social networks permeate the companies getting the best results from these strategies. Consequently, their efforts at permission marketing, customer information acquisition and broader e-commerce strategies are significantly more successful (Harris, Rae, 2009). Companies excelling in this dimension of unifying social networks, permission marketing and customer information acquisition then driving effective e-commerce strategies include Amazon.com, Dell, Southwest Airlines and others who all have integrated social networks into their broader CRM platforms and strategies. Each of these companies have entire staffs dedicated to supporting their social CRM efforts and strategies, while also integrating unique customer data, managing ongoing marketing campaigns and responding to customer service requests that are initiated over social media channels. The net effect of this approach has been to galvanize the effectiveness of these social media channels for these companies (Jones, 2002). The best practices shown by Amazon.com, Dell, Southwest Airlines and others in this area of social networking is also showing that social networks can become a main part of any global, multichannel management selling and service strategy.

Literature Review / Theoretical Framework: The article in the journal Marketing Intelligence & Planning points to how marketing research is becoming more pivotal to companies due to increased global competition…

This paper Is a new product plan for a unique twist on the portable hard drive. The plan covers the product features and description, along with an analysis of the competitive environment. In addition, there is a development plan covered. A launch plan provides details on how the product will be brought to market.

In the past few decades, issues surrounding branding in the retail industry have emerged as a significant concern for retailers, consumers, and the fashion industry alike. Organizations are using branding as a strategy…

Planware.org site offers entrepreneurs and managers templates, software and online aids for business planning and development. Their products cover all the bases: financial projection, business plan writing and…

¶ … Marketing Principles and Practices to Organizational Goals

There are several significant advantages of using qualitative measurements in marketing research. The most significant is the ability to capture the voice of customers that may have evaded the more structured, numerically-based approaches that force respondents to provide a specific set of answers. Qualitative research can also lead to entirely new insights into a new market or service that has not been seen in the past, given the open-ended questions inherent in this approach to research. Qualitative research techniques also can be used to capture the shared knowledge of experts as well, as the Delphi Technique is so well-known and used for. Capturing the tacit expertise and knowledge of a specific group of thought leaders can also be accomplished using qualitative techniques as well. Additional advantages of qualitative measurements include the ability to complete greater exploratory or primary research into a specific subject, often following a specific line of questions as they develop within an interview. An additional advantage of qualitative research techniques are the ability to understand how prospects and customers make trade-offs on substitute products and services. While price elasticity studies are often highly quantitative in scope, the use of interactive discussions of pricing trade-offs can be highly effective in determining just how much a prospect is willing to sacrifice price for a given feature or benefit. The total value of a brand can also be ascertained through the use of these types of qualitative techniques, providing respondents with the ability to define in their own terms the value of the experience a brand delivers. The many advantages of qualitative research are predicated on having more interactive sessions with respondents, including the ability to ascertain how they make trade-offs over time on value versus price. For the many advantages of qualitative measurements, there are several disadvantages as well. First, the results of any study predicated on this approach cannot be analyzed at the higher levels of statistical analysis. As the results of studies and research completed with qualitative measurements are by nature not nominal, ordinal or interval in terms of data orthogonality, they cannot be used to represent an entire customer or segment population. At best they can be used as a means to capture nominally-based data that can lead to only a rough approximation of an overall market size or series of market dynamics. Qualitative data can only be as useful as the means used to capture it as well; if a methodology is very informal and focused on a series of loosely-guided objectives, the overall data will of mediocre quality at best. When the goals and objectives of a research study, in addition to the sampling frame and methodology lack rigor or precise focus, the resulting research can also lack precision and meaning. It is more difficult to create greater levels of meaning and transferability of data when the methodologies are highly qualitative in scope; the data is only relevant for a specific series of objectives and often is defined by applicability to a given point in time as well. Qualitative data is often also open to interpretation, as the methodology can be debated in terms of its relative appropriateness, robustness and value over the long-term. Finally, qualitative data cannot be taken entirely on its own; it must be combined with a series of other research sources to ensure relevancy and accuracy of interpretation, especially over time. In conclusion, qualitative data needs to be taken in context and often balanced with quantitative data to ensure a 360-degree view of a given situation or strategy of interest has the greater level of insights gained from research efforts.