Marketing Research
Essays

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…

The business research process is unique in that it may be tailored to individual types of organizations and their needs. For example, business research for a large, multinational pharmaceutical company would have slightly different needs than that a local fast-food franchise group. However, there are six basic steps that most every business research project should cover.

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

In order to stay competitive, attract potential customers, and offer the products in a more tactful way, businesses have to incorporate effective e-marketing strategies as a part of their marketing and promotional efforts. Gold Coast Bakeries is a medium scale business corporation based in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It offers a variety of baked items for every type of customers and all food requirements. Gold Coast Bakeries can be regarded as a growing business in the Gold Coast region. But it has to face certain challenges and threats from different environmental forces and strong competitors in the industry. To survive in an uncertain business environment and compete with the industry leaders, Gold Coast Bakeries must incorporate electronic marketing for the promotion of its products.

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.

Marketing Research Can Help Solve Mattel's Marketing Challenges

The Zapper's unique value proposition of mitigating and eliminating noise opens up many potential market segments and service areas. What the advertising strategy must do is not only communicate the features and benefits of the product, it must also show how effective it is in making people's lives more enjoyable. Noise is one of the most irritating types of pollution there is, often stopping people from being able to think clearly and get their work done or make effective decisions. The greatest value of the Zapper is in neutralizing these forms of noise pollution to allow people to have a more enjoyable, pleasurable experience at work or at home. The cornerstone of all effective marketing I based on creating expectations and exceeding them (Genestre, Herbig, 1996). The Zapper must create and exceed the expectation of neutralizing harmful and irritating noise and deliver a consistently excellent customer experience (Gurau, 2008). Only by concentrating on precise, high quality production processes will the Zapper consistently meet and exceed these expectations on a consistent basis. Quality and trust of consistent performance will be the anchor points of the marketing strategy, ensuring that customers' faith and expectations of the product will be met and exceeded. Aligning Zapper's Advertising Strategy And Alignment To Marketing Objectives The core of the Zapper marketing strategy must be solidly set on the experiences of the customer if it is to succeed. In defining those experiences, personas, or representations of representative customers in each of the markets, will be used. These personas will explain in detail why and how noise reduction is so critically important to these people and their professions or avocations. For the hospital staff the need to mitigate noise so that greater attention and concentration can be applied to patient care is essential for professional excellence to be achieved. Personas of nurses, physicians and hospital staff will be used to more fully understand their needs. The same level of analysis and research needs to be done on each target market, as the personas' needs and requirements will drive the marketing objectives. As has been stated earlier, additional markets include libraries, in addition to homes with children and teenagers who can use the Zapper to silence a home and make it possible to enjoy music, entertainment and games more. The Zapper can be highly effective in making study times more effective and focused as well. These are all examples of creating a highly unique, differentiated customer experience.