UNT MKTG 3650 EXAM 2 - Strutton

why marketing research is important

successful marketing requires marketers to make current bets about future human behaviors

human behavior

difficult to predict because everybody thinks they are rational

who wins marketing competitions?

marketers that have superior knowledge

three sets of knowledge

- know yourself
- know your enemy
- know your terrain

focus groups

entails small groups of people that are deliberately-selected (to represent the larger population being researched) who participate in planned question-prompted discussion
- consistently used by politicians

knowledge

the true operant (effective/ useful) resource for marketers

marketing knowledge operates as...

the foundation for:
- competitive advantage
- economic growth at micro or macro levels

two types of knowledge

- descriptive (propositional)
- prescriptive (prescriptive)

descriptive knowledge

the insights generated through marketing research describe changing trends
aka propositional or diagnostic
(1/2 types of knowledge)

prescriptive knowledge

informs marketers about what they should do, suggests logical, strategic steps
(2/2 types of knowledge)

marketing information systems

secures better information; determine and acquire exactly the sort of information that marketers require to properly develop and execute strategic marketing plans

automation bias

putting too much faith into technology, gives a false sense of security

people never see the same river twice

all streams constantly change
this relates to consumers/ marketing; marketing research should be used to monitor these changes

marketing research

- links customers/ prospects to marketers through info
- analytical fact-based empirical and date driven process
- conducted to create solutions where managers can make better/ more informed bets about the future

two types of data

- primary
- secondary

primary info

new or original information (before the research was conducted, the research did not exist)
- most expensive to collect

secondary info

collected by others (competitors' website, gov't documents, online industry report)

two reasons for marketing research

- propositional knowledge
- prescriptive knowledge

representative sample

a small quantity of something that accurately reflects the larger entity

statistical analysis

permits massive amounts of info to be compressed into a few meaningful numbers
(ex: mean, median, mode, variance)

variance

aka range; difference between the largest and smallest values

probability assesments

- allows marketers to make more reasonable decisions
- lets marketing researchers eliminate much of the uncertainty that otherwise would have to manage
- more reasonable and info-driven guesses!!!

four info-driven activities

1) info identification activities
2) info collection activities
3) info-analytical activities
4) info-reporting activities

information identification activities

marketing researchers ask specific questions
(one of the four info-driven activities)

information-collection activities

marketers ensure that the data they have collected is accurate (reliable and valid)
(one of the four info-driven activities)

reliable info

collected from questions that are free from systematic or statistical error

valid info

secured from questions measuring exactly what they're supposed to measure; no more or no less info than needed
(info can't be [this] without being reliable)

information analytical activities

marketers statistically analyze info that was collected; conducted to develop strategic, knowledge-based inferences
(one of the four info-driven activities)

information reporting activities

entails the conversation of info into actionable knowledge
(one of the four info-driven activities)

dichter

- ivory soap guy
- pursued open ended questions when surveying
- "father of modern marketing research"
- first to propose that brands have image or personality
- products are sometimes bought for the meaning or values instead of functionality
- branded objects have meanings (related to sex, insecurity, or desires for prestige)

percentage of gdp that is driven by consumer decisions and purchases

70%

incentives

- consumer behavior driver and motivator
- rational people respond to [these]

consumer behavior

- buying behavior of final consumers

why marketers should study cb

in order to understand how best to catch consumers

questions marketing firms should answer about consumers and their behavior

- what, where, and how much consumers buy, as well as when they buy
- and why consumers buy what they decide to buy

cb question that is most difficult to answer

WHY
- we never truly know what motivates a consumer to buy the products/ brands that they do; answers are locked inside their "black boxes" aka their minds
- what seems rational to some consumers could be seen as completely irrational to others

marketing mix

- controllable marketing stimuli
- 4/ 7 P's of marketing

P's of marketing

1) price
2) promotion
3) place
4) products
----------------
5) people
6) processes
7) physical surroundings

law of perceptions

marketing is not so much a battle of products or brands, but a battle between the value of brands inside the same product category

evangelizing

consumer initiated communication process that entails word-of-mouth (a marketers best friend or worst enemy)

life happens when

between the stimulus and response

uncontrollable stimuli

- cultural
- social
- personal
- psychological

cultural stimuli

- entire set of values, ideas, or attitudes shared among or learned from the members of a group
- the most basic cause of people's needs
ex: sports fan

culture is

- lens-like (think thick glasses through which you view the world)
- glacier-like (cultural factors influence marketing practice; marketing practice shapes cultural factors)
- ocean-like (consumers are like sea creatures immersed in the midst of these oceans or cultures with out realizing it)

rugged individualism

used by brands like: jeep, SUVs, Merrill Lynch
"don't just run with the bulls, run ahead of the bulls"

subcultures

can easily be used as market segments; might be more important to marketers than culture
(ex: east coast vs. west coast, north U.S vs. the south, music or sports fans)

social stimuli

- social class
- membership groups, family, reference groups, opinion-leaders

social class

- relatively enduring and ordered divisions inside the american population
- there's seven: upper-upper, lower-upper, upper-middle, low-middle, lower-upper, and lower-lower
- each one is relatively homogeneous; sharing relatively similar values, interests, and lifestyle choices
- SO WHAT? members of the same [insert term] will likely react similarly to the same promotions
(social stimuli)

factors of social class

measured by a combination of several variables such as:
- occupations
- annual incomes
- education
- neighborhood/ zip code

social status

delivers positional value to consumers

meaning: their [insert term] elevates them above other consumers
(social stimuli)

membership groups

groups that have a direct influence on consumers' behaviors and decision making and to which a person belongs
ex: frats/sororities, NRA, church congregations
(social stimuli)

family

exercises huge influence on consumer decisions and behaviors; there are specific roles to each [insert term]; many different types

DINKs

most desirable family unit for marketers; easy to market luxury items

(double income, no kids)

reference groups

exercises tremendous influence on consumer decision-making; consumers look to these to secure opinions on what they should shouldn't be buying and how to behave; two types
(social stimuli)

aspirational reference groups

group to which consumers wants to belong
(reference group)

opinion-leaders

often exercise extreme effects on consumers who are struggling to make decisions; most likely someone the consumer knows personally; usually perceived as an "expert" in that particular category
(reference group)

personal stimuli

includes the consumer's:
- age
- family life-cycle status
- occupation and current wealth
- lifestyle choices (AIO's and psychographics)
- dominant personality traits
- self-concepts

psychographics

combination of a consumers' preferred AIOs and dominant personality traits

AIOs

activities, interests, opinions of the consumer; essentially measures what consumers prefer to do or contemplate in their free time
(part of psychographics)

personality

sets of unique psychological characteristics that lead consumers to engage in relatively enduring and consistent responses to stimuli
ex: confidence, sociability, dominance, willingness to broadcast, willingness to adapt, willingness to take risks
(part of psychographics)

self-concept

can be expressed in various ways; the mental images that consumers posses and enjoy/endure about themselves and their strengths, weaknesses, or social status
(part of personal stimuli)

psychological stimuli

- perceptions
- learning
- beliefs and attitudes
- motivations

perceptions

the process by which people select, organize, and then interpret stimuli; largely uncontrollable but marketers still try and manipulate them
= reality
(psychological stimuli)

three types of perceptions

1) selective attention
2) selective distortion
3) selective retention

selective attention

consumers do not pay attention to most stimuli to which they are exposed to; we don't pay attention to things we don't agree with
(type of perception)

selective distortion

we shape what we hear to support what we already believe
(type of perception)

selective retention

consumers tend to retain information that supports attitudes and beliefs they already hold
(type of perception)

learning

arises from a 4-way interaction between
a) consumer's motives
b) stimuli
c) consumer's responses to stimuli
d) rewards or punishments resulting from their behavioral responses

(psychological stimuli)

beliefs

descriptive thoughts that consumers develop
(part of psychological stimuli - beliefs and attitudes)

attitude

intertwined beliefs (difficult to break apart); more deeply held than beliefs; marketers should not try to change these
(part of psychological stimuli - beliefs and attitudes)

value propositions

align precisely with the types of consumer attitudes already present withing target market segments; generated by combining all possible benefits and values through marketing mixes to incentivize customers

motives

function as NEEDS that are sufficiently pressing to direct individual consumers to seek satisfaction and solutions to whatever problems are triggering these aka drives
ex: biological - food, water, sleep
ex: psychological - feel safe, fit in
(part of psychological stimuli)

maslow's hierarchy of needs (levels)

1) physiological (bottom level)
2) safety
3) social
4) personal aka self-esteem
5) self-actualization (top level)

maslow's hierarchy of needs (marketing)

- products can be positioned based on the hierarchical need they intend to satisfy
- products can satisfy multiple levels
- it's easy for marketers to jerk consumers up or down the hierarchy

three motives

fear, greed, love

three disclaimers to decision making

1) not all consumers pass through the same consumer decision-making stages at the same time
2) not all consumer pass through all five stages
3) consumers can enter/ exit any stage at any time

consumer decision-making model

1. problem recognition
2. information search
3. alternative evaluation
4. purchase decision
5. post purchase evaluation

problem recognition

consumers have a problem that they want to be solved; something is wrong or missing or lacking
(first consumer decision-making model stage)

information search

consumers seek out info available about their potential solutions; sources can include friends, coworkers, family, internet, commercials etc
(second consumer decision-making model stage)

alternative evaluation

careful evaluation of competing brand alternatives and their attributes
(third consumer decision-making model stage)

purchase decision

whether an actual purchase decision is made or not, this stage begins with intention; even if consumers decide not to purchase - that is still a decision
(fourth consumer decision-making model stage)

post purchase evaluation

consumers are satisfied if their expectations about the product are met and vice versa
(fifth consumer decision-making model stage)

cognitive dissonance

aka buyers remorse

word of mouth (WOM)

uncontrollable marketing communication process; can be a marketers best friend or worst enemy; negatives travel more quickly

market segmentation

the process of dividing a heterogeneous market into meaningful, relatively similar or homogeneous, and identifiable segments or groups

three reasons to market segment

1) no single marketer can successfully appeal to all B2B or B2C customers at the same time
2) many marketers must select the customers with whom they create lasting relationships with, particularly inside supply chains
3) marketers must be choosy with who they target because mass markets do not exist anymore

evoked set

set of specific products that come to mind when thinking of buying a certain product

segment examples

- geography
- demographics
- age
- gender
- family life-cycle stage
- occupation
- religious affiliations
- ethnicity
- psychographics
- behavioral
- occasion-based
- benefit-based
- user status
- loyalty-based

attractive market segments

should be:
- measurable
- accessible
- substantial
- differentiable
- actionable

prof's preferred segmentation

1 or 2 demographic
1 psychographic

pareto principle

informs marketers as they strategize about where to allocate the lion's share of their marketing efforts and resources (80-20 rule)

shotgun marketing

marketers who had the resources would just throw out their messages and a sufficient amount of consumers would catch them (back then)

laser-like marketing

marketers must target with precision and efficiency, made possible with data-mining (today)

target marketing

entails evaluating various segments that have been identified as more or less attractive and deciding which ones to pursue

when targeting more than one segment

marketers should produce a unique marketing mix for each segment

marketing battles are won based on

which brands secure more favorable perceptual spaces - uniquely desirable market positions - inside the collective mind of the targeted market segment

four levels of targeting

1) target broadly
2) target narrowly
3) target extremely narrowly
4) differentiated targeting

target broadly

aka undifferentiated or mass marketing; commodities, when variability among competitor's products is low, when a product is new-to-market
(one of four levels of targeting)

target narrowly

aka concentrated or niche market targeting; target large shares of narrowly-defined segments

ex: products to help people to stop smoking, panera, siriusXM radio
(one of four levels of targeting)

target extremely narrowly

aka micro-targeting; only one segment is targeted; highly specialized consumers

ex: Lochheed-Martin and military planes, outlaw country radio station
(one of four levels of targeting)