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
info identification activities
info collection activities
info-analytical activities
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
price
promotion
place
products ----------------
people
processes
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
selective attention
selective distortion
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)
physiological (bottom level)
safety
social
personal aka self-esteem
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
not all consumers pass through the same consumer decision-making stages at the same time
not all consumer pass through all five stages
consumers can enter/ exit any stage at any time
consumer decision-making model
problem recognition
information search
alternative evaluation
purchase decision
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
no single marketer can successfully appeal to all B2B or B2C customers at the same time
many marketers must select the customers with whom they create lasting relationships with, particularly inside supply chains
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
target broadly
target narrowly
target extremely narrowly
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)