Transcript Topic Six PowerPoint File

Topic Six: Marketing Information Systems
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ALERT: We could spend the entire semester
on this topic and not cover it in its entirety
therefore every effort will be made to talk to
the learning outcomes only.
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Understand the concept of a marketing information
system with particular emphasis on the need for
information to make sensible marketing decisions,
where that information can be obtained from, and how
it can be best disseminated to the people who need it.
Grasp the fundamental importance of market
intelligence to marketing in the context of NZ SME’s,
especially when derived from personal business
networks
Understand the concept of Reliability and Validity
Be able to discriminate between primary and secondary
research and data, and quantitative and qualitative
research
Be able to describe the marketing research process from
a project design point of view.
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Being in business is all about beating the
odds; in marketing this is about being able
to make more informed marketing
decisions more often
This involves taking up & using relevant
information obtained from the external and
internal environment in sufficient time to
make better than average decisions.
This can be a strategic asset that, in some
quarters, can be regarded as a source for
SCA
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A marketing information system comprises of
the resources and processes used to:
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Gather relevant information
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Assemble relevant information
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Analyse relevant information
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Disseminate relevant information
To make reasonable decisions
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“NEEDING TO KNOW”
 Requiring information and insight to make
Marketing Mix decisions. (Beating the Odds)
Flows onto…
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“FINDING OUT”
 Marketing Intelligence
 Personal business networks
 Internal records
 Marketing research
Flows onto…
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“WORKING IT OUT”
 Synthesising: Chunking the bits together
 Analysing: Breaking out the bits
Flows onto…
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“KEEPING TRACK OF THE ISSUES”
 Target markets
 Distribution systems
 Competitors
 Macro-environmental factors
Flows onto…
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“INTERNAL POLITICAL PROCESSES”
How do we know what we know?
How do we use what we know?
What questions do we ask?
What questions do we not ask?
Who is in the loop?
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Marketing information obtained from both
formal and informal sources.
Formal Sources include: Scheduled meetings
with suppliers, distributors and sales staff
 Industry associations plus many more
Informal sources include:
 Feedback from customers
 Co-workers
 Acquaintances
 Media sources etc
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In New Zealand SME’s rely heavily on
marketing intelligence to make sense of what
is going on around them.
Cultivating ‘hard business networks’ (e.g.
regional development initiatives) is intended
to enhance this information dissemination.
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There are risks:
 Too Open: with members of your network
can get your commercial secrets pinched
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Too Closed: no one will want to share
information with you because you give
nothing away
Often Biased through self-selection: you are
‘wired’ to those most close to you and may
not necessarily gain the most truthful or
factual information
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In contrast to marketing intelligence, market
research is an organised search for specific
marketing information.
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There are a huge amount of differing types of
market research, too many for this course
e.g.
Advertising research
Business economics and corporate research
Corporate responsibility research
Product research
Sales and market research
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1. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?
◦ Explore an issue?
◦ Describe an issue?
◦ Solve an issue?
2. HOW DO YOU WANT TO DO IT?
◦ Primary Research – this is special to your issue
◦ Secondary Research – data mining
◦ Hard Numbers – Quantitative
◦ Soft Impressions – Qualitative
Fast vs Cheap vs High Quality
Time, Budget, Skills, Action Standards
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WHO DO YOU WANT TO TALK TO?
 HOW MANY DO YOU WANT TO TALK TO?
3. FIELDWORK – “Off you go then”
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◦ The point of return!
◦ Quality checks
4. ANALYSING DATA AND REPORTING
The end users and decision makers
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 Reliability:
the accuracy or
truthfulness of any research data.
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Important because we need to know the
preciseness of the information we are using.
Was this gained from talking to friends or
from a carefully designed sample of
informants?
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 Validity:
How suitable or how
relevant is the information to your
marketing decision or problem
(most important)
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It is very easy to research accurately the
wrong things. Marketing information that is
high in validity stands up to being extremely
relevant to your marketing decision.
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“Desk or library research” involving collecting
data from existing sources.
The best way of thinking of this sort of
research is one of ‘fact finding’ & ‘looking it
up’
Be Careful of:
◦ Age
◦ Validity
◦ Accuracy etc
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Primary research is gathering new
information expressly to suit the specific
needs of a defined marketing decision.
Much more (than secondary research)
◦ Complex
◦ Costly
◦ Lengthy
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Quantitative Research: Empirical research;
collecting statistical data of sufficient scale as
to be capable of being analysed using
recognised statistical techniques.
Often used on large scale marketing
problems where you are interested in picking
out significant issues and trends e.g. opinion
polls
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Qualitative Research: Often a marketer does
not need hard statistical data, but wants
indicative feedback or responses; this is
qualitative research design e.g. focus groups
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BUDGET, TIME AND SKILLS
SPEED VS COST VS QUALITY
RELIABILITY – ACCURACY!
VALIDITY – ON TARGET! (ACTION STANDARDS)
POLITICAL ISSUES
PREVIOUS RESEARCH (CONTINUITY)
COWBOYS, WANNABES & JUNK RESEARCH
ERROR – RANDOM, SYSTEMATIC, NON-RESPONSE
PET TECHNIQUES
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
CREATIVE POWER!
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