Marketing Research

Course description: 

The level of competition is high. CEOs are looking for trends that will help to get a competitive advantage. It involves analyzing consumers’ behavior trends, competitors, suppliers, and more. This course will cover six main topics in marketing research.

1. Introduction to market Research, define the fundamental concepts of marketing research:

There are many definitions of marketing. It is difficult to formulate a clear and unanimous definition of marketing.  However, this course provides two definitions showing the essence of marketing. According to Steve Jobs, former CEO of Apple, and worldwide recognized marketer, marketing is about values. Besides, according to Forbes a recognized global media, and focusing on business, marketing involves considering and addressing the entire customer experience, it provides the right context for people to understand the innovation, and it helps identify new partners and channels necessary to engage with customers at the right place, time, and manner.

Learning Objectives

• Define marketing and understand the essence of marketing.  
• Understand marketing from consumer's and companies' points of view.
• To be able to identify the elements of the Marketing Mix
• To comprehend the importance of positioning and targeting while building a marketing plan
• Understand a market and the key roles players. 

2. Introduction to market Research, define marketing research, and its components:

Marketing research is “the action or activity of gathering information about consumers' needs and preferences.” Oxford dictionary. It also involves gathering information about the market environment. There are two techniques of marketing research: Quantitative and qualitative. Effective marketing research activities combine both.  “When qualitative and quantitative research are combined, you can tell a complete story of consumer sentiment, helping to validate or inform your marketing strategy for maximum impact.” (Ken Yanhs, 2018)

Learning Objectives

• Define marketing research and understand when to use it.   
• Understand the complexity of implementing a marketing research activity.
• To be able to identify the categories of marketing research and relate them to the marketing team
• To comprehend the importance of objectively select the research scales 

3. Marketing Research Tools-Qualitative research, understand theses research techniques, related tools, and learn how to use them: 

There are two main categories of research methods. The marketer should consider the purpose of each research method, then use the most appropriate to address the research question. Qualitative research is not appropriate for all types of investigation. There must be a connection between the purpose or research question and the approach.  “Qualitative studies are particularly useful when the topic under investigation is insufficiently understood, identification of theoretical relationships, and the development of quantitative tools” (Sarah, 2002). Besides, qualitative methods are valuable for uncovering customer attitudes, emotions, needs and wants, category and brand perceptions and usage, the impact of culture on consumption, and, especially, for adding depth and context to marketers’ understanding of their customers. Through all of this, marketers can learn if and how a brand could be a part of people’s lives.

Learning Objectives

• Define the qualitative research method and understand its objectives.   
• Understand the complexity of implementing qualitative research activities.
• To be able to identify the qualitative research techniques and learn to use them.
• Understand the pros and cons of this method

4. Marketing Research Tools-Qualitative research, understand theses research techniques, related tools, and learn how to use them: 

Quantitative marketing research uses many methods to validate research hypotheses generated by qualitative research and to explore empirical patterns in the data. Also, quantitative methods are valuable for segmenting customers based on their needs, understanding consumer perceptions (4c’s) of products and services, assessing the impact of marketing activities on customer behavior, and optimizing marketing resource allocation

Learning Objectives

• Define the quantitative research method and understand its objectives.   
• Understand the complexity of implementing quantitative research activities.
• To be able to identify the quantitative research techniques and learn to use them.
• Understand the pros and cons of this method
• To be able to differentiate qualitative research and qualitative research

5. Data, be aware of data to be collected according to the research objectives:

Two types of data can be collected from a research activity: qualitative or quantitative data.

1.1 Qualitative data  

 Qualitative data is a categorical measurement expressed not in terms of number, but rather by mean of natural language description, concepts, opinions, values, and behaviors of people in a social context. 

1.2. Quantitative data

Quantitative data is a numerical measurement expressed not by mean of language description, but rather in terms of numbers. Also, any pieces of information can be displayed using numbers such as population, distances, prices, and other measurements.

Learning Objectives

• Define a data method and classify them.   
• Understand the complexity of processing data.
• To learn the steps toward processing data. 
• Identify the data to collect and the related research techniques

6. Marketing research plan, gather the knowledge acquired:

• Apply all knowledge acquired from the previous topic    
• To be able to write a correct marketing research plan