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Market Research:Meaninig,Process and Conclusion

Market Research

Marketing research is a process of analysing and conducting research about the market to understand market trends. It involves proper collection, analysis and interpretation of information regarding market conditions. Marketing research is mainly conducted to identify changes in preferences and behaviour of customers arising from the change in market mix elements viz. promotion, place, price and product. It may be defined as the mechanism which helps in linking the customers, producers and several other end users to the marketer and help in finding and communicating of all required information.

Process of Marketing Research

Problem Identification

The first and foremost step in the marketing research process. The identification of problems. For which the research is to be conducted. Unless and until the problem is recognized clearly. No clear-cut plan can be formed leading to wastage of resources.

Research Plan Formulation

It consists of strategies. That is to be followed, for solving the problem and achieving the required objectives goals. It involves various data sources. From which data is to be collected. Various research approaches, contacting ways and sampling methods.

Acquiring And Gathering Information

It is one of the important step in this process. Its focus is on a collection of all required information. Using various data sources. So that the result will come true and fair.

Interpretation Of Information

The successful collection of all required information. A systematic and proper study is to be done. To conduct a successful analysis of all collected information. To get details in accordance with the research plan.

Result Presentation

In this step, all the findings of the process are presented to management team. For the researcher to take efficient decision-making.

Decision Making

This is the ending of the marketing research process. Once the research results are presented to the management team. They use this research information in their decision-making.

Conclusion

Marketing research plays an important role in studying consumer behaviour. It is very efficient tool for the marketers to understand the trends of the market that mainly consists of information relating to new product launch in the market, trends in consumer demand, pricing strategy of the competitor and available close substitutes of the product.

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THE NATURE AND ROLE OF SELLING

 The simplest way to think of the nature and role of selling is that its function is to make a sale. This seemingly obvious statement dis-guises what is often a very complex process, involving the use of a whole set of principles, techniques and substantial personal skills, and covering a wide range of different types of selling task. Later we will establish a more precise meaning for the term selling, but first we will examine the reasons for the intense interest in this area of market business activity. The literature of selling abounds with texts, ranging from the more conceptual approaches to the simplistic ‘how it is done’ approach. Companies spend large sums of money training their sales personnel in the art of selling.

The reason for this attention to personal selling is simple: in most companies the sales personnel are the single most important link with the customer. The best designed and planned marketing efforts may fail because the salesforce is ineffective. This front-line role of the salesperson means that for many customers the salesperson is the company.

Allied with the often substantial costs associated with recruiting, training and maintaining the salesforce, there are powerful reasons for stressing the importance of the selling task and for justifying attempts to improve effective-ness in this area. The emphasis in this type of sales activity is very different from the sales position where the sales representative is dealing with sales of capital equipment to industrial purchasers. In addition, some sales representatives deal only in export markets whilst others sell direct to customers in their homes. One of the most striking aspects of selling is the wide diversity of selling roles.

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The marketing mix in B2B markets

A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan. The term often refers to a common classification that began as the four Ps: product, price, placement, and promotion. Effective marketing touches on a broad range of areas as opposed to fixating on one message.

Again remembering that there are several different types of B2B market, and again with the caveat that even within each of these markets the marketing mix will differ even between companies in the same category of B2B market, the following represent some of the considerations and differences in applying the marketing mix in B2B markets compared to B2C.

In short, marketing mix involves decisions regarding products to the made available, the price to be charged for the same, and the incentive to be provided to the consumers in the markets where products would be made available for sale. These decisions are taken keeping in view the influence of marketing forces outside the organization (e.g., consumer behaviour, competitors’ strategy and government policy).

 Product: in B2B markets buyers frequently choose on technical product specifications. Products are often customised to individual customer requirements, with quality assurance, and product after-sales and technical services being of particular importance. The reliability of the product, together with the degree of back-up service being offered are crucial elements of the marketing mix in B2B markets.

Promotion: in terms of the promotional element of the mix in B2B markets, much more emphasis is likely to be placed on personal selling as opposed to the advertising element, something we shall return to in more detail in later chapters. As in consumer markets, however, sales promotion is used extensively in B2B markets and especially when marketing to distributors/intermediaries. Publicity is also a valuable promotional tool in B2B marketing, especially when launching new products. Finally, direct marketing can be a very effective promotional tool in B2B markets as mailing lists tend to be more accurate and the message can be tailored more closely to individual customer needs.

Price: although price is a major factor in B2B markets, it would be a mistake to assume that all B2B customers buy only on price. They do not. In fact, as in consumer markets, it is overall value that counts. However, price is always going to be a key factor in the marketing mix in B2B markets. Prices are much more likely to be negotiated in the B2B market and we may get different processes for pricing and particularly quoting prices, such as tendering.

Place: with regard to place in B2B markets, although intermediaries are used, distribution is often direct. The logistics aspects of distribution are particularly important in B2B markets as speed and, above all, reliability of delivery are vital. This emphasis on reliability of delivery has increased in recent years with the introduction of just-in-time (JIT) and flexible manufacturing systems in purchasing and production.

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DEVELOPING AND REFINING RETAIL FORMATS

  The right format is the foundation of a retail marketing success. It is, after all, the real-life representation of a retailer’s value proposition, comprising location, assortment, price, in-store experience, and service as introduced in the retail pentagon. Any decisions that affect the choice or evolution of formats are, therefore, among the most important decisions a retailer will ever make.

Store formats used to be static over long periods of time. In the 1970s, successful formats showed steady growth for more than a decade without any real modification. Today, however, a new concept has often run its course after just a few years  The pace of change in consumer needs is quickening, and digital distribution channels are eating into the share of traditional retail. Especially in saturated markets, simple sales space expansion does not generate profitable growth anymore.

In fact, increasing sales space per inhabitant generally leads to a de-crease in overall area productivity, with the exception of players that have a superior format. The expansion of such successful formats, then, leads to a further increase in sales area density, resulting in even lower sales area productivity in the overall market. As a result, retailers are under pressure to refine their formats continuously, or reinvent them completely, before others

 There are two basic types of retail format development: optimization of existing formats, or launch of a new format

1) Optimization of an existing format is aimed at enhancing a retailer’s value proposition. For example, Carrefour started implementing its umbrella brand strategy in 2008, rebranding all its Champion stores as Carrefour Market. This process involved numerous changes to the store format. The company extended its range in the former Champion stores, introduced a new entrance area focusing on fresh, listed Carrefour private label products, invested in prices, and made shopping easier for customers by introducing a new store layout and simpler navigation. The transformation was successfully completed in 2011. It led to significantly higher sales, as well as to a rise in market share.

 2)When they launch a new format, retailers are hoping to capture growth potential that they have been unable to tap with their existing formats. REWE, for example, is currently testing a small-scale format for convenience shoppers in highly frequented locations in Germany, Rewe to Go. This new form of outlet has a greatly reduced range, focusing on fresh, ready-to-eat products such as sandwiches, fruit, salads, and sushi, with microwaves on hand to heat up ready meals. This concept is already well-established and still growing in Asia, the US, and Great Britain. In Germany, the key target group – convenience shoppers – has so far depended on gas stations or kiosks to satisfy their needs.

3) The format development process needs to be supported by systematic project, HR, and communication management

Developing and implementing a successful format is not something that can be done on the side. Developing and refining formats is a top management task. It takes the finest minds and the superior skills of the most motivated teams from all divisions to pull it off. This aspect of format development – “incorporation” – runs parallel to the other four steps, and it forms the bedrock of the entire operation. We recommend a central project office to track progress regularly, to identify potential bottlenecks before they even arise, and to manage interfaces that help avoid silo thinking.

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Business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) marketing and selling

       Marketers and salespersons often distinguish between two major categories of types of marketing and selling based upon the category of customers being targeted. These two major categories of distinct customer groups or markets are business versus consumer customers or put another way, business marketing to consumers (B2C marketing) and businesses marketing to other businesses or organisations (B2B marketing). Though the basic principles of marketing and selling apply to both markets, as we shall see later in this and several subsequent chapters, there are also some significant differences between the two with regard to marketing and selling. In preparation for some of these subsequent chapters therefore we have explained some of the important characteristics of consumer versus business customers and markets in marketing each of these markets

 Business to consumer (B2C) markets

   Consumer markets are markets where the distinguishing characteristic is that the customer is purchasing products and services their own or their family’s use. The principal motives for purchase, therefore, are personal in nature. However, within the consumer market there are a number of different types or sub-markets depending on the type of product and consumer purchase we are considering. These different types of consumer markets are considered below. Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG): FMCG markets are markets where customers are purchasing products, which generally involve relatively low financial outlays, are bought frequently and are generally non-durable. They include, therefore, products such as toothpaste, confectionery, cigarettes, grocery products, cosmetics, some of the more frequently purchased electrical items such as, say, batteries, light bulbs, and so on. Buyers will spend relatively little time searching for information and evaluating between different product offerings. If satisfied they will tend to buy the same brand routinely.

Business to business (B2B) markets

Business to business (B2B) markets are characterised by often large and powerful buyers, purchasing predominantly for the furtherance of organisational objectives and in an organisational context using skilled/professional buyers. Demand in B2B markets is normally derived demand; customers are often geographically concentrated and negotiation is the order of the day in dealings between marketer and customer.

Marketing and selling in these markets is very different from that encountered in B2C markets. Buyers are much more likely to negotiate on price, and delivery and service are particularly important. The salesperson is likely to be dealing with skilled negotiators and the process of buying, and hence selling can extend over months or even years for certain types of capital idea equipment. As in consumer markets, there are several distinct types of sub-markets within B2B markets, the main ones being

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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SALES AND MARKETING

. The adoption of the marketing concept has in many companies been accompanied by changes in organizational structure, together with changes in the view of what constitutes the nature of selling. Perhaps the most notable difference between the pre- and post-marketing orientated company is the fact that sales are later seen to be a part of the activity of the marketing function. In the marketing orientated company, the marketing function takes on a much wider controlling and coordinating role across the range of company activities.

This facet of marketing orientation is often misunderstood by those in sales, and a great deal of resentment is often engendered between sales and marketing Such resentment is often due to insensitive and undiplomatic management when making the changes necessary to re-orientate a company. Selling is only a part of the total marketing programmer of a company and this total effort should be coordinated by the marketing function.

The marketing concept, however, does not imply that sales activities are any less important, nor that marketing executives should hold the most senior positions in a company. In addition to changes in organizational structure, the influence of the marketing function and the increased professional approach taken to sales has meant that the nature and role of this activity has changed. Selling and sales management are now concerned with the analysis of customers’ needs and wants and, through the com-pony’s total marketing efforts, with the provision of benefits to satisfy these needs and wants. As with all parts of the marketing mix, the personal selling function is not a stand-alone element, but one that must be considered in the light of overall marketing strategy.

At the product level, two major marketing considerations are the choice of target market and the creation of a differential advantage. Both of these decisions impact on personal selling. Takes on a much wider controlling and coordinating role across the range of com-Pany activities. This facet of marketing orientation is often misunderstood by those in sales, and a great deal of resentment is often engendered between sales and mar-kiting. Such resentment is often due to insensitive and undiplomatic management when making the changes necessary to re-orientate a company. Selling is only a part of the total marketing programmed of a company and this total effort should be coordinated by the marketing function. The marketing concept, however, does not imply that sales activities are any less important, nor that marketing executives should hold the most senior positions in a company.

Selling and sales management are now concerned with the analysis of customers’ needs and wants and, through the company total marketing efforts, with the provision of benefits to satisfy these needs and wants.

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TEN PERSPECTIVES ON RETAIL MARKETING

1.            Brands are value generators. In an increasingly differentiated retail and media landscape, consumers use brands as signposts for their decision journey. As a result, brand image is a key factor in retail customer acquisition, development, and retention efforts. This makes branding a top management topic that should not be delegated to marketing departments or agencies.

2.           Brand management requires a combination of art, science, and craft. A large part of this book focuses on the analytical foundations of retail marketing. But successful brands also depend on the art of creative minds and the craft of seasoned practitioners. It is through the interplay of the three elements that strong brands are created – and sustained.

 3.          Retail branding is a three-front war. Retailers face brand-related challenges at three levels: umbrella branding, store branding, and product branding, especially regarding the ever-changing mix of manufacturer brands and private labels. This calls for a systematic approach, but one that leaves room for flexibility in daily brand management decisions.

4.           Format follows branding. New lifestyles and hybrid consumption give rise to a proliferation of formats, from subterranean smart stores to suburban multi-brand malls. But always remember that the store format is where your brand promise takes shape. Keep innovating, but make sure new formats fit and support your brand.

 5.          Money doesn’t change everything, after all. A bigger budget is not necessarily a better budget, especially as earned media – such as social networks – are on the rise. Strive for clarity in what you are trying to achieve in the marketplace, then align your budget level, activity allocation, and capability building with these objectives.

6.            New media are affecting the entire retail value chain. Digital technology is no longer limited to online brand building. Dynamic new touch points provide opportunities for value creation across functions, from web-based insights generation to arm.

7.           Hands-on local media will remain important. Shopping is an every-day activity, and it requires customer contacts in everyday contexts. ATL image campaigns will complement rather than displace leaflets and local print ads.

8.           Make the most of your direct customer relationships. Retailers enjoy the unique privilege of direct relations with shoppers, both offline and online. The potential for direct communication, tailored propositions, and personalized offers is greater than in any other industry.

   9.       Leverage data wisely to create competitive advantage. Retailers possess reams of data, but only a fraction of it is commercially relevant. To avoid drowning in data, make strategy the guide of your data mining, not vice versa. This will enable you to derive activities that are reliably relevant to shoppers and trigger quantifiable responses.

10.        Keep core capabilities in-house. While some services, such as research or analytics, can be outsourced to vendors, brand positioning and marketing strategy should be retained by retailers. As content evolves into a differentiating factor, make sure to secure the services of the best content creators you can find, be it in-house or externally.

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What Is Retail Marketing – Functions, Importance, Strategies

Retail marketing refers to the range of activities undertaken in the retail store by the retailers as well as the brand to promote the products to the customers in order to generate awareness, interest, and sales.

Retail Marketing Strategies

Different retail marketing strategies can be planned and employed for different types of retail outlets. The elements which should be considered while crafting a retail marketing strategy are:

Target Market: The market segment which the retail outlet caters to.

Retail Format: It’s the retail mix of the retailer and the type of the store (ownership-based, franchise-based, discount-store, etc.)

Sustainable Competitive Advantage: An advantage over the competitors.

The main objective of the retail marketing strategy is to differentiate the retail store from the competition by setting up and promoting a sustainable competitive advantage which leads to increased sales.

Retail Marketing Importance

The traditional dependency of retailers on manufacturers has been reversed. Today’s retailers have their own brand, their own loyal customers, and even have the power to sell, to upsell, to cross-sell, or to down sell any product using smart retail marketing strategies. Smart retail marketing strategies help the retailers enhance the customer’s journey in a retail store and make him perceive that his money is spent on the right products.

A good retail shopping experience motivates the customers to buy a product even when they have no intention to do so. Shopping from a branded retail store generates a feeling of satisfaction and confidence among the customers.

Strategic placements and strategic store design improves the customer’s experience and help the retailers sell the products which provide them with the most profits. Purchasing during limited period offers make the customers feel they have achieved a great feat by saving money.

The Benefits of Retail Marketing

Retail marketing, whether online or offline, allows a business to enjoy many benefits. This goes beyond making money, since a business always seeks to increase revenue. Besides making a profit, these benefits occur because of retail marketing.

Building up a network with other businesses.

Gaining customer loyalty.

Collecting customer data.

When you get into retail marketing, you establish connections with other businesses that manufacture the products you sell. This allows you to network, find more businesses, and continue to grow your business. As for customers, they won’t associate you with a product. For example, if a customer becomes mad at a business because of a product, they won’t project it onto your store, even if you sold it to them. Customers disassociate your business from the products, which works as an advantage for you.

As you continue your retail marketing, you can collect data about your customers and products. Pay attention to details and continue to collect data such as popular products and traffic. This will help you to improve your store and to adjust it according to your customers’ needs. As you work in retail marketing, you can gain these benefits. They provide you with a way to improve your store while maintaining strong relationships with both businesses and customers.

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Aims and Objectives of Research Methodology

Marketing research is a process of analysing and conducting research about the market to understand market trends. It involves proper collection, analysis and interpretation of information regarding market conditions. Marketing research is mainly conducted to identify changes in preferences and behaviour of customers arising from the change in market mix elements viz. promotion, place, price and product. It may be defined as the mechanism which helps in linking the customers, producers and several other end users to the marketer and help in finding and communicating of all required information.

Research Methodology

Research methodology simply refers to the procedure or plan of action for conducting a research. It defines techniques and tools used to collect, process and analyse data regarding the research topic. Research methodologies tell the systematic method for acquiring data and studying it for deriving out crucial findings. This is an important process that helps in solving problems and making business decisions. It enables management for properly organizing their efforts in a right direction for generating an idea.

Methodology of research indicates and influences the overall validity and reliability of whole research to be conducted. Methodology answers mainly two questions regarding research that are how the data used for study was acquired and how it was analysed to derive out the findings.

Develops Better Insight Into Topic

Research methodology provides better familiarity with the research topic by properly explaining each concept associated with it. It aims at the proper analysis of every aspect and accurately portrays all findings of the project. 

Provides Systematic Structure

Research methodology eases the process of whole research to be done. It clearly defines the tools and techniques to be used for collecting, analysing and interpreting the data to find out the solutions.

Enhance The Research Quality

It determines the reliability and validity of the whole research work. Research methodology tells accurate sources from where data should be taken for studying purpose which thereby improves the quality of research done.

Derive Better Solutions

Research methodology helps in deriving crucial findings for solving business problems. It performs an in-depth study of various projects, develops a better understanding and detects all problems.

Aids In Decision Making

Decision making is another important role played by research methodology. It supports management in organizing their efforts in generating a new idea. Research methodology by providing direction for various activities of the project helps managers for efficient decision making.

Inculcates Logical And Systematic Thinking

It develops the logical thinking ability of individuals. Research methodology evaluates every element of the project and highlights them in detail. It represents every aspect in a simplified manner which improves logical thinking.

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Marketing Research and Objectives of marketing Research

Marketing research may be defined as the mechanism which helps in linking the customers, producers and several other end-users to the marketer and help in finding and communication of all required information. It is the system that leads to the collection of data, analysis of data and then interprets the required information to the users. Marketing research plays an important role in studying consumer behavior and making adjustments according to the change in the various elements of marketing mix viz. promotion, place, price, and product. It is a very efficient tool for the marketers to understand the trends of the market that mainly consists of information relating to new product launch in the market, trends in consumer demand, pricing strategy of the competitor and available close substitutes of the product. This all information acquired through this process enables in the smooth functioning of the marketing process.

Objectives of Marketing Research

Identify Customer Needs And Expectations

Marketing research helps business in understanding the needs and wants of customers. Proper knowledge of what customer want is necessary to deliver the products as per their expectations. Marketing research involves reaching out to customers and interacting with them to understand their demands. It helps in developing the right product as per customer requirements.

Minimize Marketing Costs

Marketing research process monitors and controls all marketing programmed. It performs a proper analysis and research of the market before formulating various marketing policies. It helps in choosing the efficient means of advertising and distributing the goods to reduce the marketing expenses. Marketing strategies used by competitors are also analyzed through this process to design better plans for marketing.

Setting Up Proper Price Policy

Deciding a proper price is a crucial decision for every business organization. Pricing policy should be such that it should neither adversely affects the customers nor the organization itself. Market research conduct research about price policies adopted by several promotion other competitors in the market. It collects a considerable amount of information regarding what competitors are charging and also what customers are willing to pay. This all helps in deciding optimum prices for different products.

Finds Target Market And New Opportunities

Identifying potential customers and new opportunities are important for grabbing the market. Marketing research explores the wide and large market and find out the opportunities for new products by recognizing the unfulfilled needs of customers.

It finds and gathers collection about new areas where its products can be sold. Different information about people of that area like their taste and preferences, purchasing power, culture and tradition is collected and sales analyzed to target that area.

Recognize Deficiencies In Product

Marketing research helps the companies in identifying the deficiencies in their products. Timely identification and removal of faults from company products is essential to retain its image in the market. Marketing research process involves interacting with customers and takes their valuable feedback and ideas suggestion.

These suggestions and feedback from customer help the customers in improving their product quality. Marketing research also informs of any technological changes in market to business so that accordingly changes can be made timely.

Product Positioning In Market

Positioning of product among targeted customers is an important task. It is the means through which customers are attracted and the market for the product is developed. Marketing research process collects all relevant information about the targeted audience.

This information helps in designing a company offers an image that may attract customers and have a long-lasting effect on their mind. Positioning strategy is designed differently for each product that may attract large customers. These strategies should clearly denote the main features of products.

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Marketing and concept of marketing

Marketing is the process of getting potential clients or customers interested in your products and services. The keyword in this definition is "process"; marketing involves researching, promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services.

This discipline centres on the study of market and consumer behaviours and it analyses the commercial management of companies in order to attract, acquire and retain customers (hopefully instilling brand loyalty) by satisfying their wants and needs.

five types of marketing concept

1)     The Production Concept

The production concept is focused on operations and is based on the assumption that customers will be more attracted to products that are readily available and can be purchased for less than competing products of the same kind. This concept came about as a result of the rise of early capitalism in the 1950s, at which time, companies were focused on efficiency in manufacturing to ensure maximum profits and scalability. This philosophy can be useful when a company markets in an industry experiencing tremendous growth, but it also carries a risk. Businesses that are overly focused on cheap production can easily lose touch with the needs of the customer and ultimately lose business despite its cheap and accessible goods.

2) The Product Concept

The product concept is the opposite of the production concept in that it assumes that availability and price don’t have a role in customer buying habits and that people generally prefer quality, innovation, and performance over low cost. Thus, this marketing strategy focuses on continuous product improvement and innovation. Apple Inc. is a prime example of this concept in action. Its target audience always eagerly anticipates the company’s new releases. Even though there are off-brand products that perform many of the same functions for a lower price, many folks will not compromise just to save money. Working on this principle alone, however, a marketer could fail to attract those who are also motivated by availability and price.

 3) The Selling Concept

Marketing on the selling concept entails a focus on getting the consumer to the actual transaction without regard for the customer’s needs or the product quality — a costly tactic. This concept frequently excludes customer satisfaction efforts and doesn’t usually lead to repeat purchases.

The selling concept is centered on the belief that you must convince a customer to buy a product through aggressive marketing of the benefits of the product or service because it isn’t a necessity. An example is soda pop. Ever wonder why you continue to see ads for Coca Cola despite the prevalence of the brand? Everyone knows what Coke has to offer, but it’s widely known that soda lacks nutrients and is bad for your health. Coca Cola knows this, and that’s why they spend astonishing amounts of money pushing their product.

 4) The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept is based on increasing a company’s ability to compete and achieve maximum profits by marketing the ways in which it offers better value to customers than its competitors. It’s all about knowing the target market, sensing its needs, and meeting them most effectively. Many refer to this as the “customer-first approach. “Glossier is a recognizable example of this marketing concept. The company understands that many women are unhappy with the way that makeup affects the health of their skin. They also noticed that women are fed up with being told what makeup products to use. With this in mind, Glossier introduced a line of skincare and makeup products that not only nourish the skin but are also easy to use and promote individualism and personal expression with makeup.

5) The Societal Concept

The societal marketing concept is an emerging one that emphasizes the welfare of society. It’s based on the idea that marketers have a moral responsibility to market conscientiously to promote what’s good for people over what people may want, regardless of a company’s sales goals. Employees of a company live in the societies they market to, and they should advertise with the best interests of their local community in mind. The fast-food industry is an example of what the societal concept aims to address. There’s a high societal demand for fast food, but this food is high in fat and sugar and contributes to excess waste. Even though the industry is answering the desires of the modern consumer, it’s hurting our health and detracting from our society’s goal of environmental sustainability.

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What is marketing Plan and  Components of a Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is an operational document that outlines an advertising strategy that an organization will implement to generate leads and reach its target market and marketing company. A marketing plan details the outreach and PR campaigns to be undertaken over a period, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives.

Marketing plans function to provide organization and direction to marketing efforts as a business takes a new service, product or even the business itself live. Depending on the scope of the marketing effort, marketing plans can often prove very complex affairs. No matter how simple or complex, though, marketing plans need to include some essential components.

 Components of a Marketing Plan

Target Market

The diverse interests of and resources available to consumers makes it next to impossible to appeal to everyone in the market and folly to try to do so. In ideal circumstances, businesses and products get developed with a market segment in mind from the start. Demographic factors may determine the target market -- for instance, marketing luxury products to those with high incomes. Psychographic factors are another way to determine the target market, such as only marketing a product or service to those with certain lifestyles. The marketing plan needs to detail a profile of this target market to avoid delivering marketing messages to the wrong consumers.

Differentiation Strategy

When customers view products and services as generic, they tend to expect mediocre performance and often prove unwilling to pay premium prices. The marketing plan needs to set out a clear line of thinking about what differentiates your product or service from the others on the market and gives it an air of uniqueness. Pricing can offer a differentiation strategy, but technological innovations, product features and customer service can also provide effective differentiation strategies.

Budget

Like any other business activity, marketing should happen on a defined budget. In some cases, the business owner or management provide a budget cap and marketing efforts get built around that constraint. In other cases, the decision makers set out broad goals and the people in charge of marketing propose a budget to meet the goal. In either scenario, the marketing plan should include a budget that breaks down where the money gets spent, such as print ads, television spots and online marketing.

Price Strategy

The marketing plan must set out a price strategy for the product, service or business. Determining a pricing strategy depends in part of the business goals, market penetration versus profit, but also on the financial resources of the business. A business with significant cash reserves may employ penetration pricing that loses the business money in order to capture competitors' customers or drive out competitors entirely. For high-end products or services, the business may use skim pricing that sets the price tag very high in order to capture affluent customers by sacrificing volume sales. Whichever price strategy the business employs, it must still work within the accepted range of prices for comparable services or products in a given region.

Importance of marketing plan

Marketing plan is an important factor that affect the economic status and vale of a business venture. Planning for marketing shows a clear idea and directions for a successful and intelligent marketing procedures. Planning is the process of deciding what should be done and how, to achieve a target. Planning is the first stage before marketing and it includes preparation of the policies, marketing procedures, budgets, etc. proper marketing plan increases the market and economic value of the business. Marketing plan works on the principle of marketing-based actions for the future minimising the cause of any uncertainties and risks and producing decisions for that. Marketing planning determines the future of a business or an organisation, showing light upon the product and marketing development, sales promotion and profitability.

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What Is B2B Marketing

Business-to- business(B2B) marketing refers to the marketing of products or services to other businesses and organizations. It holds several key distinctions from B2C marketing, which is oriented toward consumers.

In broad sense, B2B marketing content tends to be more informational and straightforward than B2C. This is because business purchase decisions, in comparison to those of consumers, are based more on bottom-line revenue impact. Return on investment (ROI) is rarely a consideration for the everyday person — at least in a monetary sense — but it’s a primary focus for corporate decision makers.

In the modern environment, B2B marketers often sell to buying committees with various key stakeholders. This makes for a complex and sometimes challenging landscape, but as data sources become more robust and accurate, the ability to map out committees and reach buyers with relevant, personalized information is greatly improving.

Types of B2B Marketing

Here are a few of the most common B2B marketing types and channels:

Blogs: A mainstay for almost any content team. Regularly updated blogs provide organic visibility and idea and drive inbound traffic to your site. Your blog can house any number of different content formats: written copy, infographics, videos, case studies, and more.

Search: SEO best practices change as often as Google’s algorithm (a lot), making this a tricky space to operate in, but any B2B marketing strategy needs to account for it. Lately the focus has been shifting away from keywords and metadata, and more toward searcher intent signals.

Social Media: Both organic and paid should be in the Marketing mix. Social networks allow you to reach and engage prospects where they’re active. B2B buyers increasingly use these channels to research potential vendors for purchase decisions.

Whitepapers/eBooks: Standalone assets containing valuable information, these downloadable documents can either be gated (meaning a user must provide contact information or perform another action to access) or ungated. Often used as a B2B lead generation tool.

Email: While its effectiveness is waning somewhat in the age of spam filters and inbox shock, email won’t disappear anytime soon. To work around overloaded inboxes, some sales and marketing professionals use LinkedIn InMail for lead generation.

Videos: This content type can be applied in several of the previous categories mentioned here (blogs, social media, emails) but is worth singling out because it is growing so important to B2B strategies.

The importance of B2B Marketing

There has been a paradigm shift in the way people market and sell their products today. The change is quite significant in B2B marketing because of the inherent nature of the business. In a B2B business, your marketing skills are required to be incredibly strong to even survive in the marketplace, forget about growth. Since everybody uses the Internet nowadays, your B2B venture is known to so many people even before you realize that they are watching. In this situation, it is needless to say that a B2B market has to remain always on the toes if it aspires to be a market leader.

The Internet marketing strategy has to be the prominent strategy to achieve grand success. Make it part of your active marketing plan.

Nature and Scope of B2B Market

The business (B2B) market consists of organizations that buy goods and services:

To make other goods and services.

To resell to business users or to consumers.

To be used in the operations of the organizations.

Huge in sales volume.

Significant in terms of the number of firms involved.

Largely behind the scenes.

[themarketbeats]

Procedure and status of Marketing Research:

Marketing research and marketing research company includes the complete analysis of the market. Information regarding the nature, size, organisation profitability of different markets, changes in markets and various factors- economic, social and political-affecting those changes are studied vigorously. The main purpose of market research is to know about the consumers and the markets of its products or services.

Marketing manager has to do many jobs, but he is not expected to be a qualified researcher. He is the user of the findings of the marketing research, but he is not a researcher. At the same time, he should know the marketing research procedure. To understand the marketing problem in a better way, one must aim at marketing research through which solutions against problems can be had. The design and implementation of the marketing research project greatly depend upon the skill of the researcher. The exact procedure cannot be laid down for marketing research, as the procedure may change from firm to firm and from situation to situation.

The Marketing Research Process:

1. Defining the Problem:

In order to carry out the research programme, the researcher should know the basic problem. He must be clear in mind as to what is exactly needed. The basic problem i.e., marketing problem is given importance and not the marketing research problem. A competent researcher will not accept a research project, until he understands the problem clearly. Thus crystalizing the marketing problem is fundamental.

After identifying the problem, the researcher formulates a plan when the problem is defined. The purpose of the project determines the nature of the problem and the ways to solve it. When the researcher gets a clear idea of the problem, he analyses the situation and understands more about the problem. He analyses the marketing company, its markets, its competition etc. The informal investigation or preliminary exploration consists of getting background information relating to the problem.

2. Determining the Information Needed:

The researcher must consider the information and decide which is relevant and which is irrelevant to the study. In determining the kind of information needed, the objectives of the research must be borne in mind. The information should be necessary and relevant. If the available data are insufficient, fresh data have to be collected.

3. Determining the Source of Information:

The Source of information may be classified into primary source and secondary source. When the information is obtained directly, specially for the problem, it is known as primary data. When the information is already collected by someone for some other purpose, and at the same time is helpful to the problem on hand, it is known as secondary data (see collection of data).

4. Deciding Research Methods:

When secondary data are insufficient, the researcher has to be satisfied with the primary sources of data. The sources may be by experimental method, observation method or survey method.

5. Tabulation, Analysis and Interpretation of the Data:

After the collection of data, they are to be classified and tabulated into statistical summarization. They may be in percentage, average, ratios etc., so as to give the greatest value in the interpretation work. Interpretation is the important stage in the process of research. Correct interpretation of data makes a research meaningful.

The mean or median classifies the nature of the average respondent, and the standard deviation shows how far respondents are dispersed around the average. Tests of significance are useful in measuring whether two occurrences are related to each other. It is important, for example, to know whether a price decrease caused an increase in sales, or whether the two events just happened simultaneously.

Correlation and association provide a more sophisticated method of making the same kind of analysis done in cross tabulation. One of the most useful of these is regression analysis, which allows the researcher to estimate the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables and to determine whether or not one variable causes another.

6. Preparation of the Report:

Draw conclusions from the tabulated summaries. Conclusions, recommendations and suggestions supported by detailed analysis of findings, must be in a written form-report of the researcher.

Status of Marketing Research:

In earlier stages, the market was a smaller one. But now the gap between the consumers and the producers is wider. Competition may enter at any time in the market. Changes are always there. The taste of the buyers changes at any time. For example, the higher demand, in the past for radio is replaced by television; the higher demand for Terrilyn is replaced by polyester.

Thus, day to day changes take place in the market. Changes may occur in the market because of technological progress, expansion of markets and sales, complexity growth of market, changes in the consumption pattern etc. The changes that take place in the markets must be understood and get idea by the management. For this, the management must depend upon the marketing research as a guide. It is an aid to the management. It places all necessary facts before the management, who can shape the solution to the problems. Marketing research plays an important role in decision-making.

[themarketbeats]

The market research is an important element of the process of marketing research. Marketing research includes the complete analysis of the market. Information regarding the nature, size, organization profitability of different markets and marketing agency, changes in markets and various factors- economic, social and political-affecting those changes are studied vigorously. The main purpose of market research is to know about the consumers and the markets of its products or services. It is a systematic search for information. It involves data collection, analysis and interpretation. Research cannot draw decisions, but it helps the marketers in the task of decision making. A successful executive will never depend upon guess work. He looks for more accurate information through research.

The main idea of marketing research is to know more about the consumers, dealers, and the products. As the business grows, the distance between the manufacturer and consumers also widens. The management depends upon the marketing research as a tool in solving the marketing problems. It helps in taking a fruitful and efficient decision as to the flow of goods and services in the hands of the customers.

Types of marketing research:

There are different types of marketing research depending on the objectives that the research is designed to achieve and the sources of data which are to be used. Marketing research may also be either qualitative or quantitative depending on the form of data generated and the degree of mathematical accuracy level to which it is subjected. The most widely used category of marketing research is based on the functional objective of investigation.

1. Exploratory Research

       Exploratory research gives valuable insight, generates ideas and hypotheses rather than    measuring or testing them. “Exploratory research is concerned with identifying the real nature of research problems and perhaps of formulating relevant hypotheses for various tests”. Crimp stated that the researcher undertakes exploratory research in order to generate an adequate basis for designing research and it includes searching for data that are already available both within the marketing company and from external sources, consulting experts, conducting observational studies, getting feedback from market place and surveys.

2. Descriptive Research:

 Descriptive research is concerned with measuring and estimating the frequencies with which things occur or the degree of correlation or association between various variables. It has been seen that market research reports are often descriptive and they measure market size, market structure, and the behaviour and attitudes of consumers in the marketplace. In general, as the data obtained by descriptive research is put to various statistical analysis, it is very necessary to make a list of the variables to be investigated and how these variables will be measured.

3. Causal Research:

Causal research is basically concerned with establishing cause and effect relationship and an attempt to explain why things happen. For example, to what extent the price elasticity of demand or the degree to which advertising campaigns have affected the sales may be explained by causal research.

4. Predictive Research:

The main purpose of predictive research is to arrive at a forecast or prediction or some measurement of interest to the researcher. The ultimate target may be the future sales level of the firm. Other goals of predictive research may involve industry sales level, projection or growth or defining of firm’s product line and the use of a test market to predict the likely success of a new product.

Scope of Marketing Research:

Research creativity, at its best, marketing research develops innovative ways to solve problems. The main objective of marketing research is to enable manufacturers to make goods acceptable and saleable and to see that they reach the market more easily, quickly, cheaply and profitably without sacrificing consumer interest.

[themarketbeats]

Creative Retail Marketing Ideas to Get Customers

Retail marketing offers support for FMCG manufacturers in their retail strategy development, especially in regards of their positioning with various retailers or route-to-market. Due to our significant retail knowledge, we are able to provide investors in manufacturing a different perspective for their sales and marketing strategy and enhance their understanding of the retailers’ needs and targets.

Retail marketing is the range of activities undertaken by a retailer to promote awareness and sales of the company’s products. This is different from other types of marketing because of the components of the retail trade, such as selling finished goods in small quantities to the consumer or end user, usually from a fixed location. Retail marketing makes use of the common principles of the marketing mix, such as product, price, place and promotion. A study of retail marketing at university level includes effective merchandising strategies, shopping and consumer behavior, branding and advertising. Retail marketing is especially important to small retailers trying to compete against large chain stores.

One of the nice things about the retail industry is it’s easier to let your marketing creativity flow than working in a more staid corporation. Even if you have a store stocked with items you know people will buy, you need customers in the door to see and try them. Don’t let your ideas be limited; draw up as many ideas as you can imagine and then whittle them down to ones that seem doable from both a manpower standpoint and a budgetary one. There are several creative things you can try that will cost you very little

Neighborhood Advertising

Advertising can be effective, but it also can be costly. It is better to have one or two ads seen by many than 20 ads seen by just a few. Look around your neighborhood for popular places that allow advertising, such as a park bench or covered bus stop. If you have plenty of foot traffic in front of your business, hire someone as a walking “sandwich ad” or to dress in a costume that befits your store. Research advertising costs for taxicabs and public buses that go through your neighborhood.

Mobile Retailing

Before there were storefronts, there were traveling peddlers. While that mode of sales was out of practical necessity, going to where the customer is can be a proactive marketing strategy. If you can find and afford a small trailer, check zoning regulations to see what restrictions exist in various locations. You can move around or set up a semi-permanent location with a sample of your products to entice customers to your main location. You also can look for vacant spots in popular malls and offices and offer the landlord a temporary lease.

Business Card Power

Business card drawings are easy to promote once customers are actually in your store, and they are a great way to get customer information. You also can set up a table outside the store to promote a drawing. Once you have the cards, you possess a wealth of information for additional marketing, such as email discounts and personal thank-you notes. If you get cards from other nearby businesses, approach them with cross-promotional opportunities, such as offering a discount for every purchase from their store.

Events

Hold events that are appropriate for the nature of your retail business. Every business can host an open house that offers refreshments. Augment it with product demonstrations, from building an “essential woman’s toolbox” for a hardware store, to a “preparing for baby” kit for clothiers or grocers. You also can hold demonstrations during regular store hours. If you cater to families, offer storytelling hour for children at the same time parents are attending demonstrations or classes. Be sure to ask for even minimal information such as name and email addresses so you can follow up with attendees.

[themarketbeats]