MKTG 301:

PRINCIPLES OF
MARKETING
JONATHAN BARRAN BBA, MBA, DBA (CAND.)
CHAPTER 4
Learning Objectives
❑Explain the importance of information in gaining insights
about the marketplace and customers.
❑Define the marketing information system and discuss its
parts.
❑Outline the steps in the marketing research process.
❑Explain how companies analyze and use marketing
information.
❑Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers
face, including public policy and ethics issues.
 ✔ Explain the importance of information in
gaining insights about the marketplace and
customers.

Marketing Information and Customer Insights

Learning Objective 4-1

 Marketing Information and
Customer Insights

Customer Insights
To create value for customers and build
meaningful relationships with them,
marketers must first gain fresh, deep
insights into what customers need and
want. Such customer insights come from
good marketing information. Companies
use these customer insights to develop a
competitive advantage.
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Companies are forming customer
insights teams.

Include all company

functional areas

Collect information from a wide

variety of sources

Use insights to create more value

for their customers
 Marketing Information and Customer
Insights
Marketing Information Systems (MIS)
A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people and procedures dedicated
to assessing information needs, developing the needed information, and helping decision
makers use the information to generate and validate actionable customer and market insights.

It consists of people and procedures for:

•Assessing the information needs
•Developing needed information
•Helping decision makers use the information for customer
✔ Define the marketing information system and discuss its
parts

Assessing Information Needs and Developing Data

Learning Objective 4-2
Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
MIS provides information to
the company’s marketing and
other managers and external
partners such as
suppliers, resellers, and
marketing service agencies
Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
Balancing what the information users would like to
have against what they need and what is feasible to
offer .
Marketing Information System
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketers obtain information from:
•Internal data
•Marketing intelligence
•Marketing research
Developing Marketing Information
Internal databases
This is the collections of consumer and market
information obtained from data sources
within the company network.
E.g. - ?
 Competitive marketing intelligence is the
systematic monitoring, collection, and analysis
of publicly available information about
consumers, competitors, and developments in
Developing the marketplace. The goal of competitive
marketing intelligence is to improve strategic
Marketing decision making by understanding the
consumer environment, assessing and tracking
Information competitors’ actions and providing early
warnings of opportunities and threats.

Competitive marketing intelligence

Marketing intelligence techniques range from
observing consumers firsthand to quizzing the
company’s own employees, benchmarking
competitors’ products, online research, and
monitoring social media buzz.
 ✔ Outline the steps in the marketing
research process.

Marketing Research
Learning Objective 4-3
MARKETING
RESEARCH
Marketing research is
the systematic design, collection,
analysis, and reporting of data
relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing
an organization
 Marketing research is the systematic design, collection,
analysis, and reporting of data relevant to a specific
marketing situation facing an organization. Companies use
MARKETIN marketing research in a wide variety of situations.

G Marketing research gives marketers insights into customer

RESEARCH motivations, purchase behavior, and satisfaction. It can help
them to assess market potential and market share or
measure the effectiveness of pricing, product, distribution,
and promotion activities.
MARKETING RESEARCH
The Marketing Research Process
 MARKETING RESEARCH
A marketing research project might have one
of three types of objectives.

❖Exploratory research - Marketing research to gather

preliminary information that will help define problems and
suggest hypotheses.
❖Descriptive research - Marketing research to better
describe marketing problems, situations, or markets, such
as the market potential for a product or the demographics
and attitudes of consumers.
❖Causal research - Marketing research to test hypotheses
about cause-and-effect relationships. Used for testing
cause and effect relationships.
 MARKETING
RESEARCH
Developing the Research Plan
✔Outlines sources of existing data
✔Spells out the specific research
approaches, contact methods,
sampling plans, and instruments
to gather data
Written Research Plan Includes

MARKETING RESEARCH
 MARKETING RESEARCH
❑Secondary data is Information that already exists
somewhere, having been collected for
another purpose.

❑ Primary data is Information collected for the specific

purpose at hand.
MARKETIN
G
RESEARCH

-Secondary Data
MARKETING RESEARCH
MARKETING RESEARCH
Observational research involves
gathering primary data by observing
relevant people, actions, and
situations
Ethnographic research involves
sending trained observers to watch
and interact with consumers in their
natural environment
MARKETING
RESEARCH
Survey research is the most widely
used method and is best for
descriptive information—knowledge,
attitudes, preferences, and buying behavior
•Flexible
•People can be unable or unwilling to answer
•Gives misleading or pleasing answers
•Privacy concerns
MARKETING
RESEARCH
Experimental research is gathering
primary data by selecting
matched groups of subjects,
giving them different treatments,
controlling related factors, and
checking for differences in group
responses.
MARKETING RESEARCH
Strengths and Weakness of Contact Methods
 MARKETING RESEARCH
Contact Methods
❑Focus group interviewing
Personal interviewing that involves inviting
small groups of people to gather for a few
hours with a trained interviewer to talk
about a product, service, or organization.
The interviewer “focuses” the group
discussion on important issues.
Developing
Marketing
Information
Contact Methods
MARKETING RESEARCH
Sampling Plan
A sample is a segment of the population selected for marketing research to represent the
population. Ideally, the sample should be representative so that the researcher can make accurate
estimates of the thoughts and behaviors of the larger population.
MARKETING RESEARCH
Research Instruments
In collecting primary data, marketing researchers have a choice of two main research instruments:
questionnaires and mechanical devices.

▪ Questionnaires. The questionnaire is by far the ▪ Mechanical Instruments. Although

most common instrument, whether questionnaires are the most common research
administered in person, by phone, by email, or instrument, researchers also use mechanical
online. Questionnaires are very flexible—there instruments to monitor consumer behavior.
are many ways to ask questions. Closed-ended
questions include all the possible answers, and For example, Nielsen Media Research attaches
subjects make choices among them. people meters to television sets in selected
homes to record who watches which programs
Examples include multiple-choice questions and
scale questions.
✔ Explain how companies analyze and
use marketing information

Analyzing and Using Marketing Information

Learning Objective 4-4
Analyzing and Using
Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management (CrM)
Managing detailed information about
individual customers and carefully
managing customer touch points to
maximize customer loyalty.
Analyzing and Using
Marketing Information
Customer Relationship Management
Touchpoints
Distributing and Using
Marketing Information
Information distribution involves entering information into
databases and making it available in a time-useable manner
•Intranet provides information to employees and other
stakeholders
•Extranet provides information to key customers and
suppliers
 ✔ Other Marketing Information
Considerations

Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face, including public policy
and ethics issues.
Learning Objective 4-5
Other Marketing
Information Considerations
Marketing Research
in Small Businesses International Public Policy and
and Nonprofit Market Research Ethics
Organizations

Misuse of research
Customer privacy
findings
CASE STUDY
Online, Mobile and Social Media
Marketing
Every second of every day, personal information is being indexed and processed. Every
device we use has a unique address which is being broadcast if you have wireless
networking switched on. Many of us do not even realize that programs exist to find
every picture you may have ever posted online. They can also pinpoint exactly where
you were when you uploaded them. If you haven’t set the right privacy settings, it will
become easy to work out exactly where you live, your habits, and when you are at home
and when you are out. Some services are specifically designed to scare people about the
information they are unintentionally leaking to the world, such as pleaserobme.com.
This shows you whether you are sharing your location and prompts you to change your
privacy settings.

Activity : Make a detailed list of all the websites, online forums, social networks, and other
web pages you have visited this week. What data have you left that could be of value to
marketers?
Reference

Kotler,P & Armstrong, G

(2019). Principles of Marketing
New York: Pearson 17th edn.