This is the note for my EdX Marketing Learning. You can register to learn FREE the course Introduction to Marketing over here: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:UBCx+COMM420x+3T2017/course/ .
2.1. Introduction
In this module, you will focus on strategies and techniques for getting to know your consumer, and basing marketing decisions on the insight you gain from market research. You will also learn about targeting different segments of the market, and about frameworks and tools that you can use to identify a specific group of consumers that will be likely to respond to your marketing efforts, and inform the communication and strategic approaches that you employ.
Key Takeaways:
– Strategies and techniques for getting to know your consumer
– How to base marketing decisions on the insights you gain from market research
2.3. Market Reasearch
The purpose of Market research is to understand competitors, consumers, and the environments around us. To use the tools such as SWOT, PEST, 3Cs, we have to have a good information, with detail because one of the challenges today is we’re drowning in data, and we are lacking the good insights of the information.
Some techniques for market reasearch for understanding customers:
– Surveys
– Focus group
– In-depth interview
– Observation
CASE STUDY: Agent Provocateur – Lingerie brand in the UK makes market research in Vancouver, Canada
Challenges:
– People were a bit uncomfortable to talk about a product like lingerie.
– How to get the best information from the consumer because lingerie is the social sensitive products?
– They want to understand consumers, competitors and understand what people think about this new product.
Technique to interview:
– Younger and not Intimidating
– Approach people on the street in Vancouver
– Offered $5 Starbucks card as a gift
–> This technique knocks down the barrier and people are open, more fun to interviewer.
–> Result: Collect 500 surveys
Hypothesis of Agent Provocateur about local consumers in Vancouver:
– They expected to be very well-known in Vancouver
– They thought people would be excited with how they do marketing (displays that feature mannequins wearing the lingerie)
– They thought that they knew who would love their product (the wealthier).
Result after analyzing survey:
– Very least people in Vancouver knew the brand. When being asked about the top brand in lingerie, people answered Victoria’s Secret
– People are divided on whether their ads was too risque (Some think it was appropriate, some not)
– The wealthier (high income) and the lower income loved this product.
Questions:
– Why did the lower income want to buy this high-end luxury products? –> It is called trade-off in consumer behaviors, when they sacrified others to save money for the expensive one.
2.4. Actionable insights through Research
A. Objective of Market Research
Data – Information – Insight
– We work with Actionable Insights, which is filtered from Information and Data.
– The actionable insight is what we use to inform the decision we make around our marketing plan
– In Market Research, we can collect new data, reuse old data, do whatever with data but the important here is what we analyze and what we do with it is what’s going to be key.
Past – Present – Future
– Data is from the Past (or Present), but decision is for the Future
– Challenge here is we have to trade-off between SPEED, COST, RISK and QUALITY of the decision.
– Question to ask: With the data, is it going to lead to a better decision? OR we wait for weeks, months and consider that the decision at that time is good or not?
B. Types of Market Research
