Question

Why is marketing research important to the development of a marketing strategy?

Answer 1

Marketing Research : It is a methodical Collection and analysis of data points about your target market, Competition and environment. It helps in identifying target market and also to understand how product or service will fare in the marketplace. Market Research helps you in creating a targeted  marketing strategy. Market Research can be of 2 types

1. Quantitative Research : This method deals in Numbers and trends and can be done through Surveys, polls, Social Media data analysis etc. It helps you to understand effectiveness of various attributes of your product viz. Customer Satisfaction, Quality of your product and Cost of your product etc. in terms of numbers. You can then compare it with benchmarks in the industry and look at way to improve or design your Marketing Strategy.

2. Qualitative Research : This method tries to capture the feelings of the consumers about your product/service in their own words. This method of research can be done by Face to Face interview, Group discussions, Behavioural studies etc.

Benefits of Marketing Research:

1. It helps in maximising Return on Investment of your marketing strategy. More benefit for every dollar spent on marketing your product / service.

2. It helps to increase your sales and customer satisfaction since it can be used to create a targeted marketing strategy.

3. Helps to Identify any problem in your product/service and helps to optimise your existing marketing strategy based on quantitative or qualitative results.

4. New products can be developed / innovated based on the outcome of the research to fill any void in the marketplace.