Marketing research steps
- Define the market to be covered - At this point; the McDonalds need to know which market they will be supplying with the McFish sandwich. The market can be the one already being served by the Big Mac or they can establish a new market. The market should be well defined to allow conclusive study to be carried out. Positively identifying a gap in the market allows the management to move on and study prospective customers.
- Try to understand the prospect customers - The prospect customers are clients supposed to consume the McFish sandwiches. Research should be carried out to establish whether they have any cultural or political background that would make them resist feed on the McFish sandwich (Guiltinan, 1996). If it is established that no barrier exist among prospective target market on consuming the McFish, the management should move ahead to create the marketing materials.
- Creation of marketing materials - The marketing materials will be used in communicating information about the product to the clients. The materials can be in form of pictures or writings. Agreement on the type of marketing materials to be used allows marketers to move forward and identify the media to be used in distributing the marketing information (McDaniel, 1998).
- Getting the product to the media - The media is one of the popular modes of marketing used by modern companies. The media personnel need to be informed of the new product and the form of popularization they are supposed to carry out. They should be instructed to capitalize on the product’s cheap pricing at $5.5, same as the current Big Mac sandwich, and the added advantage of being served with high-fiber, whole-wheat buns. Positive identification of media to be used allows for a calendar to be created on the release date of the product to the market together with the accompanying advert.
- Create referrals - Existing customers to the McDonalds may be used to refer their friends to consume the McFish sandwich. Referrals will be a cheaper form of marketing because no cost is incurred on the business in trying to market the new product.
- Creating calendar - The marketing calendar is supposed to determine when and where the product will be introduced in the market. The calendar will eliminate confusion on release date of the McFish sandwich into the market.
Decisions at each step
Decisions have to be made at each stage of the marketing activity. During step one, a decision has to be made on whether the existing market is satisfied by the existing sandwiches supply. Decision has to be made whether to try an entry into a new market or remain in the traditional market (Joshi and Rakesh, 2010).
The second step will involve making decisions on whether to outsource the work of studying prospect customers or the task be completed by McDonalds marketing department.
The third step requires decision making on which form of marketing material to be used. The materials can be in form of brochures or distributing the recipe of the McFish to the prospective customers.
Step four requires decisions to be made on which media personalities to approach to market the new product. The selected media should capitalize on the cheap pricing of the McFish sandwich at $5.5, same as BigMac sandwich. Selection of media personalities and media house to be used should be guided by the amount of publicity they can provide (Iacobucci, 2010). The decision needs to be made based on the cost of hiring their services.
The fifth step requires decisions to be made on the mode to be used to earn referrals. Customers should be well informed of the product to eradicate situations where there will be miscommunication on the product description.
The sixth step decisions have to be made on what amount of data needs to be collected before releasing the product to the customers. Decision-making will require using data mining tools to analyze the data provided by the customers during identification of prospect customers (Kilter, Gary, Veronica, and John, 2009).
References
Guiltinan B. (1996). Marketing Management: Strategies and Programs. New York: McGraw Hill Irwin.
Joshi and Rakesh M. (2010) .International Marketing. New York: Oxford University Press.
Iacobucci, D. (2010). Marketing research: methodological foundations. Mason: South-Western.
McDaniel, C. (1998). Marketing research essentials. Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western College Pub.
Kilter P, Gary A, Veronica W and John S. (2009) .Principles of marketing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
