Marketing and marketing research plays a vital role in the survival, success, and growth of the organization. Different organizations around the world rely on this perspective to attain benefits and through the advent of marketing research; organizations can attain competitive advantage of sustainable nature. Marketing research enables organizations and marketers to identify and recognize problems, opportunities, and issues relevant to marketing strategies. Marketing research also enables organizations to review marketing activities, evaluate performance of marketing strategies and enhance the knowledge relevant to marketing activities. Marketing research is the methodical, objective, and systematic process of producing and utilizing information to make effective marketing decisions. It fills the gap between consumers, and marketers through relevant facts, figures, and information in context of marketing opportunities and problems.
Different strategists utilize the aspect of marketing research to collect data in an enormous form. Marketing research involves the collection, recording, interpretation, analysis, and utilization of quantitative and qualitative data relevant to marketing activities of specific products or services. Marketers utilize marketing research to analyze how changes in the specific elements of the marketing mix affect the behavior of consumers in specific markets. Different strategists around the world utilize this scenario to attain long-term benefits, as they believe that they cannot survive in a competitive world without the implementation of effective marketing research policies. Competitive organizations work on core marketing strategy oriented policies through which they can understand the preferences of the customers and regard their choices. These organizations can change their decisions after a certain period through the enormous amount of data they have.
Many people confuse marketing research with market research, but both terms have different meanings and uses. Marketing research refers to the process of collecting and analyzing data and information to make decisions relevant to marketing strategies. Usually, long-term decisions fall in this category but at times organizations label short-term decision making into this scenario. However, market research primarily focuses on gathering and interpreting information about the specific characteristics and attributes of the market including size, trends, and demographics. Marketers require essential data and information to introduce new products and services or enhance the value of existing products or services among the consumers. The perceptions of consumers change considerably, and the continuous flow of information enables organizations to keep up with the changing trends and perceptions. Marketing research provides the necessary information for creating and maintaining the positive perceptions of specific products and services in the minds of consumers. The primary objective of marketing research is to provide the essential data, facts, figures, and information to managers to develop and implement marketing strategies. This data helps organizations in the decision making process and through such data organization can attain long-term success.
Marketing research comprises two primary forms of research including applied research and basic research. Basic research involves the collection and analysis of data to enhance knowledge, verify specific theories or concepts, and increase understanding of specific marketing issues. Basic research does not provide solutions to marketing problems or issues but enhances the knowledge of marketers to make important marketing decisions. Basic marketing research enables organizations to increase existing knowledge and accept or reject specific theories or concepts relevant to marketing decisions. On the other hand, applied research enables organizations to solve specific marketing problems rather than enhancing existing marketing knowledge. Organizations and marketers utilize applied marketing research to solve specific problems and issues relevant to real world marketing problems. The two types of marketing research enable organizations to devise and implement the marketing mix in an effective manner. Organizations through this strategy attain competitive advantage and they benefit a lot through this strategy.
The future of marketing research would evolve with the advent of time, as people would embrace newer technologies in the near future. They would interact with different individuals and develop newer platforms. The entire industry would take 4 possible strategic decisions and these decisions would adjust to the advent of today’s economy. Some of these 4 important future marketing research would include:
- Different marketing research tools would drive and embrace speed and technologically enhanced infrastructure.
- Organizations and marketing research based organizations would make sense of even bigger data.
- Organizations and different researchers would tap into consumer collaboration and attain benefits through this perspective.
Researchers believe that through these perspectives they can get one-step ahead of the current scenarios. They would be able to understand the insights of customers in a proactive manner and this would benefit them in the research-based process. However, they should understand the fact that they have to apply all the scenarios of the upcoming years in a proactive manner keeping in view the customers preferences ahead of all the aspects. Through this strategy they can attain long-term benefits and they can rely on their research skills. It all depends on the fact that how organizations would implement the future scenarios of marketing research.
