Marketing Topic: Marketing Research

Marketing Research Publications General Articles Private Data & Survey Results Government Data Trends and Forecasts Marketing Research Methods Marketing Research Tools Company Profiles: Marketing Research .. Companies Marketing Research ..Software Exercise: Prepare An Online Survey	Marketing Research Publications Consumer Insight by ACNielsen offers articles across a broad range of marketing specialties, including consumer behavior, merchandising, retailers, retail tracking and analytics. A sample: Private Label Grows Up Analysis of the growth of private label brands, including a profile of consumer purchasers and the impact of retail consolidation. Trend Watch: Ethnic Foods The dramatic growth in ethic food product launches and how they reflect changing consumer preferences for spicy foods. American Demographics Select one of the periodicals listed below and then search for your marketing topic from the database of articles for that periodical. The Academy of Marketing Science Review Hosted by Washington State University, the web site describes this periodical as: "High quality theoretical and applied research in the areas of consumer behavior and marketing." "Traditional articles, replications, databases, commentary, and other types of documents." Marketing Bulletin Based out of Massey University in New Zealand, this journal publishes academically-oriented articles, research notes and commentary, such as "An Evaluation of Cinema Advertising Effectiveness," "Obtaining Purchase Probabilities via a Web Based Survey: The Juster Scale and the Verbal Probability Scale," and "Comparing Market Orientation Scales: A Content Analysis." Marketing News by the American Marketing Association. Selected news items from past issues of the publication. NPD News by The NPD Group, links to the company's own press releases (select "News") to show the results of marketing research it has conducted on a broad range of topics. Marketing Research by the American Marketing Association. Selected articles and commentary from past issues of the magazine. Some sample article titles: "The History and Future of Service Quality Assessment" and "How to Make Research More Actionable." Also includes "Letters to the Editor." Marketing Today A publication of Peter Delegge Consulting, this on-line guide provides survey results and insights that may be of interest to market researchers. Quirk's Marketing Research Review Archive of articles from the past six years from Quirk's Marketing Research Review.

	General Articles Market Knowledge: Your Key To Profits by David Kosoglow. Discussion about the importance of examining and analyzing your product and market before taking action, and then continuing to gather information to get ahead and stay ahead. Marketing Research Tips Sponsored by the Business Research Lab, this site provides marketing research-based discussions and tips about such areas as advertising, customer satisfaction and customer retention. For example, one tip on advertising shows how comparing your product to that of a competitor can actually help the competitor through increased visibility. Marketing Research Articles and Information The staff members at Rockbridge Associates, Inc. have prepared a series of marketing research articles under the following categories: "Customer Satisfaction Research" (ex. identifying the factors that determine customer retention) "Technology Research" (the Internet is an example of new media, as opposed to traditional media – TV, newspapers, etc.) "Strategic Research" (ex. issues to consider in pricing a service and the use of segmentation to better define your customers) "Qualitative Research" (ex. the role of such qualitative methods as focus groups in identifying customer perceptions)

	Private Data/Survey Results Online Marketing Intelligence Access data through these categories: People "Current population, employment and income data" Companies "Financial data, stock quotes, and web sites of companies" Industries –"Data on manufacturing, production, retail, housing, agriculture..." Economy "Current indicators, price indexes, labor income, sales statistics..." International "Business resources for global marketing" Newsweek Media Research Index Use Newsweek's index to identify 700+ marketing research studies spanning four decades on the following media: magazines, newspapers, out-of-home (outdoor advertising such as billboards), radio television/cable, intermedia (comparing media -- such as total weekly market exposure of newsweekly ads versus primetime TV ads) and general (yellow pages and other items not placed in other media categories). You can also search each type of media by research category, such as audience research, advertising exposure and media effectiveness. The index is best used to find out what studies were previously conducted. If you want to learn any details about the study, you'll probably need to contact the organization conducting the study since the index offers little or no information about actual study data or conclusions. NPD news by NPD Online Research. (Select "News", then "News Releases") The firm publishes selective survey results on a variety of topics, such as video game sales, the growth in the sales of DVD players, declining sales in athletic footware and the extent to which visitors at airline sites buy tickets versus browse for information.

	Government Data The government publishes a vast amount of data across a broad range of subjects. The web pages that follow may help you locate and obtain government-based information that may be relevant to your marketing research. FedWorld Information Network This site serves as a central location to search the web-published portions of databases for many Federal agencies. U.S. Census Bureau The U.S. Census Bureau collects a huge amount of data on both the people and economy of the United States. This data represents a rich source of information for marketers. Let's explore a couple of scenarios: You are assessing the potential size of your target market for a new video game for personal computers. The U.S. Census includes detailed data that not only lists the number of people why use personal computers in the home, but the percentage of home computer users according to race, gender, ethnic origin, marital status, household status, age, income level, education level and occupation! You want to get an overview of population trends in order to better forecast market opportunities for a home health care service for the elderly. The U.S. Census provides current population data as well as forecasts for the number of people in each age group over the next fifty years. Because there are so many ways to search the U.S. Census, you may want to first Browse By Subject. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—Selective Access Connect to statistics, reports, summaries and data about employment and unemployment, prices of goods and services, cost of living, and other categories that pertain to employment and the standard of living of America's workforce. So, how might you use this kind of data in marketing? Here are a couple of examples: You are planning a marketing strategy for the opening of a new chain of convenience stores in the western United States. In order to project your sales revenues on a spreadsheet, you want to find out the price trends for goods you will sell at the store, such as gasoline. You search the database of the Consumer Price Indexes for the monthly price of gasoline over the past two years in the west. The data reveals that gas prices have increased by only two percent. You then continue with other categories of products to identify price trends. You are trying to determine which of five cities has the largest economy for buying your product. One factor you've decided would be useful is to identify the total number of employed people in each city. You search the database of the "Local Area Unemployment Statistics" for the data you need. Bureau of Economic Analysis This site offers links to both data and articles about the nation's economy. A good place to start is the Overview of the Economy. In preparing sales projections and other marketing-related documents, you may want to review such data as the gross amount consumers have spent on durable goods, non-durable goods and services. Data is summarized by quarter so you'll be able to uncover trends, such as a steady decline or increase in consumer spending.

	Trends and Forecasts Marketing Research Trends Find business information, competitive intelligence, market research, market and industry analysis, industry statistics, and industry trends here.

	Marketing Research Methods The New Market Research by Joshua Macht, Inc., July, 1998, page 86. Businesses are seeking new methods of marketing research, such as passive observation, to identify what customers want. This article describes how several different companies benefited from these alternative research approaches to traditional market surveys and focus groups. Collecting Consumer Trend Data by the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business. Although this paper does not specialize in any one aspect of marketing research, it provides a comprehensive overview of six steps for gathering data. Among the subjects covered at length: Overview of different survey techniques – direct mail, telephone, personal interview, group interview and panels. Formulating the survey sample, with a discussion of the following sampling methods: random, stratified, area, systematic, convenience and quota. Focus groups, with a description of the six steps for implementing them – from establishing the goals and structure of the group to questions to ask when wrapping up the focus group session.

	Marketing Research Tools Marketing Research Calculators by Intelliquest. Online calculators for performing complex statistical calculations, such as "Difference in Proportions," "Difference in Population Means," "Sampling Error" and "Differences in Differences."