Methods of Conducting Exploratory Marketing Research

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Discussion
The Online Focus Groups
Online Market Research Communities
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Marketing research is a very important concept. It is an element that has been utilized by many organizations in an effort to succeed in their day to day operations. Marketing research can be defined as a systematic process of gathering data that is associated with issues concerning marketing products and services, recording it and finally analyzing it for effective decision making.

Marketing research entails a process or function that brings together various components of a market for instance the consumers, the public as well as the customers to the marketer. This is made possible through appropriate information.

Information is therefore considered to be a very pivotal tool in the marketing research process since it allows for making of appropriate decisions in an organization with respect to how it ought to carry out its practices in order to satisfy its customers and hence achieve maximum productivity and profitability (McDaniel and Gates 1998).

This piece of work gives a discussion of the concept of marketing research with much emphasis being given to social media research. The main focus of this report is an examination of methods of conducting exploratory marketing research specifically using social media.

The methods of marketing research that will be discussed in details are; online focus groups and online market research communities. Case examples will also be given to enhance our understanding of the concept of social media marketing research through showing how organizations can utilize social media as market intelligence.

Discussion

Marketing research is a complex process that involves more than just promotional activities. In the contemporary business world, the need for marketing research has significantly increased with increased level of competition. It is therefore necessary to have a clearly designed marketing plan in order to have a successful organization. It is always necessary to understand the customer’s needs while conducting a marketing plan.

This is however only possible through carrying out of effective marketing research, which ensures that all the market attributes are put into consideration in the process of producing products and services. This allows for customer satisfaction, an aspect that is very crucial in the growth and development of any organization. This is because customer satisfaction does not only attract new customers but also help in retaining the existing ones.

The public is a very essential element when it comes to the business world. This is because it keeps businesses on the move through providing a source of consumption of the products and services produced by the businesses. For this reason, there is need for business enterprises to be more concerned about the needs and preferences of the customers to ensure that they satisfy them.

This allows for formation of a good organization-customer relationship and loyalty, an element that is very crucial for business sustainability. Marketing research is a tool that has enabled various organizations to attain competitive advantage through the understanding of the different characteristics of customers and hence coming up with ways of appropriate means of serving them to satisfaction (Zikmund and Babin 2006).

There are various marketing research methods, each with its advantages and disadvantages. The methods are also suited for use in different situations.

This therefore necessitates that there is critical decision making in the determination of the method of marketing research to be utilized in a certain circumstance to allow for attainment of the best results possible. The basic and commonly used marketing research methods include personal interviews, observation, surveys, field trials as well as focus groups among others (Westwood 2005).

Personal interviews entail confronting the participants. Open-ended and unstructured questions are usually used to probe information from the interviewee. When personal interview are used as methods of carrying out marketing research, helpful insights into customer attitudes are attained which in turn assist in uncovering different issues that are associated with new products and service development.

A drawback that is associated with personal interviews is the fact that they are usually more subjective especially in relation to surveys and hence the results got after the analysis of the data is not statistically reliable since they do not depict a fully representative sample of the total population.

Observation on the other hand is a method that offers very accurate results in regard to customer behavior. This is because unlike other methods like personal interview and focus groups there is no interference of the customers but rather the marketer or researcher take the data in a natural setting which could not cause the customers to change behavior on realization that they are under observation.

This could be achieved through video taping/recording. The other method is the field trials. This involves placing new products in strategic locations or stores with an aim of testing customer response under normal selling conditions. This method is deemed to be very effective in making appropriate changes for instance enhancing the packaging of products, making modifications on products as well as adjusting prices accordingly.

Another commonly used marketing research method is focus groups. This involves a moderator leading a discussion among a group of individuals using a set of queries or topics. To allow for achievement of better results, the focus group sessions take place at neutral places to avoid any form of influence.

Each group session takes a maximum of two hours. To get significant outcomes, results from at least three groups are required (Byers and Wilcox 1991). Surveys also get a lot of utilization as marketing research method. It entails use of questionnaires to analyze a sample group from a population.

The sample should be as representative as possible to yield good results and hence the larger the sample, the more appropriate and reliable the results attained. There are various ways through which surveys are carried out for instance in-person surveys where face to face interviews are used, telephone surveys, mail surveys as well as online surveys.

All these methods are aimed at gaining insights into customers’ behavior in an effort to make the necessary adjustments in regard to development of products and services and hence increasing productivity and profitability through increased sales (Calder 1977).

Social media involves the social sites or networks where the users or members usually participate for various reasons (Brogan 2010). The realization that social media attract a significant pool of members of the public has made different companies including business organization to target them with the aim of improving their business operations.

Social media research is a technique that has gained a lot of recognition and utilization by a majority of organizations. It has received both positive as well as negative criticism. One reaction is that the marketers usually gain insights from consumers without their consent or knowledge for instance through observation.

All in all, social media type of marketing research has been deemed to be very fruitful since the ability to collect, evaluate and analyze the information gathered from this research allows business organizations to be in a good position to develop consumer insights as well as allowing better monitoring of the performance of their products in the market (Evans 2008).

In a nut shell, social media marketing research is a kind of qualitative research. It entails a marketer engaging with online communities and having conversations. It delivers knowledge and insights through the act of listening to what different people say or perceive different brands of products.

It is concerned with being keen to small details which make up customer behavior for instance their perceptions, opinions, attitude as well as beliefs in respects to products and services offered by a given organization. It is after the gathered information is effectively analyzed that brands and products are influenced and optimized including participating in media marketing campaigns (WebProNews 2011).

Although most of the marketing research methods could be conducted using social media, there are some which are more effective and commonly used in social media research.

Some of the marketing research methods used in social media marketing research include the following: Online communities which could take the form of private and public blogs and social networks, search engine optimization (SEO) and linking research, online focus groups which take the nature of depth interviews, keyword search analysis as well as content monitoring services and text analysis software.

All these methods are aimed at coming up with as exhaustive information about the customers as possible in an effort to optimizing the products development for the sake of allowing for maximum customer satisfaction (Gillin and Schwartzman 2011).

For the sake of this assignment, I will look at two methods in details. They are; online focus groups and online market research communities.

The Online Focus Groups

Online focus groups could be defined as methods of qualitative marketing research which is more inclined to internet technology as well as extensive computer connectivity. Secure web sites are the meeting points of observers, respondents and the moderators. Commonly, an online focus group consists of about 10 to 30 respondents, a number of observers and one moderator.

In these groups, the moderator is charged with the responsibility of posting questions after which the respondents are expected to post their comments and opinions on the posted questions. The observers on the other hand take note of the proceedings.

Online focus groups are divided into real-time and bulletin boards. In bulletin board group, the moderator, observers and respondents are not required to meet at the same time as it is the case for real-time online groups. A secure web site is the meeting point. The moderator sets rules and regulations and posts the queries. The respondents do not see the observers hence the probability of sincere responses, away from pretence.

Online focus groups have been deemed to be very effective when it comes to concept testing. The respondents are shown concepts (advertising or new products concepts) online, after which they give their reactions.

This way, a lot of issues could be gathered for instance product awareness and preferences, their purchase as well as use. Online depth interviews are also tools used in online focus groups and are most appropriate when getting views and opinions from busy experts.

There are various benefits associated with online focus groups. They are able to probe information on sensitive and personal issue that could be useful in decision making. They are also used to supplement other marketing research methods for achievement of better results.

Another advantage is that online focus groups method provides written qualitative data since the respondents post their opinions, perceptions, and attitudes online.

There is also the aspect of posting images on online blogs for easy interpretation and understanding. Facial expressions of the respondents can also be viewed via web-cam. The online focus groups are also fast and convenient as the participants do not need to travel but are rather connected via computers and the internet.

Online focus groups also have some drawbacks. They are only appropriate for respondents who are well vast with computer and internet use. They also require a reliable internet connection and they are therefore not ideal in areas where internet connection is limited.

Another problem is the verification of the identity of the respondents. The online focus groups should only be used when the moderator can easily verify the respondent’s identity so as to ensure that the responses come from the expected and targeted respondents (Morgan 1988).

Online Market Research Communities

This is the second method of discussion. It involves a setting where a targeted group of participants come together to discuss research related topics on a regular basis from the discussions, reports and recommendations, which are attained and they help in decision making.

Market research online communities are a product of social networking and community tools and online qualitative capabilities. The market research online communities provide relatively cheap, fast and up to date insights on customers’ needs and products performance. This is because communities can cut the time cycle and the participants are observed on an ongoing basis (Sterne 2010)

One identifies a targeted audience over some time, get ideas from prospective customers, evaluate customer experiences, carry out qualitative tracking of a brand alongside competitive brands, undertake exploratory research and finally refine product concepts on a continuous basis. They help in gaining insights on products, services, advertising, promotion, positioning, and branding and customer experiences among others.

When comparing and contrasting market research online communities and online focus groups, the former are better in terms of cost and speed. Market research online communities are also more objective than online focuses groups. However, market research online communities require a lot of skills and coordination to gather appropriate data (Stewart and Williams 2005).

Case examples of the application of social media marketing research include the use of market research online communities in the Communispace Corporation which develops, administers and facilitates private online communities for organizations in the United States and other parts of the world. Groundswell is another organization in the UK that utilizes market research online communities.

Peanut Lab, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and E-Rewards companies are other examples of companies that have utilized social media as a marketing research tool. Social media has been used by organizations to gain a competitive advantage through marketing intelligence.

Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center was for instance able to gather important information through its community in regard to why patients prefer some facilities to others hence refuting the conclusion that was made about choice of a facility based on reputation of the center (DeVault 2011).

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is evident that marketing research is one of the most important activities in an organization. This is more so in the contemporary world where the market has been characterized by a very high level of competition. The main goal of any organization is to maximize its sales. This is because the level of sales is the major criteria which determine the profitability of an organization.

Therefore, marketing is of great importance to an organization. There are various marketing research methods each suited for some situations. The different marketing research methods are also associated with some benefits as well as drawbacks and hence the need to choose the most appropriate method for a given situation.

Marketing research that is conducted through social media has been associated with some notable advantages over other means. For instance, it allows the researchers/marketers to have exhaustive data for analysis, from a vast number of media users who would otherwise not be available via other means.

The fact that social media research can be attained through interacting with the social media users as well as through listening to the social media research chatter or else a combination of both means is also advantageous. It also facilitates achievement of a variety of research project goals with ease.

However, social media research is mostly suited for usage studies, attitudinal studies, custom research as well as media tracking studies whose main focus is on the distinctive attributes or characteristics of a given social media platform. This does not however disqualify it from use in other areas in any way.

Reference List

Brogan, C. 2010. Social Media 101: Tactics and Tips to Develop Your Business Online. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.

Byers, Y. P. and Wilcox, R.J. 1991. Focus Groups: A Qualitative Opportunity for Researchers. The Journal of Business communication. 28:1.

Calder, B.J. 1977. Focus Groups and the Nature of Qualitative Marketing Research. Journal of Marketing Research, 14, 353-364.

DeVault, G. 2011. Social Media Research. Web.

Evans, D. 2008. Social Media Marketing: An Hour A Day. New York, John Wiley and Sons.

Gillin, P. and Schwartzman, W. 2011. Social Marketing to the Business Customer: Listen to Your B2B Market, Generate Major Account Leads, and Build Client Relationships. New York, John Wiley and Sons.

McDaniel, D.C and Gates, H.R. 1998. Marketing Research Essentials. 2^nd Ed. New York, Taylor & Francis.

Morgan, D.L. 1988. Focus Groups as Qualitative Research. Beverly Hills, Sage Publications, Inc.

Sterne, J. 2010. Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment. New Jersey, John Wiley and Sons.

Stewart, K and Williams, M. 2005. Researching Online Populations: The Use Of Online Focus Groups For Social Research. Qualitative Research 5 (4) 395-416.

Westwood, J. 2005. The marketing plan workbook. U.K., Kogan.

WebProNews. 2011. Internet Marketing and Online Business. Web.

Zikmund, G.W and Babin, J.B. 2006. Exploring Marketing Research. New York, Cengage Learning.

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