2014

Marketing Research
Adapted from
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/market
andprice/SERV-MARKETRESEARCH.html

Module designed by Tera Sandvik, LRD, Program Coordinator;

Julie Garden-Robinson, PhD, LRD, Food and Nutrition Specialist;
and Kathleen Tweeten, MBA, Director, Center for Community
Vitality, Community Economic Development Extension Specialist;
Module updated May 2014 by Kimberly Beauchamp, Food
Safety/Food Entrepreneur Extension Specialist.
The following tips will help you
navigate through each module.
Click the left mouse button or the down arrow
to continue on to the next bullet or slide.
Before you begin youll take a presurvey.
The presurvey will open in a new window.
When you are finished with the presurvey close the
window to return to the module.

A symbolizes a question slide. Youll need

to click your mouse once to see the answer.
A means youll need to go to the site
listed to answer the question.
After visiting the site, close the Internet browser to
return to the module.
Click your mouse once to see the answer.

When you are finished with the module,

you will take a post-survey.
The post-survey will open in a new window.
When you are finished with the post-survey, close the
window to return to the module.
Presurvey
Before we begin lets take a presurvey to
see how much you already know.
Click here to begin.
Marketing Research
Marketing research is the systematic
gathering, recording and analyzing of data
about problems relating to the marketing
of goods and services.

Market research will give you the data you

need to identify and reach your target
market at a price customers are willing to
pay.
Marketing research focuses and organizes
marketing information. It permits
entrepreneurs to:
Spot current and upcoming problems in the current
market
Reduce business risks
Identify sales opportunities
Develop plans of action
Market Research
Successful marketing requires timely and
relevant market information.

An inexpensive research program, based on

questionnaires given to current or prospective
customers, can uncover dissatisfaction or
possible new products or services.
Marketing research is not a perfect science. It
deals with people and their constantly changing
feelings and behaviors, which are influenced by
countless subjective factors.

To conduct marketing research, you must gather

facts and opinions in an orderly, objective way to
find out what people want to buy, not just what
you want to sell them.
Market research will identify trends that
affect sales and profitability.
Population shifts
Legal developments
The local economic situation should be monitored to
quickly identify problems and opportunities

Keeping up with competitors' market

strategies also is important.
Every small business owner
must ask the following
questions to devise effective
marketing strategies:
Who are my customers and potential
customers?
What kind of people are they?
Where do they live?
Can and will they buy?
Am I offering the kinds of goods or services they
want at the best place, at the best time and in the
right amounts?

Are my prices consistent with what buyers view as

the product's value?

Are my promotional programs working?

What do customers think of my business?

How does my business compare with my

competitors?
What is the systematic gathering, recording
and analyzing of data about problems
relating to the marketing of goods and
services?
A. Market strategy
B. Market research
C. Market approach
D. Market plan

Click to see the answer.

Why do market research?

People will not buy products or services they do not

want.

Learning what customers want and how to present it

drives the need for marketing research.

Small business has an edge over larger businesses in

this regard.
Small business owners have a sense of their customers' needs
from years of experience, but this informal information may
not be timely or relevant to the current market.
How to do market research
Analyze returned items.

Ask former customers why they've switched.

Look at competitors prices.

Formal marketing research simply makes this

familiar process orderly. It provides a framework
to organize market information.
Market research - the process
Market research can be simple or
complex.
You might conduct simple market
research.
Example: Questionnaire in your customer bills
to gather demographic information about your
customers
You might conduct complex research.
Example: Hiring a professional market
research firm to conduct primary research to
aid in developing a marketing strategy to
launch a new product
Regardless of the simplicity or complexity
of your marketing research project, you'll
benefit by reviewing the following seven
steps in the market research process.

1 3 5 7
2 4 6
Step 1: Define Marketing Problems
and Opportunities
Opportunity You are trying to launch a new
product or service.

Problem Awareness of your company and

its products or services is low.

Problem The market is familiar with your

company, but still is not doing
business with you.
Problem Your company has a poor image
and reputation.
Problem Your goods and services are not
reaching the buying public in a
timely manner.
Step 2: Set Objectives, Budget
and Timetables
Objectives

Explore the nature of a problem so you may

further define it.

Determine how many people will buy your product

packaged in a certain way and offered at a certain
price.

Test possible cause- and effect- relationships.

For example, if you lower your price by 10 percent, what
increased sales volume should you expect?
What impact will this strategy have on your profit?
Budget
Your market research budget is a portion of your
overall marketing budget.

Allocate a small percentage of gross sales for the

most recent year to use on market research.
Its usually about 2 percent for an existing business.

Planning to launch a new product or business?

You may want to increase your budget to as much as 10
percent of your expected gross sales.

Other methods include analyzing and estimating the

competition's budget and calculating your cost of
marketing per sale.
What percentage
of gross sales
from an existing
A. 2%
business should B. 4%
be used for C. 8%
market research? D. 10%

Click to see the answer.

Timetables

Prepare a detailed timeline to complete all

steps of the market research process.

Establish target dates that will allow the best

accessibility to your market.
For example, a holiday greeting card business may want
to conduct research before or around the holiday season
buying period, when its customers are most likely to be
thinking about their purchases.
Step 3: Select Research Types,
Methods and Techniques
Two types of research are available:
Primary research is original information gathered
for a specific purpose.
Secondary research is information that already
exists somewhere.
Secondary Research

Secondary research is faster and less

expensive than primary research.
Gathering secondary research may be as
simple as making a trip to your local
library or business information center or
browsing the Internet.
It utilizes information already published.
Surveys, books, magazines, etc.
Secondary Research Cont.
Localized figures provide better information
as local conditions might buck national
trends.
Newspapers and other local media are helpful.
Many sources of secondary research material
are available. It can be found in:
Libraries
GALES' Directory is available at any public library.
Colleges
Trade and general business publications and
newspapers
Trade associations and government agencies are
rich sources of information.
Example of Secondary Research
An article may show how much working
mothers spent on convenience foods last
year.
If you were thinking about selling a
convenience food, this information would
show you what kind of market there is for
convenience foods.
It doesnt show you how much they are willing
to spend on your particular product.
Primary Research
Primary research can be as simple as
asking customers or suppliers how they
feel about a business, or as complex as
surveys conducted by professional
marketing research firms.
Examples of primary research are:
Direct-mail questionnaires
On-line or telephone surveys
Experiments
Panel studies
Test marketing
Behavior observation
Primary Research
Primary research is divided into reactive and
nonreactive research.

Nonreactive
Observes how real people behave in real market situations
without influencing that behavior

Reactive research
Includes surveys, interviews and questionnaires
This research is best left to marketing professionals, as
they usually can get more objective and sophisticated
results.
Primary Research Cont.
Those who can't afford high-priced marketing
research services should consider asking
nearby college or university business schools
for help.
What is primary research?
Go to the following Web site to find the answer:
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/marketa
ndprice/SERV_MARKBASICS.html
Click to see the answer.

A. Original information gathered for a specific

purpose
B. Information that already exists somewhere else
C. Low awareness of your company and its products
or services
D. All of the above
What is secondary research?
A. Information that already exists
B. Original information gathered for a
specific purpose
C. Research done with a secondary party

Click to see the answer.

Step 4: Design Research Instruments

The most common research instrument is the

questionnaire. Keep these tips in mind when
designing your market research questionnaire.
Keep it simple. Include instructions for answering all
questions

Begin the survey with general questions and move

toward more specific questions.

Design a questionnaire that is graphically pleasing and

easy to read.
Before printing the survey, ask a few people to
complete the survey and give feedback.

Mix the form of the questions for different

sections of the questionnaire
Scales
Rankings
Open-ended questions
Closed-ended questions

The form or way a question is asked may

influence the answer given. Questions are in two
forms: closed-end questions and open-end
questions.
Closed-ended questions

Types of closed-ended questions include:

Multiple choice questions
Yes or No questions

Scales refer to questions that ask respondents to

rank their answers or measure their answer at a
particular point on a scale.
For example, a respondent may have the choice to rank
his/her feelings toward a particular statement. The scale
may range from "Strongly Disagree" "Disagree" and
"Indifferent" to "Agree" and "Strongly Agree."
Open-ended questions

Respondents answer questions in their own

words.

Types of open-ended questions include:

Word association questions ask respondents to state the
first word that comes to mind when a particular word is
mentioned.
Fill-in-the blank
For example, a question might read:
When I eat toast and jelly, I use
_____brand of jelly and it usually
costs about ________ per jar.
This module has used questions. Have
they been open- or closed-ended?

A. Open-ended
B. Closed-ended
Step 5: Collect Data
To obtain clear, unbiased and
reliable results, collect the data
under the direction of experienced
researchers.

Before beginning data collection,

You must to train, educate and
supervise your research staff.
Untrained staff conducting primary
research will lead to interviewer bias.
Step 5 Cont.

Stick to the objectives and rules associated with

the methods and techniques you have set in
Step 2 and Step 3.

Be as scientific as possible in gathering your

information.
Step 6: Organize
and Analyze the Data
Once data has been collected, it needs to be
cleaned.

Cleaning research data involves editing, coding

and tabulating results.
Start with a simply designed research instrument or
questionnaire.
Look for data focusing on immediate market needs.

Rely on subjective information only as support for

more general findings of objective research.

Analyze for consistency; compare the results of

different methods of your data collection.

Look for common opinions that may be counted

together.

Read between the lines. For example, combine U.S.

Census Bureau statistics on median income levels for
a given location and the number of homeowners vs.
renters in the area.
Step 7: Present and Use Market
Research Findings

Once marketing information is

collected and analyzed, present it in
an organized manner to the decision
makers of the business.
You may want to report your findings in
the market analysis section of your
business plan.
You may want to familiarize your sales
and marketing departments with the data
or conduct a companywide informational
training seminar using the information.
Assess Available Information

Assess the information that is immediately

available.

You may have the information you need to

support your marketing plan without doing
extensive market research.

Weigh the cost of gathering more information

against its potential usefulness.
Gather Additional Information
Before considering surveys or
field experiments, look at
currently held information:
Sales records
Complaints
Receipts
Other records that show where
customers live and work, and
how and what they buy.
Additional Information Cont.
Credit records are an excellent source of
information. They give information about:
Customers' jobs
Income levels
Marital status

Employees may be the best source of information

about customer likes and dislikes.
They hear customers' minor gripes about the store or
service - the ones customers don't think important enough
to take to the owner.
Employees are aware of the items customers request that
you do not stock.
They often can supply good customer profiles from their
day-to-day contacts.
Post-survey
Lets see what youve learned.
Click here to begin the post-survey.
The last two slides show
additional resources.
After the slideshow is done,
press Esc and go to File.
Click on Print.
A box will open.
Click on Slides under Print
Range.
Type in 46, 47 and press
okay.
Additional Resources
Visit the following Web site for information on how to conduct
market research:
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/marketandprice/
SERV-MARKETRESEARCH.html
If you need assistance in conducting primary market
research, contact your local SBDC office,
www.ndsbdc.org/
Market Research Workbook
www.missouribusiness.net/docs/market_research_workbook.
asp
Conducting market research factsheet:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/1252.html
Summary of marketing basics:
www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/manage/mar
ketandprice/SERV_MARKBASICS.html
Market trends and forcasts:
www.marshall.usc.edu/web/Library.cfm?doc_id=
2023#Trends
Research and Statistics Office of Economic
Research: www.sba.gov/advo/research/