(2) Brand equity

(3) Brand name testing

(4)  Customer satisfaction

(5) Test Marketing

(6) Segmentation

(7) Sales Forecasting

These are just some of the many types of marketing research; they can be classified as either problem solving or problem identification research.

However there are two main ways of collecting this research, they are primary and secondary. Where primary research is collected from scratch, secondary research is pre existing and is collected for other purposes, but is used in this case for reference and consultation. Though secondary research costs less than primary research, it cannot always be determined that it will contain all the factors needed for analysis by the researcher.

Another such research is exploratory and conclusive research. Where exploratory research is used to grasp understanding of an issue, conclusive research is used to draw conclusions on the collected data. It often happens that researchers tend to use multiple research designs, starting with secondary research for the background information and moving on to qualitative research and further on to quantitative research based on a much wider survey to derive specific information.

The Process of Marketing Research

The following examples show how marketing research is gathered using the systematic approach:

(1) Defining the problem: It is important to never just conduct research because of what you would like to know, remember that it should be because there is a general need to know the problem; by doing so the problem becomes the main focus of the research and it is much easier to identify it.

(2) How to collect the data for problem solving and analysis: it is important to determine the mode of research, for instance, telephone surveys, focus groups, internet surveys, questionnaires etc.

(3) Selecting sample methods: deciding on random, stratified or clustered samples.

(4) How to analyze the collected data: This requires determining which software’s or programs need to be used in order to attain the degree of accuracy for problem solving.

(5) Deciding Budgets & Time frames: This is one of the most essential points, as most researches tend to cost a lot of money, and setting limits always helps.

(6) Discuss the research, its importance and usefulness.

(7) Collect data

(8) Conduct analysis of the present data

(9) Always check for errors and analytic mistakes.

(10) Make the final report and start the problem identifying and solving process.

Contents of a Marketing Research Report

Most marketing research reports are the same, but formats may vary according to organizations specifications, however the usual marketing research report will contain the following parts:

[adsense1]In the end, it is important to understand, that marketing research cannot by itself arrive at any decisions pertaining marketing problems. It also does not guarantee that it will lead to successful feats for any organizations that conduct it. It is merely a tool to understand and identify some basic problems so that improvements can be made, where necessary and possible. If the marketing research is conducted in the proper systematic way, it will reduce the doubt or insecurity of marketing managers when making important decisions and may increase the scale of success.  But all in all, marketing research is a very important aspect in the marketing business, as it not only helps in problem solving and identification but it gives the marketing manager a broader knowledge about   the kinds of target markets, customers etc it can pursue and what is wanted by its customers or potential customers, it is always a source of expanding customer knowledge and customer base.