Chapter 3
Understanding Business Marketing
Environments
What is a
Marketing Information System (MIS)?
A marketing information system consists
of people, equipment, and procedures to
gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute
needed, timely, and accurate information to
marketing decision makers.
Internal Records and
Marketing Intelligence
Order-to-payment cycle
Salesperson, Concerned Department,
Customer
(Online Orders Shirts)
Sales information system
Sales & Distribution
Limitations (Too much load on the network)
Databases, warehousing, data mining
Marketing intelligence system
(information needs, information sourcing, processing &
interpretation, dissemination and use)
Steps to Improve Marketing Intelligence
Train sales force to scan for new
developments
Motivate channel members to share
intelligence
Network externally
Utilize a customer advisory panel
Utilize government data sources
Collect customer feedback online
Purchase information
Sources of Competitive Information
Independent customer goods and service
review forums
Distributor or sales agent feedback sites
Combination sites offering customer
reviews and expert opinions
Customer complaint sites
Public blogs
Needs and Trends
Fads
Trends
Megatrends
Environmental Forces
Demographic
Economic
Socio-cultural
Natural
Technological
Political-legal
The Companys
Macroenvironment
Demographic Environment
Demography is the study of human
populations in terms of size, density,
location, age, gender, race, occupation,
and other statistics
Demographic environment is important
because it involves people, and people
make up markets
Demographic trends include age, family
structure, geographic population shifts,
educational characteristics, and
population diversity
The Companys
Macroenvironment
Economic Environment
Economic environment consists of factors
that affect consumer purchasing power and
spending patterns
Industrial economies are richer markets
Subsistence economies consume most of
their own agriculture and industrial output
The Companys
Macroenvironment
Natural Environment
Natural environment involves the natural
resources that are needed as inputs by marketers
or that are affected by marketing activities
Trends
Shortages of raw materials
Increased pollution
Increase government intervention
Environmentally sustainable strategies
The Companys
Macroenvironment
Technological Environment
Most dramatic force in changing the
marketplace
Creates new products and opportunities
Safety of new product always a concern
The Companys
Macroenvironment
Political Environment
Political environment consists of laws,
government agencies, and pressure groups
that influence or limit various organizations
and individuals in a given society
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Customer Insights are:
Fresh and deep insights into customers
needs and wants
Difficult to obtain
Not obvious
Customers unsure of their behavior
Not derived from more information but
better information and more effective
use of existing information
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Customer Insights
Companies are forming customer insights
teams
Include all company functional areas
Use insights to create more value for their
customers
Customer controlled could be a problem
Marketing Information and
Customer Insights
Marketing Information Systems (MIS)
Marketing information system (MIS)
consists of people and procedures for:
Assessing the information needs
Developing needed information
Helping decision makers use the
information for customer
Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
MIS provides information to the companys
marketing and other managers and external
partners such as suppliers, resellers, and
marketing service agencies
Assessing Marketing
Information Needs
Characteristics of a Good MIS
Balancing what the information users would
like to have against what they need and what
is feasible to offer
Users Needs
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketers obtain information from
Internal data
Developing Marketing
Information
Internal Data
Internal databases are electronic
collections of consumer and market
information obtained from data sources
within the company network
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Intelligence
Marketing intelligence is the
systematic collection and analysis of
publicly available information about
consumers, competitors, and
developments in the marketplace
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Marketing research is the systematic
design, collection, analysis, and reporting
of data relevant to a specific marketing
situation facing an organization
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Defining the Problem and Research Objectives
Exploratory research
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan
Outlines sources of existing data
Spells out the specific research
approaches, contact methods, sampling
plans, and instruments to gather data
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Written Research Plan Includes:
Management problem
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Developing the Research Plan
Secondary data consist of information that
already exists somewhere, having been
collected for another purpose
Primary data consist of information gathered
for the special research plan
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Planning Primary Data Collection
Developing Marketing
Information
Market Research
Research Approaches
Observational research involves gathering
primary data by observing relevant people,
actions, and situations
Ethnographic research involves sending
trained observers to watch and interact
with consumers in their natural
environment
Developing Marketing
Information
Market Research
Research Approaches
Survey research is the most widely used
method and is best for descriptive
informationknowledge, attitudes,
preferences, and buying behavior
Flexible
People can be unable or unwilling to
answer
Gives misleading or pleasing answers
Privacy concerns
Developing Marketing
Information
Market Research
Research Approaches
Experimental research is best for
gathering causal information
cause-and-effect relationships
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Contact Methods
Focus Groups
Six to 10 people with a trained moderator
Challenges
Expensive
Difficult to generalize from small group
Consumers not always open and honest
Developing Marketing Information
Marketing Research
Online Research
Advantages
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Sampling Plan
Sample is a segment of the population
selected for marketing research to
represent the population as a whole
Who is to be surveyed?
How many people should be surveyed?
How should the people be chosen?
Developing Marketing Information
Marketing Research
Research Instruments
Questionnaire
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Research Instruments - Questionnaires
Closed-end questions include all possible
answers, and subjects make choices among
them
Provide answers that are easier to interpret and
tabulate
Open-end questions allow respondents to
answer in their own words
Useful in exploratory research
Developing Marketing
Information
Marketing Research
Implementing the Research Plan
Analyzing Marketing
Information
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM consists of sophisticated software and
analytical tools that integrate customer
information from all sources, analyze it in
depth, and apply the results to build
stronger customer relationships