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UNIT 15 RECENT TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Structure 15.1 Introduction Objectives 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 15.9 Marketing Information System and research Virtual marketing E- Marketing/Online research and their features Recent trends in marketing research Research in lifestyle retail Role of social media in marketing research Marketing research and social marketing Research in rural marketing research

15.10 Trends in services marketing research 15.11 Consumer based brand equity research 15.12 International marketing research 15.13 International branding research 15.14 Summary 15.15 Glossary 15.16 Terminal Questions 15.17 Answers 15.18 Case Study 15.1 INTRODUCTION In the previous unit you have learnt the various concepts of marketing research applications. You have studied advertising research, their need; media research; and copy testing. You must have learnt the detailed
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description of sales analysis and forecasting; market potential etc. you have gained knowledge of how to estimate the current demand and forecasting, what are the methods of forecasting etc. you have also studied the concept of data mining, their procedure and role in marketing research and the method of market basket analysis by using the association and sequencing method. Now you will study the recent trends and developments in marketing research. There are various trends and developments in marketing research which includes MIS, virtual marketing, online marketing and lot more. MIS is the system which helps in identifying the marketing issue and then helps in developing the marketing strategies of the organisation. Virtual marketing helps in innovating new technologies and programmes for the development of the business. Online survey is a term which means analyzing the latest trends and collecting the related facts and figures for a particular research. Similarly there are lot more research developments you will study in this chapter. You will learn the relationship of social marketing and marketing research, role of social media in marketing research, concept of rural marketing research, consumer based brand equity research and role of international marketing and branding in marketing research. Objectives After studying this unit, you should be able to:

describe the concept of MIS, Virtual marketing and online marketing research learn about the various trends in marketing research explain the role of social media and social marketing in marketing research know about the concept of rural marketing and lifestyle retail research discuss the concept of international marketing and branding research CASELET The most accurate research is done for pet food companies because it is not possible to ask pets what they think, only observe what they do. Such an approach is just as feasible with humans! Economies of scale may be driving some research companies to

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harmonise their methodologies when conducting international marketing research, but Nestl decided it needed more than just traditional focus groups to understand why its products were not thriving in Russia. It needed an ethnographic study of culinary habits to help develop a unified marketing approach. Incorporating video observation into a study of cooking habits by Russian housewives enabled Nestl to sift out how people see themselves versus how they really are. Nestls study, using a range of different techniques, unmasked the myth of the creative cook interested in exotic recipes. The food giant reviewed its product portfolio accordingly. Source: Marketing Research An Applied Approach, updated Second European Edition, by Naresh K Malhotra, David F. Birks, Prentice Hall, Financial Times Source: http://www.fao.org/docrep/W3241E/w3241e0a.htm

Activity Divide the class into 6 groups of 6-8 students to each group. Give them a situation on which they can prepare a marketing plan. Like make a plan to set up a new institute. Each froup select one of the following situations: Acting institute Coaching students preparing for IAS examination Fashion institute Coaching institute for students preparing for IIT JEE Karate and martial arts institute Coaching Institute for GRE and TOFEL examination Coaching institute for Common Admission Test of IIMs and other management institutes Discuss the needs of marketing of the proposed institute on the basis of : a) Before the set up of institute b) After two years of set up of institute How can the proposed institute collect the required information at both phases? Describe in detail. Each group may discuss for 50 minutes. Subsequently, each group will make a presentation to the class. Note: Discussion time= 50 minutes Presentation time = 15 minutes for each group Question time = 15 minutes for each group
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15.2 MARKETING INFORMATION SYSTEM AND RESEARCH Marketing research is the process of identifying a marketing problem, collecting and analyzing the information, suggesting remedial actions to develop marketing activities of the organisation. It creates a link between the consumer and the public to the marketer through information. MIS consists of people, equipments and procedures which help to collect, analyse, identify and evaluate the accurate information to the marketing decision makers. There are three components of MIS: a) Internal Record System b) A marketing intelligence system c) A marketing research system Figure 15.1 T he marketing information systems and its subsystems

Figure 15.1 illustrates the major components of an MIS, the environmental factors identified by the system and the types of marketing decision which the marketer seeks for. 1. Internal record system This system provides the result databases of the network of the firm. These databases can be accessed more quickly but they may have some shortcomings too such as incompleteness or may be wrong information. The database includes the following information:
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Order to payment cycle of sales executives, dealers, representatives and consumers Reports of inventory stock and current sales databases of products details, personal information of customers and sales person For example: invoices, inventory, consumer databases etc. 2. Marketing intelligence system These systems provide details of happening database competitors and also keep track on the market development. The main objective of this system is to help the business firm in making strategic decision making. It helps in identifying the actions and strategies of competitors and gives a alarm of threat or opportunity to the business firm. The data in this system can be collected from: Newspapers, magazines, articles, trade publications Customers, dealers, suppliers and distributors Internet via email addresses, blogs, social networking websites Managers of the other companies 3. Marketing research system Marketing research system is a process of designing, collecting, analyzing and reporting of data systematically and finding the relevant results for marketing activities. It depends on the structure of firm how to utilize this system. Large companies have their own R & D departments to collect the information but the small firms have to purchase the data collected from outside the firms. 4. Marketing models Marketing models are the means of interpreting and analyzing the information in order to give direction to the decision. The various tools used in the marketing tools are: Elasticity models ( price, demand, income etc.) ANOVA model Discounting cash flow model Sensitivity analysis model Time series related to sales model Correlation and regression analysis model The above said models are those analytical tools of MIS that helps in interpreting the results from the collected data. Some of the models contain probabilistic element whereas some models are deterministic in nature where there is no chance plays any part.

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In todays world, geographic information system (GIS) is becoming a standard for the business marketing research. GIS is software of decision support system. It is the process of storing, and analyzing the geographical information. It allows the users to interact with the information on or from a map. This process is applied either on desktop or web based. For instance, Tele Atlas (formerly GDT) gives information on street locations and traffic, and Acxiom (www.acxiom.com) gives information on competitor sales and store locations. Geographical information system is considered as the best analytical tool for the business marketing research. Generally many firms use this system to identify their existing and new potential markets, to keep track of competitors strategies and to identify the various opportunities related to business expansion and consolidation. The functions of GIS are: Helps in creating interactive maps Assists in integrating multiple sources of data Helps in running powerful analyses Self assessment questions 1. ______ creates a link between the consumer and the public to the marketer through information. 2. Geographical information system is considered as the best analytical tool for the business marketing research. (True/False) 15.3 VIRTUAL MARKETING Virtual marketing is used to define the services of various internet marketing professionals. These services are the optimization of social marketing, web design, development and optimization of the search engines. Recently many ecommerce firms are innovating new technologies and programs for development of their business. These firms design the professional websites by using latest technology. They design every page of the website and add more multimedia features also which gives a sophisticated look to the professional website. Depending on the demand of the customer, these ecommerce firms can also add the audio videos to the websites. There is an ample space in the
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website for adding easy and quick words and phrases. These phrases help the customer further to search for their content in your website. Some special features related to downloading are also added in the website. This procedure further helps the customers in creating and updating the profile on regular basis. In initial stage for your assistance, expert will give you all usernames and passwords. These virtual marketing or e-marketing firms will also assist the business firm in designing and developing their various marketing plans. Further these plans will create efficient and effective business prospects for them. Additional applications There are many more applications of virtual marketing as follows: Virtual marketing creates collaboration between retail partners and the manufacturers. Virtual marketing acts as an aid in terms of visualization for professional sales force. It also helps in creating the collaboration between suppliers and manufacturers for designing and development of package and product. Virtual marketing helps the business firm in doing virtual store displays to showcase products at different exhibitions, trade shows or outside partners. Self assessment questions

3. The ______ marketing expert designs your website in such a way so

that it becomes more interactive with the visitors of the website.
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4. Virtual marketing or e-marketing firms will also assist the business

firm in designing and developing their various personal plans. (True/False) 15.4 E-MARKETING/ONLINE MARKETING RESEARCH AND THEIR FEATURES A survey is a term which means analyzing the latest trends and collecting the related facts and figures for a particular research. Online survey is one of the latest survey styles. Online survey is conducted by using various software and websites. This method is the best and easy option for collecting information for the research study. Internet is the key factor that helps in conducting online surveys. They help in providing the information as well as crucial facts and figures. In this competitive world, every business firm search for cheaper options to reach their target customers. For this online survey is the best suitable option for them as the marketing research overheads are very less. By using online research survey, firms can reach the correct type of people and collect the right response from them. People should keep in mind that there are lots of fake websites in the market who are only interested to shell out money from them. Thus only legitimate online surveys should be opted by them. Features of online marketing research 1 Low costs: The overheads of online marketing research are comparatively lower than other traditional marketing research. 2 Automation: In this type of research, the process of collecting information from respondents is very easy and simple. As when respondents input their own data in the system, automatically it will

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be stored electronically. In this way, researchers can analysis the data very quickly. 3 Flexibility: In online marketing research, any kind of survey can be programmed even if they are very complex in nature. Design should created in such a way that respondents may give only one answer for single choice question which further helps in cutting down on error. 4 Time saving: with online surveys, rapid deployment of online survey is possible that can not be achieved by traditional surveys. 5 More convenient: Respondents can give their answers on their schedule, at their own pace as they are not under pressure. 6 Limited sampling and respondent availability: certain population has less accessibility to internet. Thus it becomes harder to draw probability samples based on email addresses or website visitations. Self assessment questions

5. Online survey is conducted by using various software and websites.

(True/False)

6. In this competitive world, every business firm search for ______

options to reach their target customers. 15.5 RECENT TRENDS IN MARKETING RESEARCH Following are the recent trends in marketing research:

1. Personal Selling Research

This type of research involved direct selling by sales person by communicating the sales message through direct sales. This type of research technique provides direct interaction between the customer and the sales person. Communication through direct interaction with the

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customers can be more influential and adequate. This type of research helps improve the personal selling effectiveness.

2. Pricing Research
This type of research involve forecast for the: demand of quantity of goods at various prices competitors behavior and

Prediction of external and other variables. Pricing research method gives us an idea about the competitors behaviour, market share, attitude of the dealers, etc.

3. Distribution Research
This type of research involves the physical movement of goods from the manufacturers to the ultimate consumers. Various channels like can be used for distribution of the goods. 4. Brand Image Research The type of research may involve topography, color, package, design, etc. Stimulated demand is created by an image feature. Brand research should be done keeping in mind that how the brand image can have a positive impact on the sales volume. 5. Computer Aided Research To have more accurate and reliable data, a user friendly information tool / software can be used for data analysis and decision making. Let us discuss some of the software that can help us in marketing research: . SPSS SPSS( Statistical Package for Social Science) is the most predictive software used globally. It is used by various researchers to improve the business analysis decision making and data analysis. . WINKS WinKS is an statistical package that helps in analyzing research data. It come in two versions, WINKS BASIC and WINKS Professional.

Self assessment questions 7. This type of research involves the physical movement of goods from the manufacturers to the ultimate consumers. Name the research
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a) Distribution research b) Brand image research c) Pricing research d) Personal research 8. To have more accurate and reliable data, a _______ information tool / software can be used for data analysis and decision making. 15.6 RESEARCH IN LIFESTYLE RETAIL Lifestyle retail research acts as a wall between a numbers of traditional academic disciplines and social sciences in areas as different as retailing, marketing, consumer awareness, their health and social care. The differences in the fields and disciplines with concern to lifestyle research create complexity in an already fast changing research area. Lifestyle retail research uses various multifaceted approaches keeping in consideration of variety of business and academic conventions. This research mainly focuses on various subgroups of general population in terms of age, sex, occupation, religion, behaviour etc. In business research, this market segmentation of the consumer market becomes the basis for lifestyle research. As the role of consumer in determining the success of business becomes clear to the businesses, significance of lifestyle based market segmentation has also increased. With the help of consumer market segmentation, ongoing change in culture has also been identified. These changes created by lifestyle research act as a key source of information for strategic planning for the development of successful business strategy. Key factors that affect the lifestyle retail research are: Consumer attitudes Consumer values Individual versus group Group coherence Group interaction Consumer choice
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In terms of business, lifestyle retail research is used to make classification among the consumers in terms of their pattern of purchasing, their behaviour, their choice of interest etc. Consumers also pay their attention at the key factors of lifestyle retail research used to generate new product or services. There is one important distinction point lies between research of causal relationship between a lifestyle and their developing pattern of behaviour and health and changes in the lifestyle research by using an alternative pattern. Both these methods have fruitful implications for the business whether they directly influence the development or enhance the promotion of goods and services. For example: Analyse the relationship between processed ready meal and shortage of time for cooking. A researcher search the answer for the question: does the shortage of time increase the demand for ready meals? Or does the ready meal availability facilitates some changes in the lifestyle that tend to mitigate against the "ring fencing" of time to devote to cooking? This example explains the relationship of cause, effect and other contributing factors related to the retail lifestyle.

Self assessment questions 9. In _______, market segmentation of the consumer market becomes the basis for lifestyle retail research. 10. Consumers pay their attention at the key factors of lifestyle retail research used to generate new product or services. (True/False) 15.7 ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN MARKETING RESEARCH Social Media plays a very important role in Marketing Research. It also provides valuable leads about what your target market is thinking currently. With the help of Social Media large amount of useful and important data can be available. There are six reasons to enforce the social media in marketing research as: Infinite Panel: Social Media allows a clear picture about the feelings, demands, expectations and conducts of 10 million persons in the whole consumer segments. Apart from forums and Panels there are no restrictions on size. Furthermore, information points out that more and more people are showing themselves in social Media.

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According to a survey conducted by Nielsen, nowadays out of five internet users four are busy in social Media, but they are very easy in expressing their feelings over a large number of issues. The Infinite Survey: Social Media makes its very easy and simple for marketers to know their target segments and the customer expectations from a marketer. In this we are having no limit on a particular topic and the type of survey questions on which we are conducting survey and the range of questions, topics and ideas are not in limits. Real Time: Now a days it is very easy to understand markets and consumer needs in real time than conducting the lengthy questionnaires or the traditional market surveys. Beyond the new consumer perceptions, the real time behaviour of social media makes it easy for marketers to get new insights faster Revealing Hidden Insights: Surveys are having inbuilt limitations. You should know what to ask and when. Social Media makes it very easy for marketers to uncover concealed preferences and the needs which are not met. The needs which are not met help marketers to make product enhancements. For Example, a car company may define the problem of a car in technical points but at the same time a consumer will express the problems of a car like its interior design, the quality of seats, the interior dcor etc. So the wider customer centric definition of a point is more effective for competitiveness. Self assessment questions 11. ______ plays a very important role in Marketing Research. 12. Social Media helps marketers to listen to ______ who express themselves in their own words. 15.8 MARKETING RESEARCH AND SOCIAL MARKETING To make social marketing more effective, a research program must specify its target audience and use very specific methods to become approachable to those people. Further, social marketing does not believe upon the issue

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of educating people but uses convincing messages created through research with the target audience members. A social marketing research program fulfills the needs and wants of the consumers. This can be done with the help of various marketing research methods which further helps in collecting information about the target audience. The methods included in this program are quantitative research like consumer attitude, their knowledge, attitude and behaviour related survey (KAB survey) and qualitative research like focus groups and individual interviews. The process of developing a social marketing program involves following stages:

1. Planning The first stage of this program becomes the foundation for other stages. Identify the problem first that you are facing, measure the target audience and assess the environment in which the program will operate. To analyze all these factors and to apply the strategy for effective change in behaviour, research method should be used. The research can be quantitative or qualitative in nature.
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2. The message and materials development phase In this stage information collected in planning stage are used to design the messages to be conveyed. It also uses the resources and materials that will transfer the messages to the targeted audience. 3. Pretesting phase This phase use various methods to test the messages and proposed tactics with the target audience members. These pretests help in determining the best option to accomplish the objectives of the program. 4. Implementation phase In this stage, program is implemented to the targeted audience. The program must be well prepared in order to get success and implementation must be checked timely to ensure that every element is working as planned. 5. Evaluation and feedback stage In this stage, the whole program is reviewed to assess their effects on society. In the end, feedback is used to improve the program for the future. Self assessment questions 13. Social marketing believe upon the issue of educating people but uses convincing messages created through research with the target audience members. (True/False) 15.9 RESEARCH IN RURAL MARKETING RESEARCH Rural consumers are totally different from the urban consumers. Due to low literacy rate and very limited exposure of rural consumers to the new products and services, rural marketing research becomes more important for them.
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In most of the consumer research study you must understand the consumer in context of his environment and society. The Research in Rural Market must remove the shortcomings of respondent with low exposure and literacy levels. And the villagers will not comprehend the conventional marketing tools. A Specialist organization which is known as mart is having innovated techniques to conduct Rural Consumer Research. Innovative Approaches to Research Tools: If you talk about social research Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), this is a very successful technique. This tool is being used to know the consumer perceptions and social behavior.PRA is a type of approach which helps and makes it easier for the rural community to enhance, analyse and share their knowledge of their life and environment. Some of the PRA applications are discussed below: Social and Resource Map: This is a type of map which identifies different community profiles of the rural India and their Social Behavior. A seasonality Diagram: This diagram is helpful or used to take insights or information of the income and the spending pattern of Rural consumers. This is also helpful in knowing the income and consumption pattern of a particular group in rural India. A Need Assessment Map: It can be developed for any introductory or new product which is going to be launched and also helps us to know about the issues associated with it. A daily Activity Clock: It helps us to record social and Economic activities in daily life.

More accurate visual tool was also created to record rating and responses from the less literate. Large number of traditional rural practices has been a matter of approximate values because rural people find it difficult to understand numeric value and comprehend them clearly. In a study conducted by MART many facts were revealed, such as more than 5 become almost impossible for them to administer. Finally to simplify all this MART has created a very simple tool to rate on a scale of 5 and those too using human expressions.
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For E.g. a Very Happy Face is used to denote 5 rating and a very sad face is used to denote 0 rating. Self assessment questions 14. The Research in Rural Market must remove the shortcomings of respondent with low exposure and literacy levels. (True/False) 15.10 TRENDS IN SERVICES MARKETING RESEARCH The following are the emerging trends in services marketing research as:

1. Data Streams Will Shift Researcher Focus

With the increase in availability of data streams that shows the behaviour of the consumer, it is becoming increasingly important to understand such sources. Real consumer activities can be easily tracked by the use of various technologies which may lead to better marketing research.

2. Mobile Devices Will Shape New techniques and insights

With the growing need and use of tablets and smart phones, it will be necessary for the researcher to know that how the customers use such devices. Such awareness can help improve inconvenience levels and maximize quality of data.

3. Information From shapeless Text will become more accurate

There are more new technologies that are yet to be made available so as to analyse blogs, online chats, and updates at face book. Such technologies will help availing real time insight data to the researchers that will be more reliable as compare to the historical or collected data.

4. Completion Rates for Online Surveys Will Continue to grow

Surveys that are of larger duration (may be of more than five minutes) will fall thereby reducing the quality and reliability of data due to random input method.

5. Brands Will pace up Direct contact to Their Customers

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It is expected that larger brands will invest more on companies like as Face book, Smartphone/tablet apps, so as to drive maximum sales from their customers. This will in turn improve product innovation by way of taking feedback from the customers.

6. New skills need to be developed

It will become increasingly important for the research professional to manage large data base for which they may need to learn SQL and SAS/SPSS at least.

7. New job opportunities will be available for the skilled MR

professional With the changing trends there will also be a great demand and new opportunity for the market researchers that are seeking challenges. Also a good compensation will be offered to the qualified and skilled market researcher. Self assessment questions 15. There are more new technologies that are yet to be made available so as to analyse blogs, online chats, and updates at face book. (True/False) 16. It is expected that larger brands will invest more on companies like as Face book, Smartphone/tablet apps, so as to drive maximum sales from their customers. (True/False) 15.11 CONSUMER BASED BRAND EQUITY RESEARCH Brands create value for their equity. In the marketing profession everyone knows the importance of brand. In some cases brand can become a burden also. This is true to say that sometimes brand can be a value generator and sometimes it can be a value decreaser also. It helps the customers in collecting, interpreting and storing the information of products and services. Brand acts as a key factor to enhance the confidence of the customers while taking purchase decision. It is also important to know the level of customers knowledge in context with brand. Everything related to the brand name is a key determinant of consumer behaviour. The determinants are:

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1. Qualitative research is the main key factor or determinant for brand extension in consumer behaviour. This research helps in expanding brand channels, usage limits between main and extended products and enhances usage of similar or complementary products like shoe polish and polish brush, tooth paste and tooth brush. This research innovate new approaches to the marketing strategies like extending brand pricing, promotion and brand equity extension. 2. The results of qualitative research should be quantified by quantitative research. 3. Secondary analysis should be done to shortlist the number of products and their categories that should be permissible per brand beyond which extension would adversely affect the consumer behaviour. A weak brand can not survive in the market. There can be any cause for a weak brand; it can be lack of awareness, negative word of mouth marketing or lack of resources. Thus brand equity plays a significant role in transforming a weak brand into a reputed brand. For example: in history, Toyota done a mistake and brought much unwanted and negative publicity to their brands. Self assessment questions 17. Brands do not create value for their equity. (True/False) 18. ______research is the main key factor or determinant for brand extension in consumer behaviour. 15.12 INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND BRANDING RESEARCH 15.12.1 International Marketing Research In the 21st century, the business in order to compete is facing the role of making strategies that forecast and respond to the rapid change in international markets. Consequently, the requirements of information needed are changing and becoming ever more complex and diverse. More firms are expanding their operations in new geographic areas to take first mover advantage of growing opportunities. But for this they need to collect information from a broader and more diverse range of markets. This involves conducting research in unfamiliar and distant markets.
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Now let us discuss the basic steps in planning international marketing research: 1. Defining the objective of research: The clear and state definition of objectives facilitates the researcher to identify the appropriate sources of information and select the suitable methodologies for collection of information. 2. Finding out the information required: Determining the information necessary to solve the research problem. For example, if one of the objectives is to find out the market preference for a new product, it is necessary to work on specific kinds of information that will indicate market preference for product offered, so that research can be planned to collect the required information. 3. Planning for methodologies and collection of information: different methodologies are used in marketing research for collecting different kinds of information from various sources. 4. Actual collection of information from predetermined sources: Actual collection of data means planning of fieldwork for contracting respondents or other sources appropriate for the survey. Respondent contact can be made either personally or via mail or telephone or online, depending on the nature of research. 5. Analysis and interpretation of information: The field data collected via various sources and methods are to be properly edited, analysed and interpreted in the context of the research objectives set out in first step. 6. Report preparation: After analysis, the information and data collected through market research is summarized and presented in the form of a report. The report generally contains findings of the research and comments and recommendations of the researcher. 15.12.2 International Branding Research Brands have an important role in a firm's international expansion. With the international expansion of markets and the increase in competition on a global scale, companies are progressively more expanding the geographic scope of their operations by setting up or acquiring companies in other countries, or by entering into alliances across the national boundaries. An international brand research is an important component of the firm's overall international marketing strategy. It gives a structure to leverage strong
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brands into other global markets and rationalize the firm's international branding strategy. Branding can help to establish a distinctive personality for the goods and service and, thus significantly contribute to sales. Branding strategies entails to be formulated in manner that they increase the sale. There are various branding strategies which should be decided considering the requirement of the international market. Companies from developing countries like India have problems in marketing their goods and services under their own brand because of reasons like resource scarcity and information gap. But there is scope for using Indian brands in international marketing. Some brands have become so popular all over the world that they are regarded as global, international or universal brand like Coca Cola, Pepsi, McDonalds, etc. Such expansion gives advantage in gaining share of the international market. For a brand to be international, it must have a commonly understood set of characteristics, benefits and appeal in all the markets where it is intended to be marketed. For example lux marketed in India is different from the goods in other countries. It is known that the alcoholic content, of Coca Cola varies from country to country depending on the local preferences and laws. Self assessment questions 19. In _______ research, the marketer is facing a dilemma of having surplus data but small information. 20. _______ can help to establish a distinctive personality for the goods and service and, thus significantly contribute to sales. 15.14 SUMMARY Let us recapitulate the important concepts discussed in this unit: MIS consists of people, equipments and procedures which help to collect, analyse, identify and evaluate the accurate information to the marketing decision makers. Virtual marketing is used to define the services of various internet marketing professionals. Online survey is the best and easy option for collecting information for the research study.
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WinKS is an statistical package that helps in analyzing research data. In terms of business, lifestyle retail research is used to make classification among the consumers in terms of their pattern of purchasing, their behaviour, their choice of interest etc. Brand acts as a key factor to enhance the confidence of the customers while taking purchase decision. In international marketing research, the marketer is facing a dilemma of having surplus data but small information.

15.15 GLOSSARY Infinite Survey: Social Media makes its very easy and simple for marketers to know their target segments and the customer expectations from a marketer. Daily Activity Clock: It helps us to record social and Economic activities in daily life. Social and Resource Map: This is a type of map which identifies different community profiles of the rural India and their Social Behavior. Seasonality Diagram: This diagram is helpful or used to take insights or information of the income and the spending pattern of Rural consumers. Participatory Rural Appraisal: PRA is a type of approach which helps and makes it east for the rural community to enhance, analyze and share their knowledge of their life and environment. 15.16 TERMINAL QUESTIONS 1. Describe about Marketing Information system and Research? 2. What do you mean by virtual marketing? 3. Discuss about E Marketing and their features? 4. Describe about Research in Lifestyle Retail? 5. Explain about the Research in Rural Marketing Research? 6. Discuss about the International Branding Research?
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7. Explain about Recent Trends in Marketing Research? 15.17 ANSWERS Self-Assessment Questions 1. Marketing research 2. True 3. Virtual 4. False 5. True 6. Cheaper 7. A) Distribution research 8. User friendly 9. Business 10. True 11. Social media 12. Consumer 13. False 14. True 15. True 16. True 17. False 18. Qualitative
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19. International marketing 20. Branding Terminal questions 1. Marketing research is the process of identifying a marketing problem, collecting and analyzing the information,,refer 15.1 2. Virtual marketing is used to define the services of various internet marketing professionalsrefer 15.2 3. A survey is a term which means analyzing the latest trends and collecting the related facts and figures for a particular research.refer 15.3 4. Lifestyle retail research acts as a wall between a numbers of traditional academic disciplinesrefer 15.5 5. Rural consumers are totally different from the urban consumers refer 15.8 6. Brands have an important role in a firm's international expansion refer 15.12

7. Following are the recent trends in marketing research:refer 15.4

15.18 CASE STUDY E-Marketing of TMS Refrigeration Ltd. TMS Refrigeration Ltd, an existing Virtual Viewing customer, approached the company early in 2007 for advice as to ways by which website traffic could be increased to generate a higher number of sales leads and opportunities for the company, which specializes in mobile refrigeration. Virtual Viewing, mindful to work with the companys promotional budget, proposed a two-pronged approach: instigating a Google AdWords campaign to give the site visibility in search engine results listings

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modifications to the sites Home Page to increase the sites relevance scores against Googles weighting criteria to further increase the sites search engine visibility. Virtual Viewing were able to work with the customer to identify the most appropriate keywords and phrases for consideration, which we then researched for cost effectiveness within Googles AdWords online advertising mechanism. We then incorporated the chosen keywords and phrases into the Home Page design, wrote advertising copy and set up an initial AdWords campaign on our clients behalf. Results were immediate and impressive. In just four months: the AdWords campaigns were seen by 87,696 Google users 1,395 of these clicked through to the website as a result.

two of the campaigns prepared by Virtual Viewing achieved response rates of 6.06% and a staggering 17.67% in an advertising arena where 2% is an above average performance. Within three weeks of the campaign going live, Steve Smith of TMS Refrigeration could already see a significant impact; I have not had a chance to analyse the enquiries we have had since "going live" but my gut reaction is that we have had a lot more enquiries and, subsequently, bookings! Source: http://www.virtualviewing.co.uk/case-studies/e-marketing/tms.html Questions; 1. Analyse and Discuss about the case facts. 2. Describe about the E- Marketing Policies in TMS Refrigeration. REFERENCES
Andreasen AR (1995). Marketing Social Change. San Francisco: JosseyBass Publishers.

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Prochaska JO, DiClemente CC (1983). "Stages and Processes of SelfChange in Smoking: Toward an Integrative Model of Change." Journal of Consulting Clinical Psychology, 5:390-5.

E-References

http://www.martrural.com/docs/knseries/Rural%20Market %20Research.pdf http://onlinesurvey.surveyshack.com/blog/bid/34826/Online-MarketResearch-The-Pros-and-Cons http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Store_Research http://nmincite.com/6-ways-social-media-is-revolutionizingmarketing-research/

Sikkim Manipal University

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