Unit 5: Marketing and

Market Research.
  Market: a defined area in which consumers, businesses and
organisations are involved in the manufacture, purchase and use of a
specified product.
 Marketing: the management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.
 Marketing objectives: a specified and measureable goal or reason for
carrying put a marketing activity.
Key  Marketing analysis: marketing research that produces data about the
current market, enabling a business to compete in a particular sector.
terminology  Marketing strategy: how marketing messages and activities will be
combines with sales objectives to contribute to a businesses overall
objectives.
 Marketing mix: a key marketing tool that allows a business to consider
the product, price, place and promotion of its goods.
 Marketing campaign: a defined series of steps or activities to promote
or create awareness of a new or existing product or service.
 Explain the role of the marketing function in business
 The marketing function is key to how a business can promote itself to its customer
base. The marketing function is also tasked with branding of the organization,
participation in publicity activities, advertising and customer interaction though
feedback collection.
 The marketing function may link with the advertising department, financial
Task 1: How department, human resource department, sales department and the production
department. The advertising department could promote their product/service
marketing through TV adverts or social media posts on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook etc.

works.  Business objectives are set to reach one marketing aim. These marketing objectives
could be targeting new customers or building brand awareness. Market analysis, a
quantitative and qualitative assessment of a market, looks into the size of the
market both in value and in volume. It also looks into customer buying patterns, the
competition and the economic environment in terms of barriers to entry and
regulation. Marketing strategy is when the business plans on what positions they
will like to be in the future. These plans are monitored once they are ready to fulfil
their aims. Marketing mix is a key marketing tool that allows businesses to consider
the product, price, place and promotion of its goods.
 Carrying out market analysis can benefit a business like Office Lunches because it is the first
step to gain the knowledge they need and gain a more detailed understanding of
consumers’ needs.
The market structure is an overview of Office Lunches characteristics, this includes the
amount and types of their competitors and the size of the market. This type of information
can help investigate which businesses they’re in competition with and how they can
improve their service to be different from the rest. They can investigate and compare
performance, size, value and costs with other local businesses that they are in direct
Describe how competition with. For example, they can compare prices of their sandwiches with other
local businesses within the area and change theirs to be in the best interest of the
carrying out market customers. Market mapping can be useful for businesses like Office Lunches as it lays out
analysis can benefit trends and patterns between consumers and products and the source of problems.
a business like Carrying market analysis can reduce the risk of business failure. It is crucial that Office
Lunches show accurate and up-to-date information to their customers so they make
Office Lunches informed decisions and don’t mislead their customers. It can also forecast future trends, as
marketing research can be used to anticipate any future customer needs.
Market analysis can benefit businesses like office lunches as it allows them to carry out
market segmentation. Demographic segmentation is when businesses analyse social and
economic variables. Geographic segmentation investigates the market in the geographical
areas it covers. Behavioural segmentation looks at behaviour patterns and adapts its
marketing to meet consumer needs. Psychographic segmentation is the division of the
market into categories, such as lifestyle, interests, hobbies etc. Carrying out market
segmentation allows businesses to produce services and products for each type of segment
to dominate the market, meet the needs of all customers and, hopefully, retain customers.
 It can be measured through the amount of direct sales revenue campaign produces.
Marketing effectiveness is measured by how well a company's marketing strategies
increase its revenue while decreasing its cost of customer acquisition.
Digital marketing is an easy way to measure the impacts. Social media has grown in
popularity and more businesses have viewed is as an integral part of their marketing
Explain how plans. Digital marketing method means that businesses can gain feedback from
businesses typically customers online. This contains reviews and ratings which other potential customers
measure the impact of can read and determine whether or not to pay for the same service. Analysis and
comparisons between competitors is how businesses measure the impact of their
their marketing using marketing. This type of comparisons shows and tracks which business got more sales
at least two and generated the most cash flow. This gives the chance for businesses to analyse
contrasting businesses the strengths and weaknesses and how to improve next time to make more sales.
as examples. For example, famous fast food companies McDonalds and Burger King can both
measure the impact of their marketing strategies through social media and other
digital marketing methods. This can be seen either through ongoing analytics
(ongoing monitoring that tracks activity over time) or campaign-focused metrics,
which help to understand the impact of targeted marketing initiatives. Social media
platforms like Instagram and Twitter already provide forms of analytics, like follower
interactions and engagements with their page. The increase in the number of
followers, tweets, shared posts shows how effective their marketing advertisements
have been.
 Tesco have recently changed their method of marketing by solving problems of
which everyday customers face. Since customers no longer responded to mass
marketing campaigns of ‘buy one, get one free’ and lost their position and
perception as a large brand. They have now repositioned themselves and
M1: An analysis focused on its customers and their lifestyles rather than prices. They began
looking at its business and marketing through the eyes of its customers. This
of the impact of proves that Tesco listened and responded with the problems that the customers
a particular were facing. Tesco developed its new marketing campaign “Tesco Food Love
Stories” because customers wanted to see real people and real stories in
marketing marketing, not the best bargains of the week. This customer-focused marketing
has helped them generate its increased profits and close communication with
campaign run by its customers.
a specific food Office lunches can change their way of marketing to better suit the view of the
retail business customers. For example, instead of focusing on promoting discounts, they could
solve the problems their customers face. To do this, they will have to first detect
the problem and find a solution. This could be done through direct
communication with the customers. This type of marketing campaign will help
build the brand of Office Lunches, improved sales and increase its market share.
Task 2 LO3
Be able to carry out market research for business
opportunities​
  Market research consists of collecting information about a
particular market for a specific purpose.
 Primary research is when a business collect their own
information. Questionnaires and surveys are the most common
method and result as qualitative research as the information is
Select market research based on opinions and views. These questionnaires and surveys
method, type and tools are typically completed online by customers, either through text
for a market research message, email or a phone call. Businesses may ask for feedback
or reviews on products that customers recently purchased from
proposal and them.
give reasons for the
 Secondary research is information that has already existed and
choice. has been collected and analysed by another person/organisation.
This type of information is classified as quantitative research as it
includes analysed facts and figures. For example, a 10 year
snapshot census survey. Secondary information is very useful sine
it helps businesses find out information they couldn’t find out
themselves.
  Primary market research methods:
 The type of data businesses need and how much money they are willing to
spend will determine which method businesses will choose
 Observation – this technique involves directly observing and reporting the
findings. For example, when a ‘mystery shopper’ observes staff behaviour when
P6: conduct primary enquiring about their service or product.
and secondary  Focus group – this technique provides qualitative data and feedback regarding a
research to identify product or service from a group of people. These focus group participant are
business opportunities recruited based on their purchase history, demographics and behaviour etc.
for a specific business  Technology based – social media, like mobile surveys and online communities,
offers an organisation the opinions and needs and wants of their customers.
This technique is capable of gaining a lot of information since social media is
part of consumers daily lifestyle.
 Consumer panels – different to a focus group, where consumers are asked by a
business to give their opinions and feedback on their product/service over a
number of different sessions.
 Test marketing – this primary research technique consists of revealing a
product/service to a limited audience before a wider release. The results
determine weather to release worldwide or alter aspects using the results given.
  Probability sampling is the use of sampling random selections. It consists of 4 simple
methods : random, systematic, stratified and cluster sampling. Random sampling is when
every member has an equal chance of being selected despite any differences like race, age
etc. Systematic sampling is when members from a large population are chosen using the
random sampling over a period of time. Stratified sampling divides the target population
into certain subcategories. Lastly, cluster sampling divides people into different groups,
like in a cluster. ​
 Non probability sampling is not based on any random methods, instead they are split into
two main categories: convenience and quota. Convenience sampling only use consumers
Conduct primary and who are available during the time to complete the research. Quota sampling uses a target
secondary research number of respondents to complete the research needs.
to identify business  Qualitative questions allow the respondent to express their opinion as it is an ‘open
ended’ question. For example, “How may I help you?”. Quantitative questions are known
opportunities for a as closed questions and can restrict the responders answers. For example, “Did you find
specific business what you were looking for today?”
  When writing and sequencing questions, businesses must make sure that they know
what type of information they are seeking to discover. Once they know this, they should
determine which type of survey they will like to carry out, like an online survey or face to
face survey and its duration. They must think of the questions they will ask in these
surveys, whether they are qualitative or quantitative. Once all responses are back,
businesses could use Likert scale as it is easier to understand the results and draw out a
clear conclusion. It is important that the order of questions must be short, simple and flow
well so customers are encouraged to answer.
 Methods of response: A Likert Scale is a psychometric measurement of opinions where
respondents rank statements which they agree or disagree with.
  Secondary research:​
 • Internal sources are the research sources that already exist and
stored in the businesses database. These sources include
Conduct primary and information that has been collected by the businesses and can be
secondary research useful for any future projects. For example, a 5 year sales figure
to identify business analysis could be linked to a businesses stock control system.
opportunities for a  • External sources cover any documentation produced by an
specific business organisation external to the business. These could include
commercial sources, competitors company reports, government
publications like a consensus survey, trade publications like The
Grocer and the media.
  Qualitative questions allow the respondent to express their opinion as it is
an ‘open ended’ question. For example, “What would you like in your
sandwich?”. Asking these types of questions on their electronic ordering
service will allow customers to explain what they would exactly want in
their sandwiches and employees will be able to clearly understand what the
Use at least customer want.
two primary and  Office Lunches should choose technology based as their primary market
two secondary research method as social media is a very powerful platform. With over 3
methods for Office billion users, Office lunches will be able to increase awareness, attract new
lunches to offer an customers, boost sales, connect and communicate with targeted customers
electronic and respond to their enquiries easily. A focus group can also help. Getting a
group of people to talk about the electronic ordering service will give them
ordering service. a chance to speak about what their experience and advice Office Lunches on
what to improve on. This type of feedback will help Office Lunches boost
sales and customer awareness as they listen and respond to the opinions of
their customers.
 Factors that influence the choice of market research methods:​
It is very important to complete market research as it sets out the aims and
objectives that form the basis of the market research proposal.
M2: based on own  • ​Businesses must make sure that they know exactly what they want to find
research, assess the out and how they will find it out. They must choose a budget and method
choice or market that will be used to fully meet the requirement of the market research
proposal. It is crucial that the locations and times are measured from
research method proposal stage to devolvement to analysis and feedback. The number of
and type participants and the method of sampling techniques used is crucial when
used, explaining carrying primary research. All participants must grant permission and
without any information being breached. If incentives are used, like money-
their effectiveness  off vouchers or gifts, it is important that there are enough for all participants.

 It is crucial to lay out the results clearly for everybody to understand. This
could include setting them out using mean, mode and median layouts.
  Benefits and drawbacks
 Primary research : a lot of time is needed to work out the method of
research and to ensure the questionnaire is fit for purpose. You may have
D1: justify the choice to pay staff to carry out research and it may be a waste of money of not
and sequence carried out correctly. Selecting the correct respondents helps to ensure
that the results are accurate and relevant.
of questions used in
the market research  Secondary research: spending too much time and finding the relevant
information can be expensive in terms of staff hour and information found
may not be relevant, reliable / accurate, may have biased views therefore
making it not useful as research. It is also possible that the information can
be out of date or no longer true.
Task 3​ Lo4
Be able to present the market research findings 
  Businesses need to analyse the results of the complied raw data. This data
stops being referred to as ‘raw data’ after it has been processed into a form,
which the businesses decides if its in a graph, chart, table etc. If there are any
incomplete responses, businesses must make sure they understand why and
how they will move forward with the research. They should consider ways
they could improve with their questions, for example, if questions were too
long therefore incomplete by consumers, next time they should consider
keeping the questions short and simple.
P7: assess the validity
of market research
findings for a specific How to validate market research findings
business opportunity
When businesses begin to validate their research the must refer back to when
against its market hey started to plan its research. For example, what they wanted to achieve
research proposal and which methods were going to be used throughout the research. They
should also go over any altercations and finally draw a final, clear conclusion. If
businesses cannot come to a final conclusion after the reviewing they have the
opportunity to identify, redevelop and implement a new and revised research.
Once this is all done, they can use the full-circle approach where they draw a
conclusion and link it to other business aims and objectives.
  • how to assess the validity of the findings
P7: assess the validity
of market research  (e.g. do the findings measure what the market research
findings for a specific campaign/exercise intended to measure?) • how to identify
any limitations of the findings and recommend what areas may
business opportunity require additional market research • how to draw conclusions
against its market from the findings to inform marketing decisions
research proposal
  How to present findings clearly in a format appropriate to the data obtained
and audience ​
 Simple statistical analysis : quantitative research involves answers that can be
collated into statistical information. The results can be presented as simple
statistics, like “60% would purchase again” or analysed using statistical analysis
using mean, mode, median and range methods. Mean is the statistical term
meaning ‘average’. The figures are added together and then divided by the
number of results. When the results read more frequently than others, it is the
mode. Some users are likely to put the data in ascending/ descending order to
P8: present market make the mode more obvious. When sorted out in a median method, the results
research findings in are collated in numerical order and the middle value is at interest. Lastly, when
an appropriate format figures are sorted in a range method, the user will identify the lowest and
for the data obtained highest value and subtract them from each other and determine the range.
and audience  When dealing with presenting data, businesses have to decide which display
method they will use and this is based on the type of data that the business had
collated. Tables may be used when displaying large amounts of data as it is easy
for readers to view and reach a clear conclusion of the results. When businesses
want to view any changes over a period of time, like sales figures over a number
of months, graphs will be the best tool to use. Bar charts and pie charts are
often used to compare products or display numeric details, however they must
make sure that charts are correctly constructed with the correct information.
Histograms are different to bar charts as the height does not represent the
value, the area of the bar shows it instead.
 Presentation methods​
 Businesses think about whether their presentations should state findings
or if they should compile a formal report using the analysis. So presenting
data depends on the amount of analysed results and conclusions. It is key
that businesses consider their audience and plan carefully. For example,
having endless slides of statistics and numerical figures on a presentation
P8: present market may not convey the key and relevant data to the audience.
research findings in
 Both written reports and presentations must make sure that their
an appropriate format introduction is clear, simple and easy for consumers to understand. It
for the data obtained should contain information on why and how the research was completed.
and audience The research objectives on written reports and presentations should be
detailed with the objectives that were set before the research started so
the reader understand why certain actions were completed. Main findings
in a report/ presentation should present the results clearly in either a table,
graph etc. this is so readers can easily see and read the final conclusion.
Lastly, conclusions and recommendations should be included as it reveals
the last results having summing up the main points in the main findings.
Recommendations include advice for any further research or future steps.
M3: based on
assessment of own
market research
findings recommend
improvements
or additional market
research requirements
D2: recommend and
justify marketing
 decisions that the
business could take