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| Marketing research is the systematic procedure used to gather, record, and analyze new information to help managers make decisions about the marketing of goods and services. Marketing research helps management identify consumer needs, develop new products and communication strategies, and assess the effectiveness of marketing programs and promotional activities. The many types of information gathered can help marketers recruit, retain, and regain customers. Advertising research, a subset of marketing research, is used to gather and analyze information for developing or evaluating advertising. It helps advertisers develop strategies and test concepts. The results of research help define the product concept, select the target market, and develop the primary advertising message elements. Advertisers use testing to make sure their advertising dollars are spent wisely. Pretesting helps detect and eliminate weaknesses before a campaign runs. Posttesting helps evaluate the effectiveness of an ad or campaign after it runs. Testing is used to evaluate several variables including merchandise, markets, motives, messages, media, and overall results. The research process involves several steps: analyzing the situation and defining the problem, conducting informal (exploratory) research by analyzing internal data and collecting external secondary data, setting research objectives, conducting formal research using qualitative or quantitative methods, and, finally, interpreting and reporting the findings. Marketers use qualitative research to get a general impression of the market. The methods used may be projective or intensive. Quantitative techniques include observation, experiment, and survey. Techniques used in pretesting include central location tests, clutter tests, and direct questioning. Pretesting has numerous problems, including artificiality, consumer inaccuracy, and the halo effect of consumer responses. The most commonly used posttesting techniques are aided recall, unaided recall, attitude tests, inquiry tests, and sales tests. The validity and reliability of quantitative surveys depend on the sampling methods used and the design of the survey questionnaire. The two sampling procedures are random probability and nonprobability. Survey questions require focus, brevity, and simplicity. In international markets, research is often more expensive and less reliable than in the United States. But advertisers must use research to understand cultural traits and habits in overseas markets. |