This is an extensive write-up on how implementing marketing research prior to your product launch is quite useful in making cognitive decisions when targeting an audience or carving a marketing niche for your business.

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Importance Of Marketing Research Process
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Importance Of Marketing Research in Marketing Planning Process.
Why do most business fail? most typical reasons are not the most obvious, for sure. But
my concession is that they do fail because they fail to plan, hence the plan to fail already
in such business.
This post is to highlight the fundamental reason why any SME should always consider
Marketing research in their marketing Planning process. Infact I believe it should be
included in your business feasibility studies.

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Marketing research involves a process or processes of getting information that connect
producers, customers, and end users to help a marketer make decisions that are data
driven in evaluating marketing actions; monitoring marketing performance; and improving
our understanding of marketing as a process. Market research specifies the information
required to address these issues: designs the method for collecting information. Manages
and implements the data-collection process; analyzes the results; and communicates the
findings and their implications.
Therefore, marketing research can be defined as an information input for decisions, and
not just the evaluation of decisions that have been made. Note, marketing research alone
does not assure success; the intelligent use of marketing research information is the key,

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which is a result of how such information can be used.
Barry J. Babin, William G. Zikmund (2016, pg 13) also stated that “…the prime
managerial value of marketing research comes from the reduced uncertainty that results
from information and facilitates decision making about marketing strategies and tactics to
achieve an organization’s strategic goals”. This is in view that developing and
implementing a Marketing Strategy involves four stages:
1. Identifying and evaluating market opportunities.
2. Analyzing market segments and selecting target markets.
3. Planning and implementing a marketing mix that will provide value to customers and
meet organizational objectives.
4. Analyzing firm performance.
Furthermore, marketing research is required in the information-management process,
which includes:
(1) Specification on the type of information needed.
(2) Collection and analysis of information needed.
(3) Interpreting the information to correlate with the objectives of the research.
For example, Paurav Shukla (2008, pg.16) cited a research project focusing on
consumers’ preference of green tea in the UK provided results on the following:
1. Analysis of market trends as well as global production of green tea, and the growing
importance of green tea in comparison to black variants and UK green tea
consumption with forecast to 2007. (Problem identification research)
2. The key health benefits attributed to green tea and awareness of such benefits
among various consumer groups according to their age, gender, income class and
such other demographics. (Problem solving research)
3. Profiles of more than 30 tea players offering green tea in the UK market. (Problem
identification research)
4. Consumer choice process and preferences in buying tea and related products.
(Problem solving research)
The example demonstrates that a single marketing research can encompass both
problem identification and problem solving research. Furthermore, the research process
involving both these research strands is common in nature.
The role and limitations of marketing research
"Marketing research does not make decisions and it does not guarantee success".
Marketing managers may seek advice from marketing research specialists, and indeed it
is important that research reports should specify alternative courses of action and the
probability of success, where possible, of these alternatives. However, it is marketing
managers who make the final marketing decision and not the researcher. The second

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observation, that marketing research does not guarantee success, is simply a recognition
of the environment within which marketing takes place. In the fields of science and
engineering researchers are often working with deterministic models of the world where y
= f(x). That is, x is a necessary and sufficient condition for y to occur. For instance, an
increase in pressure is usually necessary and sufficient to bring about a rise in air
temperature. In the social sciences, and this includes marketing and marketing research,
the phenomenon under investigation rarely, if ever, lends itself to deterministic modelling.
Consider the marketing problem of determining how much to spend on promotion in order
to achieve a given market share. The link between promotional expenditure and sales is
not so direct as that between pressure and temperature. There are a great many more
intervening variables, including: the media used, the effectiveness of the promotional
message, the length and frequency of the campaign, not to mention the many dimensions
of the product, price and distribution. Marketing researchers work with probabilistic
models of the form:
y = f(x )..(fx )...f(x )...
This reflects the fact that in order for a target market share to be reached some promotion
(amount unknown) is necessary but will not be sufficient, on its own, to achieve the
target. Y is a function of a number of variables and the interactions between them. The
model is further complicated by the fact that these interactions are themselves often not
understood. It is for these reasons that marketing researchers cannot guarantee that
decisions based on their information will always prove 'successful'. Rather the best that a
competent researcher and a well-designed study will be able to offer is a reduction for
uncertainty surrounding the decision.
Examples: International Missteps Caused by Environmental Differences
Warner encountered difficulties when it tried to sell a cinnamon flavored FRESHEN-
UP gum in Chile. Because the gum’s taste was unacceptable there, the product
fared poorly in the marketplace.
Coca-cola also had little success marketing a product in Chile. When the company
attempted to introduce a new grape-flavored drink, it soon discovered that the
Chileans were not interested. Apparently, the Chileans prefer wine as their grape
drink.
When Pepsi expanded their market to China, they launched with the slogan, "Pepsi
brings you back to life." What they did not realize is that the phrase translated to
“Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave.” This may seem like a funny
mistake ... but to Pepsi this was a huge mistake, especially when you are trying to
build a brand on a global level. Yipes!
The Bud Light slogan was one of the biggest marketing gaffs in terms of ignorance
and attitudes towards rape. How anyone could have written these words and not
seen the implications is beyond me. The slogan suggests the beer is for a ‘certain
type’ of woman who is carefree, gets drunk and does not care what happens to her.
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The product was backed up by a Twitter marketing campaign entitled #UpforWhatever.
Surely someone at Budweiser would have realized this campaign was going to be
doomed from the beginning.
CONCLUSION:
Marketing research plays a vital role in marketing as a tool for gathering and analyzing
data from producers, consumers, and end users to create quantitative information that
are used in decision-making. From the examples above, we can deduce that the need for
marketing research can help any firm in planning and identifying marketing problems and
opportunities before venturing into the marketplace.
Reference list:
Barry J. Babin, William G. Zikmund: Exploring Marketing Research (2016, pg.13).
Dr Dawn Iacobucci, Dr Gilbert a Churchill Jr: Marketing Research Methodology
Foundations. 11 Edition(2015, pg. 6,7).
Malhotra, N. (2004), Marketing Research: An applied orientation, Pearson Education,
New Jersey.
Paurav Shukla: Essentials of Marketing Research (2008, pg.16).
Roles and Limitations of Marketing Research :
http://www.fao.org/docrep/w3241e/w3241e02.htm
Pepsi Cultural Blunders, Source: http://www.campaignasia.com/article/cultural-blunders-
brands-gone-wrong/426043
Budlight marketing Failures, Source: https://blog.printsome.com/marketing-failures/
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