Behind the Advertisements

Research is needed on a continued basis. Being knowledgeable on the latest market trends can gain a competitive advantage in the business market. With the economy becoming more and more competitive with new ideas, marketing research can essentially understand what affects your business, increase customer satisfaction, analyze competitors, and advance performance.  my field of curriculum in Marketing, I would like to study the importance of research that are currently being used to generate systematic gathering in choosing a target audience and the type of product in what market. I chose to focus on the importance of marketing research as I am a marketing major and am overall interested in how a company works to be successful.

Big business or small, understanding your competition and category is a crucial part of dominating the market. With various brands and companies available to us, sellers in all categories know they have to have a strong understanding of the customer’s wants and needs if they want a chance at success. Successful companies rely on marketing research to help them understand their markets. Market research helps companies reveal key aspects of their competitors’ products, services and marketing strategies. Truth is, it is easy to dismiss the idea of research, you may brush it off, thinking you know how your competition works, thinking you know what your customers want. Most companies would rather start making products right away to sell than think about the value of marketing research. But, making well-informed market decisions about your services and developing effective strategies is influential to compelling marketing campaigns that cannot be overruled.

Market research is essential to a brand’s long-term success as it plays a key role in the effectiveness of a company remaining informative in its current marketing mix and allows insight for necessary changes. Some companies spend millions on marketing research, others conduct informal, limited-scale research studies. Requiring key information to collect, analyze, and develop strategic planning is important for improving efficiency and increasing performance. Marketing is about making sure a business is providing the goods and services that customers want. It involves identifying and anticipating what consumers want today and will want in the future. Market research overall provides detailed insights into the competitors, latest market trends, consumer buying patterns, and demographics.

In particular marketing to be recognized, it has two components: theory and research which are “related to buyer and behavior, and the functional focus on the nature and activities of marketing management” (Wensley 36). From trade to tech, as the world progresses, so do customers and their wants and needs, you may have needed a desktop and home phone, but you now may only need a smartphone at your fingertips. “Proper marketing research of products and services provides an upward sales trend along with the better customer management resulting in increased sales, acting as a trigger point of growth and development of business.” (iResearch Services). This article explicates the evolution of marketing throughout the years. To understand the importance of research in marketing, it is also important to understand what and where marketing came from.

Another important part of market research is identifying your target market as it helps a company develop effective marketing communication strategies: Who are your customers? What do they enjoy? Are there more customers in one region than another and why? “A target market is a set of individuals sharing similar needs or characteristics that your company hopes to serve; these individuals are usually the most likely to purchase your product” (Hubbard). By specifying a target market, it allows you to deliver messages that appeal specifically to them. For example, teenagers have always been important to brands because they tend to be early adopters and trend setters. The difference with today’s teenagers, however, is that they’re not listening to what the media and older generations are telling them is cool. Generation-Z, America’s youngest generation, are now entering their formative years and rising in influence. “While older millennials looked to television shows like MTV tell them what was in style, today’s teens are discovering trends and deciding for themselves” (Lapowsky).

Lapowsky also discusses some of the largest social media networks with a major purveyor of data that considers teens priceless, an example of how knowing your target market and researching their wants and needs as part of research that goes into marketing. The article highlights the idea of purchasing power along with the fdifference with teenagers throughout the years. Teenagers today are not listening to what the media and older generations are telling them is cool. “While older millennials looked to television shows like MTV’s Total Request Live to tell them what was in style, today’s teens are discovering trends and deciding for themselves. Teens want their favorite businesses to grow with them. If you don’t keep up, they’ll have no problem leaving you behind” (Lapowsky).

For example, Abercrombie & Fitch’s steep decline in the market over recent years is largely due to the fact that it is tough to sell teens of this generation a $108 pair of jeans. Today’s teenagers also do their research, they look for reviews and at social media to help them make a decision. It is important for marketers to be prepared and have a place where that value proposition is explained. Abercrombie & Fitch’s competitors, such as American Eagle Outfitters, who also target fifteen to twenty-five year olds that want to wear ‘trendy’ clothes to school or out with friends, operates more than a thousand stores overall; targeting diversity and both males and females as their target market at better, competitive prices for their consumers that have allowed the brand to be successful, generation after generation.

Customers are the foundation of any business and are an important role in a marketing campaign. With so many brand choices available to us and the market constantly changing, sellers in all categories know they have to have a strong understanding of the customer’s wants and needs if they are aiming for success. One of the primary goal’s businesses should inquire when attempting to develop or sell a product or service should be identifying and meeting the needs of their customers. Customer importance in marketing research is essential to being successful due to the fact that without consideration of the needs of the customers, sales can and will falter. Understanding your target market is essential in letting consumers know why they should choose your product or service over those of your competitors and aid in conducting loyalty towards your business.

Fashion magazines such as Seventeen, Vogue, or GQ have been around decades ago and already on the newsstands, but it would not be recognizable to a reader today. These magazines not only reflected different beauty standards and publishing developments of their time, but also reflected other social and cultural values — such as nationalistic self-representation — within the advertisements, texts, and images. For example, Seventeen magazine’s target audience is right in its title. These publications have generally focused on screen celebrities to address the latest trends, usually in fashion. This magazine has focused its monthly issues on the latest issues: “In the mid 60s, the magazine consistently included politically-slanted pieces, such as these: “What You Can Do For Human Rights in Your Own Home Town” and “Four teens report on: the race for space, the war in Vietnam, civil rights, the war on poverty” (TheAwl) as the 60s were a disordered decade defined by counterculture protests and the civil rights movement.

Another important factor in catering to your customer’s satisfaction is knowing how your company will be branding and how that will reach consumers, is important in the overall efficiency of marketing. The message has to be powerful, so customers are able to instantly recognize the brand when they see it on the store shelf. The saying “don’t judge a book by its cover” may have been a metaphorical phrase we followed as kids, but it may not apply to most customer products. In a constantly changing and competitive market, how a company packages its products has a direct influence on sales. Research suggests we may try to not purchase products based on packaging, but Fraser has proven otherwise. For example, in many product categories, there isn’t a lot to differentiate one choice from another. “Frozen vegetables are a good example. For the most part, all brands are very similar. For a company to stand out in this type of industry, it has to have strong brand recognition” (Fraser). Marketing research clearly can shed light on many different things and help make advertising more effective. Studies have suggested that the color and design of a product can affect sales, while others say customers love a good deal over packaging. There are many different ways that marketers can use research to bolster the sales of a product if they choose to follow it.

Fraser focused on the importance of brand awareness in research and the effects of marketing mix elements. The term marketing mix refers to a unique blend of product, place (distribution), promotion, and pricing strategies (often referred to as the four Ps) designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market. The importance of knowing when and where your products will be available to customers is important, as well as knowing the storing and transportation of the product. Pricing is important as it is the quickest element to change as it is an important competitive weapon and very important to the organization because price multiplied by the number of units sold equals the total revenue for the company. The marketing mix is one of the keys to a successful business that is often overlooked. This article provides a great analysis to list as to why it is important to know the distribution (place) and the price surrounding your consumers when researching.

Marketing failures are inevitable and happen all the time, and it is often because of inadequate research or because no research was conducted at all. Part of being prepared with market research is avoiding unpleasant surprises. Intuition and experience can be helpful at times, but research and facts often paint a more accurate picture of your market. By conducting research on a regular basis, you can keep up with the dynamics of the economy and demography, as well as also adjust to new regulations and technological breakthroughs. Good research is essential for any effective marketing campaign. Peter Reiss analyzes the empirical work that goes into marketing research. As he states, “marketing researchers have become interested in this type of data as it allows researchers to estimate useful theoretical objects, decision, rules, and parameters.” This type of data helps analyze the challenge market researchers often face in developing structural models which provide realistic descriptions of the environments in which firms market products and services. An important theme is that the marketing question and the data available should determine the methods used, and not the other way around.

Reiss analyzes the empirical work that goes into marketing research. As the author states, marketing researchers have become interested in this type of data as it allows researchers to estimate useful theoretical objects, decision rules, or parameter. I believe this information is also useful as it also can answer marketing policy questions and allows researchers to assess what aspects constrain data. This type of data is useful to analyze as the challenge market researchers often face is developing structural models which provide realistic descriptions of the environments in which firms market products and services, overviewing my research question.

People in today’s busy world have short attention spans; you would not list a product with a whole paragraph as instructions for a teen product, they would not even bother reading. Because of this, the author discusses how to overcome the challenge in getting messages across in such an environment. Understanding issues with television advertisements and how some ads may not come off as clear and leave viewers feeling confused over what the product was or even who was selling it is an example of why it is important to research into branding and marketing. The importance of available marketing research is that it helps choosing a simple and focused message; it features the benefits of clear advertisement and the influence a brand can achieve with research.

Because I am doing a semester research project and not writing a book, my research will necessarily be limited. Specifically, those limitations are relying on pre-existing data and limited access on references. Nevertheless, within those limitations, all data was critically acclaimed with strong overall analysis.

In short, for efficient marketing of a business or company, developing a strong and compelling marketing strategy is great vital importance to being successful. From where, when and how to advertise for a wider exposure to designing packaging to wording of the promotions to suit the marketing needs, each aspect of the marketing strategy will act as the solid foundation in the brand development efforts. In conclusion, research provides us with important information to help us identify and analyze the market needs, our customers, and our competitors.

Works Cited

Fraser, Renee. “Why Research Is Important for Marketing Professionals.” Business.com, 3 Oct. 2017, www.business.com/articles/research-important-for-marketing-professionals/.

Hu, Jane. “When We Were ‘Seventeen’: A History In 47 Covers.” The Awl, 28 Sept. 2012, www.theawl.com/2012/09/when-we-were-seventeen-a-history-in-47-covers/.

Huang, Rong, and Emine Sarigöllü. “How Brand Awareness Relates to Market Outcome, Brand Equity, and               the Marketing Mix.” Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors International Series on Consumer               Science, 2014, pp. 113–132., doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-0277-4_8.

“Importance of Market Research in Marketing Products and Services.” iResearch Services, 25 May 2018, www.iresearchservices.com/importance-of-market-research-in-marketing-products-and-services/

Lamb, Charles W., et al. MKTG12: Principles of Marketing. Cengage Learning, 2019.

Lapowsky, Issie. “Why Teens Are the Most Elusive and Valuable Customers in Tech.” Inc.com, Inc., 3 Mar. 2014, www.inc.com/issie-lapowsky/inside-massive-tech-land-grab- teenagers.html.

Reiss, Peter C. “Structural Workshop Paper—Descriptive, Structural, and Experimental Empirical Methods in Marketing Research.” Marketing Science, vol. 30, no. 6, 2011, pp. 950–964.

Wensley, Robin. “Another Oxymoron in Marketing: Marketing Strategy.” Marketing in Evolution, 1998, pp. 36–54., doi:10.1007/978-1-349-14089-3_3.