Above all, marketing must consider the proper timing of the launching of a new product or even the promotion of a particular product. One has to have a knowledge and understanding of the buying behavior of the customers. Where do they buy? When do they buy? There are both buying seasons and buying locations. A product or service will not sell because the marketing organization or the manufacturer thinks that it is good for the customers. This means identifying the motivations, even sentiments or emotions that might induce the purchase of a certain product. How does the mind of the consumer work in relation to purchases? Why do they buy a particular brand? This is possibly the most difficult area of marketing, because it cannot be defined in statistical terms. This is also an area in which advertising has the most to contribute. Marketing is not a one-time operation. It is a continuing process, whether you are dealing with a single product or introducing new ones or whatever. This is because the objective is not a one-time sale, but repeat sales and increasing sales or expansion of the market. It is thus that production can be maintained at the optimum level. This brings about the economy of size. You can buy the raw materials in larger quantities and hence, at a lower unit cost. With the cost of machinery and fixed assets having been incurred once, it can be spread over a larger quantity of goods. If quality is maintained, with a larger volume of production, the cost of production per unit is lowered and the price can be reduced if faced with competition, and yet profits maximized. Successful marketing is the most concrete expression of successful economic business management.
It should be obvious from what we have discussed so far, how complex marketing is and what a wide range and variety of activities it encompasses. All these components of marketing taken together constitute the marketing mix. Advertising or marketing communication is but one element of the marketing mix. Obviously such a complex process involves a great deal of advance and even long term planning. This requires a tremendous amount of information. Such information can only be available through research. Two types of research are involved: market research and marketing research. In a sense they are the two stages of research. There is a certain amount of overlapping between the two types or stages of research. How can you enter a market with a product of service unless you have a complete knowledge of the market? This would involve knowledge about every element of the marketing mix. Market research is the key component of decision-making in marketing a product or service. Market research could be aimed at identifying a new product that would satisfy a latent or unrealized demand. This would mean that market research would then be an input for research and development. This is how the television as an instrument for entertainment and information was developed. Similar has been the road to the development of a whole range of consumer durables such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, air conditioners and so on. Various types of pesticides have come into the market to meet an expressed demand. So have hybrid seeds.
Market research would be required to secure information about the consumers. The consumers or the market would have to be segmented or stratified according to the occupation of the customers, their income levels, their interests, education, social background, age, sex, buying habits and so on, related to the product or service to be marketed. It should be obvious that research would also be necessary to find out the market conditions-competition and the marketing activities of the competitors covering every component of the marketing mix. Some general background information would also be necessary, which might be available through desk research or published data. There is a wealth of data available in government publications, reports of trade associations and other public financial institutions, census data, reports of various government committees and parliamentary committees, and so on.
Overall, if business has to diversify not only in terms of the market geographically, but also of products, market research has to be concerned with identifying cultural diversities in markets stretching across national boundaries and, in Nigeria, state boundarie, to be able to blend them together to identify a new product or service which would cut across the cultural diversities. It could also help give an acceptable identity to an existing product in a new market or even give a sense of a new benefit to the same product in an existing market. Such research takes into account local conditions and preferences or needs arising from them.
Where there is hard water, there would necessarily be greater demand for washing soap than in other areas. In West Bengal and the south, women generally prefer to wear their hair long. These regions would provide a bigger market for shampoos and hair oils. Eating habits determine the kind of edible oil that can be sold in a particular market, say south or north. Marketing of consumer products, consumer durables, and industrial products in rural markets would require different kinds of information. Hence, there would have to be' different types of research for different types of consumers.
Market research is a continuing process, not merely in the search for new products but also for the retention of existing consumers, particularly in a highly competitive market. For consumer goods, consumer panels are set up. These consist of housewives who submit regular reports about their purchases and test new products. Such panels are best handled by an independent agency, instead of the marketing organization or the advertising agency servicing it. Shop or store audit panels are set up to visit shops regularly to record stocks received, sold and unsold. This helps identify the pattern and quantum of sales of each and every brand in the shop. It also provides information about the share of a particular brand in the total sales of that product, or the market share. Periodic checks of the levels of consumer satisfaction have become essential. New organizations have come up for this purpose alone. It is engaged only in research into customer satisfaction with different products and services. Market and Research Group is also setting up such a department.
Industrial marketing demands not only knowledge of the existing requirements of particular industries, but also of the manufacturing process itself so that new products or improved products can be identified. The benefit that the industrialist is looking for is very different from what the non-industrial consumer wants. The industrial consumer would be looking for, may be, cutting down of electricity costs; an improvement in the design of a particular machine to speed up production; reduction in wastage through the improvement of components which are inputs for the final product; cutting down production time by reducing breakdowns and maintenance lay-offs; lowering maintenance costs, and so on. The supplier of equipment or components could also provide consultancy as an added service. After sales service is a vital component of marketing industrial products. Such a service would not only aim at improving the life cycle of the machinery but also help in its up gradation. In industrial marketing, personal selling has a greater role to play than advertising. Demonstrations may be necessary. Large sums of money are involved and purchasing decisions are taken by a different set of people.
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