Marketing Research is the systematic and objective identification, collection, analysis,

dissemination, and use of information for the purpose of improving decision making related
to the identification and solution of problems and opportunities in marketing. Further
marketing research engages two different types, first is Problem-Identification research which
focuses on identifying the issues which are unseen but still exists and the problems which can
occur in the future. Second is Problem-Solving research in which we try to find the solution
to take effective decisions while solving the problem.

The process of marketing research consists of six steps. First is to define the problem based
on the relevant information provided by the decision-makers. Second is Development of an
approach to the problem in which frameworks, models, research questions are included in
order to get the desired information. The third is Research Design, which is a blueprint of the
research project. The primary purpose of this is to determine the possible answers to help in
decision making. The fourth step is to collect the data through various means such as
interviews, on telephone, mails etc. After the data is collected, the fifth step is to prepare and
analyze the data. It includes editing, coding and verification of the data collected. Analysis of
this data provides inputs to help in managing the decision problem.

At last, the sixth step is to prepare a report on all the steps mentioned above. This tells us the
approach taken while solving the problem and the findings of the whole research project.

Information is the key when it comes to developing new marketing strategies to identify and
satisfy your customer's needs. Marketing Research provides the platform through which
companies can get the data they need to build the strategies. It is always beneficial for
companies under different circumstances, but whether to conduct marketing research is a
question, and many factors have to be considered while taking this decision. Marketing
research involves a huge amount of time and money. If any one thing is not available in the
proper amount, then it is perilous to conduct research.

The marketing research industry consists of suppliers who provide relevant information
needed to make marketing decisions. These suppliers can be internal or external. The Internal
supplier is the research department within the firm while the External Suppliers are the
outside firms which provide marketing research services. These are further classified into
Full-service suppliers which offers a full range of marketing research services to the clients
and Limited-service suppliers.
Conducting a full project on marketing research is not an easy job, and thereby firm requires
the help of external suppliers. While Selecting a supplier from outside a firm has to develop
criteria to select the proper supplier for their project. They have to check about the supplier's
reputation in the market and whether the supplier can fulfil their needs or not. Often the
suppliers are selected through a bidding process. Firm issue a request for proposal, request for
information, request for information, invitation to bid, to invite the suppliers to bid. Internet is
the main source of information that helps in identifying the suppliers.

Marketing research as a career is promising and has the potential to provide a number of
opportunities. There are multiple roles available at the entry and senior level, to name a few,
analyst, research director, junior research analyst, operational supervisor, vice president of
marketing research etc.

With the globalization of markets, there is a trend in International Marketing Research.

Several firms conduct marketing research for business to be launched in other countries and
also to check the cultural differences between the countries. There are a lot of complexities
involved, but it is expected to grow at a faster rate as compared to domestic research.

Social media has now become an interactive platform to share information. There are a lot of
tools available like discussion, chat, webcast, videos, podcasts etc. Researchers can make use
of this source to get insights about the behaviour of the customers in the market. It is an
additional domain to support the traditional ways of conducting marketing research.

Use of mobile phones for doing marketing research is an affordable way, and it provides a
higher reach and scale for the research. The developments in mobile devices have provided
us with opportunities for doing marketing research. Through surveys, one can get feedback
from the potential customers in just a minute. More than half of the population spends time
on social media and other applications. Thus, at low cost, we get a huge base of customers to
do the research.

Ethics has a very strong role in marketing research. In marketing research, there are four
stakeholders, i.e. researcher, client, respondent and public. If the researcher violates the
ethical norms and the client misrepresents the information, then it becomes an ethical issue
for the client.