A business or a startup in its initial stage faces many problems with its marketing such as product, price, place, and promotion. It may also encounter some of the problems related to its product design, packaging, branding, advertising, etc. How can a seller or a manufacturer overcome these problems? How can he design a product that fits the consumer’s needs? How can he know about the taste of his customer? The answer to all of the questions is a simple term- Marketing Research.

What exactly is marketing Research? According to the analysts and various economists- Market Research is an organized method of finding the target market for a particular product. It also deals with gathering information about the taste, preferences, and finding out the potential customers. It can also be said that it is a way of getting an overview of consumers’ wants, needs, and beliefs. It can also involve discovering how they act. The research can be used to determine how a product could be marketed.

What Marketing Research helps us determine?

• It provides valuable data: It helps the company to determine valuable inputs such as data related to the demand, supply, competition, etc. which further helps the authorities in decision making.
• It tells us about consumer behavior: It helps the company to determine the taste of the consumer as well as age, income, likes, dislikes of his potential customer. It also helps them to get an opinion about their product.
• Helps to select suitable sales promotional techniques: It helps them to find out the best promotional techniques for their product and also select suitable media for the same. It also, on the other hand, helps the companies to allocate the budget for this promotion related activities.
• Gives market-related information: This method helps in finding out the present and future demand of a product. It helps them to get knowledge about the level of competition and also helps them realize the cause of the fall in sales level.
• Helps Company to evaluate its performance

Methods of Marketing Research

Traditionally there are two methods of Market Research:

• Based on the questionnaire:
• Qualitative Marketing Research: These researches are generally used for exploratory purposes and are carried out on a small number of people rather than a large population. Some of the examples of such research are- focus groups, in-depth interviews, etc.
• Quantitative Marketing Research: These researches are done for drawing out conclusions and proving hypotheses. It is also tested upon a large number of people. Examples include surveys and questionnaires.

2. 2. Based on observations: These techniques are not widely used but are used in some industries. It can be classified further into:
   3. Ethnographic studies
   4. Experimental techniques

Types of Marketing Research:

Marketing Research involves various techniques and methods. Some of them are:-

2. 2. Ad Tracking: A type of market research to monitor a brand’s performance using measures such as brand awareness,
   3. Advertising Research: A Method to predict the efficacy of advertisements for any medium, measured by the ad’s ability to get attention, communicate the message, build the brand’s image, and motivates the consumer to purchase the product or service.
   4. Brand equity: A research to test how favorably do consumers view the brand?
   5. Concept testing: A research to test the acceptance of a concept by target consumers.
   6. Demand Estimation: A research to determine the approximate level of demand for the product
   7. Price Elasticity: A test to determine how sensitive customers are to price changes.
   8. Sales Forecasting: A research to determine the expected level of sales given the level of demand, with respect to other factors like Advertising expenditure, sales promotion, etc.
   9. Segmentation Research: Research to determine the demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics of potential customers.

Thus, be it a large scale organization of a small scale firm all of them needs to conduct market research on a regular basis to stand in this competitive market.

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