Marketing Diploma Course – Question on Unit Seven Aleksandre Ananiashvili – S12976

Name of student: Aleksandre Ananiashvili (S12976)

Name of lecture: Marketing Diploma Course
Date of assignment: 20/Jan/2010
Assignment Title: Answer the Questions
Unit Number: Unit Seven

Market Research
Answer the following questions:

1. What might a market research project find out about a new pack design for

a plant feed?

Marketing research is the intelligence service of a business enterprise. It is defined as “the

gathering, recording and analyzing of all data about problems relating to the transfer and sale of goods
and services from producer to consumer.”

Objectives of Marketing Research:

a. To know the demographics and psychographics of customers.

b. To find out the impact of promotional efforts.
c. To know customer response to a new product.
d. To probe „what went wrong‟.

Market research may be conducted for the following reasons:

a. To identify the present and potential customers and their needs.

b. To forecast the demand of a product.
c. To determine customers preferences with regard to packaging, design, size, price and other
features of a product.
d. To locate the demand for products with regard to time and place, such as festival demand.
e. To explore new markets for existing products.

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Marketing Diploma Course – Question on Unit Seven Aleksandre Ananiashvili – S12976

Advantage of Marketing Research

A business enterprise can derive the following benefits by conducting marketing research.
(i) Forecasting.
(ii) Assessing Product Acceptance.
(iii) Rightful Promotion.
(iv) Understanding New Markets.
(v) Suitability of Channels.
(vi) Overall Business Direction.
(vii) Assessment of Middlemen.

Limitations of Marketing Research

Marketing research may suffer from the following limitations:

(i) Huge Expenditure.
(ii) Bias in Collecting Data. Unpredictable Human Behaviors.
(iii) Requires Intelligent Handling.
(iv) Supplementary, Not Substitute.
(v) Requires Competent Researcher.
(vi) No time Gap Allowed Between Research and its Implementation.

THE MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

Marketing research is carried out in a systematic and scientific manner to make it more effective
and useful for marketing management.

 Preparation and Use of questionnaire

Questionnaire is the soul of survey. Therefore, it is necessary that sufficient care be taken to draft
the questionnaire. The questionnaire should be so framed that it suits the purpose of survey and evokes
the highest possible response. Following considerations should be taken into account while preparing a
questionnaire and putting it into use.

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Marketing Diploma Course – Question on Unit Seven Aleksandre Ananiashvili – S12976

(i) Questionnaire should be accompanied by a covering letter stating the purposes of enquiry and
requesting the respondent to complete it and send it back to the investigator. It should also give
assurance that the information supplied by the respondent will be kept as strictly confidential.
(ii) The number of questions in the questionnaire should be minimum possible. Particularly,
questionnaire used for telephone survey should be very brief.
(iii) The question should be short and simple. As far as possible, the answers to the questions
should be capable of being expressed in standard format, i.e. „Yes‟, „No‟ and „No comment‟,
etc.
(iv) There should be a logical arrangement of questions
(v) The questions should be expressed in unambiguous words.
(vi) Mathematical calculations like ratios and percentages should not be asked from the respondents.
(vii) As far as possible, personal questions should be avoided
(viii) The layout of the questionnaire should be attractive in printing and design and the paper used.
(ix) Questionnaire should be pre-tested by checking response of a select respondents. This pilot
study is necessary to remove the draw-backs of the questionnaire in the initial stages. The re-
drafted questionnaire can be effectively used for undertaking a large scale survey to collect data
for marketing research.

Surveys with the help of a questionnaire can be conducted in the following way: Personal Interview;
through mail and through the telephone.

 Personal Interview
 Mail Survey
 Telephone Survey
 Salesmen
 Dealers
 Consumers
 Observation

New Packaging Design

Packaging is the marketing media between product and end-users. Packaging is an integrated
knowledge of science and arts. Amongst other things, it is used for holding and protecting the product,

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extending product shelf life, a marketing tool, and in many cases building an environmentally friendly
image.
Packaging alone does not guarantee a successful product. What happens or does not happen to the
product carries as much if not more weight in purchase decisions. The direct impact of change on sales
is more measurable than advertising and PR.
Most clients turn to research because their product has gotten stagnant or stale, not just because of
anything the competition is doing. Having tried everything in promotions and advertising, they are
looking for the next boost.

 New Packaging Design Services - Increase Visibility & Sales

Launching a new product can be a challenging undertaking. Buyers are always considering how the
products they purchase will look and will think twice if the product packaging is not up to their
standards.

 The Benefits of Good New Packaging Design:

 Increased Brand Recognition

 Market Differentiation
 Increased Sales

 What is Market Differentiation?

Market Differentiation is how to set the product apart from the rest. When a new product is lunched
it not only has to compete with the features of other products on the market. It is also necessary to have
visually appealing packaging design that stands out on a shelf. It is not necessary to make something
brightly coloured or gaudy just to grab the shopper‟s attention, instead it is believed in bringing out the
essence of the product through visual cues.

Market research is the process by which businesses find out about customers' needs, wants and
desires. It makes possible the successful development of new products.

This study shows how companies combine market research with new product development on their
plant feed brand to provide exciting new products that better meet consumer requirements.

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They should have a clear goal - to be as close as possible to consumers, regardless of which country
they live in. Developing superior consumer insights is fundamental to the continued future success and
its brands like.

Companies have to launch new products into a variety of countries and categories. To be an
innovative it allows them for actively shaping its markets and setting new trends. Also it makes
competition through the market

Identifying consumer insights and product needs

Market research should start with the consumer and serves two purposes:
1. To inform companies about consumer needs and desires. What are the trends in the market?
What do consumers want?
2. To give consumers the opportunity to talk to the providers of products and services so that their
views are taken into account.

The key stages of market research and new product development

Market research involves the systematic gathering, recording and analysing of data about customers,
competitors and the market. This links marketers to consumers by supplying essential information to
solve marketing challenges and help with marketing decisions. Market research helps a company create
and develop an up-to-date and relevant portfolio of products.

2. Explain why question setting is a job for a specialist.

The question setting interviews can be based on a series of decisions and judgments. Your interview
answer has to clearly set out basic concepts, to be understandable. This is not easy job that can be done
for every single person without any knowledge of interviewing.

Your interview answer has to define:

 The Basis of the Decision Process

Explain how you decide your question settings. The interview answer is about structuring your
questions. Remember this interview question is all about planning, so you need to define how you

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establish your questions. The interview question requires you to define the question settings. Interview
answer should refer to the question setting as major strategic goals. There are normally the specific
steps taken to achieve proper question setting. This is the organizational part of your interview answer.
Keep it simple and clear, because it's an important part of your response to the interview question, the
'how' factor, showing how the goals relate.

 How you Organize Your Questions

The interview answer must show you have a system for achieving your goals in an organized way.
Explain how short term goals are used as milestones for the long term goals. This interview question
requires you to concentrate on giving a clear interview answer. Think about how you want to express
your interview answer. Does it give the four points you have to define in your interview answer? Does
it explain how you set questions in an integrated way? As I have mentioned earlier, it takes ages to set
up a proper questions for interviewing people and it is fairly difficult to bring it to the final stage.
That‟s why it said that „question setting is a job for a specialist‟.

3. Interviewers are trained for three months. Draw up a set of rules that

interviewers should always use.

These are the set of rules that interviewers use while interviews to maximize potential employment
opportunities.
 Speak clearly and enthusiastically about your experiences and skills. Be professional, but do not
be afraid to let your personality shine through. Be yourself. Do not be afraid of short pauses.
You may need a few seconds to formulate an answer.
 Be positive. Employers do not want to hear a litany of excuses or bad feelings about a negative
experience. If you are asked about a low grade, sudden job changes, or a weakness in your
background, do not be defensive. Focus instead on the facts (briefly) and what you learned from
the experience.
 Be prepared to market your skills and experiences as they relate to the job described. Work at
positioning yourself in the mind of the employer as a person with a particular set of skills and
attributes. Employers have problems that need to be solved by employees with particular skills;
work to describe your qualifications appropriately.

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 Research information before the interview. Some important information to look for includes
what activities the employer carries out, how financially stable the employer is, and what types
of jobs exist with the employer. Researching an employer during the job search can help
determine more about that organization and your potential place in it. Know how you can help
the company and prepare questions to ask the interviewer about the company.
 Arrive early for the interview. Plan to arrive for your interview 10-15 minutes before the
appointed time. Arriving too early confuses the employer and creates an awkward situation.
Similarly, arriving late creates a bad first impression. Ask for directions when arranging for the
interview.
 Carry a portfolio, notepad or at the very least, a manila file folder labeled with the employer's
name.
 Bring extra resumes and a list of questions you need answered. You may refer to your list of
questions to be sure you have gathered the information you need to make a decision. Do not be
preoccupied with taking notes during the interview.
 In many career fields, the lunch or dinner included during the interview day encompasses not
only employer hospitality, but also a significant part of the interview process. Brush up on your
etiquette and carry your share of the conversation during the meal. Often social skills are part of
the hiring decision.
 After the interview, take time to write down the names and titles (check spelling) of all your
interviewers, your impressions, remaining questions and information learned. If you are
interviewing regularly, this process will help you keep employers and circumstances clearly
defined.
 Follow up the interview with a thank-you letter. Employers regard this gesture as evidence of
your attention to detail, as well as an indication of your interest in the position.

4. Why is it important that interviewers should be defined as ‘classless’?

An interview is a discussion between interviewee and an interviewer to find out if an applicant can
do the right job. However, there are certain rules and conventions to follow in interviews. Great
interviewers are made not born. There are some important points that makes a person great interviewer.

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 Make it fun. The job is to find the right person for the interviewing. This is not a police
inquisition. Both sides will do a better job if everyone is relaxed and enjoying themselves.
 To control the way the conversation goes. When people are nervous they may talk too much or
they may not talk at all. It really depends on the person who is interviewing. It is interviewer’s
job to control the conversation and to do that by the type of questions to ask.
 Do not take the resume at face value.
 Be prepared to wrap up an answer with another question.
 Do they do the basics? This includes everything from their handshake to do they maintain eye
contact when they talk. A person's body language will let you know if they are relaxed or
uptight.

One of the main reasons for interviewer/researcher to be defines as „classless‟ is because of the
manner of the questioning. For instance, the best questions to ask during interviews are open questions
rather than closed or leading questions. However, because in everyday speech we get into the habit of
poor questioning, it takes effort to get it right at interview.
Behavioral or competence-based interviewing is perhaps the most commonly used interview
method. Interviewers use this method to try to determine how a candidate would behave or has behaved
in given situations. The purpose of the interview is to find out whether the candidate really can do the
right job for interviewer/researcher, which is why asking competence questions that are directly related
to the topic.
Therefore, to conclude, if the interviewer/researcher is not competent to the job or to the interviewee
it may lead to the great misunderstanding or the research may not be valid. That means the questioner
the researches has done has to be defined as „classless‟ to avoid all the unforeseen problems.

5. Looking at the release (see Course Material), what personal qualities do you

feel an interviewer for market research should have?

Interviewers have to be multi-talented. They cannot be fair-weather people, and they have to have a
thick skin while at the same time being polite, smart and approachable. They need the listening skills of
a social worker along with the tenacity of a traffic warden! Quite a difficult combination to achieve, but
one that most interviewers do as second nature is described below.

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Key qualities to look for in an interviewer:

 Good listener – it is no good asking questions but not fully listening to the answer. They need
to portray to the respondent that they are really interested in what they are saying.
 Neat handwriting – if an interviewer has extracted from his or her respondents the most
interesting answer, but then written it in such a way that it‟s difficult to decipher back in the
office, it makes life very frustrating.
 Polite manner – it may not be easy to stop people on a wet and windy street corner, but the
interviewer must remain polite and gracious at all times.
 Tidy appearance – the interviewer has to remain smart at all times. He or she must be dressed
appropriately for the environment – interviewing in-store will require different attire than
interviewing outdoors.
 Well trained – again, the training behind a good interviewer sets them apart in terms of ability
to administer questionnaires, collect demographic information, and work professionally.
 Able to keep to deadlines – market research surveys often have very tight turnaround times,
and therefore the interviewer must be able to keep to deadlines that she has been quoted.
 Available – interviewers need to be available to be booked out on surveys. Again, difficult to
achieve when by the nature of the work they are doing they are often out and about, but they
need to have in place different means by which they can be contacted.
 Fit and Healthy – interviewing shifts are normally 6 hours long and this means 6 hours on your
feet, so the interviewer needs to be able to cope with this.

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