Market Research Aids Marketing Strategy

Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization’s energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm’s marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe.

Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix and allocation of resources. From the above definition it is very clear, for any marketing strategy to be successful; a lot of information is required. This information can come in the form of secondary or primary data. However, it is important to note the difference between secondary and primary data.

Secondary data is data collected by someone other than the user. Common sources of secondary data for social science include censuses, surveys, organizational records and data collected through qualitative methodologies or qualitative research. Whereas, Primary data, by contrast, are collected by the researcher conducting the research.

Both primary and secondary data are useful in aiding the formulation of an effective marketing strategy. It is important to note that market research in this case plays an integral part by providing the much needed market insights to aid formulation of an effective marketing strategy which is customer/client oriented.

To your success