The Objectives/importance of Marketing Research

To elaborate on Marketing Research and provide a fundamental understanding of its relationship to marketing practices-The purposes or objectives of Marketing Research are listed below;

1. Define the objective – It is essential for researchers to understand clearly what they are – and are not – attempting to achieve with the study. 
2. Conduct situation analysis – The researchers obtains an understanding of the situation surrounding a problem by collecting and analyzing relevant internal information about a company and its business environment. This analysis may also involve developing one or more hypotheses to be tested. 
3. Decode if exploratory studies indicate that for the research is necessary. A reassessment of the problem and the research objective might be required before major costs are incurred. 
4. Plan and conduct a formal investigation. The research describes where and how to obtain the desired information. He or she will select the data sources – primary and or secondary – prepare and pretest data – gathering forms, plan the sample and collect the data. 
5.  Analyze the data. Meaningful and useable information is extracted from the raw data. 
6.  Prepare a written report. The report should include an executive summary, methodology, findings & perhaps recommendations. 
7. Follow up the study. It is in the Researcher’s interests to follow up the study to assess its use &its influence on marketing strategy. 
8. Meaningful and useful information is extracted from the raw data. · Prepare a written report. The report should include an executive summary, methodology, findings and perhaps recommendations. 
9.  Follow up the study. It is in the researcher’s interest to follow up the study to assess the use and its influence on marketing strategy.

Marketing research is the development, interpretations and communication of decision oriented information, which is used in all phases to describe the procedures normally followed when carrying out a marketing research study – before the growth of the market information.

The Importance of Marketing Research

Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, interpretation, and reporting of information to help marketers solve specific marketing problems or take advantage of marketing opportunities. As the word research implies, it is a process for gathering information not currently available to decision makers. The purpose of marketing research is to inform an organization about customers' needs and desires, marketing opportunities