Market Research Terms You Need to Know:
Market research is a composite field that borrows from the research sciences and from business. Marketing is a broad term that, categorically, holds several other smaller fields within its realm. Advertising is a major component of marketing, and so is market research. Key partners in the marketing process are the media publishing platforms.
Market researchers talk a lot about the best ways to present data. Visual or graphic displays of data are popular because they are inherently attractive and, if constructed, well easy to interpret. Let’s borrow from one of the popular new graphic displays of data called an infographic in order to explain the relationships between the different pieces of the marketing pie, of which market research is one.
The major components of marketing are: Advertising, marketing, market research, and public relations.
Advertising: Communication that is intended to persuade people to continue or change a behavior. The most common objective of advertising is to bring about changes in purchasing behavior by consumers. Certainly, there are other forms of advertising that don’t necessarily have a commercial focus, such as ideological advertising or political advertising. The range of media employed by advertisers has grown from traditional platforms, such as television, radio, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, and out-of-home (OOH) advertising, to include new media which encompasses such as websites, email, and mobile text messages. Multi-channel advertising is becoming the norm.
Communications: In the real world, this component of marketing might be thought of as the plate under the pie. Communications undergird all aspects of marketing. Marketing Communications is sometimes shortened by industry insiders to MarCom. But MarCom is a specific type of communication that is the key driver of promotion. Recall that a marketing mix consists of “four Ps” – price, place, promotion, and product. MarCom is the promotion component of the marketing mix. MarCom includes the integrated and embedded messages in the following: Advertising, branding, brand language, brand logos, direct marketing, graphic design, inbound marketing, marketing, mobile marketing, online marketing, packaging, promotional activities, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion, and wait marketing.
Marketing: The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” Implicit in this definition of marketing is that the processes that constitute marketing are systematic, are directed at implementation and control of business activities that bring buyers and sellers together. That marketing is considered to be a mutually advantageous exchange is increasingly borne out by the growing levels of consumer participation in marketing. To whit, social media marketing.
Market Research: Peter F. Drucker argued that “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” Marketers use market research in order to accomplish the aim so deftly described by Drucker. Market research is the process that focuses on a particular target market, which is to say, a narrow group of consumers who share important attributes.
Marketing Research: While market research deals with specific groups of consumers, marketing research is more likely to be focused on the successes or failures — and everything in between — of the marketing processes employed by a company. The line between the two types of research is frequently indistinct. For instance, consider that a product launch will use both market research and marketing research. The marketers will want to know specific attributes and behaviors about the group of consumers who are the target of this product launch. And the marketers will want to measure every aspect of the actual product launch to determine progress and ROI.
Again, the American Marketing Association (AMA) has agreed on a comprehensive definition of marketing research.
Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information–information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications.
Public Relations:This component of marketing includes events and activities that are not designed strictly as advertising, but are focused more on brand awareness and contributing to the common good through sponsorship or donations of time, funds, or in-kind items. It is common for companies to engage in charitable activities to support a cause and to provide an opportunity for meaningful engagement with consumers.
Article from About.com