Marketing intelligence includes all day-to-day information about all changes in the market environment, helping managers develop a marketing plan and tactics for its implementation. Marketing intelligence identifies sources of information and then collects it and delivers it in the appropriate form to marketing managers.

Internal sources.

Data of interest to the intelligence service may often come to the attention of responsible employees of the company. But, unfortunately, employees are often too busy with their immediate responsibilities to convey this information to interested parties. Therefore, the company must pay them for their work as information collectors and teach them how to extract intelligence data and report on all the interesting changes in the market. Managers are required to instruct their subordinates about this.

External sources of marketing intelligence.

Each specific company should interest the organizations with which it works in contact in transferring information of interest to it. The data that the company is interested in obtaining can be divided into three categories: 1) information about the macroenvironment; 2) information about competitors; 3) information about various innovations and trends

MIS scheme

Fig. 3 Marketing information system diagram

First, the firm establishes company goals that determine the overall direction of marketing planning. These goals are influenced by environmental factors (competition, government, and economics). Marketing plans include controllable factors including selection of target market, marketing objectives, type of marketing organization, marketing strategy (product or service, distribution, promotion and price) and management.

Once the marketing plan has been determined, the marketing information system can be used to specify and satisfy the overall information needs of marketing services. Marketing research provides accurate information to solve research problems. It may require stored information (internal secondary data) or the collection of external secondary or primary information. Continuous surveillance is a procedure by which the changing environment is regularly analyzed. This may include subscribing to business and industry publications, regularly receiving information from employees and consumers, attending industry meetings, and monitoring what competitors are doing.

Data storage is the accumulation of all types of intra-company information (sales volume, costs, personnel performance, etc.), as well as information collected through market research and constant observation. This data helps make decisions and is stored for use.

Depending on the firm's resources and the complexity of the information needs, a marketing information system may or may not be computerized.

Marketing plans should be implemented based on data obtained from the information system. For example, as a result of ongoing monitoring, a firm may conclude that the cost of raw materials will increase by 7% over the next year. This will give the company time to explore marketing options (switching to substitutes, redistributing costs, taking on additional costs) and choose one of the alternatives to implement. If there is no observation, the firm may be caught off guard and incur additional costs without any choice.

In general, MIS provides many advantages: organized collection of information; broad outlook; saving important data; crisis avoidance; marketing plan coordination; speed; cost and benefit analysis.

2. Marketing research is the systematic collection, reflection and analysis of data on problems associated with the marketing of goods and services. In addition, it is a comprehensive concept of all types of research activities related to marketing management.

1) To be effective, these studies must be systematic, not random or unrelated.

2) This is not a one-time event, they involve a set of actions or processes: data collection, recording and analysis.

3) Data can come from different sources: from the company itself, unbiased organizations or research specialists working for the company.

4) Marketing research can be applied to any aspect of marketing that requires information to aid decision making.

When carrying out marketing research, a scientific approach must be observed. It is based on objectivity, accuracy and thoroughness. Objectivity means that the research is conducted without any bias and takes into account all factors. Conclusions and points of view are not formed until all data has been collected and analyzed. Rigor refers to the application of research instruments that are carefully designed and used. If the research is not deep or extensive enough, incorrect conclusions may be reached.

The use of market research varies widely depending on the company and the type of information required. Although most firms conduct them in one form or another, research departments are more likely to be established in large than in small firms.

Consumer goods companies spend more on marketing research than industrial product companies.

There are three trends in marketing research: the increasing availability of commercial databases, the increasing use of new technology, and the deteriorating image of surveys among respondents.

Because information is needed for decision making, a number of specialized firms create and sell databases to clients. They contain information on population characteristics and the business environment, economic forecasts, specialized bibliographies, etc. For example, despite the fact that IVM maintains 20 of its own databases and adds 20 thousand documents annually, it additionally purchases information from seven research firms.

Marketing is perceived in Russia from a negative side; it is stigmatized at every step by Russian citizens. In the media and among the population, there is a widespread opinion that marketing is a deception with an attempt to sell something to anyone at any cost, in order to obtain benefits for oneself, and not for the consumer.

The task of the professional community of marketers is to reveal the intentions of pseudo-marketing and clear marketing activities of this kind of stigma.

Some companies that position themselves as companies engaged in marketing intelligence would be correctly called companies engaged in pseudo-marketing intelligence.

Let's try to understand this issue.

Note that the term “marketing intelligence” has no relation to military, industrial, geological, etc. intelligence.

Some companies incorrectly characterize their activities in collecting industrial information (industrial espionage), insider information (proprietary information that may affect the market value of shares), banking (collection agencies engaged in collecting debts from legal entities or individuals), etc. as marketing intelligence. Attempts by companies to position themselves in this way are associated either with their lack of understanding of the essence of marketing, or with a decorative purpose.

Companies of this kind have nothing to do with marketing intelligence. It is advisable to begin understanding marketing intelligence with an understanding of the content and goals of marketing.

Marketing is a system for managing the development and promotion of goods and services that have value for the consumer, manufacturer and society as a whole, based on a comprehensive market analysis.

The concept of marketing implies that the primary goal of an organization should be customer satisfaction rather than profit maximization.

The organization must be customer-oriented, strive to understand their needs and satisfy them quickly and effectively with benefit to the customer and to itself. This means that the purpose of marketing intelligence is to obtain information about the needs of consumers, the conditions for meeting their needs in the most effective way.

The information that can be obtained from marketing intelligence facilitates the implementation of adequate strategies for an organization that aims to satisfy customers to the maximum extent possible. It is these organizations that can be classified as internal or external subjects of the IR.

Marketing intelligence (MR) is the activity of collecting current information about changes in the external marketing environment necessary for developing and adjusting marketing plans.

Marketing intelligence is one of the components of a unified marketing information system (MIS), which serves as the basis for making management decisions in an organization.

MIS is a set of procedures and methods designed for the regular, systematic collection, analysis and distribution of information for the preparation and adoption of marketing decisions. MIS is the result of collecting primary and secondary data relevant to the existence and development of any organization.

Primary data includes data within the organization: reports on the financial, economic, personnel, etc. activities of the organization.

Secondary data includes data on the organization’s environment obtained through research using special methods and techniques for collecting information about the influence of environmental factors on the development of the organization.

Information is divided into two types:

Marketing intelligence involves obtaining information about an organization's environment from various sources in a legal manner.

It is advisable to distinguish between implicit (retrievable) and explicit (communicative) information about the world around us. These types of information correspond to adequate methods and tools for collecting and analyzing information.

It should also be borne in mind that there are unforeseen circumstances of a force majeure, political or protective nature that may prevent the necessary information from being obtained.

Managers responsible for marketing intelligence have two main tasks:

• evaluate the situation;
• see new opportunities for the development of your organization (business).

To achieve these goals and objectives, two main types of reconnaissance are used: passive and active.

Passive reconnaissance. Provides the organization with the necessary knowledge to make an objective assessment. Example. Accumulation of information about the activities of competitors.

Offensive, active reconnaissance. Ensures the organization identifies opportunities and opportunities.

To make the right strategic decisions, information and knowledge are needed, primarily about the factors of development of the external environment.

Marketing intelligence does not exist as an independent activity or as a specific organizational function. Marketing intelligence is an integral part of the complex decision-making process of management in response to environmental challenges. It should be considered as one of the stages in the decision-making process of the organization's management.

The process of collecting information about the influence of environmental factors is associated with finding a solution to a specific problem facing the organization.

Information quickly delivered to management allows the problem to be recognized in time. A timely recognized problem allows you to move on to the process of searching for options for its possible solutions. The process of searching for solutions to a problem is the construction of models for solving the problem, finding possible solutions and assessing their effectiveness.

Choosing one of the decisions and understanding the consequences of this decision makes it possible to foresee the results and, ultimately, allows you to make the final management decision.

Structurally, the process of searching for and making a decision regarding any problem facing the management of an organization can be represented as three successive stages:

• information intelligence stage;
• stage of understanding the problem, modeling solutions;
• the stage of choosing one of the solutions.

If the collection of information in order to solve a particular problem is related to its market position, then such collection of information is marketing intelligence.

Let us clarify one more point related to determining the place and role of marketing intelligence in the organization’s marketing research system.

Marketing research involves the identification, collection, analysis, dissemination and use of information.

Marketing research (MR) is conducted to identify a problem and to solve a problem. MI for solving a problem is the second stage associated with the study of product, price, promotion, distribution, segmentation. At the first stage, MI is carried out to identify the problem and is associated with the study of the organization’s position in a specific market: market potential; market shares; image; market characteristics; sales; trends; for forecasting purposes.

It is the first stage of MI that relates to and constitutes the content and goals of marketing intelligence. In this case, MR is carried out to identify problems that are either hidden or are likely to appear in the future. The task of identifying the problems that an organization will face in the future in the external environment involves diagnosing elements of influence from the external environment, short-term and long-term forecasting. The discovery of economic, social, technological, cultural or political trends leading to changes in consumer behavior can indicate both problems and opportunities for the organization.

The external environment includes a number of elements that have varying degrees of relevance and significance depending on the industry focus, scope of activity, scale, and the nature of the tasks being solved by the organization.

Marketing intelligence primarily uses so-called PEST and SWOT analyses.

System of strategic (marketing) intelligence of the university

Subjects of marketing intelligence

Each university has individuals and structures responsible for collecting information about the external environment. The main entities involved in collecting information about the external environment include:

1. Rector and his body. Vice-rectors.
2. Management of marketing and advertising activities.
3. Student Affairs Office.
4. Department of Public Relations and Media.
5. Analytical information management.
6. Other departments responsible for specific areas of the university’s activities.

The presented structures do not have feedback between themselves. Each of them does not have data about the information collected by other structures.

They are integrated into a strictly hierarchical, vertical management structure of the university. They report directly to the rector or vice-rector, and for some positions to several at the same time.

The decision-making process of a manager in his daily practice is tailored to a specific case and is based on a personal understanding of the problem. In this case, information is always scarce.

The speed with which a manager needs to make a decision is often not ensured by the availability of the necessary information. In this case, the activities of one or another consulting person to find the necessary information always have an intelligence nature.

Most of the activities performed by managers are carried out automatically. It cannot be transferred to another person for execution, since these decisions are based on personal choice.

Every time the manager receives data, he already has a preconceived opinion about the effectiveness of a particular department. Therefore, he knows in advance which information and from which structure or source will be useful and valuable for him, and which will not. This is the truth of the value and fate of the person or unit to which the marketing intelligence function is delegated or ignored.

Marketing intelligence object

The object of marketing intelligence is the external environment of the university. The correctly chosen strategy of a university depends on understanding (assessing) the influence that numerous elements of the external environment have on it. Research and assessment of the influence of the external environment on the development of an organization (university) is the subject of marketing intelligence.

Main directions of marketing intelligence of the university’s external environment

A state university is entirely dependent on government decisions, since it belongs entirely to it. Therefore, information about decisions by government authorities is of fundamental importance for the formation of a university strategy.

Information about policy and government regulation is strategically critical. The biggest and most unpredictable problem, the source of most drama and hassle for the university environment, is the decisions of government bodies.

For example. The transition to a two-tier system was painful and lasted almost three years. As a result, we learned that there would be no bachelor's degree in marketing. All attempts to preserve it, which were made by RGTEU, GMU, REA, led nowhere. Marketing has dissolved into management as a profile along with international management, logistics, and information management. This critical strategic information fundamentally influenced many management decisions at the university and department in relation to workload, teaching staff (teaching staff), etc.

Information about the opening of a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations has become critical for universities. Previously, these disciplines were divided into departments and had separate areas of training. Example. Department of Marketing and Advertising, Faculty of Management and Faculty of History, Political Science and Law, FIPP.

The knowledge that branches will be downsized and private universities will lose the opportunity to study at a master's degree has put private universities in a difficult position. There were proposals to sell universities and close them.

To some extent, this has made our life easier, since there is a reduction in competitors, including unscrupulous ones. This information required changes in policy in relation to some branches and representative offices of the university network.

For example. Information about the creation of research universities and, as a result, changes in government funding for universities will vary. In connection with these fundamental changes, the allocation of budget places for humanitarian universities will be reduced. For us, this is a signal to increase market share by lowering prices. It is important to know about emerging trends in the education market.

Knowledge about competitors

For us, the competitive environment is 8-12 universities. We distinguish segments of universities by educational programs and areas. socio-economic, humanitarian, similar to our university. We also divide universities into state universities and non-state, private, commercial ones. Much depends on government decisions here.

Raids were carried out at individual universities. There are reports on the work of admissions committees. Information is collected at pre-school education and “Education and Career” exhibitions, which are held in separate periods of time - spring and autumn. We constantly monitor prices in universities and monitor the pricing process. We are especially concerned about the discounts that HSE and some non-state universities and others manage to establish.

Information about new products produced by competitive universities is of significant interest. For example, information about the expansion and increase in the areas (range) of master's programs in one of the competitive universities allowed us to more accurately determine our market niche and position our EP accordingly.

Knowledge about new technologies and their implementation

Technological renewal of universities, their capabilities and chances of receiving money and other funds for informatization of education, repairs, expansion of the material and technical base of the university from the ministry, alumni associations and other sources of additional external funding. Proximity to state and political authorities, representatives of big business, and the use of lobbying methods and means increase the university’s chances of receiving investment and additional funding. In universities, through lobbying in political circles, significant funds are allocated for the renovation of the university and the expansion of places in the dormitory. For us, this is food for thought and in the absence of free places, we will not be able to count on regional consumers of the OP with high prices.

Consumer knowledge

This is one of the most important elements of the external environment that can influence the strategic decisions of a university. Not only from the point of view of the university’s knowledge about the intentions of potential and actual clients of the university, the nature of their demand, but from the point of view of ideas that can be heard and collected from consumers (clients). This information is, of course, strategic in nature, since it is impossible to respond to it immediately. But when making strategic plans, it is of great importance.

For example. Studying consumer sentiment and the nature of demand for certain areas of professional education on the part of applicants. Intentions to continue education in a master's degree, graduate school, obtain a second higher education, study in an MBA, courses, etc. Planning training in university preparatory courses, lyceum classes, and a humanities college. A study of satisfaction with the quality of education at a university. Evaluation of loyalty programs organized by a special unit - the Office of Student Relations. The work of the admissions committee. Understanding the queues when applicants submit documents to the university. Receiving information by phone. The process of accepting documents, etc.

Knowledge about the economic situation

Demographic situation in the country and in Moscow. Reduction in the number of schoolchildren. This year, the number of 11th grade graduates across the country is equal to the number of places at the university. But in Moscow the situation is different - the metropolis works like a vacuum cleaner.

Number of women. Including young women - girls, the number of men in Moscow exceeds by two million people. We are a humanitarian university and we have an 80/20 admission ratio, as per Pareto’s law. For us, this information is relevant and positive.

Collection of information on the solvency of various segments of the education market. Ways and methods of payment for educational services.

Information about inflation, oil prices, and the ruble exchange rate is considered strategically important, if it can be predicted at all. This information is especially important when the final price for OP is set in May and June.

Another element of the external environment is the social environment

There may be a lot of interesting and important information hidden here for making strategic decisions. Here are examples of specific topics of conversation and questions about various aspects of social life that relate to the life of the university. Understanding the place and role of mobility on the part of young people from other countries, republics and regions. The problem of tolerance and tolerance towards national minorities. Problems with accommodation when enrolling in a hostel and compliance with rules and norms of residence and behavior. This is a problem with the canteen and buffets, snacks during breaks. Large windows between couples. Access to the library.

Smoking and drugs. Theft and keeping youth safe is an important aspect for parents. They constantly ask: how are you recruiting young people from the Caucasus - is it a lot or a little?!

Information sources

Sources of information at the university are:

• Websites. The most meaningful source of information.
• Directories. Statistical collections. Magazines. Publications in the press, announcements of events, etc.
• The most important source of information is the government. State regulatory and control bodies.
• Surveys of students and applicants. Conducting focus groups in student groups. Example. Survey of student satisfaction with the quality of education together with the company “Dymshits and Partners” in the online service. Annual report on graduates of the Russian State University for the Humanities CVD since 2004. There is an interesting fact. It is almost difficult to gather graduates and invite them to take part in a survey on their own. And so in 2004, I proposed adding a visit to the CVD to the graduate’s worksheet. Grant survey. Example, master's research. Information was collected from several sources.
• Competitors. We do not see detailed reports and documents. But there are speeches and public statements by representatives of competing universities and their speaker-rectors. The Marketing and Advertising Department exercises constant control over the products and services of competitors and their OP. Specialists responsible for collecting strategic information are trying to measure sales volumes in the market, the volume of the paid education market, prices and pricing, modernization and innovation in educational programs, advertising activity and PR, and the movement of teaching staff. This complex work is carried out at many sites where important information is present. At exhibitions, public exhibitions, etc.
• Branches of universities. A valuable source of information about what is happening in the regions. Especially for universities that have more than 40 branches and representative offices.
• Customers. These include those who carry out targeted admission of applicants to universities. First of all, ministries, municipal and regional departments. These are industry enterprises and organizations, and finally, parents of applicants and applicants themselves at all levels and forms of education.
• Professional associations: GM, RAM, RAMU, AKAR, RASO, conferences and round tables, meetings held by them. Example: 15th international conference head. department advertising, PR and related disciplines of Russia, which took place in April 2011 with the participation and organization of the Department of Marketing and Advertising and the Department of Marketing and Advertising Activities of the Russian State University for the Humanities. The conference, which lasted three days, allowed for the exchange of views and principles of work on the transition to a two-level education system: bachelor's and master's degrees. This conference has become an important source of obtaining vital information regarding the organizational, scientific and methodological renewal of the work of universities.
• Own staff. This is an invaluable source of information. Methods of obtaining information include forms of interpersonal communication and interaction: “pigeon mail”, “tete-a-tete”, “word of mouth”. This is a wonderful source for improving organizational work at a university. Trips abroad, to other universities by the rector, vice-rectors, deans and individual representatives of the teaching staff, provided that the information is communicated to the management, serve as conditions for updating the educational program, organizing the work of departments, faculties, and the university as a whole. Top management trips often end with the discovery of new research areas and structures at the university.

Visiting exhibitions abroad and participating in conferences, internships for students and teaching staff are a factor in renewal and innovation.

• Industry media and interactions with them. Internet media, ratings of specialized agencies. Appeals from the Union of Rectors, federal agencies for employment and employment, other sources. The sources of information listed above serve as a guide not only in making management operational decisions, but, what is especially important to emphasize, in forming strategic directions for the development of the university.

Methods of collecting information

Two ways: tracking and searching.

Tracking has visual and monitoring functions. As a rule, it has specified tasks and goals.

For example. University prices and discounts. Competitive similar bachelor's degree programs and profiles.

For example. Master's programs are gradually coming to the fore as the most important competitive advantage of university educational programs - offerings to the market in the future. In this case, information search is organized primarily through university websites. Depending on the nature of the events that are organized by the universities themselves or where universities are present, appropriate forms and methods of marketing intelligence are used: from the “mystery shopper” model to participant observation and collection of information through interviews, observation, focus groups and other methods and methods of collecting information.

Information analysis

A large and varied toolkit has been accumulated for information analysis.

There are several special programs for storing and analyzing marketing information. For example: “Marketing Management” is an operating system for collecting and processing data. At our university, we have focused our attention on this program and are gradually mastering this model. Statistical data, data from intra-university information, consumer surveys - students, graduates, applicants, parents, teaching staff - are entered here. To process personal data, the popular data analysis and processing program SPSS is used. The data obtained during the search and tracking of information is converted into tables and graphs, which are sent to the university management for use in strategic planning, including for the correction of tactical plans, and in the operational management of the university.

conclusions

Marketing intelligence is a necessary component of the strategic planning of an organization in a competitive economic environment, in a university environment. Marketing intelligence provides important results for drawing conclusions about the position and development prospects of a university in a competitive environment and planning its budgets.

The author hopes that the outlined practice of implementing a marketing intelligence system using the specific example of the Russian State University for the Humanities will expand the understanding of strategic planning for the development of a university in a competitive market.

Http://www.marketologi.ru/

Satisfying consumer needs and maximizing organizational profits can serve as a basis for distinguishing between those organizations that rightly position themselves as marketing organizations and those that use terminology to decorate their goals, thereby damaging the image of marketing practice in Russia.

Aaker D., Kumar VDay J. Marketing Research. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2004. - pp. 22-23.

There are internal and external subjects of marketing intelligence. Internal MR subjects include persons and departments responsible for collecting information. External - independent companies, agencies engaged by the organization to conduct marketing intelligence.

Churchill G. Marketing research. - St. Petersburg: Peter, 2003. - pp. 40-43.

In Art. 2 of Law No. 24-FZ “On Information...” states that “confidential information is documented information, access to which is limited in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.”

The concept of market in marketing is associated with meeting consumer needs.

Maphotra N.K. Marketing research. - M.: Williams, 2002. - P. 35-36.

For example, diagnostics of the external environment indicates an increase in market potential (growth in demand); the organization must take steps not to lose its share in it.

PEST analysis (sometimes referred to as STEP) is a marketing tool designed to identify the political, economic, social and technological aspects of the external environment that affect a company's business.

SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to assess factors and phenomena affecting a project or enterprise. All factors are divided into four categories: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The method includes defining the project goal and identifying internal and external factors that contribute to or complicate its achievement. See: Shevchenko D.A. Advertising. Marketing. PR - M.: MGOU, 2009. - P. 16.

Information about the development of the market in which the company operates and emerging trends, helping company directors formulate marketing plans. Such intelligence includes descriptions of new products launched by competitors and changes in prices or more general economic and social statistics published by governments and other bodies. Various methods can be used to collect information. For example, consumer research can be conducted among the general population using personal or postal questionnaires, personal interviews, telephone surveys, and group studies; form groups for detailed discussion of a particular product; desk research uses secondary sources, publications, and reports from government and other organizations; Finally, information about existing products or prototypes can be obtained through a set of panels of consumers who will regularly report on the use of various products, through experiments to test consumer reactions to products and advertising slogans, and through direct observation of consumers who buy or use the product or service. Information gathering is undertaken to identify new marketing opportunities and to identify potential threats to the marketing of existing products.

Marketing information system(MIS) includes the individuals, equipment and procedures for collecting, sorting, analyzing, evaluating and distributing the necessary timely and reliable information used in making marketing decisions.

The company's marketing information system should be created taking into account the wishes of marketing managers, their real needs and economic feasibility. A useful step in solving this problem may be to create internal commission on MIS. She will make the necessary coordination with the departments with which marketers interact: production workers, sales managers, salespeople and other interested parties to determine their information needs. The company may purchase marketing and other information from specialized firms. Research firms collect data and offer it to clients for much less than it would cost to do market research themselves.

some companies have their own marketing information centers, who collect and disseminate the results of ongoing observations of the market environment. Staff at these centers monitor the most important news and reviews published in the media and then send specially prepared newsletters to marketing managers. They collect, classify and store information of interest to the company and help its managers evaluate new information. Such services can dramatically improve the quality of information reaching marketers.

V. 37 Methods of collecting information

Despite the huge number of different research methods and techniques, the general scheme of activities implemented within the framework of market research is quite simple and understandable. The main sources of obtaining marketing information are:

• Interviews and surveys;
• Registration (observation);
• Experiment;
• Panel;
• Expert review.

Interview (survey)- finding out people’s positions or obtaining information from them on any issue.

A survey is the most common and essential form of data collection in marketing. Approximately 90% of studies use this method. The survey can be oral (personal) or written.

Personal (Face-to-face) and telephone surveys are usually called interviews.

Telephone interviews

Face-to-face interviews: formalized and informal.

With a formalized interview, there is a specific scheme for conducting the survey (usually a questionnaire containing pre-prepared clear wording of questions and well-thought-out models of answers to them)

Informal interviews- This is a specific method of collecting information in which there is only a topic and a purpose.

In-depth interviews

Hall - tests- These are personal semi-structured interviews in a special room.

Group informal interview (focused interview, focus group) - is a group discussion of issues of interest by representatives of the target audience.

Observation (registration) is a form of marketing research with the help of which a systematic, systematic study of the behavior of a particular object or subject is carried out.

Experiment is the study of the influence of one factor on another while simultaneously controlling extraneous factors.

Panel is a repeated collection of data from one group of respondents at regular intervals.

Expert review- this is an assessment of the processes under study by qualified specialists - experts.

Delphi method- a form of survey of experts, in which their anonymous answers are collected over several rounds and, through familiarization with the intermediate results, a group assessment of the process under study is obtained.

Brainstorming method consists in the uncontrolled generation and spontaneous interweaving of ideas by participants in a group discussion of a problem.

Synectics considered a method with high creative potential. The idea of ​​the method is to gradually alienate the original problem by constructing analogies with other areas of knowledge. After multi-stage analogies, a quick return to the original problem is made.

B. 25 Product distribution channels

A distribution channel is a system that ensures the delivery of goods to points of sale.

Rice. 33 Structure of solutions by distribution channels

1. It is necessary to select or create a channel configuration that would allow reaching the appropriate target clientele.

2. Channel members must have the ability and desire to adequately position the supplier's products and increase the value of the product offered to the end consumer.

In other words, when choosing or creating a channel structure, the supplier must try to find the optimal balance between its own market strategy and the consumer franchise for the intermediary, which is determined by the characteristics of the target customer segments and their expectations regarding the properties of the product offered.

Channels may differ in the number of intermediaries and horizontal distribution (Fig. 34).

Rice. 34 Building product distribution channels

Marketing Intelligence include all day-to-day information about all changes in the market environment, helping managers develop a marketing plan and tactics for its implementation. Marketing intelligence identifies sources of information and then collects it and delivers it in the appropriate form to marketing managers.

Internal sources of marketing intelligence

Data of interest to the marketing intelligence service may often come to the attention of the company's responsible employees, receptionists, service personnel, purchasing agents and sales representatives. But employees, unfortunately, are often too busy with their immediate responsibilities to convey this information to interested parties. Therefore, the company must pay for their work as information collectors and teach them how to obtain intelligence data and report to whoever needs to about all the interesting changes in the market. Managers are required to constantly instruct their subordinates about this.

Hotel owners and board members can play a significant role in collecting useful information. John F. Power, general manager of the New York Hilton and Towers, brought back important information regarding the menu from Japan. “I realized,” he says, “how different the Japanese breakfast is from ours, and this must be taken into account when creating a menu. While at lunch time most visitors do not mind trying our dishes, then they would still prefer to have their own breakfast ".

As a result of "intelligence" collected during Power's trip, the New York Hilton, like a typical Japanese morning buffet, now offers miso soup, nori (dried seaweed), and yakizakana (grilled fish) for breakfast. , raw eggs, natto (fermented beans), oshiako (pickled vegetables) and cooked rice.

External sources of marketing intelligence
The hospitality industry cannot rely on its own resources to collect useful marketing information. Therefore, each specific company should interest the organizations with which it works in contact (suppliers, travel agencies, conference bureaus) in transferring information of interest to it. The data that the company is interested in obtaining can be divided into three categories: 1) information about the macroenvironment; 2) information about competitors; 3) information about various innovations and trends. The types of information that any company operating in the hospitality industry is interested in and the sources of obtaining it are indicated in Table. 6.3.

Table 6.3

Obviously, only a tactful and friendly manner can encourage people (suppliers, vendors, potential employees, etc.) to collect this information for the company. To develop informal contacts with them, members of the company's management are encouraged to join professional organizations. A lot of useful marketing information can be collected from the various events held by these organizations.

Sources of information about competitors
Information about competitors can be obtained from their annual reports, articles in professional journals, speeches, press releases, brochures and advertising. Hotel and restaurant managers should periodically visit competitors' properties.

One of the main points in the work of a service that collects information about competitors is to clearly determine which companies should be considered as competitors. In business, what seems obvious is often wrong. For example, an airport hotel may consider other hotels located near the airport as its competitors. But in essence they constitute only part of the competition. Since a passenger can go to a well-known hotel in the city center, and not stay overnight near the airport, this hotel is a competitor to the hotel at the airport, as, indeed, under certain conditions, are similar hotels at other airports.

Thus, at a conference of one of the associations, held at an airport hotel, its president said that the next conference would be held at an airport hotel in the Midwest, and which one would depend on the price offered and the desire of the hotel management to cooperate with association. Cruise lines whose ships sail between the mainland and Hawaii may find themselves competing with a company whose route ends on the coast of Mexico. Colonel Williamsburg in Virginia concluded that its main competition was Disneyland, not any other restaurant located in a historic location. So managers first need to determine the circle of their competitors, and then begin collecting information about them.

Commercial sources of marketing information about the market
The firm may also purchase information externally. One such source is a firm called Dialogue, which has access to 350 databases on the US market. Sitting at a computer, a manager can obtain the information he needs about new products, trends in industry development and forecasts for the future, data on the financial position of public and private enterprises. Currently, there are over 3,000 online databases. For example, a current database called Adtrack contains all information about advertising placed in 150 major periodicals by needs and business. Firms can use this database to gain insight into competitors' advertising campaign strategies and styles, how often they run them and in which publications, and so on.

The Donnelly Demographics database contains information about the demographics of the United States as a whole, as well as data for individual states and cities. The Electronic Yellow Pages contains extracts from nearly 4,800 telephone books issued by the United States Postal Department. This is the largest telephone directory. A company like Burger King can use it to contact McDonald's restaurants anywhere in the country. There are readily available databases for almost every aspect of the marketing information needed.

Marketing research
Managers cannot always wait until they have enough information from the marketing intelligence service. Often it is necessary to study specific situations. When McDonald's decided to add salads to its menus, its planning departments had to know which vegetables were preferred and what was the best way to dress salads.

Ben's Steakhouse in Florida wanted to know what percentage of its potential customers had heard of their restaurants, how they found out about their existence, what they knew about them, and what they thought about their signature dish - steaks. This information would allow it to judge the effectiveness of marketing communications. Conventional marketing intelligence cannot provide information of this kind - specialized marketing research is required.

In the process of marketing research, a company determines its ability to operate in the market and the problems that arise. She tracks and evaluates her marketing operations, which she then communicates to her management.

Market researchers are interested in many questions, the most typical of which can be considered the following "hot ten": assessing the market potential of a company, analyzing market share, determining market characteristics, sales analysis, studying business trends, short-term forecasts, studying competitors' products, long-term forecasts, studying collected market information and testing of manufactured products.

A company can conduct marketing research in-house or hire outside researchers. Most large firms (more than 73%, in fact) have their own marketing research departments. But even they use the services of other companies from time to time - for field work and special research.

Frank Comacho, former vice president of marketing for Marriott, identified the following as his firm's top marketing research priorities:

Market segmentation and its size;
- development of the basic concept of the company and product testing;
- efficiency of pricing policy;
- market monitoring;
- satisfaction of consumer requests.

Small hotels and restaurants can get help with market research from local universities and colleges that have relevant programs. Students can also be involved in the research to collect information about promising clients and conduct interviews with clients. Many professors take advantage of this to provide students with the opportunity to gain experience in research-based marketing work.

Marketing Research Process
Marketing research is a focused process that includes four stages: defining the problem and setting the research goal, developing a research plan to collect information, implementing this plan, collecting and analyzing data, interpreting and presenting the results (Figure 6.2).

Rice. 6.2. Defining the problem and setting the research goal

To define the problem and set research goals, collaboration between marketing managers and the research department is necessary. No one understands better than managers the importance of an emerging problem and the need to make an appropriate decision on it, and only research specialists can offer the optimal method for finding the information necessary to make this decision and organize its collection and processing.

Responsibility for interpreting the findings rests largely with managers, who must have sufficient understanding of marketing research so as not to draw the wrong conclusion from the data presented and not to require much more information from the research team than is absolutely necessary. But in any case, researchers must help managers identify the problem and draw the right conclusions from the results.

A restaurant manager once asked researchers to determine how aware customers in his target market were about the existence of his establishment. It seemed to him that the restaurant had few visitors because people simply did not know about it. However, the researchers found that potential diners' awareness of the restaurant's existence was high enough to reassure the manager, although the restaurant's occupancy problem remained. The reason was that people viewed this restaurant as a place to go to celebrate some important event rather than just have lunch. Apparently, the manager incorrectly defined the problem and set the wrong research goal.

So, having jointly defined the problem, the manager and researcher formulate the purpose of the study. According to their objectives, marketing research is divided into three types: preliminary, if preliminary information is collected to help formulate a hypothesis, descriptive, if the structure or size of the market is described, and analytical, if with their help a hypothesis about cause-and-effect relationships is tested. Typically, the study begins with a preliminary part, then moves on to the description and/or analysis of the data obtained.

A sad example of a project that was launched without prior marketing research is the construction of hotels on American Indian reservations. In anticipation of the influx of tourists, 52 hotels were built, but only two of them were able to survive. Due to ill-conceived placement, rarely visited places in remote regions were often chosen for construction. Preliminary marketing research would make it possible to identify trends in the region's attendance and market segmentation - the range of tourist preferences for marketing research is not particularly difficult.

Development of a research plan
The second step in marketing research is identifying the need for information, without which it is impossible to solve the problem, and drawing up a plan for collecting it.

Identifying the need for certain information is actually translating abstract research goals into the language of concrete facts. When Marriott decided to begin creating a network of new, inexpensive hotels, he pursued two goals: to lure tourists away from competing companies and to do this without damaging his existing hotels. To achieve these goals, he needed the following information:

What features should new hotels be different from?
- What should their pricing policy be?
- Where should they be placed? Is it possible to place them near the company's existing hotels without damaging them?
- What are the forecasts for sales and income?

Review of secondary information. To satisfy a manager's need for information, the researcher may provide him with secondary information, primary information, or both types of information. Secondary information refers to information that already exists, collected by others on another occasion for some other purpose. Primary information means information collected specifically for a given case.

Typically, researchers begin by reviewing secondary information because it is faster to collect than primary information and is much less expensive. These are both internal sources and external (periodicals, business books, databases of commercial institutions, electronic databases).

For example, the National Restaurant Association's annual Restaurants USA directory provides annual sales forecasts both nationally and by state. A firm interested in these figures must choose between paying for the services of a research group that can collect the information needed, or joining the Association to receive this information through their publications. The latter is cheaper.

However, secondary information is often not enough to make decisions. First of all, the required information may simply not exist. But even if it exists, it may turn out to be partial, not very adequate or related only to a certain moment. For example, one professional magazine wanted to rank hotel chains among traveling managers and traveling salesmen. Having inserted the corresponding questionnaires into one of the issues, he distributed them among subscribers. Although less than 0.05% of subscribers responded, the magazine published its rating based on such a non-representative survey.

Thus, although it is good to start any marketing research with a review of secondary information, it cannot be considered sufficient for decision-making, and therefore the company must take care of collecting primary information.

Planning the collection of primary information
Some managers believe that the primary information they collect, having several prepared standard questions and finding people to interview if necessary, is enough for them. But sporadic collection of information often turns out to be useless or, worse, misleading. As clearly shown in table. 6.4, when planning the collection of primary information, it is necessary to consider the method of data collection, type of contact, sampling plan and research tools.

Table 6.4

Methods. The main methods used in marketing research are observation, interview and experiment. The observation method collects information about the actions of certain people in certain situations. For example, a group of observers could visit a nearby restaurant to study their menu (prices, size and consistency of portions), and observe how they serve customers. Or, to get an idea of ​​how to place your retail outlets, you can “snoop” this from competing companies: how they placed their retail outlets, what is located next to each of them, what is the transport support for their clientele. If you work in a hotel, then it is advisable to even send observers as visitors to your cafes to know how they feed, and the level of cleanliness and service.

Observation can collect information that people usually hide or cannot provide. Many plates of half-eaten food speak volumes about the quality of that food. However, the more subtle nuances that motivate client behavior cannot be revealed by simple observation. It is very difficult to identify features that appear irregularly and rarely. Because of this well-known limitation, observational methods must be complemented by interviewing methods.

Interview is the best method for collecting descriptive information. An interview as a marketing research method can be structured or unstructured. During a structured interview, pre-prepared lists of yes-or-no questions are presented to all respondents without any further explanation. An unstructured interview allows the interviewer to manipulate the interview based on the answers given by the respondent.

Questions can be direct or indirect. For example, when trying to find out the reasons for low traffic at a restaurant such as Arby's, the interviewer may directly ask the respondent: "Why don't you dine at Arby's?" Or he may prefer a less direct approach: "What types of people dine at Arby's? Analysis of responses can reveal factors influencing the attendance of this restaurant that respondents were not even consciously aware of.

The main advantage of the interviewing method is its versatility. In fact, it can be used to collect any information and in a wide variety of marketing situations. With skillful survey design, information can be collected both faster and cheaper than using the observation method.

But this method also has its drawbacks. Some people find it difficult to answer questions for the simple reason that they have never thought about what they are doing and why. Or maybe they don’t want to waste their time answering or don’t want to answer such questions to a virtual stranger. Some people do not like to answer questions in which they do not consider themselves experts, while others, without hesitation, answer any questions so as not to appear ignorant. And some respondents like to give answers that they think the interviewer will like. Skillful questionnaire design can help minimize these problems.

In the early 1980s, the management of the Hardee's fast food restaurant chain, realizing the low efficiency of their work, conducted several surveys. These surveys revealed very low public awareness even about the very existence of this restaurant chain. The survey results also showed that it was necessary to improve service and the very atmosphere of the establishment. The management responded to the results of these studies - improved the interiors, purchased new equipment and developed a new technology for producing hamburgers.

If the observation method is best used for conducting “reconnaissance”, and interviewing is best used for collecting descriptive information, then the experimental method is good for understanding the cause-and-effect relationships of phenomena. The essence of the experiment may be to select a group of homogeneous subjects and, by controlling various unrelated factors, to trace the difference in the reactions of individuals to various influences.

Before introducing a new sandwich to the menu, a restaurant like Arby's might conduct an experiment to find answers to the following questions:

How will this new sandwich increase the restaurant's sales?
- How will its introduction affect the sales of other menu items?
- What type of advertising will have the greatest impact on the sales of a new product?
- What prices can be set for it and how can they affect the sales of the product?
- Who should the new product be aimed at: adults, children, both?

For example, to test the effect of different prices, a restaurant could conduct a simple experiment: start selling this sandwich at one of the chain's restaurants for one price, and at another restaurant in the same type of city for a different price. If these cities are really similar and all other marketing aspects are somehow identical, then the difference in sales should be directly related to the difference in price. The experiment will become significantly more complex if additional variables are introduced and the scale of the experiment is expanded to several cities.

Contact between the interviewer and the respondent can be by mail, telephone, or in person.

Contact by mail has many advantages. Using questionnaires sent by mail, you can collect a large amount of information at very little material cost. Respondents provide more direct answers to sensitive questions by mail than in face-to-face or telephone interviews. With this survey method, any influence on the respondent by the interviewer is also practically excluded. This method is more convenient for respondents who can answer the survey questions in their free time. This is practically the only method that can be used to work with people who are often traveling on duty, such as conference organizers.

But the mail contact method also has a number of disadvantages. The questionnaire should consist of simple questions, presented in simple language. These questions require the same simple and clear answers and in the same order. The interviewer can neither simplify nor complicate the questions. This lack of flexibility results in mail surveys taking longer than face-to-face and telephone surveys. The interviewer's practical lack of ability to influence the respondent reduces the response rate, i.e., not all questionnaires are returned completed to the interviewers. And since this percentage of response is low, it means that the answers cannot be considered completely typical for the part of the population that the respondents represent.

Telephone interviews are a faster method of collecting information. It also allows for greater flexibility: the interviewer can explain unclear questions and, depending on the respondent's reaction, leave out some questions and add others. Telephone interviewing allows you to control contact with respondents: the interviewer can choose respondents who have the required characteristics, and the response rate here is much higher than with mail interviewing.

However, a telephone interview also has its drawbacks: respondents are more reluctant to answer questions that they consider sensitive, and although flexibility is a positive quality, with it comes the ability of the interviewer to put a certain pressure on the respondent: the very manner of speaking, constructing their questions, and others Personal issues may influence the respondent's answers. In addition, interviewers may interpret the same answer differently. And to save time, some interviewers may attribute certain answers to respondents without even asking the relevant questions.

Unfortunately, recently the general public has become increasingly reluctant to participate in telephone interviews. The fact is that some dishonest companies, under the guise of legally permitted interviews, engage in fraud. There are also more and more cases where thieves, under the guise of interviewing, find out the time of day when their potential victims are most often absent from home.

There are two types of personal interviewing: individual and group. Individual interviewing usually takes place at home, in an office, on the street, in a store. The interviewer must obtain the respondent's consent to devote a certain amount of time to him - from several minutes to several hours. In case of a long interview, some firms offer a small amount of money as compensation for lost time.

Individual interviews are widely used in studying the preferences of tourists. Perhaps this is the only way to find out anything about people coming to your city for a short time and whose name and address are unknown to almost anyone there. For example, in Colorado, Steamboat Springs interviewed 600 tourists who visited them during the summer holidays. These types of interviews involve rough sampling: the interviewer usually targets specific age groups when searching for potential respondents (for example, 20% of respondents should be white girls under 20, 20% black girls of the same age, 40% over 60, and etc.), and the interviewer may make a mistake here by incorrectly determining “by eye” the age, race and even gender of the interviewees. In addition, he may have personal prejudices against people of a certain race or age.

Focus group interviews are usually conducted by a specially trained person with a group of six to ten people. The interviewer talks with the group for several hours about the organization of service, about a new product, etc. He must be objective, master the subject of conversation, be able to communicate with a group of people, and have an understanding of consumer psychology. Participants in the conversation usually receive small amounts or a gift for their participation. The event is organized in a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere, with a cup of tea. The interviewer begins with broader questions, gradually narrowing the topic of discussion, stimulating a group dynamic that promotes openness and freedom of expression for everyone. At the same time, he focuses the group's attention on a specific topic. Hence the name of the technique - focused interview. Everything that happens is filmed on videotape and subsequently studied in order to identify information of interest to the research group. Sometimes the procedure is also monitored by representatives of the company’s management and advertising agency.

Focused group interviews are quickly becoming one of the main marketing research tools aimed at studying consumer mentality and behavior. This technique easily fits into the job responsibilities of hotel and restaurant managers. For example, it is the custom of some of them to invite representatives of one or another market segment to which the hotel or restaurant is targeted to a free dinner. During dinner, in an informal setting, the manager can chat with them about what they like about the establishment and what it could do to make their stay in this city even more enjoyable. Guests enjoy the attention of hotel or restaurant management, and management receives valuable information.

Here are examples of how group interview techniques can be used to improve restaurant performance.

In one cafe suffering from a lack of clientele, two groups of customers were interviewed. One group was formed from those who said they would never come to this establishment again, and the second from those who did not mind visiting again. From these conversations, the owners learned that customers considered the cafe a place to have a good time, but complained that the food was rather monotonous. The problem was solved by expanding the range and introducing some trendy dishes to the menu.

A group interview conducted with Andy Reis, owner of Cafe Provincial in Evanston, Illinois, provided insight into his problems. He learned that customers would visit his establishment more often if the cafe had parking for visitors' cars (the owner believed that the nearby parking lot was enough). In addition, he learned that customers did not like to dine on the terrace, which was furnished too sparsely for a decent cafe (glass tables and chairs made of bent wood). Andy Reis listened to the criticism: he changed the furniture on the terrace and equipped a parking lot for visitors' cars. The results were immediately reflected in increased interest in the cafe in general and the terrace in particular.

The personal interview is a very flexible tool that can be used to collect a large amount of useful information. Specially trained interviewers can work with a group of clients for quite a long time and clarify quite difficult issues. They can show respondents advertising of goods, the goods themselves, the packaging of these goods, observe the reactions of respondents and record the characteristics of their behavior.

The main problems with personal interviews are the relatively high costs and limited sample size. They cost three to four times more than telephone interviews. And because group interviews require limiting the sample to save time and reduce cost, it is often difficult to generalize from such specific material. Another problem is the influence of the personality of the interviewer on the course of a personal interview, since he has quite a lot of opportunity to influence the group of respondents.

The success of any technique based on the researcher's contact with the clientele depends on what kind of information is needed and on what kind of respondents one has to deal with. The introduction of computers into the communication process has influenced the methods of obtaining information. Some firms use computer-assisted interviewing techniques. From the monitor screen, the interviewer asks questions and enters the respondent's answers into the computer, bypassing the coding and editing stage, which saves time and reduces the possibility of error. This type of interview is especially good for a hotel guest checking in or out. The computer can be installed in the hall in full view of all guests. The presence of a computer that records opinions and wishes helps the guest create a good impression of such a hotel.

Sampling plan. In any marketing research, conclusions about the sentiments of a significant group of consumers are made on the basis of “samples”, that is, the opinions of selected representatives of this group. A sample, or sample, is a segment of the population selected to represent the population as a whole. Thus, to enable the researcher to judge the thoughts and behavior of a large part of the population, his sample must be as representative as possible.

Before making a sample, you need to consider the following three questions. Firstly, from whom should it be made? This is not always easy to resolve. For example, when studying decisions about family vacations, who should be interviewed: husband, wife, other family members, travel agency representative? Or maybe all of them? To answer this question, the researcher must decide what type of information he needs and who is most likely to have it.

Secondly, how many people should you interview? A larger sample gives more reliable results. On the other hand, to obtain reliable results, it is not always necessary to take a cross-section of the entire market or even a significant part of it. From a sample of less than 1% of the population, reliable results can be obtained if the sample is done correctly.

Third, how to sample? Sampling can be random, in which each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected, or purposive, in which the researcher selects those members of the population from whom he believes it is easiest to obtain the required information. Or the researcher may choose a specific number of participants from each of certain demographic groups (quota sampling). These and other sampling methods vary in accuracy, the amount of time they require, and the amount of money they cost to use. Typically, the objectives of the study themselves determine which sampling method may be most effective. Comparative characteristics of different sampling methods are given in Table. 6.5.

Table 6.5

Research tools. When collecting primary information, the researcher uses various techniques: structured and unstructured interviews, computerized interviews, etc. These techniques are based on the same technique - asking questions by the interviewer and answering them from respondents. This is usually done using special questionnaires (for oral interviews) and questionnaires (for written interviews).

Questionnaires and questionnaires consist of a series of questions asked to the respondent, who must give his answers to them. All these materials must be skillfully compiled and carefully checked before they are put into use. The same typical mistakes can be seen in carelessly prepared questionnaires and questionnaires (see Marketing Beacons 6.1).

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Marketing Beacons 6.1

Questions for questionnaire writers

Formulating questions in a questionnaire is far from simple. How would you feel about the following questions if you saw them in a questionnaire that the manager of the restaurant where you went for lunch asked you to fill out?

1. Could you tell me your income for the last year to the nearest hundred dollars? (Even if you knew your annual income with such accuracy, would you really answer such a personal question to the first person you meet?)

2. How often do you eat out? (The question is not formulated specifically enough for this type of survey: you can dine “out” in a factory canteen, but you’re interested in restaurants, right?)

3. How often do you eat a full lunch (breakfast?) during the work week?

1___2____3____4____5____ (The question does not cover all working people. What if someone does not have lunch at all? In this case, you need to add the position “O____”.

4. How much do you spend on average on lunch?

From 0 to $2.00 __from $2.00 to $4.00

From $4.00 to $6.00 _from $6.00 to $8.00

5. Would you like an orchestra to play in this restaurant on Friday and Saturday evenings? Yes ____ No____ (Many people don't mind having a band play in a restaurant when they dine there, so they'll check "Yes___" with a cross. But does that mean they're going to dine there every Saturday? Also, the respondent should know that inviting a pop orchestra is usually done at the expense of increasing the cost of food or drinks. So it would not hurt to find out what the respondent thinks about this and what, in his opinion, should be added to the price: food or drink? Finally, it is important to clarify what kind of orchestra is meant. Someone might check the band, thinking that they are going to invite jazz, and will be very disappointed if it turns out to be hard rock.

6. When did you receive more restaurant coupons: this April or last?

(Who can remember that?)

7. In your assessment of a restaurant, what features are most relevant and attractive?

(What are “relevant and attractive features”? Do not use scientific terms in the questionnaire that may not be clear to the respondent.)

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In preparing these materials, the researcher must decide what questions to ask, what form to put them in, and what order to list them in. When designing questionnaires, researchers often forget to include important questions and give questions that cannot be answered or should not be answered at all. Each question should be weighed in terms of whether the answer helps achieve the purpose of the study or not. If not, then it is better to omit it.

The form in which a question is asked often influences the answer. In marketing research, two types of questions are used: closed and open. Closed-ended questions offer a variety of answers, and the respondent must indicate one or more of them that he considers correct or best reflects his attitude to the issue raised. Open questions require respondents to provide detailed, independent answers. For example, when researching passengers' opinions of Delta Airlines, you might ask them, "What do you think of Delta Airlines?" Or you could ask them to complete the sentence: “When deciding which airline to fly with, I use the following criteria...” These and other open-ended questions can often yield interesting information because respondents are not constrained by pre-set answers. These questions are used when a researcher is trying to find out what people think about some issue, rather than when he is trying to find out how many people think one way and not another. Closed questions, on the other hand, are asked when the answers are fairly easy to predict and are easy to process, interpret, and tabulate.

Particular attention should be paid to how the question is framed. It should be direct, unambiguous and simple. The sequence in which questions are asked is also important. The first of them should arouse interest in the topic being raised, the rest should follow it in a logical sequence. And the most difficult and personal questions should be asked at the end, when a hostile reaction from the respondent can no longer spoil the interview. In table 6.6 provides an overview of the most commonly used closed and open questions.

Researchers should exercise maximum caution so as not to inadvertently offend respondents with their questions or examples. A classic example of a mistake made during market research is the case of one of the US airlines. This company offered a special discount to companions of passengers invited to one of the company's promotional events, with the expectation that these companions would, of course, be wives. After this event, the company sent out questionnaires to the wives, which included the following innocent question: “How did you like traveling on our plane as your husband’s companion?” Among the answers to this question in the questionnaire were the following: “What trip? I haven’t flown anywhere!” The airline's management had to listen to many angry rebuke, in which there were threats to take them to court for interference in their personal lives or for the breakdown of the family.

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Table 6.6

Closed questions

TYPE Description Example

Alternative (Dichotomous) Question that offers two answers to choose from. Did you order your ticket by phone? Not really

Multiple Choice A question that has three or more choices to choose from. Who are you traveling with this time? With no one With a spouse (gay) With a spouse (gay) and children Only with children With friends/colleagues In a tourist group

Likert scale Indicates the degree to which the respondent agrees or disagrees with the essence of the statement made Small airlines usually provide better service Strongly disagree Disagree Don't know Agree Strongly agree

Semantic differential Scaling of oppositions that describe your perception of a phenomenon (put a cross on the line between oppositions) Delta Airlines Large Small Experienced Inexperienced Modern Retarded

Rating scale A scale that ranks any attribute from “unsatisfactory” to “excellent.” Service on Delta can be considered Excellent Good Average Poor

Importance scale Indicating the degree of importance of any characteristic from “not at all important” to “extremely important”

Attention to purchase scale Scale describing the respondent's attention to purchase If it were possible to use telephone services during a long flight, I would definitely use these services, I would probably use these services

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not sure I would probably use it, probably wouldn’t use it, probably wouldn’t use it

OPEN QUESTIONS

Type of question Its description Example

Absolutely unstructured Word associations A question that can be answered in any way Words are given one after another, and the respondent is asked to say the first word that he remembers by association What is your opinion about Delta? What other words come to mind when you hear the following words: Delta Travel Airlines

Complete the sentence (story) Unfinished sentences (story) are given, which in the summer respondents must complete. When I decide which airline to fly with, the most important factors for me are

Story based on the picture (Respondents are asked to tell the story in this picture) what they think about the picture

But the Observation City Resort in Perth (Australia) provides an example of how market research can lead to brilliant results. The hotel entered a period of stagnation and management was wondering how to get it out of this state and achieve success. Statistics were collected about the guests, from which it became clear that if the hotel continues to focus only on vacationers, it is destined to vegetate forever. Managers also analyzed the state of affairs of competitors and discovered that they could lure away some of their clientele, namely, business travelers who come to the city on weekdays. Management knew that to do this, they needed to develop a plan to attract this clientele and that it would require the efforts of the entire team to implement this plan.

Market research was conducted to gather the information needed to develop this plan.

o To establish the supply and demand for hotel rooms in the Perth CBD and airport area, Observation City Resort questionnaires were distributed to visiting managers and business travelers.

o All large enterprises in the hospitality industry, known for their interest in business travelers, were brought under surveillance.

o Staff members of the hotel’s HR department were first involved in collecting primary information, and then in the central and suburban

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Special research teams were sent to the districts to sample respondents and distribute questionnaires.

The results of the study exceeded all expectations. In four years, the percentage of business travelers staying at the hotel increased from 8 to 40. This progress was made possible by the fact that the hotel's management and employees studied the market, approached potential clients and found ways to meet their needs.

Presentation of the study plan.

At this stage, the researchers present the plan in writing. This is especially necessary in the case of large-scale research or outside participation in the work of firms. The plan must indicate all the problems to be studied and set all the goals, outline the range of information that needs to be collected, and mention the sources of secondary information and methods for collecting primary information. Finally, the plan should include assumptions about how the research will help marketing managers make decisions. A research plan drawn up in the form of an official document is a kind of agreement between the management of the company and the research group on all important aspects of the study - on issues of content and methodology. Before approving the project, management should carefully review it again.

Implementation of the research plan

Having received a marketing research plan, the project manager begins to implement it. The plan is implemented in the process of collecting, processing and analyzing the necessary information. This work can be entrusted to employees of its own marketing research department, which gives the company greater opportunity to control the collection process itself and the quality of the information collected. On the other hand, inviting outside researchers also has its advantage, since they, being experts in their field, can complete the work faster, and it will cost the company less.

For marketing research, the greatest costs and the greatest danger of making mistakes usually occur at the information gathering stage. The project manager must constantly monitor the work of technical performers, ensuring that it is carried out according to the approved plan, that interviewers do not make mistakes or omissions, and that respondents who give biased or deliberately incorrect information do not set them on the wrong trail.

The collected information must be verified and prepared for computer analysis. Using standard programs, the results are entered into tables, the arithmetic average and other basic indicators are calculated.

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Interpretation of study results and report

Now the researchers just have to interpret the research results, draw appropriate conclusions and present a report to the company's management. It should not be overloaded with numbers and complex statistical calculations. Managers do not need them, but discovered patterns, knowledge of which will help them make the right decisions. That is, it is not the data itself that is important, but their correct interpretation.

Responsibility for the interpretation of the collected material should not fall entirely on the shoulders of researchers alone, and managers should not blindly rely on them in this matter. Statistical data can be interpreted in different ways, and therefore, to ensure that the interpretation is correct, managers must engage in discussions about the research findings. It is possible that during this discussion, managers will have additional questions, the answers to which can be found by re-analyzing the research data. Researchers in this case must point to relevant information and help draw new conclusions based on it.

Interpretation is an important stage in the marketing process. Even a brilliantly conducted study will yield nothing if the manager draws the wrong conclusions from it. The fact is that in matters of marketing it is sometimes difficult for him to maintain objectivity. Often he sees in the information provided what he wants to see, and does not notice what contradicts his expectations. That is why the interpretation of analytical data should be the result of joint efforts of managers and researchers.

Interpretation and reporting is the last stage of the marketing research process. And since research is a process, then it is necessary to treat it precisely as a process, that is, move from stage to stage, without skipping a single one. Some of the problems that may arise during the research process are discussed in section

Marketing beacons 6.2.

Problem areas of research

1. Jumping to conclusions The owner of one restaurant was thinking about purchasing a piano and organizing performances by pop artists in the evenings. The research team developed a questionnaire, one of the questions of which was related to this project. Diners were asked if they objected to the entertainment program planned by the restaurant management, without, however, specifying what type of entertainment it was.

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there will be a program. The patrons didn't mind, most of them thinking it was an orchestra they could dance to. The owner of the restaurant, having received an affirmative answer, has already given the order to buy a piano and begin negotiations with the artists. Presumably, he would have been quite surprised by the lack of public enthusiasm if his plan had been implemented. Fortunately, this did not happen. During the repeated survey, the question was formulated more precisely - and the answers of the majority of respondents turned out to be negative.

The management of one country club wanted to know whether club members thought their building needed renovation and refurbishment, without saying how much it would cost or how it would affect membership dues. Most members responded that they think so. The manager invited highly paid consultants to develop drawings for the reconstruction of the club premises. When these drawings, along with an estimate and a proposal to increase membership fees, were presented for discussion at the general meeting, club members were horrified by such expenses and rejected the project.

Moral of the story: If the initial survey had mentioned how much it would cost to renovate the space, it would have saved the club the thousands of dollars it had to pay to a team of consultants to come up with a design for the renovation of the building.

2. Lack of quality information

Most reports on various surveys published in trade magazines in the hospitality industry contain primarily descriptive information. For example, as a result of a similar study, the Procter and Gamble company discovered that the most important factor due to which frequent travelers choose to stay in a particular hotel is cleanliness. Such information is too general to be of high quality. To use it effectively, you need to know what criteria guests use when judging whether a hotel is clean or not. By talking to different groups, the manager can find out how guests rate the cleanliness of the room, what factors irritate them the most and cause them to consider the room dirty, etc.

3. Once you’ve made your selection, don’t forget about the segments

The results of the survey should be analyzed not only to determine the arithmetic average, but also the differences within the group covered by the study. Averages often hide differences between market segments. For example, one club conducted a survey of club members' opinions on the quality of meals in their cafeteria. The arithmetic mean was 2 points, consisting of different ratings: one person was very satisfied with the quality of the food, three people were quite satisfied and five were dissatisfied. When the experimental sample was divided into two segments (satisfied and dissatisfied), the results were more interesting to the manager than the average.

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Its arithmetic value is 2 points: one group showed a high level of satisfaction - 1.5 points, and the other - an even higher level of dissatisfaction - 2.7 points. Now management had to decide what to do: improve the quality of food by listening to the dissatisfied, or leave everything unchanged, as the satisfied ones wanted.

4. Misuse of statistics

One researcher determined the reasons for the very high influx of students in business schools for the specialty “hotel and restaurant management” (96%) and decided that in the pedagogical field, any demand is directly proportional to the number of teachers. He even gave his own formula by which business schools can calculate the influx of students. If the school has 251 students with three hotel and restaurant business professors, then hiring two more students will increase the number of students to 426. But business school leaders who decide to plan work for the next academic year using this formula will be greatly disappointed.

The above factors may lead to opposite research results. Sometimes it may seem that customers are not acting in accordance with the intentions they expressed in the questionnaires, when the results were simply misinterpreted due to errors that occurred in one or another problem area of ​​​​marketing research.

5. When a sample is called non-representative.

A sociological sample is a segment of people selected to represent the entire population. "Ideally, the sample should be representative to the extent that the researcher can, from examining the sample, make assumptions about the whole. Hotel managers often receive bonuses based on the satisfaction of the hotel expressed in a survey conducted among guests. But sometimes some guests give a lower rating than others, although it seems that they are satisfied with everything. For example, during one of the surveys, respondents in the age group from 26 to 35 years old rated the level of service in the hotel lower than all others. But, as it turned out, they also appreciated the work of a competing organization. in the same way: lower than other segments of the population. Outwardly, their dissatisfaction was not manifested in any way. They simply tended to give a lower rating than others. When too many or too few representatives of a similar category of the population come to the attention of researchers, the overall picture of the phenomenon being studied. may turn out to be distorted: if there are too few of them, then the assessment will be overestimated, if there are too many of them, it will be underestimated.

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Secondary information analysis

Marketing research usually pursues specific goals, but this does not mean that the information collected during it cannot be used, say, for broader statistical analysis or to establish some more patterns than those that were the purpose of this research. . Such additional analysis of already “processed” data allows managers to go beyond the standard approach and answer questions such as, for example:

o What are the main variables influencing sales and how important is each?

o If you raise prices by 10% and increase advertising costs by 20%, how will this affect sales?

o What is the best way to predict who will come to my hotel versus my competitor's hotel?

o What are the most important variables to consider when segmenting a market, and what are these segments?

Mathematical modeling of real systems, processes and results can also help managers make the right marketing decisions. These models can help answer questions like “What if?” and “Which is better?” Over the past 20 years, marketing specialists have developed a large number of models with the help of which managers can improve decisions on a set of marketing measures to influence the market (marketing mix), design a sales territory and a plan for its stimulation, select the best locations for retail outlets, and develop the optimal advertising, forecasting sales of new products.

Providing information to interested parties

The value of marketing information is zero until managers use it to make specific decisions. Therefore, it is very important that the information collected during the research process reaches certain managers at a certain time. Large firms have centralized marketing information systems that provide managers with information about current work, the latest marketing intelligence data, and research reports. Managers need this day-to-day information to plan, implement, and monitor marketing operations. But they need not only such everyday information, but also specially collected information to make operational decisions on specific situations. For example, a sales manager who has problems in the market urgently needs data on sales last year, and a restaurant manager who discovers that his

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the warehouse is overstocked with products for a popular dish, he should know how things are with supplies in other restaurants in the chain. In firms with a centralized information system, all managers need to do in such situations is to send their request to the marketing research department and wait for a response. Sometimes, however, this answer comes when it’s too late...

Recently, truly revolutionary changes have occurred in information transmission systems. Due to the widespread introduction of personal computers, improvements in processors and communications, many firms are decentralizing information systems, giving their managers direct access to available information. Using a terminal at their workplace, they can query any information stored in the memory of a computer network, analyze this information, prepare a report on it using a word processor, and transmit this information over the network to other interested parties (see Marketing Beacons 6.3).

Marketing Beacons 6.3

Decentralization of the marketing information system

In the last decade, centralized information systems are giving way to systems that transfer information management from experts to managers. Many companies are developing information networks that connect separate technologies into a system, such as text editing, data processing and presentation of results.

Imagine the workday of a manager of the future. Arriving at work, he presses the appropriate keys on the computer on his desk and reads a report on the situation for that hour. He then switches to reporting all the incidents of the previous night, making a printout of what he has to do that day. Noting to himself that the people with whom he is supposed to speak informally are taking a break for a cup of tea at 10.30, he instructs his computer to remind him with a buzzer at 10.25 that it is time to go down to the buffet.

After making a tour of the hotel, the manager returns to the computer and begins scanning the local hotel-related press and the Wall Street Journal. Having looked through the articles that interest him, he decides that it would be a good idea for his deputies to familiarize themselves with them, and instructs the computer to transmit this information to their monitors.

After lunch, he needs to meet with Frank Crossan, one of the hotel's main corporate clients.

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In preparation for this meeting, he recalls from the computer's memory information related to Crossan and his company, which will help conduct this meeting in a more friendly and relaxed manner and obtain the information the hotel management needs. When he finishes his workday, he takes his laptop computer with him. After having lunch with his family, he goes to his office and, surfing the Internet, gets access to information that interests him: tourists' opinions about Miami, the city in which he lives and works. He finds out what they think about city hotels, restaurants, and city tours.

There are rumors that the famous Swedish company SARA is going to buy a hotel in Miami. The CEO asked him to prepare a report on this company. So the manager accesses the CompuServe database and gets a few relevant files, then he accesses a few more reference databases and gets a few newspaper articles about SARA. It copies these files to the hard drive.

The next day is a day off. The manager makes a printout of the necessary material and, using a text editor, writes a report for the general director. He then sends messages to department heads. Well, now he can go to the beach!

Such a system opens up enormous prospects. It allows managers to quickly obtain the necessary information and just as quickly adapt it to their goals. As this system becomes cheaper, more managers will master this technique, and more and more hospitality enterprises will decentralize their information systems.

International marketing research

International marketing research goes through the same stages as similar research within one country: from identifying the problem to be investigated and developing a plan, to interpreting the research results and presenting an appropriate report. However, marketing research at the international level may pose specific problems. If within the country we are dealing with fairly homogeneous markets, then in international practice we have to deal with the markets of countries that differ significantly from each other in their economic development, cultural traditions and purchasing habits.

When dealing with the markets of foreign countries, the researcher has difficulty navigating through secondary information. If you find reliable data in the USA

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While there is no difficulty: there are dozens of local research centers there, in a huge number of Third World countries there are no such centers at all. Even the largest international marketing centers may not operate in all countries. For example, A.C. Nielsen, the largest firm of its kind, has offices in only 28 countries outside the United States. So even when the necessary secondary information exists, it has to be obtained drop by drop from various sources, agreeing on each specific case at the interstate level in order to bring this information together and compare