Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy - Essay Example

BUSINESS RESEARCH Introduction To quote Henry R. Luce, "Business more than any other occupation is a continual dealing with the future; it is continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight." (Farr & Timm, 1994). This extract alone tells us the importance of Business Research; the process of obtaining information. This paper, in its first part, will discuss the purpose and importance of business research in detail. It will also put light on how it is conducted and its strength and weaknesses. The second part of my paper will examine and analyze my own business research proposal. It will give its background, discuss the methods used in it, and much more. Purpose of Business Research With globalization taking its toll in its truest sense, the business world has become more competitive than ever. New businesses are formed, the market keeps growing and changing, competition keeps increasing. In order to remain informed, it is absolutely essential for businesses today to carry out research about the market, about businesses and about anything that helps them to make informed decisions. Research is not only for scholars, but it is for anybody, any business that wishes to update its knowledge base. Importance of Business Research In the past, there was no such (or maybe just a vague) concept of information. Firms used to sit in their seats and guess which decisions will be successful and which will fail. Today, fortunately or unfortunately, guess work will not get most businesses far. It is important to have information before making the right decision. This is the most important aspect of business research; it facilitates in smart decision making. For example, consider a garment manufacturing firm that wishes to break into women clothing. It can not just decide without knowing anything whether this women's line will be successful. It will have to carry out proper business research to predict actually how many women will be willing to buy its apparel. Another point that comes up from this is that it helps "to predict". This must mean that decision making becomes simpler and informed only when firms have the ability to predict. This tool, hence, gives them this facility to generate new information. Business research is also useful because it gives firms a competitive edge over other competing firms. If, for instance, a firm has some kind of knowledge about some new, relevant technology being developed in the market, and none of the other competing firms have this (because they don't carry out market research), this firm will be at a much better position in its market only because it carried out business research and thus was informed. Finally, some importance should be given to another, related and spawned off advantage; it helps in problem-solving. Business Research is a great tool used for solving any business problem. It makes it easier to see all sides of a problem and gives firms a 360 degree, comprehensive view of the problem at hand. How Business Research is Conducted There are many different ways that a business can conduct research. There is primary research, which means researching a question yourself by going out in the field and then there is secondary research, which means searching using second-hand or desk information. Different groups and sources have different names for methods. Essentially, they are all the same. The following primary methods are useful for our purpose: Appreciative Inquiry, Case Study Design, Focus Groups, Interview Designs, Questionnaire, Observations and Surveys. Some of these are qualitative, for example, interviews while some are quantitative. Additionally, business research is conducted as a process. There are many different stages in the process of business research. It starts off with formulating a research question, that is, the focus of the research must be specified here. Then there is the hypothesis that gives your predictions and analysis of the answer to you research question. To test this hypothesis, some kind of a method (discussed earlier) must be developed. There must also be literature review to further prove your hypothesis. This gives the research other viewpoints than one's own. Finally, there is the analysis process, where results are findings are assessed. Strengths and Weaknesses of the Parts of the Business Research Process Evidently, there are about five parts of a business process (the number may vary). The obvious advantage of each of these parts is that it serves a purpose. The research question specifies what to study, the hypothesis specifies the answer to the question, the method tests the hypothesis, the literature review is essential for gaining more insight into the research and finally analysis is done to understand the entire process. Thus, there is a significantly specific purpose of each for carrying out proper research. An additional benefit of the research question is that it is used to communicate your focus to the rest of the world. The strength of the hypothesis is that it tells other people how you feel about your focus. Similarly, all other parts play their relevant roles. On the front, the business research process all seems very straight-forward and inter-connected. But the truth is that it actually requires effective project management skills. Basically, if the researcher is inexperienced, it is very easy to misjudge how long each part will take and the consequences on the overall project of each individual phase overflow (Worrall, L., 2008). A weakness of the analysis phase of the process is that it is mostly made very poorly, with few diagrams to illustrate the findings. This part must be carried out and articulated most effectively. A weakness of the method part is that it must be the absolute appropriate method. If the method is right, the sample used must be correct. If that is correct, the information gathered and filtered must be relevant. A pre-requisite for each and every phase of the business research process is effectual skill and capability. Amateur and new managers can probably find it extremely difficult to undertake business research. Importance of My Research Question The essential element of my research programme is to explore the different kinds of advertising strategies and the importance of advertising for businesses. This research question has very important implications for all businesses operating in a market with competing firms. Most businesses today need to advertise their products or services because of the ever-increasing competition in the corporate world. Therefore, researching the different kinds of advertising strategies is important in the field of management and business. Business Research Proposal Title The business research proposal that will be investigated throughout the rest of the paper is "advertising strategies and their importance for businesses". A business will research the different kinds of advertising strategies and it will examine its significance. Background and Research Objectives A research theme was developed out of the need of all or most businesses to advertise. Businesses have this need so they can inform their customers and potential customers about any new products or services they are offering. Advertising is also carried out by businesses for the purpose of persuading customers to buy their products. This necessity to advertise inspired me to select this particular research question. This observation posed a number of subjects that needed to be examined: - Firstly, what are the different kinds of advertising strategies, and which are most appropriate in what situations And. - Secondly, what is the importance of advertising for businesses By examining the literature I was able to identify that there are levels of advertising strategies; weak, medium-strength and strong strategies. I was able to discover several creative and contemporary ways of advertising strategies such as ideal audience, heart strings, selective editing, and star power. Also from the literature, I identified that advertisement is important for a business is because it informs the customers, potential and existing, about a businesses' offerings. Following the review of the literature, my first hypothesis is that many of the advertising strategies used by businesses today fall under strong strategies. My second hypothesis is that the importance of advertising for businesses paramount because advertising makes sales happen. Literature Review Under this section, I will allude to some of the most recent developments in advertising strategies. I will also talk about the essential and only the essential importance of advertising for businesses. An advertising strategy is an entire process of deciding how to make customers aware of your product and ultimately how to make them buy it. This strategy must be effective for it to work. There are three levels of advertising strategies: weak, medium strength and strong strategies. I will only discuss the weak and strong strategies (for our purpose) to highlight the two extremes. Weak strategies revolve around the "preemptive approach". Under this kind of advertising, no new information about products is given to the customers than what they already know. Preemptive advertising strategies also label a product as performing only a certain function. Strong advertising strategies revolve around affective and resonance advertising. Affective advertising is making the customer feel good about a service while resonance involves advertising in a way that customers can relate to. (Peter & Jerry, 1990). Today many advertising strategies rivet around affective marketing and resonance marketing. Examples of such strategies are ideal audience, meaning a more perfect audience is portrayed in the advert. This makes people feel good about a product. Another example is of heart-strings, when commercials create an emotional ambience that lures you into the ad and makes you feel good. Then there is Selective Editing. This is when the most perfect of all scenes are shown when using the product. This makes a good impression of the product and its friendliness. Finally, there is star power. This is when sports heroes, movie stars, and teenage heart throbs tell us what to use (Media Awareness Network, 2008). Finally, I will give light to the importance of advertising. Firms spend millions of dollars annually on advertising their product. Why so It's because advertising is crucial for selling their products. They make customers aware of the product and also persuade them to buy it. In other words, advertising makes sales happen (Elliott, C., 2007). Method There are two parts of the research question that have to be tested. For the first part, the qualitative method I will use to conduct research is 'observation'. I think it will be most appropriate to simply watch advertisements to categorize them in the kind of strategies they follow. This way, I will be able to prove my first hypothesis that most companies today follow strong advertising strategies; affective and resonance advertising (described earlier). Other methods would only complicate a fairly simple situation that is, categorizing advertisements. The number of advertisements viewed will be 100. Data will be gathered about these. There are no ethical considerations under this method (even though there usually are) because advertisements are meant to be viewed. The second part of the research question attempts to assess the importance of advertising for businesses. According to my hypothesis, advertising is extremely important for businesses because it ultimately helps in selling the product. The design used will be an interview design. The population will include firms operating in and from the United States of America. A sample of 6 firms will be drawn from the population; 2 large-scale, and 4 SME's. This will not be a random sample. Instead sampling will be done using the systematic sampling method. Background on the firms will be obtained before a decision to include which firms in the sample can be arrived at. The main search tool will be based on interviews, as mentioned before. Questions in the interview will be open-ended. They will have no choice. Data will be obtained from recorded tapes. Interviewees will be informed before their answers are recorded and their permission will be taken. Therefore, the research conducted will be ethical research because informed consent will be taken. The interviewers, I and a friend, have no connections or relations with the respondents to prevent demand-bias characteristics. We made sure to choose firms where we had no friends or relatives. This research will take a maximum of six weeks. Observations will be made for six weeks. The frequency of each advertisement and its time will be noted down. They will then be categorized under the strategy they follow. The interviews, on the other hand, will take a maximum of six weeks. Each week, one organization will be interviewed and prior appointments will be made. Conclusion Based on these methodologies and designs, data and information will be gathered. Once the results and findings are obtained about the kind of advertising strategies and the importance of advertising are obtained, they will be discussed with the audience to finally prove the hypotheses. REFERENCES Common Advertising Strategies. (2008). Retrieved Sept 30, 2008, from Media Awareness Network. Web site: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/handouts/advertising_marketing/common_ad_strats.cfm Elliott, C. (2007). The Importance of Advertising. Retrieved Sept 30, 2007, from The Clarke Agency, Inc. Web site: http://www.clarkeagency.net/bl-advertising.html Farr, R.C. & Timm, R.P. (1994). Business Research: An Informal Guide. Thomson Crisp Learning. Peter, P. J. & Jerry C. O. (1990). Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy, 2 ed. Irwin Publishing, Boston. Worrall, L. (2008). Some Thoughts on the Research Process in Business and Management. Retrieved Sept 30, 2008, from Wolverhampton Business School, Management Research Centre. Web site: http://www.wlv.ac.uk/PDF/uwbs_OP01_02_Worrall.pdf. Read More