MKTG611 Marketing Management

Choose a small business

1.Identify a marketing problem related to that business. The problem could be:

Possible market to target, or an adaption of current practises towards a current market

New opportunity to pursue

Marketing problem either at the consumer or organisational level

However, the problem should be relevant to the business and specifically outlined.

Your task is as follows:

2.Identify and clearly communicate a problem that requires marketing research that demonstrates that you have a clear understanding of the problem at hand.

3.Identify the information needed to address the research problem, including a specific discussion of the field data requirements. You should identify the following elements:

 

Type of information needed: primary, secondary, or both

Sources of information to be used

Whether consumer or company data will be needed

3.Choose a research design and justify its choice. You should identify the following elements:

Explanation of the exploratory, descriptive, or causal approach followed

Individual techniques that would be adopted

Research design needs and limitations

4.Identify appropriate data collection method(s). You should identify the following elements:

How would data be collected

Field data requirements

Who would be responsible for data collection

Control mechanisms to ensure the quality of data collected

5.Summarize your proposal recommendation based on your findings and discuss the limitations of your research.

Background information 

Northside Social Coffee & Wine is a café, coffeehouse and wine bar in Clarendon Arlington Virginia featuring delicious house made pastries and sandwiches. Northside Social puts emphasis on farm-fresh produce and dairy products, freshly baked breads and pastries, and house-cured fish and meat.

Northside hosts many cool events every month with special themes and new artists are shown frequently. On many Saturdays, Northside hosts music events like live music outside the patio and open mic night. In addition, Northside hosts special events such as business receptions, birthday parties, baby showers and surprise parties.

Problem definition

To give a detailed understanding of consumer behavior so as to increase the revenue generated at Northside Social Coffee & Wine by identifying possible new sources or develop new strategies to escalate the proceeds coming from the current sources. The costs need to be allocated at an optimal level while generating the revenue. To differentiate itself Northside Social Coffee & Wine has to establish a clear vision as to the direction it should head as well as understand the key target market.

Information needed to address the research problem

To address the research problem the following information ought to be supplied:

• The list of the most important current events for Northside Social  to continue
• List of new events that are likely to be held at Northside Social
• A summary statement of how Northside Social is perceived by the community and its future
• General insights on how to grow Northside Social Coffee & Wine as a business and ideas on how to generate more revenue(Bruner, 2009)
• Summary statement of the use and general awareness of Northside Social
• The motives and desires people have for using Northside Social Coffee & Wine
• Provide a general understanding on the level of satisfaction of its clients

 Secondary data sources will be needed to address the research problem. Company and customer data will be required. Internal secondary data sources will include sales invoice, customer feedback, customer database, service record and annual reports. Also, experience survey and focus groups to discover their ideas and needs will be essential so as to find out how to target markets more precisely (McDaniel & Gates, 2005).

Research objectives

• Determine how people choose where they hold events
• Understand how people perceive Northside Social Coffee & Wine
• Determine the features at Northside Social that enhance the  visitor’s experience
• Find out the specific segments of the market that should be the primary target of Northside Social Coffee & Wine
• Examine how frequency of visiting Northside Social relates to the primary target
• Determine whether programs should encourage the current  visitors to spend more funds or aim at increasing the frequency of the number of new customers (Aaker, Kumar, & Day, 2008)
• Identify possible sources and events to generate  revenue

Research design

The study will adopt an exploratory research design since there is little information available. The research design will rely on qualitative research which provides a detailed understanding of the underlying motives, desires, objectives, and choices that drive behavior (Baker & Hart, 2008).

Limitations of exploratory research paradigm

 The exploratory design relies on the information collected in qualitative research is which is highly subjective. The data that one researcher might feel as important and necessary to gather can feel pointless to another researcher. The personal nature of collecting information in qualitative research can lead to generalized or inaccurate data.

It is difficult to demonstrate and assess data rigidity. It is hard to prove that there is rigidity in information that is collective because individual perspectives are the basis of the data collected. Human beings have an innate desire to look at the good in thing and situations thus making it difficult for researchers to demonstrate data validity (Proctor, 2005).

It is time-consuming to mine data gathered by qualitative research because qualitative research collects a massive number of details. It takes a lot of time to sort through the data to pull out the key points.it is also a subjective effort since the information that one researcher feels is significant may not be considered by another researcher. In some instances, data mining through an overwhelming number of details can be more trouble than it is worth (Churchill & Iacobucci, 2006).

It is difficult to replicate results with qualitative research. To accept results as factual the scientific community wants to see results that can be duplicated and verified. Not only does the variability of the researcher bias account within the data, but also informational bias grounded in the data itself from the provider. Therefore, even if the model of collecting data is fluid the scope of information gathering can be extremely limited because of each unique perspective.

Data collection techniques 

The approaches that will be used to collect qualitative data are interviews and focus groups. Interviews will involve direct interaction with respondents on a one to one basis.  Focus groups will involve direct interaction with individuals in a group setting.  For group sessions, both regular and infrequent users will be recruited from the local catchment area.  The group gatherings will be conducted in the home of a resident. They will be moderated by a qualified market researcher (Baker & Hart, 2008).

A topic guide that lists all the concerns will be prepared prior to the meetings and used as a prompt within the group scenarios. The topic guide should generally start with broad issues and become more intensive as it progresses.  After the end of group sessions, the researcher will prepare a detailed report.  The report will be based on a thorough review of the video-recordings or tape recordings made in the group meeting.

Quantitative data will be collected using phone surveys, interviews at the Northside Social and interviews conducted door to door at the identified member catchment. Quantitative data will help determine how prevalent behaviors and ideas are among the population of the area (Parasuraman, Grewal, & Krishnan, 2006).

Control mechanisms to ensure quality of data collected

Train the people who will be conducting the research. It is imperative to train personnel on how to undertake a pilot survey, good practices in interviewing, survey instruments, and data entry form and data collection process.  All survey personnel should be trained what is expected of them in their respective tasks of data capturing and collection (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Training helps in ensuring that the researchers ask questions in a way that will convey the message to the respondents and understand the research instruments thoroughly.

Develop data collection instruments. To collect quality data it is fundamental to use properly designed survey instruments that address client expectations and information needs. Questions in the questionnaire should be worded in a way that addresses client needs and the interviewees can easily understand the queries (Hair Jr & Lukas, 2014).

Develop a fieldwork training manual to be used as a reference during data collection. The manual gives guidance on issues that are important and what is expected of them when collecting information. The manual may include a code of conduct, duties of the researchers, research ethics, fundamentals of conducting interviews and important considerations when conducting interviews (Malhotra, 2007).

Findings

• The number of new members has dropped
• Customers are more likely to visit Northside Social when there are having some company rather than when they are alone
• Majority of the community members do not regularly visit Northside Social
• People are not fully aware of the brand
• Communication is not driven to generate new sources of  revenue
• There is minimal group based promotion

Limitations and recommendations for the proposed research 

Limitations 

• There is almost no information available and the existing data has some contrary numbers
• If the data collection occurs at a time when there will be a popular festival the results can be biased
• If the research is done during a low season the  sample size will be inadequate because of the small number of visitors

Recommendations

• Northside Social Coffee & Wine should develop strategies for attracting new customers
• Northside Social Coffee & Wine should introduce more group based promotions
• Each communication strategy should be tracked to assess its effectiveness in terms of soliciting new business
• Northside Social Coffee & Wine should tailor ways of marketing its message to target groups
• The organization should develop ways of strengthening the loyalty of current customers and actively cultivate new ones
• To chart awareness, image and usage Northside Social Coffee & Wine should enhance internal record keeping

References

Aaker, D. A., Kumar, V., & Day, G. S. (2008). Marketing research. John Wiley & Sons.

Babin, B. J., & Zikmund, W. G. ( 2015). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.

Baker, M., & Hart, S. ( 2008). The marketing book. Routledge.

Bruner, G. C. ( 2009). Marketing Scales Handbook: A compilation of multi-item measures for consumer behavior & advertising research. v. 5 (Vol. 5). GCBII Productions.

Churchill, G. A., & Iacobucci, D. (2006). Marketing research: methodological foundations. New York: Dryden Press.

Hair Jr, J. F., & Lukas, B. (2014). Marketing research (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education Australia.

Malhotra, N. K. ( 2007). Marketing research an applied orientation. Pearson Education India.

McDaniel, C., & Gates, R. (2005). Marketing research.

Parasuraman, A., Grewal, D., & Krishnan, R. (2006). Marketing research. Cengage Learning.

Proctor, T. (2005). Essentials of marketing research. Pearson Education.