The Role of Research in Academic and Business Life of Business to Business Marketing
This assignment will investigate the role of research in the academic and business life of Business to Business Marketing. Somers () defines research as the study of a subject and its sources and investigating these in a systematic manner in order to find new conclusions (Somers, H. not dated).
Business to Business (B2B) is a transaction which occurs between two companies, that is to say, the consumer is not involved in the transaction of a company. The term may also refer to the total information of the company that provides goods or services to another company (Investor Words, not dated).
Techniques used in B2B research
Desk Research:
Desk
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It is used to find all the material and new findings of a research (B2B International, not dated).
Qualitative Research:
In this research there are three techniques used; they are focus groups, depth interviews and e-focus groups.
1. Focus groups: It is a method using in qualitative research. It is a type of group discussion. In this participants are involved in debate or in discussions of a market for a product. The participants make comment or suggestions of a market they have scrutinised to the subject and the other participants have to confirm or reject the comment. In this the focus groups understand the motivations and prejudices of the participants. Focus groups have four key characteristics.
i) All participants are actively involved.
ii) The people have experience in the field of research.
iii) The researchers provide depth qualitative data
iv) Discussions will help the researchers understand what is going on the
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E-surveys: In the past, web surveys were a very expensive methodology and slower for self completion than the postal surveys. With advances in technology it is preferable to collect data through web survey to evaluate the satisfaction of customer and staff. This provides product and service feedback immediately and it is evaluated in many B2B
The first, focus groups, interviews conducted with 8 to 10 people with a trained moderator following an interview guide, a common useful approach for acquiring health care information. Also, useful in examining a wide range of sensitive health care issues. Second, probability sampling, units selected by chance, the sample’s reliability, and does not require detailed information about the population surveyed. The third option, mail surveys, inexpensive way to contact individuals over a large geographical area, provide anonymity to the respondent, and eliminate interviewer bias.
Market research provides information to help unravel marketing obstacles that businesses face in today’s business climate, an essential part of the business planning process. As shown in the example certain strategies such as segmentation or differentiation are almost unattainable without relevant market research.
Marketing research has become a very important part of small businesses and large corporations gaining information about their customers and how they feel about their products and services. According to Philip Kotler, "Marketing research is systematic problem analysis, model building and fact-finding for the purpose of improved decision-king and control in the marketing of goods and services (Kotler & Keller, 2012)”. The initial step in the marketing process is to identify the problem the company is having and then decide the way the marketing team would like to conduct the research. The marketing team will devise a plan on how to gather the information and set a budget for the research project. In the planning of how they will conduct the
seller and a consumer or an individual customer as the buyer. On the other hand, B2B is referred to as
Focus groups can be used in my Applied Project, and in general, to gain a more accurate idea of how people feel or think. Bryman and Bell (2015) point out that when an interviewer only has one person to interview, that person may say untruths, knowingly or unknowingly, and in a group setting others are more likely to call that person out. More than one person allows individuals to possibly dig deeper in how or why they feel or think a certain way because people tend to feed off of each other and can bring discussions out of others. I may gather a bit more how followership is viewed, dealt with, and ways to improve the understanding and actions of various followers.
Business-to-business companies are relationship driven. They are offering another company a product or service that the company should use to their benefit, and in order to sell this product or service, they have to build a strong, working relationship between the two businesses. B2B companies have to maximize the values of the marketing strategy: relationships and trust. In order to be successful, these two businesses must be able to trust each other, work together, and form a working relationship that will benefit both businesses in the end.
Although the goal of B2B marketing is to convert prospects into customers, the process is longer and more involved. A B2B company needs to focus on relationship building and communication using marketing activities that generate leads that can be nurtured during the sales cycle. B2B companies use marketing to educate various players in the target audience because the decision to purchase is usually a multi-step process involving more than one person. For example, the goal of an email campaign for B2B is to drive prospects to the web to learn about your products and services.
Focus Group Discussion: Focus group discussions share many of the components of individual interviews. However, as the name suggests, enquiry takes place within small groups- usually involving 6-10 respondents. Discussion is guided by a facilitator, and it is best way to have an observer to take notes. Focus Group discussions are used primarily to investigate rang of opinions or practices, or normative aspects of behavior.
Aaker, D. A., Kumar, V., & Day, G. (2007). The Marketing Research Process. Retrieved from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx.
Methods, which provide this type of data, include; interviews, observations as well as focus groups. The advantages of using Qualitative methods such as those listed previously is that they can produce “an extensive base of knowledge” to complex areas of research (Ulin et el. 2005, p.9) such as children’s behavior in school. Another advantage is it will often take place in a natural environment, thus making participants more likely to be more truthful and ther...
While traditional focus groups and their face to face method of collecting data has proven to be effective, the internet has proven to be both more effective and more convenient. A traditional focus group normally consists of about 10 people, while an online group can reach thousands of participants. The DiscoverWhy group is one such group that holds online polls and focus groups for various companies. In order to test the effectiv...
According to the text, marketing research is defined by the American Marketing Association as "The systematic gathering, recording, and analyzing of data with respect to a particular market, where market refers to a specific customer group in a specific geographic area" (McDaniel & Gates, pg. 6). Marketing research serves two basic functions; first to provide data and insight to a company's decision makers and second to use the data to determine new opportunities for a company (McDaniel & Gates, pg. 6). Through the years, Marriott has used market research for opportunities to expand its brands. In the 1980's Marriott identified an opportunity to expand its target market a...
Secondary marketing research or desk research is generally used when a company considering, extending a business into new markets or adding new services or product lines, because it already exist in one form or another.
Business to Business Application is the relationship between to businesses or companies. It is used to perform financial and commercial transactions over...
The are two basic categories of business conducted over the internet, Business-to-Customer (B2C) and Business-to-Business (B2B), and they share one common key aspect - use of Internet technologies to manage all aspects of the business.