The Internet's impact on marketing research? Why is marketing research important to developing marketing strategy?

Principal factors in marketing research are time and money (costs). Devoid of both, marketing would not be achievable or effective. In marketing research, time and money are mutually interrelated, hence the phrase “time is money” or time is cost. Considering that marketing is not gratis and involves numerous costly resources, prior to making costly marketing decisions, it is basic to consider potentially negative and positive impacts, which may lead to control the types of strategical marketing approaches, launch phases/sequences and defined marketing budgets. Additionally, this initial research may assist to focus budgets on a specific marketing phase and the focus of each phase can deploy managing systems on different marketing research techniques. Amid the techniques/resources available, a current and common method to conduct marketing research is by means of the Internet. How has the Internet impacted marketing research?

Bearing in mind that most of everything we achieve today involves the Internet, the Internet has been a powerful tool that all consumer demographics have come to rely on. Whether it’s for business or education, it has become a virus affecting and consuming our lifestyles. The Y2K computer age, unlike 20 or even 10 years ago, has become more and more complex and quite simply, the more difficult it becomes in the back-end, the simpler and easier it becomes for the front-end user to adapt to. This virus' ease in difficulty as a consequence of its growth in oxymoronic science, infected a vulnerably competitive and costly atmosphere. In turn, this infection strained and multiplied the numbers of traditional businesses into e-businesses.

From products to data exchange, you can find “IT” on the Internet. The Internet’s reliability has become such a powerful tool/source that businesses contract businesses to employ businesses to collect data on consumers. “The Internet…is changing data collections…. [T]he way you gather and use data never will be the same” (Harter, 2001). For example, in one of my readings, an article titled “On-line Data Collection” by Betsy Harter states that the Internet is a method to collect consumer data “or to conduct market research” (2001). She also states that some companies collect information about customers, send this information to data warehouses, where data collected is used to “understand demographic information about existing customers, to sell customers new or added services or to measure the effectiveness of new service programs” (2001).

With collected data, quantitative marketing research can analyze data and determine what data can be used as sampled data to hypothesize validity or invalidity; or, use this data to conduct qualitative research. Additionally, quantitative marketing research and statistical tests, such as regression or time series analysis, can classify independent variables (retail coverage, sales, or competitive advertising) applicable to the consumer. This research can also be a foundation of predictions or forecasts of a product’s market share volatility and consumer/seasonal variation. But what does this have to do with marketing research? Validating and understanding predictions, for example, relationships with advertising costs based on the lower standard error of predictions, production levels based on fluctuations in market size, or with moving average models and time series data to forecast a consistent plan or the lowest possible mean square for error, will benefit or establish the production levels for sales, marketing budget, and marketing strategies.

Marketing research requires time and costs. Upon development of an initial/basic marketing research budget, costs can be focused on acquiring and approaching data from resources, such as the Internet. Upon gathering approached data, quantitative research can sample the data for probability and validity (dependent on purpose). Lastly, valid tests and data can form a collective budget for 1) marketing strategies, 2) launch sequences, 3) phases, or for the purpose of one, two, or three, themselves.

~Chris LugTwo