Gathering Information

Marketing Management by:Sylvia O. Liao

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Chapter Questions

• What are the components of a modern marketing information system?

• What are useful internal records?

• What is involved in a marketing intelligence system?

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MIS Systems Provide Information on Buyer Preferences and Behavior:

Dupont’s Pillow Study

Pillow Segments• 23% - stackers• 20% - plumpers• 16% - rollers or folders• 16% - cuddlers• 10% - smashers

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What is a Marketing Information System (MIS)?

A marketing information system consists of :

people, equipment, and procedures

to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate

information to marketing decision makers.

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Table 3.1 Information Needs Probes

• What decisions do you regularly make?• What information do you need to make these

decisions?• What information do you regularly get?• What special studies do you periodically request?• What information would you want that you are not

getting now?• What are the four most helpful improvements that

could be made in the present marketing information system?

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Internal Records and Marketing Intelligence

Order-to-PaymentCycle

Databases,Warehousing,

Data Mining

MarketingIntelligence

System

Sales Information

System

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Steps to Improve Marketing Intelligence

Train sales force to scan for new developmentsTrain sales force to scan for new developments

Motivate channel members to share intelligenceMotivate channel members to share intelligence

Network externallyNetwork externally

Utilize a customer advisory panelUtilize a customer advisory panel

Utilize government data resourcesUtilize government data resources

Purchase informationPurchase information

Collect customer feedback onlineCollect customer feedback online

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Best Buy’s Use of MIS

Best Buy segments its customers into highly differentiated segments known by archetypes like “Buzz,” “Barry,” and “Jill.”

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Table 3.2 Secondary Commercial Data Sources

Nielsen

Information Resources, Inc.

MRCA

Arbitron

Simmons

SAMI/Burke

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Sources of Competitive Information

• Independent customer goods and service review forums

• Distributor or sales agent feedback sites• Combination sites offering customer reviews

and expert opinions• Customer complaint sites• Public blogs