Market Research and

6
MODULE

Market Analysis
“Marketing without research is like driving with your eyes closed.”
- Dan Zarella

Introduction
This module introduces students to the basics of market research and consumer analysis. Students will
learn about credible primary and secondary data collection methods necessary to conduct in-depth
research on their target audience. This module also explores the methods of analyzing customer behavior
as well as customer insight to better understand the needs of a certain target audience.

Objectives
1. Students will be able to understand the basics of market research and its application.
2. Students will be able to understand consumer behavior and why the consumer behaves in a
particular manner.
3. Students will be able to understand consumer insights and use it in conjunction with market
research to analyze their market.

Agenda
1. Market Research
2. Market Analysis
Market Research
Intro to Market Research
Crash Course: Facilitators vs. Class, 20 Questions Game. Students are presented with a statistic or fact
and facilitators know the underlying reason for that fact. Students get 20 questions to ask the right
questions to figure out the underlying cause.

Directions:
1. Introduce the problem.
2. Tell the students that they get 20 questions to ask the facilitator to find out why the problem
occurred/occurs.
3. Answers don’t necessarily have to be yes/no answers, but facilitators should not give away too
much information. A little bit of elaboration on yes/no questions is acceptable.
4. End the activity either when the class figures out the root cause or when 20 questions run out.
5. Repeat the activity with different problems.

Problems:
1. 19% of children in Argentina do not go to school.
a. A large number of children in Argentina do not have access to shoes to use to go to
school. Due to poor economic conditions, many students cannot afford shoes.
2. 120,000 Vitenamese Refugees entered America.
a. After the Fall of Saigon (capture of South Vietnam’s capital), the president at the time
Gerald Ford, created the Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act. Under this act
120,00 people from South Vietnam along with others from Laos and Cambodia were
allowed to enter the country. This act allowed these people to be given a special status,
and help financially and with relocation in the US.
3. If an ancient Greek of average smartness at the time was transported to modern times, he or she
would rank among the cleverest people on Earth.
a. In ancient Greece, people were living in less protected environments than now.
Therefore, people with lessened cognitive abilities would be naturally selected against,
and the proportion of intelligent people to unintelligent people would be higher than it is
now, when people are less susceptible to death. (Ex. an unintelligent hunter-gatherer in
ancient Greek would be likely to die before reproducing, whereas there are less chances
of death in modern times)

Discussion Questions:
1. What types of questions assisted you in understanding the problem?
2. Can you connect this activity to design thinking?
3. How can you use these interviewing and questioning skills in your own projects to gather good
market research? Who would you ask and what would you ask about?

Case Studies
Survey: Taco Bell uses surveys to ensure quality of service to their customers. Every Taco Bell in
America provides customers with an opportunity to take a survey to help Taco Bell improve their service.
The survey is short and lets customers comment on their experiences regarding food quality and customer
service. There are several key features Taco Bell uses to encourage customers to take the survey:
 The employees are encouraged to ask customers to take the survey by the use of incentives to the
employees
● Receipts contain survey information, which makes it easy for customers to remember and know
where to call to take the survey.
● Customers can take the survey online, which makes the process infinitely easier for many customers
● Completing the survey allows customers to enter a sweepstakes

Discussion Questions:
1. What type of market research is this?
2. Are focus groups the most effective ways for large, nation-wide businesses, such as Twitter, to
gather information from customers?
3. Are focus groups the most effective ways for small start-ups to gather customer information?

Focus Group: Twitter used case studies while designing their platform by asking Facebook users what
they were dissatisfied with. The biggest issue Facebook users had was that the interface was very
cluttered and difficult to keep up with. Based on this complaint, they formulated the idea for Twitter— a
streamlined platform for people to share articles, entertainment etc.

Discussion Questions:
1. What type of market research is this?
2. Are surveys the most effective ways for large, nation-wide businesses, such as Taco Bell, to
gather information from customers?
3. Are surveys the most effective ways for small start-ups to gather customer information?

Lecture Notes:
1. How to do Market Research (p.204-214)
a. Primary Research
i. Primary research consists of gathering data by analyzing current sales and
effectiveness of current practices (competitors).
ii. Collecting Data for primary research:
1. Quantitative Data: employs mathematical analysis and requires a
large sample size. The results use statistically significant differences.
Quantitative research can be done by using G-Suite to analyze a
company's website traffic (not applicable to SocEnt).
2. Qualitative Data: helps develop and fine-tune quantitative research
methods. Qualitative data helps business owners identify problems.
Business professionals often use interview methods (below) to
understand customers’ opinions about the product. Sample size is
usually small.
a. Interviews (telephone or face-to-face)
b. Surveys (online)
c. Questionnaires (online)
d. Focus groups (gathering sampling of potential clients or
customers and getting direct feedback)
i. Important Questions:
1. Factors to consider when purchasing
product/service?
2. Pros and cons of competition?
3. Suggestions for improvement?
4. Appropriate price for product/service?
b. Secondary Research
i. Do not solely rely on secondary research
ii. Secondary research consists of analyzing already-published data
 iii. Identify competitors, establish benchmarks, identify target segments
1. The term “customer segment” encompasses the people who fall into the
targeted demographic (people with a certain lifestyle, exhibit particular
behavioral patterns or fall into a predetermined age groups)
iv. Credible sources for secondary research
1. Business Magazines and Reports
a. https://www.economywatch.com/world-industries/industry-
report.html
b. Industry definition
c. Major industry players
d. Market share
e. Historical and current trends
f. Employment statistics
g. SWOT analysis
h. Outlook
2. Government article
3. Trade groups and journals
a. A trade magazine, also called a trade journal, or trade paper, is a
magazine or newspaper whose target audience is people who
work in a particular trade or industry
4. Local Community Resources
5. .org and .edu sources

Market Competition (20 minutes)

Lecture Notes:
1. Value propositions
a. These are easy-to-understand phrases that communicate why a target audience would find
value in an organization’s product or service. They should convince a potential customer
or user that the service beats out any competing services. Essentially, it’s a promise by
the company to the user, explaining how that company solves a pain point-- and it can be
understood in less than five seconds.
i. Ex: SLACK! -- “Where Work Happens” https://slack.com/features 9
1. Slack makes “working lives simpler, more pleasant, and more
productive”
2. Its main value points include integrated file sharing, organized
conversations, and keeping company data secure
2. Comparison charts
a. To come up with a value proposition, you need to outline how your company is
better than other companies who aim to solve the same pain point. This is often
done through competition charts (picture on next page):
b.
 https://www.ekoapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Comparison-Chart-Eko-Slack-WA-Workplace.pdf

c. The comparison chart breaks up features that a company finds valuable relative to its
service, and it compares those features to its competitors.
i. E.g., a productivity service like Slack will value communication features, so this
comparison chart examines features like message visibility limits, voice
messages, and voice/video calling
ii. Eko is another productivity service who boasts “mobile-first” internal
communication, as opposed to Slack’s interface which is optimized for desktop
use, so Eko’s emphasizes that in their value prop:
1. “Mobile-first communication for teams with distributed operations and
staff who are on-the-go”
d. Using the comparison chart, a company will be able to outline the ideas it wants to
incorporate into its value proposition; this will be a guideline for what ideas the company
wants to get across.
3. Competition research
a. Three types of competitors
i. Direct competition: businesses offer the same product or services to the same
clients to the same niche audience
ii. Secondary/indirect competition: businesses that offer slightly different products
and services or target different clients within a part of the market
iii. Substitute competition: businesses that offer different products and services to
the same clients in the same part of the market
b. Gather information about competitors
i. Products and services: evaluate their products and services and compare them to
your own by purchasing them or trying them out
ii. Pricing: How are their products and services priced? Do their prices vary for
channel partners and customers? Can you estimate their cost structure?
iii. Positioning and branding: Analyze your competitors’ websites, product
documents, brochures, and catalogs. Follow them on social media and visit them
at trade shows. What are their target markets? What is their unique selling
proposition?
iv. Market reputation: Talk to customers, suppliers, and distributors to get their
views. What do they know about your competitors? What are their opinions
 about their products, sales and marketing strategies and customer service?
c. Analyze the competition’s strengths and weaknesses
i. List your competitors and write our their respective strengths and weaknesses
d. Talk to your competitors directly
i. Talking to your competitors can help develop a relationship beneficial for both
sides that can help you differentiate your business in the market
e. Identify your competitive advantage
i. Identify strategies when analyzing the competitive landscape to take advantage of
a weakness in the competition
ii. Rely on your key differentiators to create your branding
4. Strategies
a. Idea must be simple and visible as possible so that it can be repeated on the media
b. Have a deep understanding of your competitors and their place in the market
c. Make sure your product idea is understandable, oversimplify your message
d. Make projects more steady to build heritage differentiation
i. Heritage differentiation focuses on what makes you different based on how long
you’ve been around. Case studies have been found that show those companies
who are around longer are usually found to be more reliable or memorable.
General Electric was the second most mentioned blender company in a study
measuring recalled blender memory even though they hadn’t made a blender in
twenty years.
e. Don’t ignore unique traits/qualities
f. Repositioning: hanging a negative on your competitor as a way to set up your positive

Value Props and Comparison Charts: A BATTLE!

Purpose:
Students will apply value propositions and comparison charts to the solutions they came up with
earlier.
Directions:
1. Explain to students that they’ll be creating a comparison chart for their company vs. the other
companies that were presented. They’ll do this on their own.
2. Groups will then use that comparison chart to come up with a catchy value proposition, which
they’ll use in their final pitch.
3. Each group will give a final pitch, referring to their comparison chart & value proposition,
explaining why their company is WAY better than all the other companies in the room.
a. If you want to be memey, you can tell them their pitch is basically a roast session for why
their company is so much better
4. If you want, you can incentivize it like a competition and give a prize to the best/most organized
roasts/pitches!
Market Analysis
Lecture Notes:
1. Consumer Behavior
a. Consumer Behavior is “ the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and all the
activities associated with the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services,
including the consumer's emotional, mental and behavioural responses that precede
or follow these activities.”
b. Consumer behavior enables a corporation to understand the method of the madness of
why customers buy what they do.
2. Story
a. Alright so X over here makes a list of everything they need, drives to the store, goes
and picks up the groceries, sometimes more than they need because something
catches their eye, and then drives back. Wow, it takes forever and you waste gas
money and you waste money on other things. For those of you that enjoy grocery
shopping go for it. But for those of you that would rather watch a couple episodes on
Netflix or go out and play some sports, I’m speaking to you. BOOM! The groceries
are delivered right to your door and you just pick them up.

3. Discussion Questions
a. How do you think AI and other technologies will affect the future of customer behavioral
analysis?
b. How can technology be applied to a SocEnt project?
4. Consumer Insight
a. A consumer insight is "a non-obvious understanding about your customers, which if
acted upon, has the potential to change their behavior for mutual benefit"
b. Consumer Insight acts as the intersection between the interest of the consumer and the
features of a brand
c. Consumer insight is the collection, deployment and interpretation of information
that allows a business to acquire, develop and retain their customers.
i. Primary goal of Consumer Insight
1. To understand why the consumer cares about the product or brand
and the underlying mindsets, moods, motivation, desires, aspirations,
that motivates and triggers a reaction.
2. Forms of analysis
a. Once Market Research and consumer insight is gathered you can begin to apply that
information by using the different methods of consumer analysis
b. Methods of consumer analysis
i. Impact Assessment is when a business works to understand how action
taken by the business affected consumer behavior. It also allows for some
predictions of customer reaction to proposed changes
1. In September of 2016, Apple removed the headphone jack from all their
mobile devices. This decision was due to an impact assessment of
removing the headphone jack. They realized that they could increase
revenue streams when their customers would purchase adapters and
wireless headphones. This led to the successful launch of the original
airpods. It also increased the revenue streams from royalties due to the
 lighting connector being essential in “dongles”. This caused very little
damage to their market share in the mobile space as Apple users value
convenience and are less likely to jump to a new ecosystem.
ii. Customers as Assets measures the lifetime value of the customer base and
allows businesses to measure several factors such as the cost of acquisition
and the rate of churn (is a measure of the number of individuals or items
moving out of a collective group over a specific period.) Customers are
viewed as important intangible assets of a firm that should be valued and
managed.
1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/10/22/netflixs-reed-
hastings-is-the-master-of-adaptation/#3818d606671b
2. One example of customers as assets is Netflix during its transition to
streaming from DVD rental. Although there were several customers
thrilled with the prospect of Netflix adapting to the newest, emerging
technology, there were customers who preferred movies in DVD form.
Although Netflix undoubtedly played a strong card in switching from
DVD to streaming, they left behind those customers who preferred DVD
movies.
iii. Propensity Modelling predicts the future behavior of customers based on
previous actions and helps businesses understand how likely it is that a
customer will behave in a given way.
1. (http://techland.time.com/2012/02/17/how-target-knew-a-high-school-
girl-was-pregnant-before-her-parents/)
2. Alright, wait how accurate are these algorithms. There was a woman in
her late teens and she was pregnant. (Don’t get any ideas y’all.) Anyway,
she hadn’t told her parents yet, but she wanted to be a good mother and
was easing up on the food she was buying in terms of health-wise and
all of that. The store predicted she was pregnant and sent her catalogs for
baby outfits, toys and other items. Well, when her dad goes the catalog in
the mail, he knew his wife wasn’t pregnant, made an educated guess, and
that was when the girl had to come clean.
iv. Cross-Sell Analysis identifies product and service relationships to better
understand which are the most popular product combinations. Any
identified relationships can then be used to cross-sell and up-sell in the
future.
1. Car companies use cross-sell when they attempt to figure out what
services would be beneficial to implement among their dealerships.
2. https://fortune.com/2019/08/06/apple-airpods-business/

Marketing:
1. Definition: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating,
delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at
large.
a. Brand: a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or
service as distinct from those of other sellers.
i. “ISO brand standards add that a brand “is an intangible asset” that is intended to
 create “distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby
generating economic benefit/values.” (https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-
marketing-what-is-marketing/ )

2. Types of Marketing
a. influencer marketing:
i. focuses on leveraging individuals who have influence over potential buyers and
orienting marketing activities around these individuals to drive a brand message to
the larger market
b. Relationship Marketing:
i. relationship marketing refers to strategies and tactics for segmenting consumers to
build loyalty

c. Viral marketing:
i. a marketing phenomenon that facilitates and encourages people to pass along a
marketing message

d. Green marketing:
i. the development and marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally
safe (i.e., designed to minimize negative effects on the physical environment or to
improve its quality)

e. Keyword Marketing:
i. placing a marketing message in front of users based on the specific keywords and
phrases they are using to search

f. Guerilla Marketing:
i. an unconventional and creative marketing strategy intended to get maximum results
from minimal resources

3. 4p’s of Marketing:
a. Product
i. A product is defined as a bundle of attributes (features, functions, benefits, and uses)
capable of exchange or use; usually a mix of tangible and intangible forms
b. Price
i. Price is the formal ratio that indicates the quantity of money, goods, or services
needed to acquire a given quantity of goods or services
c. Place (or distribution)
i. Distribution refers to the act of marketing and carrying products to consumers. It is
also used to describe the extent of market coverage for a given product
d. Promotion
i. tactics that encourage short-term purchase, influence trial and quantity of purchase,
and are very measurable in volume, share and profit