The Influence of Technology on Marketing Communications and its Impact on Marketing Research Introduction
The marketing concept states that the nature of the marketing orientated organization, whether product or service based, profit or non profit based, is the identification and genuine satisfaction of customers needs and wants, more effectively and efficiently than the competition. (Lancaster, 1999) The marketing concept has been defined as ‘the key to achieving organizational goals’ and the marketing concept rests on ‘market focus, customer orientation, coordinated marketing and profitability’. In a profit making business the firm obviously has to try and achieve this level of customer satisfaction as a way of staying ahead of the competition and making a profit. In a ‘not for profit’ organization, management substitutes profit for some other criterion such as maximum social benefits; a political party would be likely to substitute maximizing votes for financial profit. A university on the other hand may substitute ‘research excellence’, to purely financial profit. In order for organizations to be able to arrange their assets and resources in such a way that they are able to produce ‘bundles of satisfactions’ that satisfy the genuine desires of specifically defined target markets better than the competition, they need to know what the market regards as valuable. The concept of value is subjective and lies in the mind of the individual prospective customer. Hence, in a broad sense, marketing management needs to understand the ‘minds’ of their target markets, their attitudes and value systems. They need a formalized, managerial approach to this most important task. This is the fundamental role of marketing research.
However, the tools that is normally used has also adapted to the changing times. It proved to be very flexible considering that marketing techniques has been employing the use of modern technology to enhance their efficiency as well as their capacity to provide the needs of the consuming public.
In this manner, this study would like to seek the effects of the modern technology to marketing techniques such as marketing communications and marketing research.
Literature Review
Lancaster (1999) defined marketing communications research as concerned with the appraisal and evaluation of each element in the marketing communications mix. This includes advertising research, evaluation of below the line sales promotions, sponsorship evaluation and the evaluation of direct mail, trade journals, exhibitions, personal selling, corporate communications, telephone marketing, communication on the Internet and many other aspects of communications. In the first instance a firm will need to research the characteristics of customers or potential customers for their product or service. These customers may form distinct groups or market segments. In terms of marketing communications planning these represent the target audiences for any future campaigns. Once the target audiences have been defined it is necessary to establish the most effective medium or media to use to send a marketing message to these audiences. What television programmes are the target audiences most likely to watch? What newspapers, magazines, journals or commercial radio programmes will be most effective in getting the message across? Marketing communications involves business to business communication as well as communicating with householders. Many consumer goods are sold through marketing intermediaries such as wholesalers or other ‘middlemen’, and people in these organizations need some form of communication.
In addition, in business to business communications, personal selling is particularly important. In many industrial firms up to 90% of the overall marketing budget is spent on personal selling. (Lancaster, 1999) Trade exhibitions, direct mail, sponsorship, transport livery, corporate work-wear, telephone marketing and trade journals are also important business to business marketing communication ‘tools’. This activity needs some kind of appraisal research to establish its potential and actual effectiveness.
Furthermore, once the target audiences have been identified and the most appropriate communications media have been established, further research is needed at the pre- campaign level to put the actual communications message together. (Lancaster, 1999) Marketing research thus has an important part to play at every stage of the communications process, identifying the target audiences, selecting the most effective communication media, developing the message and evaluating how well the message has been communicated to the target audience and with what effect.
Without the information that marketing research provides, management cannot apply the marketing concept as an overriding business philosophy. (Lancaster, 1999) It is not the intention to present a comprehensive treatment of marketing research, and indeed it would take an entire textbook to do this. The purpose of this material is simply to give you a ‘feel’ for the subject and relate how it fits into modern marketing practice.
Another study by Meinig and Malla (2002) investigated the impact of e-business and e-commerce on marketing activities in the automotive industry and its distribution channels. They concluded that the relevance of harmony between the partners in the automotive value chain is gaining more and more importance is to be expected. This means, that the attitudes of suppliers, dealers and customers of one brand towards e-business activities will not drift apart, but approach one another. Moreover, they also stated that the communication culture in automotive supply chain and distribution channels, once established by the so-called `old media’, such as written correspondence (letters and fax) and verbal correspondence (telephone and personal interaction), will be strongly supported by the new media but not replaced entirely. Successful car brands will realize a friction-free and synergetic integration of new and old communication methods. Likewise, they asserted that the supplier, dealer and customer satisfaction with the totality of communication activities will be, more than ever, a pre-indicator of the quality of communication culture of a car brand and therefore are consequently strong indicators for the overall success of a car manufacturer.
Statement of the Problem
The paper will discuss the methods of how we use technology to conduct marketing communications techniques. It will then analyze the impact that this has on marketing research system/ practices and results. Specifically, it wants to answer the following questions:
1. Does technology improve the credibility or the reliability of research results?
2. Does technology provide any statistical information? If it does, how and what are these?
3. How does technology assist in foreseeing future trends?
4. Would the technology compromise of the right to privacy of consumers in pursuit of the perfect marketing?
Nature and Significance
Communication (www.gactr.uga.edu) is a key skill of marketers and must also be a key skill of effective marketing researchers. The marketing research professional who understands managerial decision-making and can design good research also needs to possess effective communication skills to ensure the research has the proper influence. The main issue is how technology shape the present condition of marketing communications and its impact on marketing research.
This study will benefit the companies engaging in marketable goods since it would give them a description on how technology would alter their productivity. Moreover, it is the market researcher who will also benefit from this study since it would provide an impression on how technology is used as a tool for intensifying research on what the public needs.
Methodology
The methodology is the descriptive approach wherein the interview schedules will be set with key person in the marketing department of randomly selected companies. The main questions would query the interviewees on the effects of recent technology on their work. Interview schedules will also be set with key person in the field of marketing research. The main question of this interview would be around the areas on the competency provided by the current technology.
Research Questions
1. What are the current technological changes that have been applied to marketing communication?
2. What are the impact of these changes in technology on the field of marketing research?
3. What is the impact of the current technologies on the consumers?
4. What is the competence level of the technology used for marketing communication in ensuring marketing research?
5. How does it assist in foreseeing future trends?
6. What are the parameters of marketing research in terms of consumer privacy?
7. How does the company pursue perfect marketing?
References
University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education. (2002) (Principles of Marketing Research: Online Certificate Course). Available: http://www.gactr.uga.edu/is/mr/skillsdev.html. (Accessed 02/07/03)
Meinig, W. and Heike Malla. (2003) “Impact of e-Business and e-Commerce on Marketing Activities in the Automotive Industry and its Distribution Channels”, (Automotive & Truck Briefing), Available: http://www.wmrc.com/businessbriefing/autobriefing/contents/auto_2002/. (Accessed 02/07/03)
Lancaster, G. “Marketing Research”, (Strategic Marketing), Available: http://www.da-group.co.uk/geoff/research.htm. (Accessed 02/07/03)
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