Within this weeks Business Lecture, we will be looking at Market Data and Market Research. I thought that this subject was very interesting, when look at Market Research it is usually split into two parts the first is Primary Data, the next is Secondary Data (Desk Research). Primary Data can then be taken even further by looking into the topics of Quantitative and Qualitative.
The next thing that we looked at was the subject known as Quantitative, where is split into 3 types these are:
Geographic – Which is were people live, so this will then tell people a lot about you.
Psychographic – This is how you determine what you buy.
Socio-Economic – This is about your financial state and the class of what you will buy.
When looking at these three subjects there is many pro’s and con’s that come with these subjects.
The pros of this are:
Detail/Clarity
Statistical information
Objective
There are also many cons to this, these are:
It can be very costly
It can very complex and difficult to create
It also needs careful control
After this we then looked at Qualitative which is the interviewer and the focus group, within this you have to discuss with those in the know about the issue and the market that you need to understand.
There is once again many pro’s and con’s for this subject.
The pros are:
Cheap
Easily Done
Offers a holistic View
The cons for this are:
Subjectivity
The success depends on the control of your discussions
It also has no statistical validation
Secondary Data/Desk Research
This covers data that has already been published and there
Market Segmentation
Breaking a market into distinct blocks.
This can be done by:
Age
Sex
Social Class
Geography
Hobby/Interest
Etc.
You always need to focus on the needs of the particular market that you are aiming at.
We then looked at the breakdown method that you need to take for the marketing of Books.
For there to be a successful segmentation, it needs to be Measurable/Identifiable, Accessible, Substantial and Meaningful. A Segmentation ensures you get a successful target.
These for terms are very important to making it very successful. You need to make sure that you define the product offering clearly, don’t try and analyse different objects/products. You need to only compare like with like. However, this a bit more difficult than it might be at first. We were also told that we should not re-invent the wheel.
Turnover - you are not after profit. We then looked at different Data Sources, which were known as Mosaic, Acorn, Mintel, GMDB, Keynote, Fame and Newspaper ProQuest. I think that these sites will become useful and I am going to look into these in my own time.
We looked at were we could find sources and reports or financial reports. Magazines, Newspapers, Company Websites, Retailer Websites and CSO Statistics. We were then shown how log in to ProQuest, where we will be able to find reports on a subject that you are looking at, as it will search and find reports that have been made about your chosen subject, from the guardian to the New York Times and Washington Post.
Part 2
We were told and advised to read how it works the magazine. We then looked at an article about Smartphones and Phablets. This was just to show us how he had downloaded n article from the website where you can find sources. Peter then showed us an article that he had found on the website known as Acorn. Our task is to going and have look at the sites and magazines that we had been shown and go out there and explore. Brad, British Rates and Data, which is a site that you can look at and find people who work in the Editorial Industry. I thought that this site maybe useful when looking for a placement or looking at the business as a whole.
The next thing that we did in this lecture was to always look outside the box and it doesn’t matter about size. We looked at different photographs and talked about the different career paths that we can do, from product to advertising to graphic or even film. If you can get people thinking and interested into your work, you can become quite successful. So you need to always think outside the box and being creative. You can’t use a public building to advertise your graphics. When looking at the designs, I found that some of the designs were very simple, but stood out very well. I think that when creating my own designs it can take in mind that my design can be simple to be effective and stand out to the people and target audience I am aiming at.
