The importance of market research

Introduction

Given workbook is designed for students who plan to take a “Public Relation and Advertising” course entirely in English. The principal aim of “PR and Advertising” is to teach students to cope with input texts, i.e., listening and reading in the discipline. However, students will also be expected to produce output texts in speech and writing throughout the course.

The syllabus considers such key concept as: Mix Marketing, SWOT Analysis, The AIDA Formula , as well as concentrates on key vocabulary for the discipline and on words and phrases commonly used in academic English. It also focuses on the skills required to take part in seminars and tutorials and to produce essay assignments.

Given workbook has 6 units, each of them is based on a different aspect of public relations and advertising. Each unit contains: vocabulary for the discipline; vocabulary skills such as word-building; reading and skills development. In addition, in reading units, students are introduced to a writing assignment.

Skills developmentExamples of specific skills practiced in the workbook include:

Reading

· using research questing to focus on relevant information

· recognizing the lecture’s stance and level of confidence

Speaking

· asking for clarifications-formulating questions

· speaking from notes

· summarizing

Writing

· writing notes

· paraphrasing

· reporting findings from other sources-avoiding plagiarism

· compiling a bibliography/reference list

Given workbook can be interesting and useful for all students willing to study English for Specific Purposes.

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Unit 1. Market Research 4

Unit 2. Unique Selling Proposition 10

Unit 3. Branding 16

Unit 4. AIDA 28

Unit 5. Marketing MIX 34

Unit 6. SWOT Analysis 43

Bibliography 53

UNIT 1

Market Research

Read the text.

The importance of market research

How well do you know your customers? What motivates them to purchase your products or services? What types of advertising catch their attention? Do you know what types of products to manufacture that will fit their needs? Good market research will help you find the answers to all your questions.

Market research basically involves collecting customer information, organizing it, and basing company decisions upon it. When you want to create a new product, market research will be the way to tell you if the product will become successful or if you need to go another direction. Market research can help you get to know your customers better and it can build a connection between the two of you.

There are 2 main elements to good market research, primary research and secondary research. Primary research is when you collect all the information direct from your target audience. Usually you can collect this data through customer surveys, phone calls, direct mail pieces, and actual customer interaction. Companies that do not have the time to collect the information on their own usually use secondary research. Secondary research is when you hire an outside company to collect all the information about your customers for you. They can provide you with more information than you can usually find on your own.

Create a list of all the things you need to know and understand about your customers before you conduct market research. It won't do you any good to conduct market research if you don't know what you are looking for. If you want to expand your company, use market research as a way to help you find a new location. How about designing a new product? Market research can help you with this as well. Before you launch a new product, you should always conduct market research to make sure your company even has an audience to market to.

If you are in a niche market, it helps to conduct market research so you can figure out just how big your target audience is. This will help you as you prepare to grow your company because you have the option of expanding your services to increase your target audience.

Collecting of the data can be done through online or direct mail surveys, personal phone calls, or conferences where you invite a portion of your customers. You can either choose to pay them for their time or you can offer them free products or services.

After you complete the market research, you have the hard task of organizing all the data. The data must be broken into categories that address your questions. After you have it all organized, you can start to analyze it and use it to create your marketing strategy.

Market research can also help you determine what types of marketing methods you should use. If your customers tend to respond to print media over online media, focus more money on printing brochures and flyers. If they respond to pay-per-click marketing, consider adding more keywords and then add other types of online marketing like email newsletters.

If you can invest some time and money into market research your company will become more successful than it was before. This is because you know more about your customers and their wants and needs. It can help you create better products, promote them at the right time, price them effectively, and establish life-long relationships with your customers.

Answer the questions:

1. What is market research?

2. Why is it necessary to conduct market research?

3. How many types of market research are there?

4. What does a business owner have to do before conducting market research?

5. How can the data for market research be collected?

Look at the text and replace the underlined words with the words from the box below:

2. Complete the text with appropriate words:

What is Market Research?

Market research can be ________as the process of gathering recording and analyzing the ________related to certain products and services. This need for market research is derived from the concept that only by understanding the _______and wants of the target ________and by effectively meeting them, you will be able to achieve the organizational goals and surpass the competition in the specific market. Thus, arises the need to ________data about the________, competitors, and other forces in the marketplace. This data in turn is collected and analyzed to make relevant marketing decisions, be it in relation to ________a business, developing a product, creating a brand or coming up with an advertising campaign.

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1115