Gb520 Strategic Hr Management Unit 4

Unit 4 Assignment

Learning from the Experts-The Importance of Market Research

Robert Bermudez

Kaplan University

GB500 – Professor Moerschell

Market research is the studying of consumer behavior or organizations. Its primary purpose is to connect the consumer with a product. This involves evaluating the current market already being done for that product or similar products that are already being created by another organization. This will help the organization to determine the acceptance of a particular product or service. Market research allows organizations to learn more about past, current and potential customers, including their specific likes and dislikes.

Based on market research data, businesses can develop a “target audience.” A target audience is a specific group of customers that has distinct need or desire for a product or service. Market research is used to determine how often the target audience will buy a particular item, how much they are willing to pay for it, and their overall satisfaction with it. By analyzing market research information, manufacturers and service providers learn where to focus their resources most effectively.

Market research can be costly and time consuming as a result many businesses have begun to turn to social media as a cost cutting measure. The keys to utilizing social media for market research are to understand the benefits and creating a proper research plan. In most cases, utilizing social media for market research is simply a matter of investing time. Free tools exist for nearly every social media platform to help gather information and use it to derive useful information. When compared to focus panels, discussion groups, studies and surveys, the cost difference is staggering. With social media, research can be conducted in a matter of minutes or hours. This makes it possible to use market research to follow increasingly specific aspects of marketing efforts. From product launches to follow-up marketing, each...