Introduction
Market planning is a very important aspect in marketing as it impacts on the success of a business. As a result, a research planner role in marketing serves to direct the success of a business. Every research planner must possess adequate skills to conduct market research. A planner must work alongside his or her team members to develop successful strategies in all relevant departments or units in a marketing agency. This essay is a literature review on the role of a research planner.
Literature Review
Assimilation of Marketing Research
The role of a research planner should integrate market research into the business proposal (Greenberg, Goldstucker, & Bellenger 1977). According to a study conducted by Small and Rosenberg, a research planner integrates research from market research tools such as surveys, focus groups and opinion polls, to guide the decision-making process (1975). The results of the study carried out by Small and Rosenberg, confirmed that market research is applied to improve the status of products in the market as well as in expand the marketing creative work (1975). A study carried out by Lee and BradLow showed that, online consumer reviews have become very effective in market research and planning (2011). In this study, the correspondence analysis concept was acknowledged as a preferred tool that research planners could incorporate in marketing (Lee & BradLow 2011).
The results of a study carried out by Krasnikov and Jayachandran, which attempted to investigate the comparative effects of marketing research as well as development, along with operations capacities on business performance showed that, marketing abilities have a stronger influence on business operations than research and development does (Krasnikov & Jayachandran 2008). Therefore, the role of a research planner should be to enhance the marketing capacity of a business by incorporating market research successfully.
Advertising Plan Improvement
The role of research planners in marketing is to integrate marketing research with brand positioning, to help improve the overall marketing strategy (Fill 2002). The results of a study carried out to assess buyer’s behaviour for Liquid Crystal Display television, showed that consumer consider factors such as cost, value and low emission before buying Liquid Crystal Display televisions (Chiu, Chen, Tzeng, & Shyu 2006). As a result, the role of a research planner is to work in partnership with the marketing and the creative team, to design a product that consumers endorse. Once consumers endorse a marketing strategy for a product, the role of a planner should be to work with other teams to guarantee that their hard work is aligned to the marketing plan that the consumers have approved. Marketing research planners should in addition assist in consumer segmentation. A case study carried out by Kima, Jung, Suh, and Hwang showed that, organisations and businesses that encouraged consumer segmentation based on their principles, enjoyed consumer loyalty and valuable consumer relations (2006).
Tactical Creative Participation in Marketing
Market research planners should work closely with other marketing executives such as the creative directors, who are designated to a marketing agency account, to guarantee that the marketing concepts as well as proposals that the production team innovate are aligned to the client’s expectations. According to a study carried out by Michell (1984), both customers and marketing agencies consider originality as a broad idea that is held strongly in the perspective of buyer-agency relationship. One interpretation of the observation in the Michell (1984) study is that, a marketing research planner is required to express dissatisfaction in a suggestion if the suggestion is not part of the plan. In such a case, a research planner ought to explain the rationale behind the disapproval and at the same time offer direction on how the suggestion may be improved or changed, to meet the planned goals. This rationale of the role of a planner as illustrated by Michell is also supported by another study conducted by Morrison (2003), which showed that, research planners prefer to be evaluated based on their criticism of the creative team.
Media Innovation Strategy in Marketing
An important role of a research planner entails being up-to-date with the latest marketing technologies. A study carried out by Micu, et al., (2011) to predict the nature of marketing research in the year 2021 found out that, research planners in the marketing discipline will require to adapt continuously in marketing research, particularly because the quantity of information accessible to planners and researchers is anticipated to increase exponentially. Marketing research planners need to include retailing stores, business sites and online marketing as part of their media innovation strategy. Research carried out by Moran and Gossieaux 2010; Eun and Yongjun 2011; Geho, Smith, and Lewis, 2010 showed that, social websites such as Facebook and Twitter are excellent methods for marketing.
Conclusion
The role of a research planner should be to integrate market research results into the business proposal. Market research planners should work closely with other marketing executives to guarantee market research success, and their input should be used to offer recommendation for the final marketing strategy.
References
Chiu, Y-J, Chen, H-C, Tzeng, G-H, & Shyu, JZ 2006, ‘Marketing strategy based on customer behaviour for the LCD-TV’, International Journal of Management and Decision Making , vol.7, no. 2-3, pp. 143-165.
Eun, SK, & Yongjun, S 2011, ‘Follow Me! Global Marketers’ Twitter Use’, Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 4-16.
Fill, C 2002, Marketing communications: contexts, strategies and applications, Financial Times, Prentice Hall, Harlow [u.a.].
Geho, PR, Smith, S, & Lewis, SD 2010, ‘Is Twitter A Viable Commercial Use Platform For Small Businesses? An Empirical Study Targeting Two Audiences In The Small Business Community’, Entrepreneurial Executive, vol. 15, pp. 73-85.
Greenberg, BA, Goldstucker, JL, & Bellenger, DN 1977, ‘What Techniques are Used by Marketing Researchers in Business?’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 62-68.
Kima, S-Y, Jung, T-S, Suh, E-H, & Hwang, H-S 2006, ‘Customer segmentation and strategy development based on customer lifetime value: A case study’, Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 101-107.
Krasnikov, A, & Jayachandran, S 2008, ‘The Relative Impact of Marketing, Research-and-Development, and Operations Capabilities on Firm Performance’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 1-11.
Lee, TY, & BradLow, ET 2011, ‘Automated Marketing Research Using Online Customer Reviews’, Journal of Marketing Research , vol. 48, no. 5, pp. 881-894.
Michell, PC (1984, ‘Accord And Discord In Agency-Client Perceptions Of Creativity’, Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 9-16.
Micu, CA, Dedeker, K, Lewis, I, Moran, R, Netzer, O, Plummer, J, et al. 2011, ‘Guest Editorial: The Shape of Marketing Research in 2021’, Journal of Advertising Research , vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 213-221.
Moran, E, & Gossieaux, F 2010, ‘Marketing in a Hyper-Social World’, Journal of Advertising Research , vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 232-239.
Morrison, MA 2003, ‘Account Planners’ Views On How Their Work Is And Should Be Evaluated’, Journal of Advertising, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 7-16.
Small, RJ, & Rosenberg, LJ 1975, ‘The Marketing Researcher as a Decision Maker: Myth or Reality?’, Journal of Marketing, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 2-7.