Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank

Marketing research is vital to part of organizational effectiveness in today's highly competitive marketplace. But many managers in small businesses with limited budgets consider it out of reach. In Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank, Alan Andreasen shows readers how to get the information they need to make smart, strategic decisions without spending a lot of money. The tools and techniques presented will help managers gain an in-depth understanding of their target market, competitors, and environment without stretching the organization's budget. Foreword (William A. Smith).

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

The Author.

Part One: Planning a Low-Cost Research Program.

1. Myths of Marketing Research.

2. Planning a Research Program.

3. Evaluating Individual Research Projects.

4. Backward Marketing Research.

Part Two: Alternative Low-Cost Research Techniques.

5. Using Available Data.

6. Systematic Observation.

7. Low-Cost Experimentation.

8. Low-Cost Survey Designs.

Part Three: Making Low-Cost Research Good Research.

9. Producing Valid Data.

10. All the Statistics You Need to Know (Initially).

Part Four: Organizing Low-Cost Research.

11. Organization and Implementation on a Shoestring.

Notes.

Recommended Reading.

Index. Alan R. Andreasen is professor of marketing at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and executive director of the Social Marketing Institute. He is a past president of the Association for Consumer Research. Andreasen is the author or editor of numerous books, including Ethics and Social Marketing (2001), Strategic Marketing in Nonprofit Organizations (6th ed. with P. Kotler, 2003), and Marketing Social Change (Jossey-Bass, 1995). Marketing research is vital to part of organizational effectiveness in today's highly competitive marketplace. But many managers in small businesses with limited budgets consider it out of reach. In Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank, Alan Andreasen shows readers how to get the information they need to make smart, strategic decisions without spending a lot of money. The tools and techniques presented will help managers gain an in-depth understanding of their target market, competitors, and environment without stretching the organization's budget.

Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank shows that research need not be expensive, overly complex, or involve complicted statistics to be extremely helpful to managers in a wide range of organizations. Andreasen, an expert marketer with a proven track record, demystifies marketing research in an accessible, readable, and easy-to-use way sweeping away the misconceptions that keep managers from doing marketing research and motivating them to get started. He offers a basic approach that assures that any research done is actually needed and useful to the manager and describes a variety of low-cost research techniques that can provide management with crucial market insights and improve decision making. Andreasen offers insights on how to use the Web, conduct low-cost surveys and focus groups, make astute observations of customers and competitors, use simple experiments to test tactics and strategies, create internal records that yield maximum creative insight, and more. Renowned marketing expert Alan Andreasen offers an accessible, easy-to-use guide for those who want to use marketing research to make their organizations more effective but think they can't afford it. Marketing Research That Won't Break the Bank provides sound, practical advice on how to make the most of a small budget-- such as the kind small businesses and nonprofits so often face-- and make marketing research a viable option. It offers managers the hands-on, simple tools to conduct quality marketing research and get the information they need without spending a lot of money. Andreasen dispels the myths and misconceptions that keep managers from getting started and describes in a systematic fashion a wide variety of research techniques that are low cost but can provide crucial information and improve decision making and organizational effectiveness.
This easy-to-understand guide shows managers how to
* Plan a research program
* Evaluate individual research projects
* Design low-cost surveys
* Produce valid data
* Understand statistics
* Organize and implement on a shoestring
* And much, much more "Generating consumer insights is a critical part of what we do, yet we often must do so on a limited budget. Dr. Andreasen's book shows clearly how this challenge can be overcome." —Edward Maibach, Worldwide Director of Social Marketing, Porter Novelli

"Andreasen has craftily combined relevant concepts and theory with helpful story like examples--an approach that he has shown in his previous books provides for very effective learning. Dig in! You will find this book another very helpful tool for your marketing management tool kit." —Tom Reis, program director, W. K. Kellogg Foundation