Marketing Assignment Analysing Various Business Scenarios

Question

Task: In this marketing assignment, you are required to answer the following questions:

Question 1
As mentioned in this marketing assignment, social media networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and others are internet services that let you interact with others and share and create content through online communities.Social media present great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes to promote the brand through quick transfer of information about goods and services to potential customers and can help t0 obtain customer reviews about the services. These do not only help to attract new customers but also build stronger relationships with existing customers. Select any manufacturer of your choice and describe how they can use the Internet Social Networking site for qualitative research in order to attact consumers Use two of the social networking sites to illustrate your answer.

Answer this question in 400 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Question 2
Surveys are useful in describing the characteristics of a large population. No other research method can provide this broad capability, which ensures a more accurate sample to gather targeted information in which to draw conclusions and make important marketing decisions.Describe the different forms of interviews and provide examples where each type is a preferred option. Answer this question in 300 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Question 3
Test marketing is a strategy used by companies toasssess the customer views about their new product or a marketing campaign before a new product is launched in the market on a large scale. It is used across the business world to find out what consumers want and need in their everyday lives. Describe the steps that a shoe manufacturing company can follow in test marketing their product.

Answer this question in 300 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Question 4
There are no hard-and-fast rules in determining how to develop a questionnaire. Fortunately, research experience has yilded some guidelines that help prevent the most common mistakes. The language should be simple to allow for variations in educational level. There are six critical and common mistakes researchers make when determining wording of each questions. Describe each of them and provide an example question to each of the common mistake.

Answer this question in 500 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Question 5
When the data has been gathered, typically they have to be cleaned up to prepare then for analysis. Data cleaning and editing process is about the last chance that the researcher has before analysis the data. Describe the purpose of editing. Provide some examples of questions that might need editing.

Answer this question in 300 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Question 6
Choosing an appropriet statistical technique is very important in data management.
Describe with examples the following,
a) The distinctions between ‘Paramentric’ and ‘Nonparamentic’ statistics.
b) The three measurement scales
Answer this question in 300 words (support your answer with one academic reference and non-academic or industry reference).

Answer

ANSWER 1:
Social Media Marketing is the most powerful and influential tool for marketing in the current business age. There are numerous platforms that have gotten popular in recent years and under each segment, there are a couple of social media platforms that have gained special recognition. For example, for official business and talent skill acquisition and connection, LinkedIn is used. For connecting to people and socializing, Facebook is used. For sharing pictures and short videos, Instagram is used. For generating hashtag campaigns sharingcrisp opinions, Twitter is used. The companies use numerous approaches to use social media and digital marketing strategies to exhibit the right aptitude and better growth (Dwivedi, et al., 2021, p4(1)).

Billabong is an Australian company, who is a manufacturer and producer of clothing apparel, backpacks, and several other accessories associated with fashion and surfing. The company has led their development by working on the notion of desire possessed by consumers and currently operates globally. Billabong indulge quite enormously in social media marketing which they effectively used to create high brand awareness. They utilized their social media platforms to know their customers and eventually target them for better marketing and promotion.Currently, they have 2.1 million followers on Instagram and 221 K followers on Twitter. On the other hand, on Facebook, they have 4.2 million followers (Scholz and Winkler, 2020, p31(2)). One can easily comprehend from these stats that the company has an extensive presence on social media platforms. And they use them quite comprehensively for their promotion and engagement with consumers.

Instagram and Twitter have almost taken over the domain of social media marketing. Though Facebook still continsue to generate the largest amount of revenue for advertising and promotion of the brand. But large and intellectual companies rely more on Instagram and Twitter for their promotion and branding. The most important usage of Facebook that gives it the role of priority is the amount of data they collect which becomes useful for the companies. Facebook collects a huge amount of user data and stores them in approximately 20+ variables in their dataset. With the help of this collected information, they provide better marketing opportunities to the companies. So, Instagram and Facebook can go hand in hand for market research and advertisement. Both of the platforms can be used for collecting data and stats, which they would later analyse for making decisions in terms of content types they need to display for the promotion and branding of their products.

ANSWER 2:
Surveys and questionnaires are essentially the most informative way of getting broad opinions and understanding about people. The process of conducting surveys can be largely done through interviews and there are so many types of it with each of them having its specific use. They are listed below –

Informational Interview: The objective of this type of interview is to gather information regarding a particular objective. There are predefined sets of questions on which both qualitative and quantitative data can be collected. For example, in a newly established society, what kind of shops people want in a neighbourhood will show the choices for which they want quick availability.
Telephonic Interview: It is one way of getting information and answers from the people that can be done. In August 2002 in Germany, this method was used to gather the data and information regarding losses incurred on people due to floods(Thieken, et al., 2017, p95(2)).

Individual Interview: This is a detailed form of collecting information that is done to understand the situation and comprehend the knowledge on an extensive level. The notion of this kind of interview is to discuss the possibilities on any topic which allows dwelling more information. For example, a description of a crime scene. Focus Group Interview: This is done in a group of people to find out how peer opinion influences decisions. It is often seent that such kind of focus group interviews is best taken in person and recording as well. This allows a deep understanding of terms such as voice response, facial expressions, etc. (Basch, et al., 2020, p2(7)).

Behavioural Interview: This type of interview is based on the response of people on a behavioural basis. This has some set parameters and basically, reactions are recorded. For example, sentiment analysis before electionan campaign. Task – Oriented Interview: This type of interview requires completing a task or work and the results are evaluated for some kind of measure or evaluation of effectiveness. For example, calculaltion based tests for selecting people with numerical aptitude.

ANSWER 3:
Test marketing is essentially useful in new product development as it is already known that product development is a systematic process. The notion of test marketing is also to understand the risks of other variables and concerns of performance. Thus, an established goal of developing a new product is done with a process of test marketing for that product. Here the steps of test marketing are listed in consideration with a shoe manufacturing company.

Define Objective: The objective is associated with targeting and estimating the share and volume of the products by analysing the characteristics and demographic data of people who would require the product. For shoes, the objectives can be targeted to men, women, and kids while specifying for a sports domain. Further, the prediction for recurring requirements and the competitive index will be evaluated (Raut and Pawar, 2019, p2(3)).

Select Approach: The approach determines the method of carrying out the test for the new product. There are numerous ways to do so. They are traditional, electronic, controlled, and simulated test markets. For shoes, the option of a traditional and simulated test market will be most appropriate (Shafiee, 2021).
Develop Detail Test Procedures: The detailing should contain the structure and framework test to be carried out. This means that based on the implementation of business, the design of the test is done. For example, for regional brands, the markets can be dispersed into units and tests can be carried out. For shoes, a similar application is preferred as the distribution will be regional, so tests will be based on demographic and dispersed characteristics of the market.
Execute the Plan: The execution is to carry out the whole procedure of testing based on the objectives laid, a test developed, and characteristics oriented variable declared.

Analyze the Test Results: Finally, the collected information is qualitatively and quantitatively analysed for further improvement of the product or confirmation of the development of the product.

ANSWER 4:
Here are six common or critical mistakes that one should avoid while framing questions.
1. Leading the Respondent- This mistake happens when some terminologies are used that can cause inclination for the people while answering them. However, the issue is commonly seen in political polling, where a forced reaction is obtained by provoking an issue.

For example-
"How likely would you recommend our newly designed product to a friend"
The phrase "newly designed" provides information about the product, and it must be used in the product description and not in question.
2. Ambiguity in response choices- The error happens when the options for the questions are overlapping, incomplete, or not clear in understanding. Such type of situation creates ambiguity for the person and might confuse or frustrate the respondents (Leighton, Tang, and Guo, 2018). For example-

How long have you been working in the company
•1 - 4 years
•4 - 8 years
•8 - 12 years

The question and options in the above case are clear for general people, but it creates ambiguity for people under 4 or 8 years. They would be confused while selecting the options, and it would affect the data.
3. Vague Questions- The issue appears when the question asked allows the respondent to guess the purpose of the question. It commonly occurs in open-ends when researchers look for specific information, but people taking the survey take it differently. For example-

"How can we improve our website service"
The word "improve" in the question can be understood in multiple ways. It could be either connectivity, security, or feasibility. The question must be precise in terms of input required.
4. Combining different Questions- In this type of problem, the questions persuading many answers are clubbed together to single. While asking questions, the respondent must understand the question perfectly. Ensure that each question focuses on a particular attribute or behaviour. For example-

"Which website service do you consider fastest and most economical"
However, the goal is to know the fastest and the economical web service in the market. But it would be much better if the question divides into two parts as it would allow the respondent to elaborate easily.
5. A large number of open-ended questions- Open-end questions are revealing and give a detailed insight into the situation. However, including too many of them can reduce the interest of the respondent in the questions. It is often useful when response options do not provide accurate results. Using many of them can increase the dropout rates and decrease the consideration while answering, which reduces data quality (Muka, et al. 2020). For example-

"Tell me about your relationship with your superiors."
Asking more about personal details can make the respondent uncomfortable and also will reduce their interest.
6. Ignoring cultural differences- Asking questions from different regions relating to sensitive topics like income, religion, sexual orientation, personal care, and use of services can disturb the decorum of the questionnaire. The question options must contain a section to which respondents can answer comfortably. For example-

"What is your yearly income"
•Below $40,000
•$40,000 or more
There must be an option like "Prefer Not to Say" for the respondents who are not willing to disclose their income.

ANSWER 5:
When data is collected in huge amounts, then there is a possibility of various discrepancies and the presence of irregularities in the data. The data is collected using various attributes and the records are stored based on the parameters associated with those attributes. The prominent necessity of data cleaning is to maintain the quality of the dataset which will eventually help to conduct better analysis with the least error and more accurate as well as applicable results. Thus, data cleaning is done to enhance the quality of the dataset and remove the possibility of errors (Gudivada, Apon and Ding, 2017, p1(5)).

Statistical techniques and human intervention are crucial for data cleaning as the optimization of data is done by collecting and cleaning. Some analysts can manually clean the data by hovering over the data and removing blank values, changing the properties of data that is not able to display, change the values from text - based to numerical based, etc. There are numerous methods and ways of data cleaning. They can be user – centric that is manually or using tools based on machine learning. These tools have a predefined scripted framework for understanding the necessity of data cleaning and procedure to carry out. Even for a scripted language tool, the process of data cleaning requires the human to set the parameters and boundaries of analysis. The methods are used to identify the attributes for whicheither record isn’t available or there is the presence of other discrepancies such as having multiple unique values, having duplicate values, or having a single value. The notion is to identify the irregularity and remove or fill some categorical constructed depiction (Brownlee, 2020, p38(1)).

ANSWER 6:
a)The parametric statistics are primarily based on assumptions regarding the distribution of the data from which a small portion or sample was taken. On the other hand, nonparametric statistics is not based on any kind of assumptions. This means that data can be collected for sampling irrespective of any specific distribution. Each of the methods has its own specific outcome in their domain that is for measurement of effect due to modification, parametric assumptions are prominent and suitable. In the case of nonparametric analysis, the assumptions on the basis of functional form is avoided as the objective of statistics is to attain larger accuracy (Conzuelo-Rodriguez, et al. 2021, p1(1)). It is also established that nonparametric tests have validity for both normally distributed data and non – normally distributed data. But it is still not used because for normal distribution, the significance of the test is less concerned and the power of statistics is considered.

b)The three measurement scales are –
Ordinal: This scale is used to label or name the objects in a specific order. The primary notion of this scale is to signify the variables and do not establish any differentiation among them. The objective of this scale is to showcase non – mathematical attributes.

Nominal: This scale is used to name or label the objects without following any specific order. It is also known as a categorical scale and it does not involve quantitative order or value. Thus, it primarily helps in classifying the objects and it is the simplest scale (Kaur, Stoltzfus and Yellapu, 2018, p1(1)). Interval: This scale also names the objects with the specificity of interval. The aspect of the interval is to signify a set of variables with a familiar notion of objectivity. Another influential usage is that intervals are easy to remember.

References
Basch, J.M., Melchers, K.G., Kurz, A., Krieger, M. and Miller, L., 2020. It takes more than a good camera: Which factors contribute to differences between face-to-face interviews and videoconference interviews regarding performance ratings and interviewee perceptions. Journal of business and psychology, pp.1-20. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10869-020-09714-3.pdf Brownlee, J., 2020. Data preparation for machine learning: data cleaning, feature selection, and data transforms in Python. Machine Learning Mastery. https://books.google.co.in/bookshl=en&lr=&id=uAPuDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=need+of+data+cleaning &ots=Cl3IsceQsR&sig=8e_JFWljXaSU34Ad2gzolxKtIms&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=need %20of%20data%20cleaning&f=false

Conzuelo-Rodriguez, G., Bodnar, L.M., Brooks, M.M., Wahed, A., Kennedy, E.H., Schisterman, E. and Naimi, A.I., 2021. Performance evaluation of parametric and nonparametric methods when assessing effect measure modification. American Journal of Epidemiology. https://academic.oup.com/aje/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/aje/kwab220/6354677 Dwivedi, Y.K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D.L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A.S. and Kumar, V., 2021. Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, p.102168.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401220308082/ pdfftmd5=f2f866390e80734da8ef2e02a3c1404b&pid=1-s2.0-S0268401220308082-main.pdf

Gudivada, V., Apon, A. and Ding, J., 2017. Data quality considerations for big data and machine learning: Going beyond data cleaning and transformations. Marketing assignmentInternational Journal on Advances in Software, 10(1), pp.1-20. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Junhua-Ding/publication/318432363_Data_Quality_Considerations_for_Big_Data_and_ Machine_Learning_Going_Beyond_Data_Cleaning_and_Transformations/ links/59ded28b0f7e9bcfab244bdfData-Quality-Considerations-for-Big-Data-and-Machine-Learning-Going-Beyond-Data-Cleaning-and-Transformations.pdf

Kaur, P., Stoltzfus, J. and Yellapu, V., 2018. Descriptive statistics. International Journal of Academic Medicine, 4(1), p.60. https://www.ijam-web.org/article.aspissn=2455-5568;year=2018;volume=4;issue=1;spage=60;epage=63;aulast=Kaur Leighton, J.P., Tang, W. and Guo, Q., 2018. Undergraduate students’ attitudes towards mistakes in learning and academic achievement. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(4), pp.612-628. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02602938.2017.1387230 Muka, T., Glisic, M., Milic, J., Verhoog, S., Bohlius, J., Bramer, W., Chowdhury, R. and Franco, O.H., 2020. A 24-step guide on how to design, conduct, and successfully publish a systematic review and meta-analysis in medical research. European journal of epidemiology, 35(1), pp.49-60. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10654-019-00576-5 Raut, U.R. and Pawar, P.A., An Implication of Test Marketing: A Promotion Perspective. http://ijsrcsams.com/images/stories/Past_Issue_Docs/ijsrcsamsv8i1p115.pdf

Scholz, S. and Winkler, C., HOW TO ENGAGE FOLLOWERS: CLASSIFYING FASHION BRANDS ACCORDING TO THEIR INSTAGRAM PROFILES, POSTS AND COMMENTS. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefanie-Scholz-2/publication/347605386_How_to_Engage_Followers_Classifying_Fashion_Brands_According_to _Their_Instagram_Profiles_Posts_and_Comments/links/603ca9994585158939d9953e/ How-to-Engage-Followers-Classifying-Fashion-Brands-According-to-Their-Instagram-Profiles-Posts-and-Comments.pdf Shafiee, M.M., 2021. Knowledge-based marketing and competitive advantage: developing new scales using mixed method approach. Journal of Modelling in Management. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JM2-05-2020-0134/full/htmlutm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss_journalLatest

Thieken, A.H., Kreibich, H., Müller, M. and Lamond, J., 2017. Data collection for a better understanding of what causes flood damage–experiences with telephone surveys. Flood damage survey and assessment: new insights from research and practice, pp.95-106. https://books.google.co.in/bookshl=en&lr=&id=9m0tDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA95&dq=interviews+surveys+ by+companies&ots=Hx2sML6o8-&sig=IoNquyemzVPLJj-AUlsMz-KMTbQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=interviews%20surveys%20by%20companies&f=false