Online Library > Site Links > Market Research for
Beginners
How to
Get the Market Research Information You Really Need
Market Research has some specialized terms
that you must know the meaning of to be able to understand the
research reports. It is also fundamental for management to know
the jargon to be considered knowledgeable in certain sectors such
as advertising, research, and computers. Here is a short
checklist of the basic terms that you should be familiar
with.
Attitude Statements
A psychological concept designed to evaluate and investigate
values, beliefs and motives for different forms of behavior.
Developing statements to describe your company, its products and
services compared with those of your competitors provides the
means of creating a control or standard. Consumers can be asked
wheter they agree or disagree with the attitudes and following
the changes in time.
research can help to increase company sales and should be
integrated into the management planning strategy for sales and
marketing. develope the Market in the United States represents
more than $700 billion and a population growing by an estimated
1.7 million annually. Ad spending targeting Hispanics is expected
to top $3.6 billion by 2007. Hispanic women, who often function
as head of their households, make many of the purchasing
decisions for their families.
An efficient strategy for marketing to them goes beyond merely
speaking Spanish, but recognizing the diverse cultures Hispanic
women come from, says Myrna Sonora, marketing director with the
Michaels/Wilder Group based in Peoria, Ariz. Sonora joined the
agency, which has a strong focus on multicultural marketing,
after spending 20 years at Univision, the dominant
Spanish-language TV network.
"It seems like there's a waking-up to this
reality," Sonora says, noting that U.S. companies no longer doubt
the viability of the Hispanic market. "Smart companies are more
focused on going beyond all the hype and becoming more savvy
about the Hispanic market in general," she says. "It's not a
homogenous mix. &there are different cultures and regional
language differences. [Hispanics] come from different countries
and they vary from recent arrivals to established
generations."
Marketers, Sonora says, need to understand
a few things about Hispanic women. The first, she says, is that
they are price-conscious, but not to the exclusion of all else.
"Buying the best quality is somehow identified as a way to take
care of your family," Sonora says. "Hispanic women are very
brand-loyal; they stick to what they like and they're not easily
swayed by price point." Brand loyalty, though, can be overcome if
there's a product that represents a real improvement or
technological advantage, she says. "It's seen as a progressive
thing to do, trying something new."
The Vendors Television has been the media
of choice for the Hispanic market for years, accounting for 64
percent of ad spending in 2004, but other media are starting to
make inroads as the market continues to grow. As the number of
Hispanic households with incomes over $100,000 surges, so too do
the number of computers found in those homes. Marketers that are
online via Spanish-language portals have an entry into these
households.
AOL Latino was the No. 1 Spanish-language
destination online in February with 1.6 million unique visitors,
according comScore Media Metrix. AOL Latino has cultivated close
relationships with advertisers in its "Estilo de Vida"
(Lifestyle) section, which is one of the most highly sought-after
areas on the service. Notably, the section has been home to
successful campaigns by General Motors and Ford Motor Co.
brands.
"We feel that the audience in this channel
which is particularly women, is not often addressed this directly
by the automakers," says AOL spokeswoman Lori Dolginoff. The
travel category has also performed well - advertisers include
Spirit Airlines and Interacontinental Hotels. The home and
kitchen sections have outperformed some of the other areas on
Latino, she says.
Yahoo! targets Hispanics in the United
States primarily through Yahoo! En Español, although it also
sees traffic from U.S. Hispanics on its other sites - Yahoo!
Argentina, Mexico, and Spain. "We can slice-and-dice traffic to
all four individually or sell [in the] aggregate when we can,"
says Liz Sarachek, executive director of sales at Yahoo! En
Español. Sarachek points to a 10 percent annual increase in
Hispanics online as a sure sign that the Web is taking share from
other media. Offering the market a choice in Web sites is key,
she says, since not all Hispanics want everything in
Spanish.
"Out of 13.8 million Hispanics, English is
preferred by 7.6 million, and another 3.9 million are bilingual,"
Sarachek says. "Language really comes into play, and you have to
be cognizant of that when you're planning a marketing
campaign."
Sarachek says Yahoo! portals offer a great
deal of entertainment content for Hispanic women like Launch En
Español, a dedicated music site. "We're seeing Hispanics
doing a lot of downloading and streaming of music and ring tones
online," she says. "A lot of these households now have broadband;
they're very tech-savvy. I think it's an undervalued market," she
adds.
The Players Sonora and Sarachek both say
that, while things have improved, getting advertisers to
rearrange their marketing plans to include a Hispanic component
is still a challenge.
"A lot of it right now is still educating
and evangelizing," Sarachek says. "It's an exciting time, the
buzz is out there and we're getting more Hispanic requests than
ever."
Sonora points to companies like Avon and
Sears as two that have done a good job awakening to the Hispanic
market reality particularly where women are concerned. "Sears has
turned the corner pretty much," she says, alluding to the fact
that the retailer runs Hispanic-targeted advertising, has
revamped the look of its stores and merchandise. Last fall, Sears
announced that nearly 100 of its stores would be revamped to
appeal more to "multicultural" shoppers. That included the
addition of new apparel brands with more crossover appeal, as
well as dedicated signage in markets known to have larger
Hispanic populations.
Sonora says the signage issue is a big
deal; she expects to see more bilingual point-of-purchase
displays in the future. "Hispanic families shop as a unit," she
says. "You have to make sure grandmother can read [the signage]
as well as the teen daughter."
But quickie translations may not always cut
it, she cautions.
"Retailers have to take the tiny bit of
extra effort to use regional terms and know cultural
differences," Sonora says, using the example of the word "truck."
West of the Mississippi, it's troca; east of the Mississippi it's
camion. Marketers overlook such linguistic subtleties at their
own peril and risk alienating shoppers if they're not sensitive
to these realities.
Outlook Yahoo!'s Sarachek projects anywhere
from 25 percent to 50 percent growth in ad spending by marketers
targeting the diverse Hispanic marketplace; she estimates 10
percent to 20 percent annual growth for Hispanics
online.
Sonora expects to see more companies "doing
their homework" to appeal to Hispanics and Hispanic women, in
particular. "Some of it, like what Sears is doing, is as simple
as the signage and using brighter colors and trendier fashions to
appeal to a diverse population," she says, adding that such overt
displays can inform the consumer about a broader corporate
mandate."
Copyright ©
www.allaboutmarketresearch.com
Related Articles:
The End of the Mass
Market
