Aricle about Marketing Information System

We all know that no marketing activity can be carried out in isolation, know when we say it doesn't work in isolation that means there are various forces could be external or internal, controllable or uncontrollable which are working on It. Thus to know which forces are acting on It and Its Impact the marketer needs to gathering the data through Its own resources which in terms of marketing we can say he is trying to gather the market information or form a marketing information system.

This collection of information is a continuous process that gathers data from a variety of sources synthesizes it and sends it to those responsible for meeting the market places needs. The effectiveness of marketing decision Is proved If It has a strong Information system offering the firm Competitive advantage. Marketing Information should not be approached In an infrequent manner. If research is done this way, a firm could face these risks: 1. Opportunities may be missed.

2. There may be a lack of awareness of environmental changes and competitors' actions. 3. Data collection may be difficult to analyze over several time periods. .

Marketing plans and decisions may not be properly reviewed. 5. Data collection may be disjointed. 6. Previous studies may not be stored In an easy to use format. 7.

Time lags may result if a new study is required. 8. Actions may be reactionary rather than anticipatory. The total information needs of the marketing department can be specified and satisfied via a marketing intelligence network, which contains three components. 1 .

Continuous monitoring Is the procedure by which the changing environment is regularly viewed. 2. Marketing research Is used to obtain Information on particular marketing Issues. 3.Data warehousing Involves the retention of all types of relevant company records, as well as the information collected through continuous monitoring and marketing research that is kept by the organization.

Depending on a firm's resources and the complexity of its needs, a marketing intelligence network may or may not be fully computerized. The ingredients for a good MIS are consistency, completeness, and orderliness. Marketing plans should be Implemented on the basis of Information obtained from the Intelligence network. An Marketing Information System offers many advantages: 1. Organized data collection. 2.

A broad perspective. 3. The storage of important data. 4.

An avoidance of crises. 5. Coordinated marketing plans. Kept over several time periods.

8. The ability to do a cost-benefit analysis. The disadvantages of a Marketing information system are high initial time and labor costs and the complexity of setting up an information system. Marketers often complain that they lack enough marketing information or the right kind, or have too much of the wrong kind.

The solution is an effective marketing information system. The information needed by marketing managers comes from three main sources: 1) Internal company information - E. . Sales, orders, customer profiles, stocks, customer service reports etc 2) Marketing intelligence - This can be information gathered from any sources, including suppliers, customers, and distributors. Marketing intelligence is a catchall term to include all the everyday information about developments in the market that helps a business prepare and adjust its marketing plans. It is possible to buy intelligence information from outside suppliers (e.

G. 'DC, ORG, MAR) who set up data gathering systems to support commercial intelligence products that can be profitably sold to all players in a market. 3) Market research - Management cannot always wait for information to arrive in bits and pieces from internal sources. Also, sources of market intelligence cannot always be relied upon to provide relevant or up-to-date information (particularly for smaller or niche market segments).

In such circumstances, businesses often need to undertake specific studies to support their marketing strategy - this is market research. Components of a marketing information system A marketing information system (MIS) is intended to bring together disparate items of data into a coherent body of information.An MIS is, as will shortly be seen, more than raw data or information suitable for the purposes of decision making. An MIS also provides methods for interpreting the information the MIS provides. Moreover, as Jostler's definition says, an MIS is more than a system of data collection or a set of information technologies: "A marketing information system is a continuing and interacting structure of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers to improve their marketing planning, implementation, and control".

The explanation of this model of an MIS begins with a description of each of its four main constituent parts: the internal reporting systems, marketing research system, marketing intelligence system and marketing models. It is suggested that whilst the MIS varies in its degree of sophistication - with many in the industrialized countries being computerized and few in the developing countries being so - a fully fledged MIS should have these components, the methods (and technologies) of collection, storing, retrieving and processing data notwithstanding.Internal reporting systems: All firms generate data as part of the general process of carrying out their business. The generation, recording, storage and retrieval of such data is referred as the 'internal accounting system of the firm'. The term tends to evoke thoughts of financial and cost accounting information.

Actually, it refers to all information received and generated by the firm. Perhaps a better name for this system would be comes in many forms. For example, purchase orders are received by the marketing firm from customers. Delivery notes are generated by the firm, to be signed by the customer on delivery.The time in between the dates on the two documents gives the total order processing time.

This can be monitored to make sure pre determined service delivery levels are being adhered to. When defective goods are returned to the marketing firm for whatever reason, a Goods Return Slip is usually generated. Again, this document can be used to monitor quality performance of either internally manufactured goods or goods bought in from other suppliers. Total numbers of goods returned or total number of complaints about goods as a percentage of goods sold provides a measurable standard of performance.Sales force expenses as a percentage of sales, number of telephone enquiries converted into sales, orders for reticular products that might indicate seasonal or cyclical demand, are a few of the uses to which internally generated and internally received data can be put for marketing planning, monitoring and control purposes. This includes information on (I) Order to payment cycle and (it) sales information cyst ms.

* Order to Payments Cycle - has a system which records, the timing and size of orders placed by consumers, the payment cycle followed by consumers and the time taken to fulfill the orders, in the shortest possible time.Customers place order through sales people and companies dispatch the goods and receive aments directly or through bank. A proper record system pertaining to order - to - payment cycle management helps mangers to decide on production and dispatch schedule, inventory and accounts receivable schedule and also logistics and distribution management schedules. * Sales Information System - record everything in the sales Department, starting from Sales Call Reports to prospects history to Sales territory and quota information for better sales planning and forecasting purpose.

Marketing intelligence systems: This is a set of procedures and resources used by managers to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. This system supplies 'happenings' data unlike Internal Records System which supplies 'results' data. Marketing managers collect data from published sources like books, magazines and Journals; by talking to customers, intermediaries and sales personnel. Some companies appoint specialists to gather consumer and competitor information, who does mystery shopping to monitor the performance of their own or competitor's dealers.Competitor information can also be obtained by buying their reduce, attending their press conferences, trade shows and reading their annual reports.

Companies purchase commercial information from outside suppliers and market research agencies like EMIR, ORG - MAR to obtain competitive data on their sales, advertising expenditures etc. , besides their own. Marketing research systems: This is the final input to the marketing information system. The marketing research system makes use of both secondary data (data that are already in existence) and primary data (data collected for a specific piece of research for the first time).This is the third component of MIS. Marketing Research provides information to marketing manager when he/she encounters marketing problems.

This may involve conducting Marketing Research survey by collecting or a it can hire services of an external marketing research agency. The Analytical Marketing System: Also known as Marketing Decision Support systems (MEDS), this is a coordinate collection of data, systems, tools and techniques with supporting software and hardware by which an organization gathers and interprets relevant information from business and environment and turns it into a basis for marketing action.All the data which is generated through the other three systems described above are stored in a data base. The storage and retrieval capability of decision support system allows the collection and use of a wide variety of data throughout the company. Senior managers can access the data base and continually and monitor sales, markets, performance of the sales people and other marketing systems as well.

Marketing Research Procedure Every marketing research problem is different requiring a special approach or emphasis.Still there is a sequence of steps, called the research process which can be allowed in all the marketing research studies and projects. Each step in this research process in independent but it is closely related to other steps, because the result of the preceding step is the basis for the succeeding step. Step 1 - Problem and Research Objectives: It is said that 'a problem well - defined is a problem half - solved'.

A careful and precise definition of the marketing problem will lead to useful and relevant results which can solve the marketing problem.Each research project should have one or more objectives which form the broad frame thin which research has to be conducted. It is very important to formulate the problem properly as being the first step in the process; any error in this can mislead the entire study towards incorrect and erroneous results. Step 2 - Preliminary Investigation and Situation Analysis: Step 3 - Develop the Research Plan and Design: There are two types of data; (1) Primary data (2) Secondary Data. * Primary Data - are freshly gathered for a specific purpose or a specific research project.