MARKET RESEARCH ......MY PERSPECTIVE(part one)

welll the name itself is self explanatory...but like to share something which i learnt about this subject in these few months .... from my early days as a management student i developed a likeness to this subject.... i was a neophyte in the world of marketing ...and marketing seemed to be little vague to me but its not that vague it seems thanks to stastistics , marketing is redefined and has given the subject all its flesh and blood ...lets start with what marketing .is ..Defn of marketing is " (anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer needs profitably), ...then whats marketing research ....wellll for a layman its analysis of datas and understanding the market based on consumer behaviour and preferences , but to me marketing research is the essence of marketing without which i think the foundation of marketing lies weak..i sometimes wonder why people often show disregards to this subject in terms of prospects and challenege....i find the subject intriguing ..imagine you are able to formulate plans and analyse people's preferences...i was astounded when i got to know that companies postioning statements are often based on brand analsyis done by research techniques ...bajaj pulsar's tag line "definitely male " was due to a concept of levels of assosciation in product preference made possible due to research analysis ...market research helps in product developement , segmenting the target profile , postiioning your product so that it occupies a consumers mind space ...various factors involved in the buying process , behaviour , choice and preference...marketing research starts from the exploratory research knowing about the organisation , its a form of internal survey which helps to know about business strength , financial willingness and other factors related to the business ....here we take facors for the final analysis...then we go for the external survey by the help of a questionnaire....though people find it boring i find it challenging imagine setting questions probing about a persons likes , wants , desires ..understanding the mindset of your respondent , probing into his mind and getting the hidden part ...in the world of marketing everyones try to outsmart each other....companies who understand the needs will fill in the gaps succesfully and with a age where the average product life cycle is decreasing market research will help in repositioning a product or extending the product line or category so that the product outlives its life cycle.