Market research fits into the functionality and needs of each institutional department in the following ways: College and university libraries can benefit greatly by providing faculty, research departments and students with a database of diverse market research content. Students will have access to the same real-world business intelligence that professionals use on a daily basis, which allow them to produce higher-quality research projects. These students will be better prepared to enter the workforce after gaining a realistic and accurate insight into the world of market research. Business school classes also incorporate market research, and design assignments to reflect some of the research-based professional problems that students will encounter in business.  Students will begin to develop critical research skills, analytical thinking, and strategic planning. Utilizing a variety of published reports allows you to gain a comprehensive view based on numerous perspectives. Maintaining a database of diverse content across numerous industries is also beneficial for academic institutions.Read more at: 

According to McKinsey reports the research & consulting industry is at the bottom of the list in comparison with other industries when it comes to economic mobility. Previously it took well over a decade for companies to realize that they no longer needed to build their factories near water, still considering water to be their prime source of power but now such similar slow response cannot be afforded with the speed of environmental change being far higher today than at the time electricity was invented.  The 4 possible strategic directions that the industry would take over the next years, adjusting itself to the conditions of today’s economy are: First, Lifting on DIY tools, driven by speed and tech infrastructure. Second, Making sense from ever bigger data, driven by size and tech infrastructure. Third bypass the rational brain, driven by methodology. Fourth tap into consumer collaboration, driven by trust, diversity, innovation and creativity. Read more at: 

Research is a costly and time-taking process. Many businesses use social media as a cost effective and depth-tool to learn the insights about the market, consumer behavior, brand appearance, and other market research. One has to understand the benefits and create a proper research plan to use Social media. To use Social media one has to understand the benefits and create a proper research plan. The ways to implement and use social media in market research methods are: Firstly, Track Trends with Social Media for Real-Time Insights. Secondly, Learn the Language of Your Audience for Improved Marketing Appeal. Thirdly, Use the Real-Time Aspects of Social Media for Quick Research. Fourthly, use Social Media to Broaden the Scope of Your Market Research. Fifthly, Discover Unnoticed Trends and Insights by Engaging Instead of Leading. Sixth, Harness Social Media Research for Improved Cost Efficiency. Read more at: 

The fastest growing market for smartphone and tablet are used for gaming purposes more than desktops and gaming consoles. Gaming through social networking sites is also increasing. Reportedly the Asia Pacific region has the highest number of gamer in the world. Social gaming market witnessed high growth rates in Japan than mobile games. In China gaming users are also increasing remarkably every year. In India, mobile is forecast ed to be the fastest growing segment in the gaming industry with revenues matching up the level of console gaming. In the U.S. advanced online gaming and gaming on mobile devices has outpaced social gaming in popularity. In Latin America, Brazil is the largest online gaming market. In Mexico mobile was the most preferred platform for gaming users whereas in Europe, Germany was the leading country that generated huge revenues from game downloads. But in France, computer was the most frequently used gaming platform than smart phones. Mobile gaming in South Africa outperforms online gaming on other platforms.Read more at:

Market research is classified into two categories: problem identification research and problem solving research. Problem identification research helps the marketing teams to identify the problem and its implication. Through problem identification research the factors like market characteristics, brand image, market share and market potential are discovered. Brand image is the customer's perception about the company's brand; market characteristics looks at the variety of preferences of the customers; market potential refers to the product's potential profit and the demand elasticity of the products; market share gives an estimate of the share of market that is captured by the concerned company. The research options like market segmentation, distribution research, pricing research, promotional research and product research help solve potential problems. Distribution research determines where the product should be sold; market segmentation involves grouping customers with similar backgrounds and preferences; pricing research determines the actual price of the product; product research involves testing a new or revised product and regular up gradation and promotional research measures the effectiveness of advertising strategies. Read more at:

http://blog.marketresearch.com/how-to-identify-solve-your-business-problems-using-market-research

If customer psychology is to be followed then it is seen that a customer is more satisfied and happy when he has purchasing power. The feeling that the customer has enough money left gives him/her a sense of assurance and satisfaction than when he/she is spending the last dollar, no matter what is the quality of the product. Hence it is better to target customers at the month beginning than at the end of the month.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6460-customers-love-purchases.html

The most dangerous and common mistake that can be made in a market research is being biased. Most of us are bound by some preconceived notions about certain subjects and we react accordingly without completely clarifying or interpreting clearly. Such cases can lead to wrong research results even though the data might be correct. Hence, we need to stay free from conformation bias while doing market research.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2013/08/21/market-research-mistake/

There are large number of interesting research reports and results available from which we can understand the pulse of the market and accordingly make changes or take decisions to improve our businesses. Research can prove fruitful and effective if they can be utilised properly for the benefit of the business.

To know more kindly visit:-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kernlewis/2014/02/11/how-to-use-interesting-research-to-help-marketing-your-business/

Building a brand with the help of social media is an absolute necessity in the present scenario. But to do so one must have to build trust about the brand first. Expertise is also required to build your brand, because otherwise it will not succeed. Most importantly to build and maintain brand value in social media one must constantly update itself with the latest trends.

To know more please visit:-

http://socialmediatoday.com/adhutchinson/2442911/three-key-elements-build-your-brand-through-social-media

Recent news said that Twitter is coming up with a new platform called Twitter Commerce. These branded tweets, which look just like normal tweets, can be expanded to reveal a Buy button that allows consumers to make a purchase from within the Twitter app. Though twitter commerce has not been launched yet, social media providers are on a path to convert the social media platform into e-commerce platform. Few years ago presence of a brand in social media used to provide a significant advantage to the brand identity. But currently brands use the social platform as a communication channel with their consumer. With new and upcoming social commerce technologies, the biggest change for social media marketers will be a shift in focus from branding to lead generation. For more details please visit: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6318-future-of-social-commerce.html

In a recent study it was found that more than 50% of revenue for small businesses comes from repeat customers. It is important for small businesses to retain their customers rather than acquiring new ones. Customer loyalty program is a good tool for small organizations to retain customers. Successful customer loyalty program requires authentic customer information. A digitally run and managed program will efficiently explore the data available and will in turn provide deeper insight about customers. For more details please visit the following link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6310-big-data-customer-loyalty.html

The toughest job for small business owners is to develop a cost effective marketing plan. Unlike large organizations, small business owners have limited resources in their hands. Hence they need to be more careful while developing a marketing plan. Communicating with consumers should be their primary focus while creating a marketing strategy. For more details about marketing strategy tips please visit Chad Brooks (senior writer of BusinessNewsDaily)'s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6289-making-the-most-of-your-marketing-plan.html

Market research is the most powerful tool to analyze whether a product or service can fulfil the consumer needs or not. Market research helps to find the target audience, buying behaviour of consumers, market trends, demographics, economic shifts etc. This information is essential to the success of small and medium enterprises. Markets are dynamic and therefore it is important for SME players to remain updated about the market trends in order to remain in competition. Market research can help SMEs to remain updated and help them to understand the key issues in their business. For more details please visit: http://allafrica.com/stories/201404230455.html

Feedback surveys can be used to maximize business effectiveness. Employees, customers and events are valuable and necessary sources of feedback.  Feedback helps in taking strategic business decisions. Feedback surveys can be used to improve internal management, external environment and event management. To read more about how feedback helps an organization, please visit the article written by Sabina Stoiciu, writer of 123ContractForm in this link: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2014/24928/three-ways-to-use-feedback-surveys-to-maximize-business-effectiveness

Email Marketing is the buzz word in today's business. So what is email marketing? Email marketing is the online version of direct mail. Instead of sending fliers and coupons to a customer's home, you can send those same items digitally to a customer's inbox and also helps the sender to see who is actually using and reading the mail. A study suggests that small and midsize businesses are now concentrating more on email marketing. Email marketing is cost effective and easy to create. It has a wider reach.  There are many forms of email marketing like newsletters, promotional campaigns, invitation email etc. To read more details about email marketing, please visit Chad Brook’s (BusinessNewsDaily contributor) article in this link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4488-email-marketing-guide.html

Big data can improve sales and services by analyzing. Hence it is important for an organization to find big data and analyze the data properly. Big data can be collected through archives, documents, media, business apps, social media, public web, data storage, machine log data, and sensor data. In an article Verónica Maria Jarski discussed how Kapow software) helps an organization to find various sources of Big Data. Read more at: http://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2014/24904/intelligence-by-variety-where-to-find-and-access-big-data-infographic

It is important for every business to allocate resource and budget appropriately in each department of the organization. But things get difficult for small or start-up businesses because initially small business runs out of both money and resources. It often happens that management allocate maximum budget for marketing. In an article by David Holland (CEO of branding and marketing firm Data Source), offers three marketing strategies to help small businesses save money. For more details please visit Nicole Fallon’s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6236-money-saving-marketing-tips.html

With the growth of social media, people are taking and sharing photos through their mobile devices regularly. Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of web design agency, Blue Fountain Media, said "Technology has turned us into a very visual culture...for a brand that is trying to communicate a marketing message, image-based content is becoming one of the strongest tools [to do so].” To read how photo sharing can boost social marketing, go through Nicole Fallon's, link http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6244-visual-content-marketing.html

The term big data refers to large amount of customer information gathered from social media, which helps companies to improve sales and services by analyzing those data. But unfortunately small businesses have limitations while analyzing big data. Also the huge volume of data may be confusing for small organization and some time they don't know where to begin. Social platform gathers information which can be important for organisations. Hence tools provided by Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, are a good start as they offer low start-up investment as per Evan Greenberg, CEO of marketing and communications firm Allscope Media. To read more about how big data can help businesses to think outside the box, follow Nicole Fallon's article in this link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6190-smb-big-data-tips.html

Nowadays, companies find that targeting a particular audience is much more fruitful than targeting mass audience. But sometimes, it may happen that targeted audience do not buy the product, and hence targeted marketing backfire. A recent study conducted at Dartmouth College, explores what happens when identity marketing misses the mark. The research was based on two types of identity marketing,

•        Marketing that simply references consumer identity

•        Marketing that explicitly ties consumer identity to a brand purchase

This research suggested that consumers are less likely to buy a company’s product which explicitly links an identity. The reason behind this is, while people may be drawn to brands that fit their identity, they are also more likely to desire a sense of ownership and freedom in how they express that identity. For more details please visit Elizabeth Palermo’s article link: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/6277-how-targeted-marketing-can-backfire.html