1. Market Research and its use in a marketing plan 

Market research allows a company to predict, analysis and assess market trends, in hope that these findings will assist in future marketing decisions. Elliott (2017, pg. 79) states that for an organisation to be successful they must take into account the needs and wants of their consumers at the core of business and marketing decisions. Market research ensures that the “needs and wants” of consumers are found and acted upon. As market trends continue to change and develop so too does the need for a company to update and adapt their market research to combat these new trends, Elliott (2017, pg. 83) stresses the importance that market research is an ongoing process and needs to be continuously monitored to ensure success. Market research can help a business gauge what the product needs to include in terms of features, pricing of the product, how to promote the product, what market segment the product falls under and how consumers feel about a given product. 

In November 2017 Apple introduced their new iPhone series the iPhone X. Haselton (2018), tells how many financial analysts believed that the iPhone was on the decline and was “going to be killed”. This prediction was contradicted as the iPhone X became one of the highest selling phones in history. Apples success even though many expects expected them to fail can be put down to extensive market research and a successful marketing plan. 

Apples market research included an extensive amount of customer surveys as well as analysis/research into different blogs, forums and videos on how their products were performing from the perspectives of a consumer and what consumers wanted from Apple. From their research Apple were able to identify the consumers preferences and reasons for choosing an iPhone over other competitors such as Samsung and Google. Through this Apple were able to include current features which they found consumers to be happy with, while adding new features to the iPhone X that consumers wanted to see included. 

Employers have an obligation to ensure that their workers’ health and safety are taken into account, to safeguard the future stability of a company (Gimenez, Sierra and Rodon, 2019). The Triple Bottom Line (TBL) focuses on three aspects for sustainability: people, the planet and profit (social, environmental and economic). The overall purpose is for a company to not solely focus on one aspect and therefore ensure sustainability across multiple aspects of a business. Pryor (2019), alludes to the TBL concept being a focus on stakeholder rather than that of shareholders. 

Social

Serious consideration into employee’s health, happiness, wellbeing and economic status in regard to living standards must be a central focus by employers to fulfil the social aspect of the TBL. In respect of minimum wage employers must take into account the social side of TBL as well. It is easy to argue to simply not raise the minimum wage as employers will have to incur more expenses, but employers have to weigh in the facts and see the benefits to employees if minimum wage is raised. This is particularly important as employees are at the forefront of any company’s ability to survive long term. A study done by Merriman, Kimberly and Sen (2012) found that incentives such as pay rises motivated employee’s production levels significantly and overall saved money in production and running cost of the business. The study found that workers were happier to show up to work and felt a sense of belonging in the workplace. This is a significant finding that highlights the advantages in the rise in minimum wage from the perspective of an employer and show how raising the wage benefits employee health and wellbeing. 

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.