Businesses whether small or large are looking to make the most from what the market offers. To leverage the market opportunities, firms are expected to hire the best professionals to take on this critical role in order to remain competitive. Today’s market is becoming increasingly dynamic and businesses can no longer rely on their traditional knowledge and approach to market. Penetrating the modern market requires a strategic positioning gained from a firm understanding of the market. To achieve all these things, courses in market research are certainly necessary. Market research courses cover a wide range of areas, including qualitative and quantitative techniques, statistics, consumer behavior, pricing, and value research techniques.
Eligibility for Market Research Courses
Market research is largely a post graduation course and is essential for people looking to pursue a graduate course in market research. A prospective candidate will need to have a degree in commerce, business management or business administration (BBA) or any such courses for them to pursue a post graduate course in market research. However, those with substantial experience in the field may qualify for the course even if they may have graduated in other areas. This course may also be offered as a specialty course along with the Masters in Business Administration (MBA).
Details Of The Course
Market research is certainly an interesting field of study. It focuses on practical application of knowledge through statistical data collection and analysis. It also deals with interpretation of data collected in order to understand certain market trends. A post graduate course in market research involves the following:
•Designing a sound marketing strategy
•Gaining insights into customer psychology
•Identification of the target audience with regard to a given product.
•Questionnaire designing
•Interpreting customer insights and turning them into a Marketing strategy
•Designing of a product based on customer insights
•Market segmentation
•Product positioning using focus groups to create and test positioning strategies
•Advanced techniques in collecting customer insights
•Using the internet to gain customer insights
•Social media marketing to support pre-launch research
•Customer value management and ways of retaining retaining customers.
•Determining the best marketing mix
•Research methods in demand forecasting
Skills Required
Market researchers need to have extensive knowledge and creativity. to understand what the market needs, a researcher needs to ask the right questions through a carefully designed questionnaire. His or her ability to crunch the numbers from the observations is essential. Therefore, you need to be hands-on person with an unparalleled practical skills in data analysis
Career Prospects
Taking into account the growing number of models and service providers, consumers and the market is awash with choices. So as businesses look to launch a product in an already competitive environment, market research becomes a very important aspect. Market researchers are better placed to assist companies executives to figure out the best marketing strategy to distinguish their products on the market.
Professionals who take this course can become marketing directors, market research supervisors, market research managers or market analysts, depending on their areas of specialization and skills.