Page 317 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Rural Marketing

Notes market share. Under this project 2-modeled Canon canters along with 4 cars carrying products
and other equipment will travel as a caravan throughout the country. Each vehicle is fitted with
the latest GPS (Global Positioning System), which is linked to the engine making it possible for
Canon to track the vehicle and its movement status including if the engine is running or not on
a real time basis. This will help Canon to coordinate efforts, which is quite complicated in
nature. The canters will be parked in various cities and will create a 1,500 square feet showroom
showcasing all products from the house of Canon. People can come in, touch, feel and try the
products. Canon will also be investing in advertising, promotions, below the line activities and
working towards more engagement with consumers, retailers, photographers, partners with
the aim to increase Canon's presence and mind share in the small cities. With this initiative,
Canon is bringing the latest in technology application for the Image Express.

Did u know? In the early 1960’s Volkswagen was the leader in small car sales. Until that
time most American automobiles had been “small tanks” with fins and lots of chrome.
Ford’s challenger to Volkswagen had been the Ford Falcon. Ford was concerned because
Falcon sales had begun to decline.

16.8 What is the Small Town Marketing Research Process?

Here are the types of things you must know to do effective market research.

What is the problem? You must define what your problem is. This is the most important step of
the process. Poor customer traffic? Poor sales? High cost of sales? Too much competition?
Is research the answer? Is the answer to the problem in the internal or external information? (See
Above) Is free information already available? Have studies of this problem already been done
by trade magazines or industry associations? Can you adapt them to your business? Do you
need to start from scratch?
What are the objectives of the research? You may have one objective (Who is my target market?)
or several objectives (How do customers perceive each of my products?).
What kind of data do you need? Customers age, income, buying habits? Or, where do customers
come from, what advertising is working? You must define what you are looking for.

Next, design a sample of questions that will gather the information in a controlled way. Each
person must be asked the same questions under the same conditions in the same way for the test
to be accurate.
Here are Three Ways to Gather Information

Mail Survey: Expect an average of 15% return depending on what kind of incentive there is to do
the survey. In a small town give a discount if they return the survey in person to your business.
You can pick up extra information. Keep it short for higher response. Always include a postage
paid return envelope. Mail is poor at gathering specifics about your business and finding reasons
why people do what they do. Lowest return but least expensive in a small market.
Telephone Survey: Expect about 70% (keep calling until you get it) 100 phone calls equals about
1,000 mailings. Better control of the questioning and more detailed collection of information.
Next lowest in cost.
Personal interview: Expect about 80%. Advantages — longer survey and more detailed questions.
You can show the product or service. Customer can sample the product. Products can be compared
to competition. This is the best method for finding why customers do what they do.

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