Introduction
Sales and marketing are two important components of a business which are closely aligned with each other. Sales may help generate revenue for a business while marketing plays a key role in establishing the product or service in the market. In other words, marketing helps a business by developing strategies whereas the sales department implements these strategies to sell their product or service.
Ever wondered how the things you talk about with your friends and families pop up in your social media home page in the form of advertisements or posts. Or let’s say you’re searching for some good hotels on Google and you start noticing sponsored ads from hotel booking sites in your Instagram feed. These are the feats that can be achieved through the effective use of Marketing Information System.
Basically, a Marketing Information System is a collection of tools and components that helps a company gather relevant information, which is used to develop effective marketing strategies. An efficient Marketing Information System helps a business make informed decisions about its marketing strategies through systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, storage, and distribution of marketing information. It is usually an integrated system that combines customer relationship management, customer service management, marketing analytics and other related functions.
MkIS tracks customer behavior, measure the effectiveness of campaigns, identify new leads and prospects, and increase customer lifetime value. MkIS is a very important tool for both small and large businesses to grow their business.
Components of Marketing Information System
There are four main components of a Marketing Information System. They are as follows;
Internal Reports
Internal reports are a key medium to document important information generated from the marketing activities and strategies applied by a business. Marketing managers can obtain current information related to orders, sales, prices, inventory levels, receivables, payables, etc. with the help of internal reports. It also helps them in spotting key problems and opportunities in their current strategies via careful analysis.
Marketing Intelligence
Marketing Intelligence is a set of tools and resources used by a marketing manager to stay updated about the current marketing scenario. It provides updated information about the marketing environment along with its changing conditions via external and internal sources. Books, newspapers, trade publications, consumer feedback, supplier feedback, etc. are a few examples of marketing intelligence.
Market Research
Another component of the Marketing Information System is Market Research. It is a formal study of any specific problem or opportunity in the market. Unlike Marketing Intelligence, MR is more focused towards a specific problem. Recommendations regarding the specific problem are provided through detailed study and analysis of the subject. Some examples of conducting Market Research are market surveys, sales forecasts based on regions, product preference test, etc.
Marketing Decision Support System
Marketing Decision Support System is a set of coordinated tools and resources that helps businesses in making informed decisions about their strategies and its implementation. It consists of hardware and software along with a collection of tools and techniques. Businesses use this system to gather and interpret information used as a basis for their marketing actions.
Need of Marketing Information System
In a world where businesses need to adapt to rapid changes in their environment, the Marketing Information System can be of great use in order to compete and sustain in the market for the longer term. So, here are the reasons why we need Marketing Information System for our business:
Ensure effective communication within all departments.
The key to a successful business is good communication and coordination among all departments. Marketing Information System helps the marketing department in obtaining key information related to current market trends. It also provides a detailed analysis of the company’s ongoing marketing activities. This will help the company in relaying precise and relevant information across all departments, ensuring effective communication.
Development of marketing plans.
The systematic collection and analysis of marketing information obtained through MkIS can be used as a basis to develop new marketing plans for any businesses. The distribution of relevant information to marketers can help them in developing key strategies related to marketing operations like determining the target audience, pricing, product packaging, promotional strategies etc.
Evaluation of marketing strategies.
The various components of MkIS will provide marketers with the necessary tools and resources to make informed decisions related to the effectiveness of their marketing strategies. The whole system is interrelated with each other in terms of providing systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, storage and dissemination of market information.
Ensure competitiveness based on marketing trends.
MkIS helps businesses with the provision of research data based on current trends and scenarios. This helps businesses in being competitive in a market that keeps changing based on current trends.
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