4.00 Understand promotion and intermediate uses of marketing-information.

1. 4.00 Understand promotion and intermediate uses of marketing-information. 4.08 Acquire foundational knowledge of marketing-information management to understand its nature and scope. (Intermediate)

2. Technology • Identify ways that the use of technology impacts the marketing-information management function. • Makes it easier to collect and store certain information • Information can be analyzed using specialized software • Many more details can be tracked • Describe how the use of the Internet for marketing-information management tracks and monitors customer website activities. • Use of “cookies” • Accurate count of hits to a website

3. Technology • Discuss how customer-to-business communications on the Internet can be used in marketing-information management (e.g., email reminders, popup notices, online focus groups, etc.) • Computers track details well and software can provide reminders to customers • Customers can choose to go to company websites and/or join online groups and submit their opinions and suggestions

4. Technology • Explain how the Internet provides services for conducting research (e.g., search engines, tools for online surveys, database access, blogs, etc.) • There are many sources of information available on the Internet • General and specialized libraries • Search engines for finding specific sites or information • Paid services that assist with locating research information

5. Technology • Discuss marketers’ use of virtual realties and simulations in marketing-information management. • Marketers use games and online simulations to engage the customer and glean preference information • Customers can make choices based on preset simulations and the information can be recorded to help the company better understand the mind of the consumer.

6. Technology • Describe how the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) can facilitate marketing-information management. • Because customers aren’t always stationary and some move from one area of the state or country to another, GPS helps companies understand who is making the buying decisions • Explain the use of data analysis software in marketing-information management. • Specialized software allows data to be analyzed properly • Can be set up to give the information in a specified format

7. Vocabulary Define the following terms: • Self-Regulation – The company or industry enforces its own rules for interacting with its customers • There aren’t any specific laws or government regulations concerning that company’s or industry’s products • SUGGING • Selling under the guise of a survey (research) - a product marketer falsely pretends to be a market researcher conducting a survey, when in reality they are simply trying to sell the product in question • FRUGGING • Fundraising under the guise of a survey - a product marketer falsely purports to be a market researcher conducting a statistical survey, when in reality the "researcher" is attempting to solicit a donation

8. SUGGing and FRUGGing • http://www.dmnews.com/sugging-and-frugging-practices-as-ugly-as-they-sound/article/94425/

9. Vocabulary cont. • Privacy • The concept that an individual’s personal information (contact, SSN, preferences, etc.) are to be safely kept by the company and only shared or used as agreed to by the customer. • There are legal requirements for a company to safeguard certain information • There are morale obligations as well

10. Self-regulation • Explain the role of self-regulation for marketing researchers • For the good of the marketing research industry, high standards are set in the way information is collected and handled • This protects the industry because customers will trust the people giving the survey • Any researcher failing to follow the self-regulation guidelines will be punished or expelled from the association

11. Privacy • Discuss privacy concerns associated with the collection, storage, mining, and use of data • All personal data must be protected from inappropriate use • Information collected for one purpose might be ineligible for use in another purpose • Certain data might not be allowed to be stored (i.e. SSN) or might have to be encoded and separated from other information

12. Legal Issues • Describe the legalities associated with the collection of marketing data from children. • Companies must be careful about collecting information about children under 18 years old • While buying preferences and opinions are fine, personal data must be very carefully handled (think Sony Playstation fiasco)

13. Legal Issues • Discuss legal issues associated with the collection and sharing of health-care data. • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) enacted August 21, 1996 • It establishes regulations for the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI). PHI is any information held by a covered entity which concerns health status, provision of health care, or payment for health care that can be linked to an individual. This is interpreted rather broadly and includes any part of an individual's medical record or payment history. • They also must disclose PHI when required to do so by law, such as reporting suspected child abuse to state child welfare agencies.

14. Legal Issues • Explain legal issues associated with the protection of information held by financial institutions. • Because financial institutions track personal information that includes SSN and bank account numbers, customer data must be protected from theft or unauthorized use. • Improper handling or protection of the customer’s information could result in criminal prosecution or fines • The financial information could be used in Identity Theft, so it must be kept safe

15. Legal Issues • Discuss why marketing researchers are excluded from governance under the CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003) • Researchers aren’t permitted to use their collected information for anything other than the purpose it was collected • Under Federal Trade Commission - however mostly self-regulated • It does not require e-mailers to get permission before they send marketing messages

16. Legal Issues • Describe legal issues associated with callbacks. • Ensuring that you are talking to the same person who called in the request • Being certain that you do not give out information to someone unauthorized to have it. • Think medical call back (HIPAA) or school call about grades. • Discuss legal issues associated with the use of automatic dialers when collecting data. • Automated dialers are computers with speech recognition software. • A customer could inadvertently give personal, protected, information that must then be removed or stored separately

17. Legal Issues • Ascertain the current status of privacy/data security legislation. • Rules and laws are being updated to ensure the protection of identities (customers’ personal information) • Discuss reasons that marketing researchers must consider state, federal, and international laws when collecting data. • Legal liabilities (fines, criminal prosecution, sanctions)

18. Test Review • An example of marketing information that a business could gather by surveying its customers is the location of the company’s market. • Marketers are continually gathering information because the marketing environment is constantly changing. • Marketing information must be cost-effective and interpreted correctly. Ethically information must be kept confidential; only used for the original purpose it was gathered (don’t use information for non-research activity such as SUGGing and FRUGGing.)

19. Test Review • Cookies placed on a user’s hard drive when the user visits the business’s web site help a business to customize its marketing efforts. • By creating a database of information about customers’ purchases, brand preferences, dollar amounts spent, preferences and buying habits a business can track the number of times the user buys a product and builds strong, loyal customer relationships.