Doing a successful marketing campaign requires a great deal of information about customer demands, about transportation and storage facilities, and about competing producers in the industry. The systematic collection and analysis of information to aid decision-making and planning in any aspect of the market is called marketing research.

Market research covers many areas of inquiry. Market analysis involves determining the number and location of potential customers for a product. Sales research employs analysis of a company’s past sales records in order to aid sales planning. Consumer research is concerned with determining attitudes, reactions, and preferences of customers. Advertising research attempts to determine how advertising can be best used to influence consumers to buy.

Marketing research may be conducted by members of the marketing department of a manufacturing firm or by outside agencies. Some advertising agencies have special departments that do marketing research for clients. There are also firms whose business is entirely in marketing research.

A marketing research firm may specialize in only a certain type of marketing problem or research technique. One firm, for example, may only test the effectiveness of particular advertisements. Another firm may deal with any type of marketing question, but use only public surveys for getting information.