Discussion Post: Communication Research Methods
Read the article: The Optimal Marketing Mix? Let Your Target Audience Decide!
The topic is RESEARCH! To be effective in communicating with an organization's publics, we must be constantly listening and scanning the environment for information. This is key, especially when it comes to listening to your target audience.
Now that you have selected Comcast as a company for your final project, read this article and write, in a couple of sentences, for each area explaining how your selected company (Comcast) assess some typical attributes to define its target market. Do your best and at the end of the semester, once you have completed your final project, we will circle back and see how your initial research from this discussion post compares to your final project.
The fun aspect of research is that it doesn't lie, and if used correctly and collected correctly, can tell a great story and provide some remarkable data for a variety of different projects.
For this discussion post, you may not be able to provide specific details for each of the following attributes. If this occurs, discuss what you hope to find when conducting your research. Be creative - think outside the box! Don't settle for the first answer you come across - this is why research is so important and can be quite eye-opening. Research is many times like Pandora's box - one idea leads to another and another...
Read the article and discuss in a couple of sentences for each area explaining how your selected company/organization assess some typical attributes to define its target market. REMEMBER to cite your work in APA style No Page Count requirement.
1) Are your prospects B2B or B2C, government, or not-for-profit?
2) Are they small to mid-sized business or larger enterprises?
3) Where are they located?
4) How many companies or consumers make up the target market?
5) Is there a typical type of person who buys your product or service?
6) Where do they meet or communicate with peers?
7) How do they get information to learn about products and services such as yours?
8) How do they buy? What is the buying criteria? How often do they buy?
9) Are there trends in the purchasing processes they use?
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.