Marketing plan
A marketing plan is one of the most important structural methods that could be used within a business. A simple marketing plan will include 4 huge factors, these are known as the 4 P’s, place, price, product, promotion. These should always be the basics that are covered in a marketing plan as it allows the business to ensure all necessary areas have been covered in order for the marketing plan to become successful. By covering these compulsory areas it allows the business to avoid any potential issues that are likely to arise or areas in which they can build upon to create the most income possible. Primary research and secondary research should be included when creating a marketing plan, mainly so that a range of results are collected and can be applied to the plan itself. Secondary research is useful when evaluating the market that a product or service is about to enter. Secondary research means that you are just using data that has already been collected by another source. For example if Boots were launching a new mascara product they would have to look at what the mascara/beauty market was already like, would the product stand out? Who was their competition? Can they meet the demands of this particular market? From secondary research once the market itself has been evaluated, primary research can now be undertaken in an aim to collect the most accurate results for any one company themselves. Primary research is much more specific and refined as questions etc. can be created to fit a particular purpose.
Primary data research
Primary research is a more specified form of research as it is usually completed by the business themselves, researching what current/potential customers think of the product/service and general feedback from the business ideas that have been put forward to get a clearer idea of whether or not the market the product or service is going out into will create a high demand for the product/service. Because the business themselves are conducting the research, a questionnaire could be used for example, this then means that questions can be custom fit so that the business receive the best range of data possible.
The different, most effective methods that a business could use when conducting primary research are-
Observations – An observation would usually take place during a few sessions where note taking and viewing is done to see the consumer’s reaction to the product/service in a natural environment and to point out any particular good points or bad points that should be noted.
Experimentation – Experiments tend to include a plan of reviewing 2 or more products for the consumers to see and then to gather information on which one the consumers preferred and then go on to evaluate these results which is added to the overall market research.
Surveys – Surveys are usually asked to the larger market, a survey tends to discover what the mass population think about something, they usually ask closed questions due to so many people being asked the responses need to fit into certain categories rather than all over the place.
Questionnaires – A questionnaire is usually used to asked up to about 50 people there thoughts on something in particular whether it be their favourite film or why they use British gas rather than Npower. Questionnaires usually ask open questions so respondents have more leeway in what it is they’re allowed to reply.
Focus groups – a focus group is where a group of individuals are asked to get together to discuss a particular topic, product or service. People involved in focus group can range for 10-99 years of age, different genders, and different interests. This was a wide range of opinions can be collected and used in research.

From each of these methods the data being collected is accurate but comes in all different forms so by using more than one of these methods, results become even more reliable and at the end of all the collecting, results can be added