The advantages of using marketing information system

Marketing information system has the following benefits:
*It helps marketing planning by gathering reliable information. It handles both internal and external data.

*The problems and opportunities are automatically spotted out. It helps effective tapping of marketing opportunities and effective defense against marketing threats.

*It helps in spotting trends and facilities on formulation of basis of assumption economic and business conditions. It tends to be future oriented.

*It helps the firm adjust its products and services to the needs and tastes of consumers. It acts as a control mechanism as customer reactions are also fed into it from market intelligence, the first sales force or marketing research.

*It provides market intelligence to the firm.

*The system can provide information on seasonal and cyclical demand patterns for planning, monitoring and control purpose.

*It helps controlling marketing activities. The report can be used to monitor and control marketing operations.

*Sharing selected operational information in order to gain advantage from superior expertise across organizational boundaries and further improve efficiency.
The advantages of using marketing information system

Barcodes systems in marketing

The Westinghouse Corporation introduced the origin concept of the barcode as early as 1929. A barcode is a machine readable code consisting of a series of bars and spaces printed in defined ratios.  It is formed by combinations of high and low reflectance regions of the surface of an object, which are converted to ‘I’s and ‘0’s.

Most automated systems are designed to utilize either barcodes or optical character recognition imprints (OCR). The majority used barcodes but a number of systems can also accept OCRs and other identifiers as well. With digital convergence of technology barcodes can now be placed virtually anywhere. Barcode readers are increasingly incorporated into pens and mobile phones.

Using barcodes information about an item can be captured using optical barcode scanners.

The barcode technology has been developed with the creation of 2D barcodes to increase the data capacity of ID barcodes. With the integration of cameras, mobile phones act as scanners, barcode readers and portable data storages and maintaining network connectivity.

2D barcodes have been traditionally more popular in mobile marketing due to the amount of information they can pack compared to a 1D code.

However, 1D codes are becoming more popular in certain instances, such as mobile coupon delivery, because 1D scanning systems are still dominant at the point of sale.
Barcodes systems in marketing

Marketing information system

Marketing information is useful only of it can help a marketing manager to make a decision. In order to be useful, information should be of high quality, relevant timely and complete.

What is a marketing information system? A marketing information system can be  defined as a set of procedures and methods for the regular planning, collection, analyses and presentation of information for use in making marketing decision. It is a structure of people, equipment, and procedures used to gather, analyze, and distribute information needed by an organization.

The information is part of on-going data-gathering process involving initial data collection as well as routine and systematic data collection procedures. This requirement distinguishes marketing information system database activities from ad-hoc, one time project-oriented data gathering characteristic of traditional forms or market research.

Philip Kotler has identified three types of marketing information:
*Marketing intelligence: information comes from the environment
*Internal marketing information: information flows within the firm
*Marketing communications: information flows from the firm outward to the environment
Marketing information system

History of Business Intelligence

History of Business Intelligence
In the 1970s and 1980s analytical software packages started showing up in the market place. However, lack of computing power, poor user friendliness and cumbersome and manual integration with the transaction system providing the data kept business intelligence tools from widespread usage. The release of spreadsheet software like Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel in the 1980s opened up for end users creating their own data models for business analysis. Spreadsheets are still widely used in this area today, and probably will be for many years to come.

For a period in the 1980s and early 1990s so called executive information systems (EIS) grew in popularity with the promise that they would put key information on the desktops of executive. The idea was that colorful software screens with big buttons and sometimes touch screen, so that the user did not ever have to use a mouse. Should put data directly in the hands of top management to reduce the need for secretaries and assistants to write and print reports for them. However, one of the biggest problems with executive information system (EIS) systems was that it took a lot of manual work to convert and lead data from the data sources, as well as to maintain customized versions of the user screens. Major effect in maintaining the EIS made implementations short-lived. In the 1990s and the new millennium, with the widespread usage of SQL (standard query language) databases; datawarehouse technologies; extraction, transformation, and loading tools; as well as new and powerful end-user analytical software, the stage is set for fast growth in usage of business intelligence tools in the next decade.

Furthermore, most of the business intelligence software vendors have released web-based versions of their solutions. Companies can easily and at a low cost give users access to large amount of corporate data and sophisticated analytical tools. By providing access to the internet or an intranet connection, a person can investigate and analyze data from home, when traveling, or from any other location at which they may happen to be.
History of Business Intelligence

Marketing Intelligence System

Marketing Strategy
Marketing intelligence system is a set of procedure and sources used by managers to obtain their every day information about pertinent development in the marketing environment.
Marketing manager carry on marketing intelligence mostly on their own by reading books, newspaper, and trade publications; talking to customers, suppliers, distributors, and either outsider; and talking with other managers and personnel within the company.

Yet this system is casual, and valuable information could be lost or arrive too late. Managers might learn competitive move, a new customer need, or a dealer problem too late to make the best response.

Well run companies take additional steps to improve the quality and quantity of marketing intelligence.

First, they train and motivate the sales force to spot and report new developments. Sales representative are the company’s “eye and ears”. There are in the excellent position to pick information missed by other means. However, they are very busy and often failed to pass on significant information. The company must sell its sales force on their important intelligence gatherer. The sale forces should be provided with easy report to fill out.
Second company motivates distributors, retailers and intermediaries to pass along important intelligence. For instance, a company can ask its distributor to forward copies of their invoices containing sales of their products. Such information will help the company learn about end user characteristics and help its distributor improve their marketing program.
Marketing Strategy