The core difference between Market Research and Marketing Research is the scope of the concept.

First, Market Research is a more narrow concept because it is research focused on a specific market.

Marketing Research, however, scales on a much broader level.

It encompasses areas such as:

Research into new products Modes of distribution Product development

It can also include promotion research, pricing, advertising and public relations.

Both concepts are integral parts of marketing, which is essentially everything that happens before the sale of a product or service.

Here’s a quick way to sum it up: market research is a subset of marketing research.

Using the “Four P’s” to make the Distinction

Product. Price. Place. Promotion.

These outline the four P’s of marketing.

Marketing Research covers all four of those possible measures to identify and understand consumer preferences. Where on the other hand, Market Research typically covers one of those four measures–place.

Place includes an analysis of a specific market or segment. Market Researchers argue that what they do is customer-oriented and the measurement of market demand only.

Marketing Research: Getting information about product and consumer preferences.

Market Research: Getting information about place–customer, competition and the industry in general.

Market Research

If we want to get technical, market research refers to research that pertains to, well, markets.  This is

where you will dig into things like market trends (political, economic, social, technology, etc.), market

players (e.g. direct and indirect competition), target market attributes, customer wants and needs, etc.  I

personally view market research to be a broader phrase than marketing research.

 PESTEL ??

Marketing Research

Marketing research, on the other hand, involves research related to marketing.  I like to think of the

marketing mix (product, promotion, place, price) and consider the types of research that relate to one

of the four P’s.  Examples include advertisement testing, product concept testing (e.g. usability

testings), pricing research, channel research, etc.