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Analytics for Marketers

  • Fabrizio Fantini
  • Das Narayandas

research topics on marketing analytics

Advanced analytics can help companies solve a host of management problems, including those related to marketing, sales, and supply-chain operations, which can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. But as more data becomes available and advanced analytics are further refined, managers may struggle with when, where, and how much to incorporate machines into their business analytics, and to what extent they should bring their own judgment to bear when making data-driven decisions.

In general, humans are better at decisions involving intuition and ambiguity resolution. Machines are far superior at decisions requiring deduction, granularity, and scalability. How can you find the right balance?

There are three common approaches to analytics: descriptive, where decisions are made mainly by humans; predictive, which combines aspects of the other two; and prescriptive, which usually means autonomous management by machines. This article describes when and how to use each approach and examines the trade-offs and limitations. Although the focus is on marketing and sales, the principles may be applied more broadly.

When to rely on algorithms and when to trust your gut

Idea in Brief

The challenge.

As more data becomes available and advanced analytics are further refined, managers may struggle with when to trust machines and when to trust their gut.

The Difference

Humans are better at decisions involving intuition and ambiguity resolution; machines are far superior at decisions requiring deduction, granularity, and scalability.

The Guidance

The authors’ framework suggests the best approach—and balance between human and machine—given the type of decision to be made and the data available.

Advanced analytics can help companies solve a host of management problems, including those related to marketing, sales, and supply-chain operations, which can lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. For example, firms can integrate decisions and optimize the entire value chain by modeling individual customers’ behaviors and preferences and offering tailored products priced as close as possible to shoppers’ willingness-to-pay price points—all while reducing the cost of servicing individual transactions.

  • FF Fabrizio Fantini is the founder and CEO of Evo Pricing, a firm offering AI solutions to automate and optimize pricing and supply-chain decisions.
  • DN Das Narayandas is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

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research topics on marketing analytics

Top Marketing Research Topics: Strategies for Competitive Advantage

Explore the dynamic landscape of Marketing Research and discover key strategies for gaining a competitive advantage in this insightful blog. From consumer behaviour analysis to emerging trends, delve into the latest methodologies and innovative approaches that can elevate your marketing efforts. This blog unlocks the secrets to staying ahead in the ever-evolving business world through practical Marketing Research Topics.

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Marketing Research is essential for any business that wants to understand its customers, competitors, and market trends. Marketing Research Topics are the specific questions that guide the collection and analysis of data to provide insights and recommendations for various marketing decisions.   

These topics cover a wide range of areas, such as product development, pricing, promotion, distribution, customer satisfaction, loyalty, segmentation, branding, and more. In this blog, we will discuss some of the top Marketing Research Topics that can help marketers achieve their goals and gain an edge over their competitors.   

Table of Contents 

1) Best Marketing Research Topics list 

     a) Digital Marketing Topics 

     b) Content Marketing Topics 

     c) Strategic Marketing Problems 

     d) Social Media Marketing Research Topics 

     e) Exceptional Marketing Research Topics 

     f) Unique Marketing Research Topics 

    g) Premium Marketing Research Topics 

    h) Interesting Marketing Research Ideas.  

    i) Current Marketing Research Topics 

    j) Impressive Marketing Research Topics 

2) Conclusion 

Best Marketing Research Topics list 

Here, we explore various Marketing Research Topics to uncover insights and strategies for informed decision-making and business success.  

Best Marketing Research Topics list 

1) Digital Marketing Research Topics 

Listed below are some of the best Digital Marketing Research topics: 

a) Digital Marketing's influence on brand recognition  

b) Social Media's function in Digital Marketing  

c) Efficiency of digital advertising  

d) Mobile technology's influence on Digital Marketing  

e) Search engine optimisation's role in Digital Marketing  

f) Utilisation of Big Data in Digital Marketing  

g) Digital Marketing's impact on customer engagement  

h) Content Marketing's position in Digital Marketing  

i) Effectiveness of strategies in Digital Marketing  

j)  Digital Marketing's impact on shopping behaviour  

k)  Artificial intelligence's role in Digital Marketing  

l)  Video usage in Digital Marketing  

m) Digital Marketing's impact on Sales  

n) Influencer Marketing's role in Digital Marketing  

o) Email Marketing's effectiveness  

p) Digital Marketing's impact on customer loyalty  

q) Social Media analytics in Digital Marketing  

r) Integration of Voice Search in Digital Marketing  

s) Digital Marketing's Effect on Return on Investment (ROI)  

t) Automation's Role in Digital Marketing  

Marketing Research Masterclass 

2) Content Marketing Research Topics 

Listed below are the top Content Marketing topics: 

a) Building brand identity through Content Marketing  

b) The social media landscape in Content Marketing strategies  

c) Evaluating the impact of content advertising effectiveness  

d) Mobile technology's influence on Content Marketing strategies  

e) Search engine optimisation's significance in Content Marketing  

f) Harnessing Big Data for informed Content Marketing decisions  

g) Customer engagement strategies in Content Marketing  

h) The crucial role of Content Marketing in digital strategies  

i) Assessing the effectiveness of Content Marketing strategies  

j) Content Marketing's influence on consumer shopping patterns  

k)  Artificial intelligence: A catalyst in Content Marketing innovation  

l) Video content strategies for effective Content Marketing  

m) Driving sales through strategic Content Marketing  

n) Influencer collaboration's impact on Content Marketing success  

o) Email marketing: A pillar of effective content distribution  

p) Fostering customer loyalty through tailored content experiences  

q) Social media analytics for informed Content Marketing insights  

r) Integrating voice search into Content Marketing strategies  

s) Measuring Content Marketing ROI: A comprehensive analysis  

t) The role of automation in optimising Content Marketing effort 

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3) Strategic Marketing Research Topics  

Here’s a list of Strategic Marketing Research Topics: 

a) Strategic Marketing Research's influence on brand positioning  

b)  The role of market segmentation in Strategic Marketing Research  

c) Evaluating the effectiveness of competitive analysis in Strategic Marketing  

d) Technological innovations and their impact on strategic Marketing Research  

e) Consumer behaviour studies: Informing strategic marketing decision-making  

f) Strategic Marketing Research in the era of Big Data analytics  

g) Customer journey mapping: A strategic approach in Marketing Research  

h) The positioning of brand equity in Strategic Marketing Research  

i)  Assessing the effectiveness of pricing strategies in Strategic Marketing  

j)  The impact of environmental scanning on strategic Marketing Research  

k) Artificial Intelligence's integration in strategic Marketing Research  

l) Utilising surveys and feedback loops in strategic Marketing Research  

m) Strategic Marketing Research's influence on market penetration  

n) Stakeholder analysis: A key component of strategic Marketing Research  

o) Email surveys and their role in strategic Marketing Research  

p) Building customer retention strategies through strategic Marketing  

q) Social Media monitoring in strategic Marketing Research  

r) The integration of Voice of the Customer (VOC) in Strategic Marketing  

s) Assessing ROI in strategic Marketing Research initiatives  

t) The role of automation in enhancing Strategic Marketing Research. 

4) Social Media Marketing Research Topics 

Here’s a list of Social Media Marketing Research Topics: 

a) Exploring Social Media's impact on brand recognition  

b) The role and function of Social Media in Digital Marketing  

c) Measuring the effectiveness of Social Media advertising  

d) Influence of mobile technology on Social Media Marketing  

e) Optimising Social Media presence through SEO strategies  

f) Leveraging Big Data for insights into Social Media Marketing  

g)  Enhancing customer engagement through Social Media Marketing  

h) Positioning Content Marketing within Social Media strategies  

i) Evaluating the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing strategies  

j) Understanding Social Media's influence on consumer shopping behaviour  

k) The integration of Artificial Intelligence in Social Media Marketing  

l) Utilising video content for effective Social Media Marketing  

m) Analysing the impact of Social Media Marketing on sales  

n) Role and impact of Influencer Marketing in Social Media  

o) Effectiveness of Email Marketing in Social Media context  

p) Fostering customer loyalty through Social Media Marketing  

q) Utilising Social Media analytics for strategic insights  

r) Integrating voice search in Social Media Marketing strategies  

s) Measuring Social Media Marketing's Return on Investment (ROI)  

t) The role of automation in Social Media Marketing 

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5) Exceptional Marketing Research Topics 

Given below are Research Topics for Exceptional Marketing: 

a) Offshore marketing and evaluating optimal distribution strategies for new companies 

b)  Marketing distribution channels and potential mistakes to avoid 

c) Examination of online shopping in China, discussing its influence and opportunities 

d) Explanation of the concept of Artificial Intelligence in marketing 

e) Discussion of the components of a competitive marketing strategy 

f) Impact assessment of augmented reality on the marketing experience 

g) Pricing and positioning strategies for marketing effectiveness 

h) Description of the role of Social Media in lead generation 

i) Development and execution of investment banking in developing markets 

j) Impact analysis of European financial supervision on cross-border financial investment 

k) Consumer purchase decision and the influence of e-marketing 

l) Customer buying behaviour and the role of sensory marketing 

m) Gender influence on business startups 

n) Analysis of the significance of leadership and culture in organisational change 

o) Case study of Nike, evaluating the role of CSR 

p) Analysis of the use of Omni-channel tracking in marketing 

q) Comparison of Augmented Reality (AR) and Immerse Technologies in Marketing 

r) Comparison of the use of User-Generated Content and Content Mapping in Marketing 

s) Application of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in marketing 

t) Pros and cons of using Predictive Analytics and Browser Push Notifications in marketing 

6) Unique Marketing Research Topics 

Here’s a list of unique Marketing Research Topics: 

a) Analysing the impact of cultural shifts on consumer behaviour  

b) Unveiling the power of neuro-marketing in understanding consumer choices  

c) The role of augmented reality in enhancing market research  

d) Green marketing: sustainability as a critical factor in consumer preferences  

e) Cross-cultural marketing: navigating diverse global markets  

f) The influence of gamification on market research strategies  

g)  Ethical considerations in contemporary market research practices  

h)  Examining the role of blockchain in revolutionising marketing data security  

i) VOC analysis: Strategies for effective implementation  

j) The impact of virtual events on market research dynamics  

k) Harnessing the potential of chatbots in gathering customer insights  

l) Understanding the psychology of brand loyalty in changing market landscapes  

m) Market research in the age of privacy concerns: navigating regulatory challenges  

n) Evaluating the effectiveness of experiential Marketing Research  

o) Innovations in mobile market research: adapting to the smartphone era  

p) The intersection of market research and artificial intelligence  

q) Measuring emotional engagement in Marketing Research  

r) The role of predictive analytics in anticipating market trends 

7) Premium Marketing Research Topics 

Here, we discuss the premium Marketing Research Topics in the contemporary world: 

a) Crafting an exclusive brand experience: Beyond digital channels 

b) Strategic utilisation of luxury influencers in marketing 

c) Innovative approaches to premium Content Marketing 

d) Augmented reality in premium branding strategies 

e) Customised user journeys: Personalisation in Premium Marketing 

f) Blockchain technology in ensuring brand authenticity for premium products 

g) Neuro-Marketing: Understanding the premium consumer's mind 

h) Exclusive partnerships and collaborations in premium branding 

i) Data privacy and security concerns in premium customer relationships 

j) Sustainability as a premium brand value: Strategies and challenges 

k) The role of experiential marketing in premium product launches 

l) Psychological pricing strategies for premium goods 

m) Virtual reality experiences for premium brand engagement 

n) Ultra-personalisation: Tailoring premium services to individual needs 

o) Emerging trends in premium customer retention strategies 

p) Cultivating a sense of exclusivity: Membership programs in premium marketing 

q) The impact of limited-edition releases on premium brand image 

r) Luxury branding in the digital age: balancing tradition and innovation 

s) Premium market positioning: Differentiating in a crowded landscape 

t) Strategies for niche market penetration in premium sectors 

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8) Interesting Marketing Research Ideas 

Discussed below are a few interesting Marketing Research ideas: 

a) Utilising pillar content for sales growth: An exploration of effective strategies 

b) Examining the roles of Mobile Marketing in driving business success 

c) The intersection of internet security and its implications for online marketing 

d) Determining the optimal social media platform for marketing baby products 

e) The role of social media in business survival and growth 

f) The importance of competitor analysis in shaping brand marketing strategies 

g) Political campaigns as a factor in brand marketing dynamics 

h) Assessing the viability of centralised marketing for international brands 

i)  Exploring brand salience and its impact on in-store branding 

j) Social class distinctions and their influence on company service perception 

k) Exploring commonly used methods for predicting consumer behaviour 

l) Investigating the influence of advertising during economic recession periods 

m)  Strategies employed in the marketing landscape of the fashion industry 

n) In-depth exploration of targeted marketing using paid search engine ads 

o) Assessing the impact of television advertisements on consumer moods 

9) Relevant Marketing Research Topics 

Here’s a list of relevant Marketing Research Topics: 

a) Impact of Covid-19 on the marketing initiatives of the organisation 

b) Effect of the Covid-19 emergence on business communities 

c) Influence of the Covid-19 emergence on marketing operations 

d) Examination of the impact of brand promotion and celebrity usage on ROI 

e) Analysis of how lockdown situations impact an organisation's PR activities 

f) Significance of the marketing mix on organisational performance 

g) Discussion on the importance of STP analysis for any business entity 

h) Analysis of the impact of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown on the hospitality sector 

i) Effects of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdown on the aviation industry 

j) Importance of an environmental audit for formulating effective marketing strategies 

k) Impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown on the service sector 

l) Exploration of the impact of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown on the sports industry 

m) "Just Do It" - one of the most successful environmentally conscious advertising taglines 

n) Examination of the successful marketing strategies of Apple, Southwest Airlines, and Budweiser 

o) Importance of personalisation in marketing 

10) Impressive Marketing Research Topics 

Listed below are some of the impressive Marketing Research Topics: 

a) Impact of consumers' implicit and explicit knowledge on their purchasing behaviour 

b) Implementation of centralised global marketing 

c) Integration of IoT, wearables, or smart devices for automated customer service 

d) Definition and application of e-CRM in marketing 

e) Interconnection between brand awareness and repeat purchases 

f) Establishing a company's brand image through Guest Blogging 

g) Strategies for managing marketing and company reputation effectively 

h) Examination of Corporate Social Responsibility as a marketing tactic 

i) Optimal social media approaches to enhance customer engagement 

j) Analysis of social media marketing's influence on customer behaviour 

k) Relationship dynamics between influencer marketing and lifestyle branding 

l)  Technologies pivotal in improving customers' online decision-making processes 

m) Exploring efficient marketing strategies to mend a damaged reputation 

n) Human Resource Management and the motivational factors crucial for future leaders 

o) Influence and importance of performance management in large and diverse organisations 

Conclusion 

Marketing Research Topics vary from how Digital Marketing influences what we buy to whether traditional methods still work. You can also explore Social Media's role, how online ads perform, and the impact of loyalty programs. Other areas include product placement, celebrity endorsements, and how pricing affects what consumers choose. Regardless of the topic, thorough and organised research is crucial for accurate and reliable findings. 

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The state of marketing analytics in research and practice

  • Original Article
  • Published: 07 August 2019
  • Volume 7 , pages 152–181, ( 2019 )

Cite this article

research topics on marketing analytics

  • Dawn Iacobucci 1 ,
  • Maria Petrescu 2 , 3 ,
  • Anjala Krishen 4 &
  • Michael Bendixen 5  

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67 Citations

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This paper presents a systematic review of marketing research on the burgeoning new area of “marketing analytics” and considers the importance of marketing analytics for marketing research and practice. This article contributes to the marketing literature with a systematic review of studies and findings on marketing analytics, which allow for further recommendations. We identify the central themes and concepts related to marketing analytics present in marketing research and provide a comparison between the focus of marketing research, practice, and academics regarding this topic. The study also provides practitioners with a summary of the current findings and a more natural way to translate and apply theoretical findings in practice. Academics can also use these results in the classroom to promote and demonstrate the importance and benefits of marketing analytics.

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Dawn Iacobucci

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Anjala Krishen

Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria, Johannesburg, South Africa

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See Tables  5 and 6 . To date, what the analysis of marketing analytics research suggests is that the concepts and terminologies as yet appear somewhat fragmented concerning the different areas of marketing and their uses or benefits from marketing analytics. For example, recall the varieties even in defining marketing analytics (Table  1 ), and the array of coverage across the literature (in Appendix Table  5 ) of research foci, theoretical approaches, and types of data requiring analyses.

Current marketing analytics seem to represent a somewhat higher tendency towards practical and concrete marketing aspects, yet these studies could also benefit from the consideration of a more rigorous theoretical base when developing a conceptual model. Perhaps this focus on practical over theoretical is understandable given the influx of big data from the real (non-academic) world, hence bringing with the accompanying practical questions. We echo a call from leading marketing analytics scholars who encourage that academics provide theory-based criteria for managers concerning marketing metrics use and interpretation (Hanssens et al. 2014 ).

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Iacobucci, D., Petrescu, M., Krishen, A. et al. The state of marketing analytics in research and practice. J Market Anal 7 , 152–181 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-019-00059-2

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Issue Date : 01 September 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1057/s41270-019-00059-2

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13 Top Marketing Analytics Projects and Datasets

13 Top Marketing Analytics Projects and Datasets

According to Similarweb, over 6 billion devices are connected to the internet , approximately 2.5 million terabytes of data are generated daily, and about 1.5 MB of data is created every second for each person. With this pile of data, marketers and business owners need to figure out how to personalize a product, offer it to a customer, and make buying easier. This process is possible with the help of data science.

In a recent report, Forbes Insights and Turn found that companies who adopt data-driven marketing are more likely to have an advantage over the competition and increase profitability. They are six times more likely to be profitable year-over-year.

More and more companies realize that marketing analytics data scientists are now essential to FAANG and other major companies.

This article will go through the ten best and most straightforward marketing data science projects to help you practice your marketing analyst skills.

Keyword Research Analysis

The results of the first page of Google search get over 90% of the traffic . So it is becoming increasingly important for a business to appear at the top of popular search engines. Data scientists must constantly find new and innovative ways to improve search engine performance.

In large tech companies, a data scientist can use Google Dataset Search to analyze the most searched keywords to find the best possible ones to use when promoting their company’s products and services, thereby improving its search performance.

 Keyword Research Analysis dataset visualization

How To Start: Get started with this simple tutorial , which shows you how to generate keywords using Google Trends via Python.

Google Search Analysis

Google search analysis starts after you find the most used keywords. The aim is to analyze the search trends for that keyword on Google, which is very important for a business to reach more customers.

Google Search Analysis sample dataset visualization

How To Start: You can get started using this tutorial by Aaman Kharwal , which guides you through analyzing trends via pytrends , an unofficial Google Trends API using Python.

Product Reviews Analysis

Online product reviews are one of the essential tools businesses have to boost their sales and credibility; according to Testimonial Engines, 72% of customers won’t take any buying actions until they’ve read reviews. A recent study by Harvard Business Review found that for every one-star increase a business gets on Yelp, they see a 5-9% increase in revenue.

With so many stakeholders and use cases, data scientists can empower marketing and sales teams by conducting product review analysis, which is critical to the growth of e-commerce businesses.

Product Reviews Analysis dataset visualization

How To Start: Try your hand at building a product review analyzer on product review datasets for Amazon , GameStop , or even Mcdonald’s , and explore what insights the feedback can provide to businesses. You can use this tutorial by Gunnvant Saini to start the analysis using NLP or try this simple tutorial to perform it with Python.

Customer Segmentation Analysis

No two customers are the same, but their pain points, desires, and aspirations can be grouped in helpful ways to inform marketing strategies and drive conversions. Customer segmentation is the process of categorizing consumers based on the overlap of specific criteria in their attributes.

Data scientists can use specific machine learning algorithms to estimate the potential value of each ideal customer segment and the items most likely to appeal to them. Companies can then use this information to drive their content strategy, funnel optimization, and advanced lead targeting.

Customer Segmentation Analysis dataset visualization

How To Start: Use any customer segmentation dataset available on Kaggle to work on this project idea. Start by importing Python libraries such as Pandas and NumPy for handling data frames, Matplotlib and seaborn for data visualization, Sklearn for machine learning algorithms, etc.

Product Recommendation System

When shopping online, a recommendation system steers you to the items you are most likely to buy. Users are often confused about alternatives and want help refining their search. Therefore, recommender systems are an essential part of our digital world. Invesp, the CRO experts , conducted a survey where 54% of retailers reported product recommendations as the critical driver of the average order value in customer purchase.

Robust predictive analytics systems are the foundation of recommender systems. We see recommender systems every time we go to Amazon or any other e-commerce site.

Whether using a collaborative or content-based filtering system, or a mix of both, a data scientist can help e-commerce businesses discover the big spenders and upsell them using the highest-rated product recommendations through segmentation, leading to an increase in revenue.

Product Recommendation System dataset visualization

How To Start: You can use this Amazon product review dataset and the accompanying tutorial by Amar Shaw on Kaggle to build your collaborative filtering system based on customers’ purchase history and ratings.

Restaurant Sales Data Analysis

The global online food delivery market was valued at USD 189.70 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.8% from 2022 to 2028, with a slew of restaurants, aggregators, and independent cloud kitchens all vying for market share.

Using data science can help restaurant chains gain a competitive advantage. Analyzing sales data and performing EDA can help determine what items sell best, what customers prefer, where people are ordering certain things, what time of day, and whether analytics can group customers into different categories. Not only that, but data scientists can use information from food aggregators to investigate the market and learn more about foodie behaviors and preferences to serve them better.

 Restaurant Sales Data Analysis

How To Start: You can use this restaurant and consumer dataset from UCI and follow this tutorial for sales data analysis by Pulkit Khandelwal. You can also check out this detailed tutorial by Hargurjeet for an EDA of Zomato’s restaurant dataset.

Market Basket Analysis

Market Basket Analysis is an innovative analytical technique that uses unsupervised learning to understand buying patterns and uncover correlations between purchases. The use of these strategies allows for the prediction of future buying decisions. In other words, it will enable retailers to see the relationship between the items people buy. Additionally, market basket analysis can significantly improve the effectiveness of marketing messages. In addition to your marketing message style, whether a direct offer, email, social media, phone call, or newsletter, you can offer the following best product for a specific consumer.

Market Basket Analysis

How To Start: Khushee Kapoor provided this excellent tutorial on Kaggle on performing market basket analysis along with a sample dataset that is very beginner-friendly.

Social Media Campaign Analysis

Social media platforms have become part of everyday life, and the number of tracking platforms is growing. However, people face significant challenges when properly harnessing these complex and noisy data streams.

Data scientists can cut through the noise by using their skills to collect, track, analyze and visualize all aspects of social media analytics data to uncover deep insights that give businesses a better understanding of their social footprint and nature and how to monetize and improve their online presence.

Social Media Campaign Analysis dataset visualization

How To Start: The internet is full of social datasets like this one for Instagram and different platforms on Kaggle. Follow this tutorial by Aman Kharwal for an Instagram reach data analysis project.

Credit Card Fraud Detection Analysis

Cybersecurity is a vital part of our lives in a world where everything is digitized and online shopping is the norm. Credit card firms face significant challenges in detecting fraudulent credit card transactions to prevent consumers from being charged for products they did not purchase. According to a recent study by Intuit, the amount of fraud by new credit card accounts saw a 48% increase from 2019. Data scientists can overcome such challenges by combining their skills with machine learning.

A data scientist can create a model that tracks the patterns of all transactions and finds abnormal patterns, deeming them fishy and canceling the transaction. The trick is to find a good dataset and a suitable machine learning algorithm to perform such a task.

Credit Card Fraud Detection Analysis dataset visualization

How To Start: You can use a credit card fraud detection dataset from Kaggle and follow this tutorial by Abdou Rockikz to build a classification model.

Marketing Campaign Budget Optimization

As a data scientist, you will perform various marketing tasks, but your main goal is to ensure that every dollar of your company’s marketing budget is spent wisely and profitably.

Optimizing who you market specific products to and when your business can spend its money on marketing tactics won’t yield results. Data scientists analyze the performance and results of all marketing campaigns to determine how to optimize spending, cut budgets, what areas to increase spending, and which products to focus on in different markets.

Marketing Campaign Budget Optimization dataset visualization

How To Start: John Chen created this easy-to-follow case study and tutorial to take you through the process of market budget optimization and analysis using a free dataset from Kaggle .

Marketing Mix Analysis

Uncover the impact of different marketing channels on sales and customer engagement by jumping into this dataset . Explore the effectiveness of various marketing mix elements and discover insights that can help optimize marketing budget allocation for better ROI.

Marketing Mix Analysis

Bank Marketing Strategies

This is a dataset containing banking marketing strategies. Start by downloading this dataset . Analyze customer data to uncover insights on how different marketing campaigns affect customer responses. This dataset provides a rich ground for developing predictive models to enhance the effectiveness of marketing campaigns in the banking sector.

Bank Marketing Strategies

Lead Scoring

Converting leads into customers is challenging, and it is all about how you can tactfully guide them into your marketing funnel. Lead scoring uses analytics to identify potential buyers who go through this channel and decide to use your product or service. Reaching these prospects at the right time is what data scientists can do to help businesses.

Through extensive analysis of collected marketing data and insights from data libraries, data scientists can predict which offers or products are most attractive to customers and demographics at different times. The potential value of each lead can be assessed and then scored based on factors such as the behavior of similar customers, the choice of words they use when interacting with you, and the characteristics of the customer base to which they belong. This process will save companies from spending their marketing budgets on guesswork and trial and error.

Lead scoring dataset visualization

How To Start: This super detailed tutorial by Moez Ali takes you through the steps of starting a lead scoring analysis. You can also find different lead scoring datasets on Kaggle to perform various tests.

More data science projects ideas and datasets

If you want to learn more about data science, projects are the perfect opportunity. You’ll find plenty of inspiration in our guides to data science projects:

  • Top 10 Regression Datasets and Projects
  • Top 10 Python Data Science Projects with Source Code
  • Top 30 Data Science Projects with Source Code
  • Top 12 Classification Machine Learning Projects and Datasets
  • 21 Data Analytics Project Ideas and Datasets
  • 10 Sentiment Analysis Project Ideas and Datasets
  • 31 Free Datasets for Your Next Project
  • 18+ Risks and Disadvantages of Technology

How to Build Your Business Identity on a Tight Budget

  • Best Green Tea Brands in the world in 2020: What makes them the best?
  • Global Milk brands in 2020 – What makes them successful?
  • What is a Triple Net Lease? Its Advantages and Disadvantages
  • Adaptation Level Phenomenon – understanding its importance
  • Risk Matrix – Factors of a risk matrix and how to implement it
  • Prioritization Matrix – Different types and how to use a prioritization matrix

Advergize

71+ Research Paper Topics & Ideas for Marketing Students  

research topics on marketing analytics

As a marketing student, you probably have access to a plethora of resources such as your college library and of course, the internet, to come up with great research paper topics.

However, the thought of writing your research paper can be daunting, especially if you’re still brainstorming and don’t know what to write about.

Just like any other piece of writing, start by keeping your audience in mind. Then, make a list of research paper topics that are more relevant to your interests, or a new under-developed field (for example; augmented reality, or people sentiments towards Artificial Intelligence), or a unique research topic that intrigues your audience.

But if you’re still struggling to pin down one out of the many research paper topics for your program, we’ll suggest a number of them for you to either choose from; or for you to take inspiration from and come up with your own.

Table of Contents

How to Choose the Best Research Paper Topics

Before we dive into the details, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with the basics. For starters, pick up a pen and paper and brainstorm different topics that you’d like to write about.

While personal interest is definitely important, we also suggest you opt for a topic that will intrigue your readers.  Here are a couple of factors you ought to keep in mind while selecting a topic:

Keeping your personal interest in mind

You probably won’t be able to write a stellar research paper if you’re not interested in the topic. Sit down with your peers and advisors to discuss possible ideas. It will be easier for you to discuss different themes once you’ve written down all your ideas in one place. If you’ve decided on a specific keyword for instance “consumer behaviour”, you can look for similar research papers on the internet.

A research paper isn’t a descriptive essay which you can drag aimlessly. Your research paper needs to be based on factual data and that’s only possible if you’ve conducted thorough research. While jotting down points for your first draft, ensure your statements are supported with references or examples citing credible academicals and research work.

Don’t leave it till the last day

A lot of students tend to undermine the writing process and leave for the last few days. Bear in mind that you can’t possibly write your entire research paper overnight. In order to succeed, you’ll have to devote sufficient amount of time to research.

Also, be prepared to schedule meetings with your advisor on a regular basis as you’re bound to require help along the way. At this point, make sure you only rely on credible sources that will support your dissertation.

Examples & List of Research Paper Topics

If you’re still unable to decide a topic of your interest, here is a list of 70 unique marketing research topics that you can use as marketing project topics for your MBA, or any other marketing course:

  • How do organizations use CSR ( corporate social responsibility ) to reinforce brand equity?
  • What manipulation tactics do brands use to get more customers?
  • How can brand image be communicated via social media marketing?
  • How can social media impact the buying choices of shoppers?
  • Are consumers equipped to shield themselves from direct marketing strategies?
  • Determine and analyze consumer buying behavior for [product name]
  • How does advertising impact consumer behaviour?
  • How does family orientation impact marketing communications?
  • What characteristics do buyers look for when purchasing a product online?
  • How does global marketing incorporate standardization?
  • What attributes do consumers look for when comparing products online?
  • How do financial institutions differentiate their goods and services on the basis of social class?
  • Is direct marketing really the most effective form of marketing?
  • What internet marketing trends can be expected for the future?
  • How to marketing strategies differ across different cultures?
  • Can brand advertising impact political campaigns?
  • How do brands exploit impulsive buying?
  • How does loyalty cards encourage sales and boost customer loyalty?
  • Can well-marketed brands get away with selling substandard quality products?
  • How is globalization having on impact on consumer behaviour?
  • Impact of brand image on customer loyalty
  • Brand attributes that lead to an increase in customer loyalty
  • Successful marketing approaches that helped break through strong market monopoly
  • Impact of cause marketing on brand affinity with young mothers
  • Effect of consumer promotions and discount offerings on brand equity
  • The outcomes of advertising in a recession
  • Influence on Social Media advertising on consumer behaviour
  • Effect of TV advertising on top of mind awareness
  • Understanding customer perceptions around event sponsorships
  • Does corporate social responsibility translate into sales?
  • Canadians perspective on being targeted with mobile ads based on their browser history
  • Is direct marketing welcomed by people?
  • Are customers able to differentiate between various mortgage offering by competing banks?
  • Does social media influence buying behaviour
  • Do people like being click baited into sponsored posts?
  • Understanding the impact of celebrity endorsements on ROI for CPG brands
  • Women’s sentiments around comparison advertising
  • How effective is comparison advertising to build brand equity?
  • Do consumers prefer purchasing routine grocery products online?
  • Is earned media perceived to be as important as it appears to be?
  • What makes people want to share content to their friends?
  • Understanding why content goes viral
  • Marketing challenges around the evolving family structures
  • Are we losing the emotional value and significance of money being in a cashless society?
  • Is centralized global marketing a good idea for brand health in local markets?
  • How is augmented reality going to enhance marketing experiences?
  • How will artificial intelligence support in making better marketing decisions?
  • Is immersion marketing through virtual reality technology going to be accepted?
  • What does the luxury auto buyer look for in a car?
  • How to instill a desire to purchase for customers in the luxury category
  • Harmful effects of advertising to kids
  • Impact of in-store branding on brand salience
  • Effect marketing strategies for restaurant businesses
  • Habit formation and ways to integrate new products in consumer lifestyles
  • Is display advertising going to die?
  • Can Snapchat help small business grow?
  • How do customers perceive the brand who advertise on Instagram?
  • The impact of humour in advertising
  • Do customers pay attention to nutrition labels?
  • What triggers impulse buying behaviour
  • Essentials to sky rocket a new brand to heights of awareness
  • The factors that lead to customer satisfaction in young adults
  • Elements that help build an emotional connection with your audience
  • How do males and females differ in their buying behaviour of mobile phones
  • Does language targeting help in ethnic advertising?
  • Customer Perceptions: Are well known brands good in quality?
  • Is radio still an effective method of advertising?
  • Rural vs Urban marketing challenges to be mindful of
  • Impact of internal branding on employee retention and turnover
  • An in-depth analysis of political marketing in Canada

More Categories of Research Topics

Still in need of some inspiration? Here are a few research paper areas that you can explore:

  • Distribution
  • Consumer Behavior
  • Relationship Marketing
  • Brand Management
  • Nonprofit Marketing
  • Market Segmentation & Targeting
  • Internet Marketing
  • Marketing Planning & Forecasting
  • Product Design & Positioning
  • Direct Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Purchasing & Materials Management

Hopefully, these marketing thesis topics will help you come up with a few topics of your own. If you’re still confused about which area, you’d like to work with, we suggest you consult your advisor for some additional help. Good luck!

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Research Topics & Ideas: Marketing

50+ Marketing Research Topic Ideas To Fast-Track Your Project

Marketing and advertising-based research topics

Finding and choosing a strong research topic is the critical first step when it comes to crafting a high-quality dissertation, thesis or research project. If you’ve landed on this post, chances are you’re looking for a marketing-related research topic , but aren’t sure where to start. If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Here, we’ll explore a variety of marketing-related research ideas and topic thought-starters, covering both traditional marketing (offline media) and digital marketing (including social media marketing, content marketing and the like). We’ll also look at actual dissertations and theses from marketing students to give you a view of what a well-defined research topic looks like.

NB – This is just the start…

The topic ideation and evaluation process has multiple steps . In this post, we’ll kickstart the process by sharing some research topic ideas within the marketing domain. This is the starting point, but to develop a well-defined research topic, you’ll need to identify a clear and convincing research gap , along with a well-justified plan of action to fill that gap.

If you’re new to the oftentimes perplexing world of research, or if this is your first time undertaking a formal academic research project, be sure to check out our free dissertation mini-course. In it, we cover the process of writing a dissertation or thesis from start to end. Be sure to also sign up for our free webinar that explores how to find a high-quality research topic. 

Overview: Marketing-Related Topics

  • How to find a research topic (video)
  • Traditional (offline) marketing topics/ideas
  • Digital (online) marketing topics/ideas
  • Examples of actual dissertation topics
  • Free Webinar : Topic Ideation 101
  • Where to get extra help

How To Find A Research Topic

Before we look at specific research ideas and topics, it’s useful to first understand what the topic ideation process entails and how to go about finding and refining viable topic ideas. In the video below, we cover exactly that. So, if you’re a first-time researcher, be sure to watch this tutorial before jumping into the collection of marketing research topics we present below. 

Research topic idea mega list

Now that you’ve got a big-picture view of the topic ideation process, we can dive into a few research ideas to get your creative juices flowing. Please note that these research topic ideas are intentionally broad and generic, so you will need to refine them a fair deal using the techniques we discussed in the video above.

To make life a little easier for you, we’ve grouped the topic ideas based on two main categories – traditional marketing and digital / online marketing . For the latter, we’ve divided it up into a few subcategories, including social media marketing, content marketing and search marketing. That said, there is naturally some overlap between topics, so keep this in mind.

Research Ideas: Traditional Marketing

  • The perceived effectiveness of different types of direct mail campaigns (e.g., postcards, catalogues, brochures) among small business owners in New York
  • The perception and use of traditional marketing in creating and nurturing customer loyalty and retention among UK Financial Firms.
  • The impact of demographic targeting on traditional marketing performance among green businesses
  • The perception of different types of sales promotion (e.g., discounts, coupons, contests) among GenZ consumers
  • The continued use of celebrity endorsements in traditional marketing campaigns, post-2020.
  • Exploring factors related to outdoor advertising recall in India
  • Measuring the ROI of traditional marketing efforts: a review of current methods
  • Comparing the effectiveness of different traditional media channels (e.g., television, radio, print) in driving engagement and conversions among established brands
  • The use of public relations in traditional marketing campaigns among large insurance companies
  • The role of event marketing in building brand awareness and engagement: perceptions among marketing professionals in the UK

Free Webinar: How To Find A Dissertation Research Topic

Research Ideas: Digital/Online Marketing

Social media marketing

  • The use of artificial intelligence in social media marketing among online fashion companies in Sweden
  • The impact of social media on public relations and media relations: a Case Study of Nandos
  • The role of Twitter in crisis communication and reputation management: a discourse analysis
  • The impact of social media influencer presence on brand loyalty and customer retention among Gen X.
  • The use of social media for market research and consumer insights among SMEs in Kenya
  • The impact of social media on consumer buying behaviour of fast food in Italy
  • The challenges and opportunities of social media in global and multicultural marketing: perceptions of marketing departments in large corporations
  • The relationship between social media engagement and website traffic: an analysis of fitness brands
  • The effectiveness of influencer marketing on social media platforms for household cleaning products in the UK
  • The perceptions and understanding of paid vs organic social media advertising among Gen Z consumers in San Francisco

Content marketing

  • The use and understanding of micro-moments in creating personalized content experiences among content creators in the USA
  • Comparing the effectiveness of methods of personalization of content marketing: an evaluation of best practice
  • The experiences and use of SEO in content marketing strategy among small online businesses
  • The use of social media influencers in content marketing campaigns: a Case Study of Hello Fresh
  • Comparing different content distribution channels for different types of content: perceptions of best practices among content marketing experts
  • The use of user-generated content in building brand trust and engagement among green companies in the UK
  • Measuring the ROI of content marketing efforts among luxury brands
  • The perception and use of Chat GPT in content creation among small online businesses
  • The perceptions of interactive and immersive content formats (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality) in marketing among consumers: an experimental study
  • Comparing image and text-based content formats in driving engagement and conversions on social media: a multi-case study of NGOs

Research topic evaluator

Search engine marketing

  • The effectiveness of different ad formats (e.g., text ads, shopping ads, video ads) in Search Engine Marketing for tourist destinations
  • The impact of search engine algorithm updates on Search Engine Marketing performance – who are the winners and losers?
  • The perception and use of AI and machine learning in Search Engine Marketing strategy and bidding optimization within a UK marketing agency
  • The use of voice search and its impact on Search Engine Marketing among food retailers in Switzerland
  • The role of local SEO in driving brick-and-mortar sales: a case study of a local fashion outlet in France
  • The impact of mobile optimization on Search Engine Marketing performance and conversion rates in Nigeria
  • Comparing analytical tools for measuring ROI of Search Engine Marketing campaigns
  • The effectiveness of different types of keywords and search queries in driving traffic towards restaurants in Italy
  • The use of remarketing and retargeting in search engine marketing campaigns among marketers
  • The understanding and use of schema markup and structured data in improving Search engine marketing performance among Start-Ups

Research Topic Kickstarter - Need Help Finding A Research Topic?

Email marketing

  • The perception and use of AI and machine learning in email marketing among NGOs: a focus on personalized content and dynamic segmentation
  • The effectiveness of email subject line strategies in driving open and click-through rates: an experimental study
  • Comparing A/B testing and multivariate testing in improving email marketing performance: a case study
  • The use of personalization on email marketing performance among craft bloggers
  • The impact of automated email marketing among local online retailers on customer loyalty and retention
  • The use of automation and triggered emails in increasing engagement and conversion rates for online courses
  • The perception and understanding of GDPR and other data privacy regulations on email marketing among SMEs
  • The role of mobile optimization in email marketing targeting Gen Z consumers
  • The challenges of measuring the ROI of email marketing campaigns: perceptions of SMEs
  • The effectiveness of different email formats (e.g., text-based, HTML, interactive) in driving engagement: A/B testing for a small online retailer

Marketing-Related Dissertations & Theses

While the ideas we’ve presented above are a decent starting point for finding marketing-related research topic, they are fairly generic and non-specific. So, it helps to look at actual dissertations and theses to see how this all comes together.

Below, we’ve included a selection of research projects from various marketing-related degree programs to help refine your thinking. These are actual dissertations and theses, written as part of Master’s and PhD-level programs, so they can provide some useful insight as to what a research topic looks like in practice.

  • The Influences of Brand Personality, Culture, and Social Media on Iconic Brand Preferences (Whelan, 2021)
  • Customer Success and the Transformation of Customer Relationships (Raines, 2022)
  • The Effects of Online Incentivized Reviews on Organic Review Ratings (Jeong, 2020)
  • Are You For Real? The Consumption-Driven Self-Authentication Process And Its Effects On Perceived Brand Authenticity (Kuchmaner, 2020)
  • You Are What You Eat: How Food Texture And Packaging Influence Consumer Well-Being (Ning, 2020)
  • Social Dialogic Listening: Connecting Marketing Activity To Strategy (Collins, 2020)
  • Millennials’ Attitudes Towards Influencer Marketing And Purchase Intentions (Yu, 2019)
  • Cannibalization between Two Mercedes-Benz Models and Consumer Behavior (Ma, 2020)
  • Selling and Buying Aspects of Used Products That Are Brand Anthropomorphized (Kim, 2019)
  • Global Identity: Conceptualization, Measurement, And Implications For Marketing Strategy (Yoruk, 2022)
  • The Intersection of Organizational Frontline Marketing and a High-Tech World (Krotz, 2021)
  • The Unexplored Impacts of Communication Elements in Marketing (Trinh, 2022)
  • Founder Social Identity As A Predictor Of Customer And Competitor Orientation In Small And Medium-Sized Enterprises (Rutherford, 2021)

Looking at these titles, you can probably pick up that the research topics here are far more specific and narrowly-focused , compared to the generic ones presented earlier. This is an important thing to keep in mind as you develop your own research topic. That is to say, to create a top-notch research topic, you must be precise and target a specific context with specific variables of interest . In other words, you need to identify a clear, well-justified research gap.

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If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to find a research topic for your marketing dissertation or thesis, check out our 1-on-1 private coaching services below.

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What Is Marketing Analytics?

Two marketers discussing marketing analytics

  • 21 Jan 2021

Marketing efforts, both paid and organic, share the same overarching goals: increase brand awareness, drive thought leadership, and generate qualified leads. Broad goals like these can be broken down into specific, trackable metrics that marketing teams can use to define success and gauge performance.

If you’re not a marketer or have never engaged with marketing analytics, you may wonder how progress is tracked, where marketing data comes from, and why analyzing it is important. This is where marketing analytics comes into play.

Access your free e-book today.

Marketing analytics is the process of tracking and analyzing data from marketing efforts, often to reach a quantitative goal. Insights gleaned from marketing analytics can enable organizations to improve their customer experiences, increase the return on investment (ROI) of marketing efforts, and craft future marketing strategies.

According to a report conducted by PwC, highly data-driven companies are three times more likely than their less data-driven counterparts to see significant improvements in decision-making. Whether you work with marketers or are one yourself, it’s important to be familiar with the basics of marketing analytics and how it can inform your organization's decisions.

Where Does Marketing Data Come From?

The data you use to track progress toward goals, gain customer insights, and drive strategic decisions must first be collected, aggregated, and organized. There are three types of customer data: first-party, second-party, and third-party.

  • First-party data is collected directly from your users by your organization. It’s considered the most valuable data type because you receive information about how your audience behaves, thinks, and feels.
  • Second-party data is data that’s shared by another organization about its customers (or its first-party data). It can be useful if your audience types are the same or have similar demographics, if your companies are running a promotion together, or if you have a partnership.
  • Third-party data is data that’s been collected and rented or sold by organizations that don’t have a connection to your company or users. Although it’s gathered in large volumes and can provide information about users similar to yours, third-party data isn’t the most reliable because it doesn’t come from your customers or a trusted second-party source.

While it’s important to know that second- and third-party sources exist, first-party data is the most reliable of the three because it comes directly from your customers and speaks to their behaviors, beliefs, and feelings. Here are some ways to collect first-party data.

Surveying your current and potential customers is a straightforward way to ask them about their experiences with your product, their reason for purchasing, what could be improved, and if they’d recommend your product to someone else—the possibilities are endless. Surveys can be anything from multi-question interviews to a popup asking the user to rate their experience on your website.

An A/B test is a way of testing a hypothesis by comparing user interactions with a changed version of your website or product to an unchanged version. For instance, if you hypothesize that users would be more likely to click a button on your site if it were blue instead of red, you could set up an A/B test in which half of your users see a red button (the control group) and half see a blue button (the test group). The data collected from the two groups’ interactions would show if your hypothesis was correct. A/B tests can be a great way to test ideas and gather behavioral data.

Organic Content Interaction

Interaction with organic content—such as blog posts, downloadable offers, emails, social media posts, podcasts, and videos—can be tracked and leveraged to understand a user’s purchasing motivation, their stage in the marketing funnel, and what types of content they’re interested in.

Paid Advertisement Interaction

You can also track when someone engages with a digital ad you’ve paid to display, whether it’s on another website, at the top of search results, or sponsoring another brand’s content. This data is crucial in determining where your customers are coming from and what stage of the funnel they see your ads.

Related: How to Learn Business Analytics Without a Business Background

How Is Marketing Data Analyzed?

With numerous types and sources of marketing data, it must be aggregated and structured before analysis. Some platforms you can use to do so are:

  • Google Analytics
  • Sprout Social

In addition to tracking and aggregating data, you can use several of these platforms to conduct analyses and pull out key insights with algorithms. You can also manually analyze data by exporting datasets into Microsoft Excel or another statistical program, create visual representations of it using graph or chart functions, and run regressions and other analytical tests.

Why Is Marketing Analytics Important?

Understanding how to gather, aggregate, and analyze data can enable you to extract useful insights you can use to make a data-informed impact on your organization.

1. Improve the User Experience

Collecting and analyzing your users’ first-party data can reveal how they feel about their interactions with your product and website. Whether their feelings are explicitly stated (for instance, in a survey) or implicit in their behaviors (for instance, leaving the website shortly after loading the page), having this qualitative and quantitative information can allow your organization to make changes that address their needs and increase the potential for leads to become customers.

2. Calculate the Return on Investment of Marketing Efforts

Another important function of marketing analytics is calculating monetary gain that can be attributed to specific marketing channels or campaigns. To calculate the return on investment for a specific marketing effort, use the following formula:

ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100

For example, say you release a video explaining the benefits of your product that costs $1,000 to produce. You track how many people navigate to the product page on your website immediately after watching the video and see that it led to 30 new customers in a given period. If your product costs $50, and each new lead bought one, you can attribute $1,500 of revenue to the video. The net profit, in this case, is $500.

Plugging this into the ROI formula looks like this:

ROI = ($500 / $1,000) x 100

ROI = (0.5) x 100

Any time ROI is a positive percentage, the marketing effort—in this case, the video—can be considered profitable. Without data to understand where leads are coming from, calculating the financial impact of specific efforts wouldn’t be possible. ROI calculations can determine which marketing efforts drive the most sales and prove projects' value.

3. Plan Future Marketing Strategies

With knowledge of your customers and the ability to track your marketing efforts’ return on investment, marketing analytics provides an opportunity to create data-driven strategies for your organization.

By analyzing marketing data, you can discover what’s working, what hasn’t worked, and how your customers feel about their experiences with your product and website. You can also get a full picture of the impact that marketing efforts are having on your company.

With that information, you can plan for the future. What should you do more of to reach your quantitative goals? Which effort failed to generate new leads and should be dropped from future plans? Data analytics helps you strategize and answer these kinds of questions.

A Beginner's Guide to Data and Analytics | Access Your Free E-Book | Download Now

Becoming a More Analytical Marketer

Harnessing the power of data can enable you to make strategic decisions and feel confident in your marketing efforts.

Honing your analytical skills can be as simple as considering others’ points of view, playing strategic games and brain teasers, or engaging with data on a daily basis. It can also be as structured and purposeful as taking an online analytics course to build your skill set and make connections in the analytics field.

Are you interested in strengthening your analytical skills? Explore Business Analytics and learn to collect, analyze, and interpret data to make an impact.

research topics on marketing analytics

About the Author

Mapping research in marketing: trends, influential papers and agenda for future research

Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC

ISSN : 2444-9695

Article publication date: 5 December 2023

Issue publication date: 7 March 2024

This study aims to map the conceptual structure and evolution of the recent scientific literature published in marketing journals to identify the areas of interest and potential future research directions.

Design/methodology/approach

The 100 most influential marketing academic papers published between 2018 and 2022 were identified and scrutinized through a bibliometric analysis.

The findings further upheld the critical role of emerging technologies such as Blockchain in marketing and identified artificial intelligence and live streaming as emerging trends, reinforcing the importance of data-driven marketing in the discipline.

Research limitations/implications

The data collection included only the 100 most cited documents between 2018 and 2022, and data were limited only to Scopus database and restrained to the Scopus-indexed marketing journals. Moreover, documents were selected based on the number of citations. Nevertheless, the data set may still provide significant insight into the marketing field.

Practical implications

Influential authors, papers and journals identified in this study will facilitate future literature searches and scientific dissemination in the field. This study makes an essential contribution to the marketing literature by identifying hot topics and suggesting future research themes. Also, the important role of emerging technologies and the shift of marketing toward a more data-driven approach will have significant practical implications for marketers.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first comprehensive study offering a general overview of the leading trends and researchers in marketing state-of-the-art research.

  • Bibliometric analysis
  • Citation analysis
  • Research publications
  • Science mapping
  • Análisis bibliométrico
  • Análisis de citas
  • Publicaciones de investigación
  • Mapeo científico
  • 市场营销; 文献计量分析; 引文分析; 研究出版物; 科学绘图。

Ramos, R. , Rita, P. and Vong, C. (2024), "Mapping research in marketing: trends, influential papers and agenda for future research", Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC , Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1108/SJME-10-2022-0221

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Ricardo Ramos, Paulo Rita and Celeste Vong.

Published in Spanish Journal of Marketing - ESIC. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

Marketing is vital to all businesses’ survival, long-term growth, development and success ( Czinkota et al. , 2021 ). Generally, the domain of marketing encompasses (1) the identification of marketing opportunities, (2) the creation of competitive advantages, (3) the effective utilization of resources, (4) the communication and delivery of products or services to customers, (5) the creation of value to customers and (6) the satisfaction of customers’ needs profitably ( Simkin, 2000 ).

The evaluation of academic marketing literature has progressively become relevant in recent years ( Das et al. , 2022 ; Hair and Sarstedt, 2021 ). The increasing number of academic publications in marketing varies in different contributions, which made it difficult for scholars to track new trends and find influential manuscripts to advance the body of knowledge. The primary objective of a research publication is to be known and influence others’ work. Nevertheless, the created knowledge is fragmented, and the emergence of new marketing topics is continuously changing the research map of marketing. Moreover, marketing is an applied discipline in that marketing research not only aims to generate scientific knowledge but also to provide insights and knowledge that can be practically used to inform marketing decisions ( Jedidi et al. , 2021 ). In addition, technological advancement has rapidly affected marketing practices and management ( Amado et al. , 2018 ). To address this challenge, this paper aims to map the conceptual structure and the evolution of knowledge to uncover the existing topics, trending areas of interest and future directions.

Despite considerable research efforts in the marketing field, little has been done to review prior research works systematically. Moreover, recent review articles have mainly focused on specific marketing domains or are limited to particular contexts, such as customer experience ( Chauhan et al. , 2022 ), marketing communication ( Domenico et al. , 2021 ), customer engagement ( Chen et al. , 2021 ), consumer behavior ( Oliveira et al. , 2022 ), advertising ( Jebarajakirthy et al. , 2021 ) and product or brand positioning ( Saqib, 2021 ), while context-specific reviews include marketing in emerging markets ( Paul et al. , 2016 ), sustainable marketing ( Lunde, 2018 ), business-to-business marketing ( Pandey et al. , 2020 ), luxury brand marketing ( Arrigo, 2018 ) and tourism marketing ( Han and Bai, 2022 ). The lack of a holistic review of marketing research created a gap in the existing research. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a big picture of the most recent marketing literature. The most recent review work in the same vein was conducted by Morgan et al. (2019) , who evaluated 257 marketing strategy articles published in the six most influential marketing journals during 1999–2017. Nevertheless, given its focus on marketing strategy and limited research sources, it does not provide a comprehensive framework that covers all aspects of the marketing field. To complement the work by Morgan et al. (2019) , this paper conducts a review with a more recent timeframe that focuses on recent trends, patterns and development in the field. The inclusiveness of journals will also enable identifying areas of interest beyond marketing strategy.

What is the knowledge structure of the state-of-the-art most influential academic research in marketing?

What are the current research trends?

What are possible pathways for future research in marketing?

The present work will facilitate the understanding and advancement of theories and knowledge in the field. Also, this paper provides valuable insights into the field’s most relevant and pressing issues and informs where future research efforts should be focused. This will, in turn, improve the practical relevance and usefulness of future research and ensure that research efforts are targeted toward topics that will yield impactful results. Moreover, it offers up-to-date information for marketing researchers.

2. Methodology

This study focuses on characterizing the most influential academic marketing articles published between 2018 and 2022 and discussing the marketing state of the art.

2.1 Search strategy

A search string was applied in the Scopus database to find the most relevant articles for this research ( Ramos et al. , 2019 ). The Scopus database was chosen for the literature review as it is generally considered one of the largest repositories with the most relevant indexed publications and one of the most universally acknowledged bibliographic databases ( Kumar et al. , 2020 ). It is recognized as the most well-organized and of the highest credibility and quality standards, with the most significant global impact and more comprehensive cover ( Muñoz-Leiva et al. , 2015 ; Rojas-Lamorena et al. , 2022 ) and is consistent with previous bibliometric reviews applied in the marketing research setting ( Kumar et al. , 2021 ; Paul and Bhukya, 2021 ). In addition, it follows Donthu et al. (2021) ’s recommendation to select only one database to minimize human errors during analysis. All marketing journals (212) indexed in Scopus were included in the current study. The journal selection takes a rather inclusive approach instead of the sole inclusion of marketing-specific journals, as marketing is a diverse and evolving field not strictly tied to a single-subject field ( Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003 ) but often intersects with other disciplines. For instance, given the rapid advancement of technology and its influence on marketing practices, topics such as information systems or big data are growing in importance and relevance to the marketing literature ( Amado et al. , 2018 ). Accordingly, journals such as the International Journal of Information Management have also contributed significantly to marketing recently ( Veloutsou and Ruiz Mafe, 2020 ). The search was conducted on June 9, 2023.

2.2 Selection process and final data set

The search was conducted in the Scopus database and limited to 2018 to 2022 to obtain state-of-the-art articles. Five years is a reasonable timeframe to capture a discipline’s essence and to conduct a bibliometric analysis ( Borgohain et al. , 2022 ). The collection of articles over five years reflects varied, robust, broad, inclusive and unrelated marketing research interests in the marketing field ( Bettenhausen, 1991 ). The focus on the most recent works permits uncovering the most recent trends without the influence of older topics. Only articles were selected as they represent the most advanced and up-to-date knowledge and are recognized for their academic value ( Rojas-Lamorena et al. , 2022 ). In total, 44,767 articles were collected. To select the most recent influential marketing articles, the top 100 most cited articles were selected. The citation metric acknowledges the impact of the articles ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ) and reflects the impact of scholarly work in subsequent research ( Purkayastha et al. , 2019 ).

In addition, it is recognized as one of the most relevant metrics of academic research ( Dowling, 2014 ). Although assessing the influence of an article based on citation analysis represents a significant limitation because articles may be cited for multiple reasons, citation analysis is considered an objective approach that exhibits less systematic biases for research impact evaluation ( Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003 ). Previous works have used citation metrics for bibliometric analysis. For instance, Law et al. (2009) analyzed the most influential articles published in Tourism journals using citation counts, whereas Brito et al. (2018) identified the areas of interest in football research and listed the articles based on citation frequency. From each article, the following variables were retrieved: authors’ names and keywords, document title, year, source title and citation count. The information was extracted in CSV file format.

2.3 Final data set

The final data set includes 100 articles from 28 journals. The authors’ names were reviewed for normalization purposes as they have different nomenclatures in different articles (e.g. Dwivedi YK vs Dwivedi Y) so that the software understands them as the same.

2.4 Data analysis

The CSV file with the final data set was input for the bibliometric analysis. Data were analyzed using the mapping analysis R-tool bibliometrix ( Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017 ). This package allows different types of analysis, offering an overview of the research field. A bibliometric analysis permits to analyzing the bibliographic material quantitatively, providing an objective and reliable analysis ( Broadus, 1987 ; Sepulcri et al. , 2020 ) and summarizing the existing literature and identifying emerging topics of research ( Hota et al. , 2020 ). The authors’ names and keywords, year of publication, source title and the number of citations were collected from each article. A performance analysis was performed to acknowledge the field’s citation structure, most relevant sources, authors and articles. Then, science mapping analysis through a co-occurrence analysis was performed. The co-occurrence analysis aims to overcome the descriptive nature of the bibliometric analysis, uncovering gaps and research trends ( Palmatier et al. , 2018 ; Quezado et al. , 2022 ). The gaps and research trends led to a future research agenda.

3. Results and discussion

3.1 total citations by year.

As indicated in Table 1 , the 100 articles were cited 41,888 times, an average of 418.88 citations per article. The most contributing years were 2019 and 2020, with 33 published articles yearly. The year with the highest number of citations was 2019, with 14,621 citations, corresponding to 34.90% of the total citations. This record is strongly linked to the work of Snyder (2019) , with 1,872 citations that characterized different types of literature reviews and suggested guidelines on conducting and evaluating business research literature reviews. Due to the increasing number of publications, it is challenging to keep current with state-of-the-art research ( Briner and Denyer, 2012 ). Reviewing the existing research is fundamental for understanding marketing research inconsistencies, gathering and synthesizing previous research and serving as guidance for researchers and practitioners. In addition, literature reviews contribute to identifying potential gaps, suggesting novel research lines and allowing a balanced growth of a research field ( Hulland and Houston, 2020 ).

The year with the highest mean total citations per article and year was 2021 (527.5 and 175.83, respectively). This result is highly associated with Donthu et al. (2021) ’s work, with 1,221 citations, that explained how to develop a bibliometric analysis.

The main difference between a literature review and bibliometric analysis is the focus and the methodological approach. A literature review aims to critically analyze and synthesize existing knowledge under a research topic ( Snyder, 2019 ). In turn, a bibliometric analysis is a specific approach within the field of scientometrics that uses quantitative and statistical methods to analyze the scientific production and articles’ characteristics published in a specific research domain ( Aria and Cuccurullo, 2017 ).

3.2 Most influential articles

Seminal articles in marketing assume an essential role in its development ( Berry and Parasuraman, 1993 ). The number of citations was used to define and measure the impact of the most influential articles. The most cited document (total citation = 1,872) was Snyder’s (2019) work on conducting an overview and suggesting guidelines for conducting a literature review ( Table 2 ). The normalized citation compares an article’s performance to the data set’s average performance ( Bornmann and Marx, 2015 ; Rita and Ramos, 2022 ). Snyder (2019) ’s work has the highest normalized citation index (4.13), revealing its outstanding performance compared with the remaining articles from the data set.

Among the top 10 most cited articles, three are related to PLS-SEM. The partial least squares – structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is relevant for marketing as it allows to examine of complex relationships between latent variables and manifest variables, permitting a flexible and less restrictive analysis in terms of statistical assumptions than other modeling techniques, such as confirmatory factor analysis and principal component analysis ( Hair et al. , 2020 ). By using PLS-SEM, marketing researchers can explore complex relationships among variables, test research hypotheses, identify the relative importance of different influencers and assess the validity and reliability of the measured variables ( Sarstedt et al. , 2019 ). It is frequently used in research involving the modeling of theoretical constructs, such as customer satisfaction ( Ramos et al. , 2022 ), brand image ( Kunkel et al. , 2020 ) or perceived quality ( Ariffin et al. , 2021 ) research.

Surprisingly, there are no articles from 2018 in the top 10 most cited articles. However, there are two articles published in 2021. One of the papers published in 2021 is the work of Verhoef et al. (2021) , which explores digital transformation and innovation in business models and suggests a research agenda for future studies. Digital transformation and innovation are highly relevant for marketing as it provokes consumer behavior change ( Lemos et al. , 2022 ). In addition, it allows companies to adapt to consumer behavior changes, seize the opportunities for segmentation and personalization, improve communication and engagement and increase operational efficiency ( Muneeb et al. , 2023 ; Zhang et al. , 2022 ).

3.3 Source impact

Table 3 depicts the top 10 most impactful sources of the 100 most influential marketing articles. The intellectual convergence is exhibited based on common sources and referencing patterns ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ), and identifying journals may facilitate future literature search and scientific dissemination.

Among the 28 journals, the International Journal of Information Management (IJIM) contributed the most papers (26 papers), followed by the Journal of Business Research (JBR) (22 papers) and the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services (JRCS) (6 papers). These journals are all First Quartile journals based on SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator, with an impact factor of 4.906, 2.895 and 2.543, respectively. The IJIM focuses on contemporary issues in information management ( Elsevier, 2023a ). Information management field of research plays a fundamental role in marketing, providing data and insights that guide marketing strategies, improve segmentation and customization, leverage automation marketing, data-driven decision-making and the performance evaluation of marketing initiatives ( Dwivedi et al. , 2020 ). The JBR aims to publish recent business research dealing with the spectrum of actual business practical settings among different business activities ( Elsevier, 2023b ), while the JRCS focuses on consumer behavior and policy and managerial decisions ( Elsevier, 2023c ). The findings indicate the contribution and importance of IJIM to the marketing field, recognizing the relevance of information management. Surprisingly, leading marketing journals listed in the Financial Times 50 ( Ormans, 2016 ), such as the Journal of Consumer Research , Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and Journal of Marketing , only produced a small number of relevant articles in our data set. This result suggests that their papers may not be as impactful or influential as those published in other outlets. Nevertheless, the quality of the articles published in these outlets reflects the most original and well-executed research, as they have high submission rates. However, their rate of acceptance is very low.

Among the top 10 most productive journals, JBR is the one with the highest number of citations. This result confirms Table 2 ’s results as it lists six articles that were published in this journal ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ; Hair et al. , 2020 ; Sheth, 2020 ; Sigala, 2020 ; Snyder, 2019 ; Verhoef et al. , 2021 ).

3.4 Contributing authors

Key authors are essential to the field’s structure and growth ( Berry and Parasuraman, 1993 ) and positively influence the most impactful articles ( Rojas-Lamorena et al. , 2022 ). Thus, it is imperative to identify them and acknowledge their impact. Between 2018 and 2022, 100 documents were written by 312 different authors.

Table 4 characterizes the top 10 most productive authors among the most influential marketing research articles over the past five years. The authors’ indices were calculated, including h -index, g -index and m -index. The Hirsh index ( h -index) is the proposal to quantify productivity and the journal’s impact considering the number of papers and citations per publication ( Hirsch, 2005 ). The g -index aims to measure the performance of the journals ( Egghe, 2006 ), considering the citation evolution of the most cited papers over time. Furthermore, the m -index, also called the m -quotient, considers the h -index and the time since the first publication ( n ); hence, m -index = h -index/ n ( Halbach, 2011 ).

Professor Dwivedi YK is the most prolific, with seven published articles indicating more than one paper yearly. Although he is placed second as the most cited author (3,361), he has the highest h - (7), g - (7) and m -index (1.17). Professor Dwivedi’s research focuses on digital innovation and technology consumer adoption and the use of information systems and information technology for operation management and supply chain, focusing on emergent markets. Digital innovation and understanding technology consumer adoption allow companies to engage with consumers efficiently and personally ( Alalwan et al. , 2023 ). In addition, information systems and information technology applied in operation management and supply chain permit a higher efficiency and visibility in commercial activities, aiding companies to optimize processes, reduce costs and improve customer care ( Tasnim et al. , 2023 ). Professor Dwivedi is a Professor at the School of Management, Swansea University, UK ( Swansea, 2023 ). The second most productive author is Hair JF, and Hughes DL, with five articles each. Professor Hair JF is the most cited author in the list of the most productive authors. This record is highly associated with the work “Assessing measurement model quality in PLS-SEM using confirmatory composite analysis” ( Hair et al. , 2020 ), with 1,103 citations. Multiple papers gather authors from the list. For instance, the article “Artificial Intelligence (AI): Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy” ( Dwivedi et al. , 2021 ) was co-authored by Professors Dwivedi YK and Hughes DL. This paper has 637 citations and addresses the transformative power that artificial intelligence (AI) may have for the automation and replacement of human tasks, highlighting opportunities, challenges and impacts. AI plays a fundamental role in marketing, permitting advanced personalization, task automation, advanced data analysis, campaign optimization and improved customer experience, leading to personalized experiences and better marketing results ( Duan et al. , 2019 ; Dwivedi et al. , 2021 ).

Fractionalized frequency displays the multiauthored articles. This analysis is relevant to understand how researchers interact with each other ( Rojas-Lamorena et al. , 2022 ). A credit is attributed to each author, depending on the number of co-authors. If a paper has two authors, each receives a half-point. If a paper has three authors, each receives a third of a point, and so on ( Cuccurullo et al. , 2016 ). Professor Hughes DL has the lowest score (0.57) on the five most productive authors list, suggesting a strong relationship with colleagues through co-authorship based on shared interests.

3.5 Co-occurrence analysis

Figure 1 presents the authors’ keywords co-occurrence analysis and reflects the relationship between the keywords and the data set ( Wang et al. , 2012 ). Co-occurrence analysis aims to establish relationships and map the conceptual structure of the most influential marketing academic articles and reveal current research trends ( Eduardsen and Marinova, 2020 ). The thicker the lies among each cluster, the stronger the connection between the keywords. The size of each edge indicates the occurrence frequency. Thematic map displays the top 50 keywords and a minimum of 5 clusters. The thematic map shows six clusters, of which two are with the largest nodes, including AI (brown) and Covid-19 (blue). However, clusters with smaller nodes are bibliometric analysis (red), social media (purple), blockchain (green) and customer engagement (orange).

The brown cluster suggests a topic under AI technology. The cluster’s keywords highlight an interconnection and application of AI, machine learning and cognitive computing in the marketing research field. Deep learning, natural language processing and machine learning make part of a broader spectrum of AI ( Verma et al. , 2021 ). Cognitive computing refers to the capacity of computer systems to mimic human capacity to process information, learn and make decisions ( Duan et al. , 2019 ). These technologies handle big data efficiently, predict consumer behavior and support decision-making in actionable insights, transforming marketing strategies ( Blanco-Moreno et al. , 2023 ; Dwivedi et al. , 2021 ).

The blue cluster reflects the pandemic that affected the globe between 2020 and 2023 ( United Nations, 2023 ). This cluster reveals a close relationship between the Covid-19 pandemic and consumer behavior ( Sheth, 2020 ). The interest in understanding the attitudes and consumers’ decision-making is highly relevant for future pandemics ( Pereira et al. , 2023 ). In addition, the pandemic brought social and industry challenges that deserve academic attention ( Dwivedi et al. , 2020 ; Muneeb et al. , 2023 ). This cluster also addresses overconsumption driven by impulsive behavior promoted by the pandemic ( Islam et al. , 2021 ; Marikyan et al. , 2023 ). This cluster suggests insights on how companies can adequately develop marketing strategies to face the pandemic challenges and effectively respond to health crises.

The red cluster reveals a direct connection between bibliometric analysis and scientific assessment. The bibliometric analysis is applied to reveal research patterns and knowledge structure and access the scientific production impact ( Ramos and Rita, 2023 ). The use of bibliographic coupling, co-occurrence analysis and the Scopus database supplies the data set for the identification of relationships and patterns within the literature ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ), summarizing the existing literature and identifying emerging topics of research ( Hota et al. , 2020 ).

The purple cluster highlights the terms social media and marketing. The keyword social media highlights the role of platforms, such as Instagram or TikTok, for advertising ( Alalwan, 2018 ), understanding the role of influencers ( Lou and Yuan, 2019 ), and for co-creation in brand communities ( Kamboj et al. , 2018 ), influencer marketing. Social media platforms are fundamental for any communication strategy as they connect with the audience, create engagement and awareness and promote products and services ( Lou and Yuan, 2019 ). The strategic use of social media in marketing is fundamental for companies to establish an effective presence and build long-lasting relationships.

The orange cluster suggests a relationship between live streaming and customer engagement ( Wongkitrungrueng and Assarut, 2020 ). This interconnection suggests that live streaming can be an effective channel for developing social commerce, influencing purchase intentions ( Sun et al. , 2019 ). Real-time and direct interaction with customers promote greater involvement and improve customer experience.

The green cluster suggests a focus on applying blockchain technology in information systems. Blockchain is a decentralized and immutable technology for transaction registers studied in the supply chain context ( Min, 2019 ). It has a significant potential to transform data management ( Lemos et al. , 2022 ).

4. Conclusions and future research agenda

This study represents a map of the conceptual structure and evolution of the state-of-the-art scientific literature published in marketing journals to identify the areas of interest and potential future research directions. This review aimed to (1) acknowledge the structure of the state-of-the-art most influential academic marketing research, (2) identify current research trends and (3) suggest future research prospects.

4.1 RQ1: knowledge structure

Regarding RQ1, the most cited article among the top 100 between 2018 and 2022 was the work of Snyder (2019) , with 1,872 citations, followed by the work of Donthu et al. (2021) , with 1,221. The years 2019 and 2020 were those that most contributed to the top 100 most cited, with 33 articles each. Accordingly, these years had the most citations, 14,621 and 13,692, respectively. The IJIM was the source with the highest number of articles published from our data set ( n = 26). However, the JBR, with 22 published articles, was the journal with the highest citations ( n = 12,265). Every journal from the top 10 prolific sources is ranked in Scopus (SJR) as Q1. Professor Dwivedi YK was the most prolific author, with seven articles published, followed by Professors Hair JF and Hughes DL, with five articles each. Although placed second on the most productive authors list, the most cited author was Professor Hair JF, with 3,615 articles.

4.2 RQ2: current research trends

As for RQ2, this bibliometric analysis allowed us to identify current research trends through the co-occurrence analysis. Since a comprehensive future research agenda stimulates researchers to continue their research efforts ( Hulland and Houston, 2020 ), we suggest marketing future research questions to gain a deeper knowledge of current research trends ( Table 5 ).

Although AI has existed for over six decades ( Duan et al. , 2019 ), the development of supercomputers that analyze big data led to the exponential use of this technology. Its application in marketing varies and includes trend and prediction analysis, chatbots and marketing automation. However, particularly for data analysis, multiple research questions are yet to be answered ( Dwivedi et al. , 2021 ). Grounded on the AI (brown) cluster, it would be interesting to uncover different uses of AI to improve big data analysis.

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted global habits ( Sheth, 2020 ). New habits emerged, changing the industry landscape in multiple dimensions, such as consumer, leisure and work behavior. Although multiple studies were published regarding the topic, much is yet to be uncovered. The effects of this pandemic are yet to be fully acknowledged, demanding future studies to comprehend the permanent changes in society ( Islam et al. , 2021 ). In addition, uncovering the best-implemented industry marketing strategies can be helpful, as it is inevitable that new pandemics occur in the future ( Pereira et al. , 2023 ).

Bibliometric analyses map and summarize existent research, extending the global understanding of a research topic and increasing the quality and success of scholarly work ( Donthu et al. , 2021 ). However, the analysis is mainly descriptive ( Ramos and Rita, 2023 ). Combining bibliometric analysis with other methods may enhance the results, leading to an advancement in using such an approach.

Social media is broadly used for marketing-related activities. Through social media platforms, it is possible to build brand image, generate leads for the company’s website, analyze and monitor data, or be an influencer marketer ( Alalwan, 2018 ; Lou and Yuan, 2019 ). Nevertheless, the implementation of gamification techniques ( Bhutani and Behl, 2023 ; Wanick and Stallwood, 2023 ), privacy concerns ( Saura et al. , 2023 ) and collective decision-making ( Dambanemuya et al. , 2023 ) are issues that deserve the attention of researchers.

Livestreaming captured the attention of digital retailing marketers in recent years and significantly changed social interaction. However, different types of live streaming exist, such as webinars, game streaming, corporate streaming, vlogs or personalized content, and can be used in different industries ( Zhang et al. , 2023 ). Investigating the influence of live streaming on consumer engagement may enhance understanding of its relevance for the industry and improve marketing effectiveness ( Wongkitrungrueng and Assarut, 2020 ).

Blockchain technology allows tracing and enhances transaction transparency, creating authenticity certificates to prevent fraud or loyalty programs to build customers’ loyalty and trust ( Lemos et al. , 2022 ). Despite several studies being conducted to understand the impact of this technology on marketing ( Marthews and Tucker, 2023 ; Tan and Salo, 2023 ), there is much to be learned and questions unanswered.

4.3 RQ3: future research agenda

Based on the comprehensive bibliometric analysis findings, potential directions for future research are presented ( Table 6 ). Topics surrounding data-driven marketing are particularly relevant ( Zhang et al. , 2022 ) due to the data abundance and technological advances, and they have the potential to be further developed. For instance, issues arising from adopting AI to uncover hidden patterns in big data or integrating data from different sectors or industries to understand consumer behavior are yet to be understood. In addition, environmental sustainability is highly relevant due to the increasing customers’ awareness of the topic and its influence on developing marketing strategies ( Jung et al. , 2020 ). However, multiple questions are yet to be answered. In particular, the influence of gamification techniques to promote positive, environmentally sustainable consumer behavior and how emerging technologies influence the customers’ perception of sustainable products. Mass personalization allows consumers to customize product features ( Qin and Lu, 2021 ). This topic is highly relevant to the industry and underexplored in marketing. For instance, how can mass personalization be efficiently implemented in highly productive industries? Or how can emerging technologies improve mass personalization programs? Finally, the wearable technologies market is exponentially growing and is increasingly essential to consumer behavior ( Ferreira et al. , 2021 ).

5. Conclusions and limitations

Through the bibliometric analysis of the 100 most influential marketing papers published between 2018 and 2022, this review presents potential directions for knowledge advancement and comprehensive information to facilitate future literature search ( Boell and Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2014 ) by identifying the current research focus, conceptual structure and trends in the marketing field. In addition, this review contributes to practice by identifying the most influential articles for the marketing scientific community interested in gaining scientific insights. Meanwhile, the important role of emerging technologies and the shift of marketing toward a more data-driven approach will have significant practical implications for marketers.

This work has limitations that need to be stated. First, data were limited to Scopus database and restrained to indexed marketing journals. However, it is essential to note that all scientific databases have limitations. Second, to select the most influential marketing documents, the only criterion was on a commonly used metric – the number of citations. Although citation metrics are commonly used, they may incorrectly demonstrate the quality of the work. There are multiple reasons for a work to be cited ( Vogel and Güttel, 2012 ), such as a journal’s prestige or factors related to the methods ( Hota et al. , 2020 ). The Mathew effect phenomenon also exists in science ( García-Lillo et al. , 2017 ). Third, articles take time to be cited. This means that the most recent articles from our data set may have fewer citations, but it does not mean that their quality is poorer. Fourth, to select the most influential marketing articles, every journal under the subject area “Business, Management and Accounting” and category “Marketing” were selected. However, there are journals listed in other subject areas and categories. Nevertheless, the data set may still provide significant insight into the marketing field.

research topics on marketing analytics

Thematic map based on the authors’ keywords co-occurrence

Top 100 most cited articles structure

Year TC* Mean TC* per article Mean TC* per year Citable years
2018 26 9,015 346.73 57.79 6
2019 33 14,621 453.36 90.67 5
2020 33 13,692 414.91 103.73 4
2021 8 4,220 527.5 175.83 3
2022 0 0 0 0 2
Total 100 41,888 418.88 69.81
Note:
Document Title TC Average TC per year Normalized TC
Literature review as a research methodology: an overview and guidelines 1,872 374.40 4.13
(2021) How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: an overview and guidelines 1,221 407.00 2.31
(2020) Assessing measurement model quality in PLS-SEM using confirmatory composite analysis 1,103 275.75 2.66
Tourism and COVID-19: impacts and implications for advancing and resetting industry and research 977 244.25 2.35
(2019) Predictive model assessment in PLS-SEM: guidelines for using PLSpredict 913 182.60 2.01
(2021) Digital transformation: a multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. 758 252.67 1.44
(2019) How to specify, estimate, and validate higher-order constructs in PLS-SEM 728 145.60 1.61
(2019) Artificial intelligence for decision making in the era of big data – evolution, challenges and research agenda 724 144.80 1.60
Impact of covid-19 on consumer behavior: will the old habits return or die? 716 179.00 1.73
The rise of motivational information systems: a review of gamification research 639 127.80 1.41

Source impact

Journal No. of articles Scopus quartile SJR TC
26 Q1 4.91 10,008
22 Q1 2.90 12,265
6 Q1 2.54 1,875
4 Q1 3.43 1,376
4 Q1 2.48 1,706
4 Q1 6.02 1,220
4 Q1 6.25 1,850
3 Q1 1.63 1,769
3 Q1 2.66 984
3 Q1 10.8 1,120
Notes:
Authors Topical focus No. of articles Fractionalized frequency Total citations -Index -Index -Index
Dwivedi YK Digital innovation 7 1.16 3,361 7 7 1.17
Hair JF Multivariate analysis 5 1.18 3,615 5 5 0.83
Hughes DL Artificial intelligence 5 0.57 2,305 5 5 1.00
Ringle CM Data and business analytics 4 0.84 2,512 4 4 0.67
Sarstedt M Structural equation modeling 4 0.84 2,512 4 4 0.67

Co-occurrence topics and future research avenues

Current research trends Future research questions
Brown cluster – AI (e.g. , 2019; , 2020; , 2021)
Blue cluster – Covid-19 (e.g. ; ; , 2021)
Red cluster – bibliometric analysis (e.g. , 2018; ; , 2021)
Purple cluster – social media (e.g. ; , 2018; )
Orange cluster – live streaming (e.g. , 2019; )
Green cluster – Blockchain (e.g. , 2018; ; )
Note:
Potential research gaps Future research questions
Data-driven marketing: to explore the potential of data-driven marketing by leveraging deep learning, AI and IoT technologies to enhance marketing practices, optimize customer targeting and improve overall business performance in the digital era
Environmental sustainability: to investigate the potential of using neuromarketing techniques, gamification and mixed reality to promote sustainable consumption practices
Mass personalization: to investigate how personalization of customers’ experiences can be enhanced and implemented responsibly and ethically
Wearable technology: to investigate how wearable technologies can foster deeper connections between consumers and brands

IoT = Internet of things

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Acknowledgements

Paulo Rita’s work was supported by national funds through FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), under the project – UIDB/04152/2020 – Centro de Investigação em Gestão de Informação (MagIC)/NOVA IMS.

Since submission of this article, the following authors have updated their affiliations: Ricardo Ramos is at Technology and Management School of Oliveira do Hospital, Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra, Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal; ISTAR, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), Lisboa, Portugal; Centre Bio R&D Unit, Association BLC3 – Tecnology and Innovation Campus, Oliveira do Hospital, Portugal; Paulo Rita is at NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal; and Celeste Vong is at NOVA Information Management School (NOVA IMS), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal.

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370+ Best Marketing Research Topics & Ideas for Students to Consider

Marketing Research Topics

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Ever had that brain-freezing moment where you're staring at a blank page, desperately hunting for that perfect marketing research topic? We've all been there. Welcome to your new cheat-sheet – a collection of unique, compelling, and downright cool marketing research paper topics. 

This isn't your standard list. We've gone beyond the beaten track, exploring the wild frontier of marketing, from neuromarketing mysteries to influencer insights. We've broken it down into digestible sections, so you can dive straight into your area of interest or academic level. Go ahead, check out these marketing research topics for papers and dissertations to make your next project shine!

What Are Marketing Research Topics?

In its simplest form, marketing is all about telling a compelling story to your audience. It's how businesses communicate the value of their products or services to customers, intending to promote and sell them. Yet, it's not just about selling. Marketing also involves understanding customer needs, crafting solutions to meet these needs, and building relationships that result in customer loyalty.

Now, when it comes to marketing research topics, you'll find an expansive universe of possibilities, each as diverse as the next. You might explore how to position your product to maximize impact or delve into the powerful online strategies that can make your brand viral. Or, you could examine the psychology behind consumer behavior, understanding what drives people to buy one product over another. 

These are just a handful of the abundant marketing topics you can encounter. Now let’s see what branches they are divided into.

Branches of Marketing Topics

Before you choose any marketing research topic idea, let’s figure out the main branches of this field. Here are the buckets they fall into:

How to Choose a Marketing Research Topic?

Choosing the right marketing research paper topic is crucial for a couple of reasons. Firstly, a good topic can keep you motivated throughout your study. It can be the difference between seeing your research as a chore or an adventure. Secondly, a well-chosen topic can contribute to the field, spark discussions, or even influence marketing strategies.

So, what makes a marketing research topic good? Most importantly, it should be an area of interest that excites you and piques your curiosity. Researching something you don't care about won't bring out your best work. Also, make sure the topic is relevant – check if it fits into the current research landscape or challenges existing knowledge. Last but not least, ask yourself if the topic is manageable within the scope of your assignment and resources. 

With these criteria in mind, let's see how to select the right marketing research topic. Below are some valuable suggestions from our thesis writing service :

Remember, choosing the right topic is a journey, one that requires time, exploration, and sometimes, a bit of trial and error. Don't rush it, savor the process, and you'll end up with a great topic. But in case you are stuck, we developed a list of potential research topics in marketing – all worth attention.

List of Marketing Research Topics & Ideas 

We've collated a captivating list of marketing research paper topics, perfect for igniting your curiosity and sure to impress your professors. Remember to align your chosen topic with your course requirements to ensure it's the perfect fit. Let's dive in!

Good Marketing Research Topics

Eager to dive deeper into the world of marketing? Here are more fresh and exciting marketing project topics. Each is poised to offer intriguing insights and comes with plenty of data to fuel your arguments. Get ready to explore!

Interesting Marketing Research Topics

Looking for a theme to add a dash of intrigue to your research? Explore this list of market research topics guaranteed to spark curiosity and foster insightful discussions.

Best Marketing Research Topics

What sets outstanding marketing research projects apart? They should be relevant, intriguing, and offer new insights. With that in mind, we've compiled the best research topics in marketing that tick all these boxes. Ready to make your research truly outstanding? Dive in!

New Research Topics in Marketing

As an ever-evolving field, marketing constantly introduces new areas to investigate. It's vital to keep abreast of the latest trends to discover untapped research topics. To help you stay ahead of the curve, here are brand new marketing research topic ideas, each one reflecting innovations in the field.

Controversial Topics in Marketing

Struggling to come up with an interesting research topic on marketing? Consider exploring controversial marketing ideas. These themes can help you to spark heated debates and draw attention from your tutor. Below are a few fantastic controversial marketing topics to write about. 

And don't forget, you can pick a topic and entrust it to a professional essay writer online . Our experts can conduct thorough research and deliver top-quality work, no matter how complex the subject. Take your pick and let our professionals do the heavy lifting for you!

Marketing Topics & Ideas for Students

Are you searching for marketing topic ideas tailored to your academic level? You're in the right place! In the following sections, you'll discover multiple marketing essay topics and research ideas organized according to various levels of study. Scroll down, find your academic level, and start exploring!

Marketing Research Topics for College Students

College is a time for exploration and growth, and what better way to study this niche than with some thought-provoking marketing research ideas for college students? Take a look at these titles suitable for a college-level understanding, yet engaging enough to fuel your curiosity.

Marketing Research Topics for University Students

As a university student, you're expected to tackle more complex tasks. So, we've curated a list of advanced marketing research ideas, perfect for a university level understanding.

Marketing Research Topics by Category

As promised, we've meticulously organized an array of marketing topics for a research paper into specific categories for your convenience. Whether you're interested in digital marketing, consumer behavior, or any other subfield, just scroll down. Below, you'll find our comprehensive collection, each with a selection of field-specific marketing research paper ideas.

Digital Marketing Research Topics

Digital marketing revolves around promoting and selling products or services using digital platforms. As this domain continues to grow, it opens up a multitude of unique research avenues. Let's uncover some digital marketing topics to discuss:

Strategic Marketing Research Problems Topics

Global brand strategies with setting goals, deciding on actions to achieve these goals, and mobilizing resources to execute the actions. It requires a thorough understanding of market trends, competitive landscapes, and consumer behavior. Take a glance at these topics in marketing that explore various problems and challenges in this subfield:

Social Media Marketing Research Paper Topics

It’s hard to imagine our life without social media. It has revolutionized the way we communicate and interact with one another. In this regard, there are a bunch of research topics on marketing for students who need to write a social media essay or paper.

>> More ideas: Social Media Research Paper Topics

Content Marketing Research Topic Ideas

Content marketing is all about creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience. It's about storytelling, providing valuable information, and building relationships with customers. Here are some fascinating content marketing topics for research:

Marketing Research Topics in Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior explores how individuals, groups, and organizations select, use, and dispose of goods, services, or ideas. It seeks to understand the decision-making processes and what influences them. Consider these topics of marketing and consumer behavior:

B2B Marketing Project Topics

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing focuses on selling products or services to other organizations. This subfield offers a range of topics related to marketing research. Take a look at some of our suggestions:

>> View more: Business Topics to Write About

International Marketing Research Topics

International marketing focuses on understanding and responding to global opportunities. It requires a more extensive research approach with an eye towards cultural, political, and economic developments outside the home country. Explore these international market research ideas for papers:

Real Estate Marketing Research Topics

Real estate marketing involves understanding and responding to the needs of potential buyers, sellers, and investors in the property market. Go through these project topics in marketing related to real estate research:

Marketing Research Paper Topics in Distribution

The world of distribution is multi-layered and complex, intertwined with other key areas like logistics, supply chain management, and marketing. It's about ensuring products get into the hands of customers efficiently. Investigate this exciting area with these research topics in marketing field.

Neuromarketing Research Topics

Neuromarketing focuses on how psychological, cognitive, and emotional processes affect consumer behavior. It combines neuroscience with traditional marketing research for a deeper understanding of decision-making processes. Here are some interesting neuromarketing topics:

>> View more: Psychology Paper Topics

Influencer Marketing Topics for Research

Influencer marketing blends social media and advertising. It's an evolving field, ripe for research. We invite you to check these compelling research paper topics about marketing and influencers:

Ethical Marketing Research Paper Topics

Ethical marketing revolves around the principles of honesty, fairness, and responsibility in advertising practices. With an increasing emphasis on business ethics, research in this area can yield insightful findings. Consider these awesome research paper topics related to marketing and ethics:

Integrated Marketing Communication Research Topics

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) blends different promotional tools to deliver clear, consistent, and compelling messages. IMC is crucial for brands to create unified customer experiences. Here are original, attention-grabbing integrated marketing communication topics for research :

Marketing Analytics Research Topics

Marketing analytics employs data and metrics to measure the success of marketing initiatives, enabling informed business decisions. Here are groundbreaking topics that offer intriguing insights into marketing analytics:

Sport Marketing Topics to Write About

Sport marketing involves promoting teams, games, and related products to fans and broader audiences. It's an exciting field, mixing passion, business, and competition. Explore these sports marketing related topics if you are interested in this field:

Extra Marketing Research Paper Topics

Couldn't find a fitting topic in marketing? Don’t worry! We added some more ideas to choose from. Below are some additional topics you might like. Let’s continue your research on marketing topics together.

Marketing Presentation Topics

Presentations on marketing concepts can illuminate the strategies behind successful advertising campaigns, brand positioning, and customer engagement. These unique and original topics will provide an interesting spin on conventional marketing subjects:

Marketing Thesis Topics

Are you about to write a thesis or dissertation? Consider these pro-level marketing topics for thesis and dissertations:

Bottom Line on Marketing Topics for Research Papers

The marketing research paper topics and ideas attached above provide a great starting point for your project. But don't be afraid to address other angles related to the subject. Whatever you choose to study, make sure you draw clear connections between your sources and your argument. And if you need any help with writing or research, remember to contact our professional academic assistants.

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Marketing Research Topics for Students

research topics on marketing analytics

Marketing Research Topics Definition

How to choose a marketing research topic, list of marketing research topics, marketing topics for students, marketing research topics by subject.

Why Browsing Marketing Topics for Research Papers Matters?

Finding the right marketing research topic can be exciting and overwhelming. You want something that's interesting, relevant, and sparks curiosity. That's where we come in with a list of marketing research topics for your inspiration and motivation.

In this article, we've compiled a list of thought-provoking marketing research paper topics to help you get started. If you need help beyond simply ideas, request help from a research paper writer .

Marketing research topics encompass a wide range of subjects that delve into understanding consumer behavior, market trends, and strategic decision-making within the business sphere. These topics often involve investigating various aspects of marketing, such as advertising effectiveness, brand management, market segmentation, product development, pricing strategies, and distribution channels.

Researchers may explore such marketing topics as how consumers perceive and interact with brands, the influence of digital technologies on consumer purchasing habits, or the effectiveness of different marketing campaigns across different demographics. If you need awesome topics to write a research paper on , consult this article, too.

Choosing a marketing research paper topic can be a crucial step in ensuring the success of your study. Here are seven tips to help you select a compelling and feasible research topic:

Identify Your Interests and Expertise

Start by considering topics that align with your interests, expertise, and career goals. Research is more engaging and productive when passionate about the subject matter. Reflect on your background, skills, and areas of curiosity within the marketing field.

Explore Current Trends and Challenges

Stay updated on the latest trends, challenges, and emerging issues in the marketing industry. Look for a marketing research topic that addresses relevant issues or gaps in knowledge. Investigating current trends can make your research more impactful and valuable to practitioners and academics.

Analyze Your Target Audience

When selecting a research topic, consider your target audience's interests, needs, and preferences. Whether you're conducting research for academic purposes, industry professionals, or consumers, understanding your audience can help you tailor your topic to resonate with their interests and address relevant issues.

Conduct Preliminary Research

Before finalizing your marketing research topic, conduct preliminary research to explore existing literature, studies, and discussions related to your area of interest. This will help you understand the existing knowledge landscape, identify gaps or areas for further exploration, and refine your research questions.

Narrow Down Your Focus

Narrow down your topic to a specific research question or problem that is manageable within the scope of your resources and timeframe. Avoid overly broad or vague topics that may be challenging to explore in-depth. Clarify the objectives of your research and define the boundaries of your study.

Consider Feasibility and Resources

Assess the feasibility of your research topics in marketing in terms of available resources, data availability, access to participants, and practical constraints. Consider factors such as time, budget, access to technology, and research tools. Choose a topic that you can realistically investigate, given your constraints.

sources for marketing research topics

Evaluate Potential Impact

Evaluate your research topic's potential impact and significance within the marketing field. Will your study contribute new insights, theories, or practical implications? Consider your research's relevance and potential value to stakeholders, including practitioners, policymakers, and academics. Buy a research paper online from experts if a topic you like has few backup sources or you’re pressed for time.

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research topics on marketing analytics

Good Marketing Research Topics

Good marketing research paper topics are relevant, researchable, impactful, and offer opportunities for practical application, addressing pressing industry challenges or emerging trends while fostering meaningful discussion and contributing to knowledge advancement in the field.

Interesting Marketing Research Topics

A marketing topic becomes interesting when it explores novel trends, consumer behaviors, or innovative strategies. It offers insights that captivate curiosity, stimulate critical thinking, and have practical relevance in the evolving marketing landscape. If you have a topic but lack time to work on it, use our custom research paper service to expedite the writing process.

Best Marketing Research Topics

Marketing research topic ideas are considered the best when they are relevant, timely, and thought-provoking, and they provide valuable insights or solutions to current industry challenges or trends, fostering meaningful discussion, learning, and innovation.

Controversial Marketing Research Topics

Marketing ideas become controversial when they spark debate, challenge established norms or beliefs, elicit strong emotions or differing opinions, and involves ethical, societal, or cultural considerations that may be contentious or polarizing within the industry or among consumers.

Marketing Research Topics for College Students

College students may find marketing research ideas related to social media trends, influencer marketing, sustainable practices, and experiential brand activations particularly engaging, reflecting their interests, experiences, and values as digital natives and conscious consumers.

Marketing Research Topics for University Students

Marketing research paper ideas that delve into emerging trends, digital innovations, ethical considerations, and consumer behavior insights will likely captivate university students, providing practical relevance and stimulating discussions in today's dynamic marketing landscape.

Digital Marketing Research Topics

Digital marketing encompasses using digital channels and technologies to promote products or services, connect with target audiences, and achieve marketing objectives. Below, you will find a list of engaging research topics for marketing:

Strategic Marketing Research Topics

Strategic marketing is the process of planning, implementing, and managing marketing activities in alignment with overarching business objectives and long-term goals.

Social Media Marketing Research Topics

Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to promote products or services, build brand awareness, and engage with audiences, leveraging various social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others.

Content Marketing Research Topics

Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract, engage, and retain a target audience, with the goal of driving profitable customer action. Here are some relevant marketing topics for research:

B2B Marketing Research Topics

B2B marketing, or business-to-business marketing, focuses on promoting products or services from one business to another rather than directly to consumers.

Besides marketing, you should also learn what is an economic essay , as these subjects usually go hand in hand in college.

International Marketing Research Topics

International marketing involves planning, executing, and coordinating marketing activities across multiple countries or regions to reach and engage diverse target audiences effectively.

Marketing Research Paper Topics in Distribution

Here’s a list of excellent topics in marketing related to product distribution:

Neuromarketing Research Topics

Neuromarketing is an interdisciplinary field that applies neuroscience methods and insights to study consumers' responses to marketing stimuli, such as advertisements, products, and branding, aiming to understand the subconscious factors that influence purchasing decisions and optimize marketing strategies accordingly.

Influencer Marketing Topics for Research

Influencer marketing involves collaborating with individuals with a significant online following and influence over their audience to promote products or services, leveraging their credibility, trust, and reach to drive brand awareness, engagement, and consumer action.

Ethical Marketing Research Paper Topics

Ethical marketing refers to promoting products or services while adhering to principles of honesty, transparency, fairness, and social responsibility, ensuring that marketing activities respect consumer rights, cultural norms, and environmental sustainability.

Marketing Analytics Research Topics

Marketing analytics is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data to optimize marketing strategies and improve overall business performance.

Bottom Line: Why Browsing Marketing Topics for Research Papers Matters

Consulting various research paper topics allows students to broaden their understanding of different areas within their field of study, helping them discover new interests, deepen their knowledge, and develop critical thinking skills.

By exploring diverse topics, students can gain exposure to emerging trends, current debates, and innovative research methodologies, which can inform their research projects and academic pursuits. If you’d like to approach a professor and invite them to work with you jointly on a particular topic, use the services of an expert research proposal writer to increase your odds of cooperation with a subject thought leader.

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research topics on marketing analytics

Marketing Research Topics: 375 Ideas for Your Paper

research topics on marketing analytics

Are you a marketing student searching for fresh ideas for your next research paper? Marketing is a fascinating field where you can analyze why people buy certain products, how brands influence our choices, and what trends shape the industry. In this article, we've gathered all the best marketing research paper topics to help kickstart your brainstorming process. Whether you're into exploring the impact of social media on shopping habits or digging into the secrets of successful advertising, we've got something for everyone. So, let's get those creative juices flowing and find the perfect topic for your next paper!

The List of Marketing Research Topics

Presenting you with a list of insightful marketing topics for research that'll get your brain buzzing with ideas. We've got everything from exploring the latest trends in digital marketing to figuring out why people buy certain things. Each topic is handpicked to spark your curiosity and get you thinking deep. So, grab a pen and start uncovering fascinating subject matters together! ‘What if I want to pay someone to write my paper ?’ Then, you’re also at the right place – our expert marketing and MBA writers are online and waiting for your orders.

Marketing Research Topics

Digital Marketing Topics

Digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels, such as websites, social media, email, search engines, and mobile apps, to promote products or services, engage with audiences, and drive business growth. Here are some interesting marketing research paper topics related to the digital product promotion:

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Trending Marketing Topics

Trending marketing involves leveraging current cultural, social, or industry trends to create timely and relevant marketing campaigns that resonate with target audiences and capitalize on the momentum of popular topics or phenomena. These topics will definitely help:

Good Marketing Research Topics

Good marketing involves effectively communicating the value of a product or service to the target audience, creating meaningful connections, and ultimately driving desired actions or behaviors while maintaining ethical standards and delivering customer satisfaction. If you’re looking for marketing research topics for college students, here are some good ideas: 

Social Media Marketing Research Topics

Social media marketing entails using social media platforms to connect with audiences, build brand awareness, engage users through content creation and interaction, and ultimately drive traffic, leads, and sales for businesses or organizations. Now, let’s engage with the following topics:

Content Marketing Research Topics

Content marketing involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a target audience, ultimately driving profitable customer action. Consider our custom coursework writing service if you need hands-on help rather than topics alone. Here are some inspiring topics:

B2B Marketing Project Topics

B2B marketing, short for business-to-business marketing, focuses on promoting products or services from one business to another, often involving longer sales cycles, relationship-building strategies, and tailored messaging to address the unique needs and challenges of business customers. Consider these marketing topics for research in the doman of B2B:

Green Marketing Project Topics

Green marketing, also known as sustainable marketing or environmental marketing, involves promoting products or services that are environmentally friendly or produced in a sustainable manner, aiming to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers and contribute to positive environmental outcomes. For sustainable marketing research paper topics, contemplate these options:

MBA Marketing Project Topics

MBA Marketing refers to a specialized area of study within a Master of Business Administration program that focuses on developing strategic marketing skills, analytical capabilities, and leadership qualities necessary for managing marketing functions in diverse industries and organizational contexts. Analyze the following topic ideas:

Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

Artificial Intelligence in Marketing involves the utilization of AI technologies such as machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analytics to analyze vast amounts of data, automate repetitive tasks, personalize customer experiences, optimize marketing campaigns, and drive more effective decision-making processes within the marketing domain. These topics will help you get started:

Affiliate Marketing Topics

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where businesses reward affiliates for driving traffic or sales to their products or services through the affiliate's marketing efforts, typically via referral links, promotional content, or other forms of digital outreach, with affiliates earning a commission for each successful referral or sale they generate. Here are some brilliant topics:

Marketing Plan Topics

According to the definition of what is a marketing plan , it is a comprehensive document that outlines an organization's marketing objectives, strategies, tactics, and action plans to achieve its business goals within a specified time frame, typically including market analysis, target audience identification, positioning strategies, marketing mix decisions, budget allocation, and performance metrics to measure success and guide ongoing marketing efforts. Here are some compelling research paper topics about marketing:

Marketing Topics for Presentation

A marketing presentation is a visual and verbal communication tool used to convey key marketing messages, strategies, and insights to an audience, often including stakeholders, clients, or internal teams, through engaging slides, compelling storytelling, and interactive elements, with the goal of informing, persuading, or inspiring action related to marketing initiatives, campaigns, or projects. Review these topics:

Email Marketing Topics

Email marketing involves the use of email as a communication channel to send targeted messages to a specific audience, typically consisting of subscribers or customers, with the aim of promoting products, services, events, or other offerings, nurturing customer relationships, driving engagement, and ultimately achieving marketing objectives such as lead generation, sales conversion, or brand awareness. Review these marketing research paper topics regarding email product promotion:

Influencer Marketing Research Topics

Influencer marketing is a strategy where brands collaborate with individuals who have a significant online following and influence within a particular niche or industry, known as influencers, to promote their products or services to their audience in an authentic and engaging manner, leveraging the influencer's credibility, authority, and reach to increase brand visibility, credibility, and ultimately drive consumer engagement and purchase decisions. Let’s consider the following ideas:

Sales and Marketing Topics

Sales in marketing refer to the process of converting leads or prospects into paying customers through personalized interactions, effective communication, and persuasive techniques, often involving activities such as prospecting, lead qualification, presentations, negotiations, and closing deals, with the overarching goal of generating revenue and fostering long-term customer relationships to drive business growth. Here are some topic examples for you:

How to Choose a Marketing Research Topic

Selecting a great topic involves a blend of personal interest, industry relevance, and academic viability. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you choose perfect marketing research topics for college students:

Consider what aspects of marketing intrigue you the most. Are you passionate about consumer behavior, branding, digital marketing, or marketing strategy? Your enthusiasm for the topic will keep you engaged throughout the research process.

Stay updated on the latest developments in the marketing field. Look for trends, challenges, or controversies that pique your interest. Topics of emerging technologies, changing consumer preferences, or environmental sustainability often offer rich research opportunities.

Conduct a literature review to familiarize yourself with existing research in your areas of interest. Identify gaps or unanswered questions that you could explore further. Consider recent studies, theoretical frameworks, and methodologies that may inspire your research.

Think about how your research topic could contribute to real-world marketing practices. What practical implications or strategic insights could businesses derive from your findings? Choosing a topic with practical relevance can enhance the impact of your research.

Assess the feasibility of your chosen topic regarding available resources, data availability, and time constraints. Make sure that your research question is manageable within the scope of your project or academic assignment. Consider accessing relevant data sources, research tools, and academic support.

Discuss your ideas with your instructor, academic advisor, or peers. They can offer valuable feedback, suggest alternative perspectives, or help you refine your research question. Collaborating with others can enrich your thinking and provide new insights into potential research topics.

Remain open to adjusting your research topic or approach based on new insights or feedback. Be willing to explore different avenues and adapt your focus as you delve deeper into the research process. Remember that flexibility is key to navigating the complexities of academic research. As an MBA student, you will also find these PowerPoint presentation tips useful, as it is another assignment you’ll often deal with during your course.

Finding engaging marketing topics for research is immensely beneficial for students as it cultivates critical thinking skills, fosters creativity, and enhances academic growth. By engaging in research, students deepen their understanding of marketing principles, theories, and practices, gaining insights into industry trends and consumer behavior. Research projects allow students to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world scenarios, honing their analytical and problem-solving capabilities. 

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What are some good marketing research topics, what are the possible topics in marketing research.

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150+ Unique Marketing Research Topics for Your Upcoming Projects

Marketing Research Topics

Marketing has developed into a massive industry with various specialized sectors. It is a broad field of study that includes different sectors of marketing. In the current era, marketing encompasses digital marketing, and, along with digital and traditional marketing, it is associated with various other marketing branches. Understandably, you feel speculative in this challenging position. After all, finding relevant marketing research topics is not that easy for most students.

When you write a research paper on marketing, you have to prove that you can systematically articulate your thoughts, find appropriate sources of information, and analyze data accordingly. But do not forget that this is only possible if you have a relevant research topic in marketing. In such a situation, we have got you covered!

This article will find some non-trivial and equally unique marketing research topics. We included topics on every possible marketing niche because we wanted topics from every niche.

Table of Contents

Selecting Marketing Research Topics

Before you begin sifting through the offered marketing topics, we suggest you first become acquainted with the selection procedure. The upcoming research paper will discuss your hard work, efforts, and skills. So, the research topic should also be about something that interests you. Take your time. Start researching certain research areas. So, for starters, brainstorm different marketing fields for which you wouldn’t mind delving deeper into the details.

Navigate Different Branches of Marketing

Nowadays, with marketing getting widespread, there are many marketing fields to accommodate your research. Analyze different marketing branches and then think about what fascinates you the most. Next, narrow those lists and start researching more about those topics. Just because marketing is complex doesn’t mean you must be stuck swimming in executive suite jargon to try to make sense of it. We are sure that in the end, you will come up with something extravagantly interesting and unique simultaneously.

Look For Your Marketing Interests

Reading and writing come with a few terms and conditions, and the most important is that the topic must be fascinating .  So, the initial step would be to sit and jot down topics in marketing that you’re interested in. When you are interested in something, you automatically become passionate about that field of study. It will constantly motivate you to dig deeper and find relevant sources to support your research theories.

Investigate Factual Topics

Remember, a research paper is not a comprehensive narrative that can be dragged out indefinitely. A lot of research and hard work are required to draught a successful research paper. It is more than just assignment writing , which we used to do in high school. So, ensure that your research topic concludes with practical data and information. Conduct thorough research to make sure you can go a long way to providing comprehensive research about your topic. Enumerate a list of credible sources to support your hypothesis and arguments.

For Conceptualized Ideas, Google Marketing Research Topics

When you start browsing for “marketing topics for research,” you will get a whole list of Scholarly Ideas Based On Such Topics. Scrolling Through Those Lists Would Be The Best Approach For you. There are hundreds of possible themes for your paper, and you’ll undoubtedly find at least a handful that intrigues you.

Narrow Down Your Topic’s Approach

When you have compiled a few marketing topics, your next step will be narrowing them down. See if the following research topics consist of enough credible sources or not. For successful research, it is essential to choose a topic that will create an impact in your prescribed field. So select a research field that has never been invested in before or at least something in which you can show a whole new perspective.

 Select the Topic

Topics that have been well examined will give you many references for blackening your arguments. To make your contribution to the discipline, look for research elements that have yet to be thoroughly investigated.

150+ Research Topics in Marketing

We understand finding marketing topics for research can be a tough job to handle. After all, marketing is such a vast field that sometimes deciding what topic you want to work on can be challenging. In such cases, we have enumerated a list of marketing topics to help you frame an excellent research paper.

We have classified these topics into different sections, which can help you choose according to your field of interest. Explore these lists of hot marketing research topics to ensure you select a topic that piques your interest.

Marketing Research Topics Related to Consumer Behavior

Marketing goods and services for personal consumption refers to consumer marketing. Or at least this is the first thing that pops up in our minds. Similarly, consumer behavior refers to studying consumers’ behavioral changes or individuals associated with a purchase.

The following topics are intended to be diverse, fascinating, and captivating for your marketing research. Have a look at them and select whatever suits you the best.

Read Also –

Influential Marketing Topics Regarding the Digital Market

In this digital age, digital marketing is undoubtedly becoming the most crucial aspect of the marketing world. If you are interested in digital marketing, the following juicy digital marketing research topics might guide you in the right direction.

Distribution Marketing Topics for Research

Every firm, either new or established, requires a well-defined distribution channel for distributing its products or goods to customers. Have a look at these top-notch topics for your marketing assignment writing :

Social Media Marketing Research Topic Suggestions

In this digital era, more than one-fourth of the population is connected to some social media platform. Here are some suggestions for marketing research questions or topics regarding social marketing.

Sports Marketing Research Topics

Sports marketing is a substantial source of revenue, which is why research in this field is essential for different researchers. Here are some sport marketing ideas for you to examine.

Topic Ideas for Content Marketing

With the constant evolution in digital marketing, there has also been a significant boost in content marketing. In recent years, many students have used content marketing as their MBA dissertation topics . Let’s have a look at some excellent content marketing topics:

Marketing Topics for Research on Print Media

Print media is the most traditional and fundamental alternative for public communication. You can use print media research topics as your marketing project topics or dissertation topics. Let’s have a look at the following print marketing research topics that can be valuable for you:

Relationship Marketing Project Topics

Relationship marketing is a Client Relationship Management (CRM) approach that focuses on customer retention, satisfaction, and lifetime value. Here is a list of some unique relationship marketing project topics for you:

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Non-Profit Marketing Research Topic Ideas

Non-profit marketing is continuously increasing day by day. In the last few years, various researchers have chosen non-profit marketing research areas as their research topics. Let’s have a look at some of the excellent research topics regarding NPOs:

Strategic Marketing Questions and Topics for Research

If you are someone with a strategist’s attitude, then chances are that you’ll find these strategic marketing research topics intriguing.

Read Also – 150+ Business Research Topics

Marketing Research Topics Regarding Advertising

Still not able to select your marketing topics? Hang up! We’re sure this list of exciting marketing research topics will help you.

International Marketing Research Paper Topics

Marketing is the global stage where most entrepreneurs get to connect. If you are considering choosing international marketing as your research area, then the following international marketing research topics are a win-win for you!

Pandemic-Related Marketing Research Paper Topics

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the rule book of several entrepreneurs. It questioned the established norms of the current human relationship and brand development. So much has recently changed that there’s no turning back to the old routine. Here are some new pandemic-related marketing topics for research:

Summing Up!!

Hopefully, these topics in marketing will inspire you to create some exciting research areas. Our sole purpose behind aggregating these marketing topics was to provide students with a clear perspective on marketing research that is relevant in this existing world. In other words, we intended to publish the most recent marketing research issues that would benefit readers and researchers.

If you’re still unsure about your research field, we recommend you consult your adviser or a paper help service provider. Your professor and an online expert can help you make the best decision. So, don’t hesitate to use their expertise and guidance.

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100 best marketing research topics for all.

marketing research topics

Because of the many aspects of marketing, choosing marketing topics to write about may put one in a dicey situation. This article provides some hot topics in marketing that will help you select an area of focus and select relevant topics from that niche. From marketing research topics for college students to social issues in marketing, we have got you covered! So sit down and relax as we take you through the list of marketing research topics our professional writers prepared just for you!

Marketing Thesis Topics

Are you in need of well-thought-out marketing thesis topics and marketing dissertation topics? Then you’re in the right place! This list of marketing paper topics presented will give you a distinct thesis/dissertation.

Current Marketing Issues

There are numerous marketing issues around the world today. These global marketing issues threaten the survival of many businesses and the economy at large. Here is a list of current marketing issues!

Marketing Research Topics

Getting marketing topics for research has been made considerably more comfortable with this list of marketing research paper topics. Ready to explore the marketing research topics we have, let’s delve right in!

Digital Marketing Blog Topics

Digital marketing remains a very important aspect of marketing in the world today. Here are some very juicy digital marketing topics you can write a great blog on!

Marketing Essay Topics

Content Marketing Topics

Strategic Marketing Problems

There are many marketing problems in companies and businesses that threaten to cripple the advancement of the industry. Here is a list of some marketing problems you may be willing to proffer solutions to.

Marketing Blog Topics

Controversial Marketing Topics

Sport Marketing Research Topics

Sports marketing continues to remain a significant source of revenue. Hence, research in this area will continue to stay relevant. Here are some sport marketing topics you could consider working on.

Marketing Presentation Topics

International Marketing Topics

Marketing connects the global world, and this is why it is essential to marketing development. Here are some international marketing topics to consider!

Marketing Plan Topics

Ethical Issues In Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Topics

Congratulations! We hope you have been able to guide you in choosing your desired topic in marketing successfully. Alo, you can check out our business topics. We wish you the best in your research!

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Non-Trivial Marketing Research Paper Topics for Your Next Essay

Updated 17 Jun 2024

marketing research paper topics

Marketing is a very broad field. Today, it even encompasses the field of digital marketing and all of its sub-branches such as content and social media one. You can easily find yourself in a tough spot, unable to choose marketing research paper topics to write your paper about and that's when important to remember about the precise work our research paper writing service can provide.

Research papers deal with specific fields of marketing, strategies, case studies, and unique situations. As a student, you can leverage your research paper assignment to showcase your ability to think independently, find and use relevant sources of information, and analyze data.

Choosing the right marketing research topics can help you succeed in all these tasks. Below, you will find a list of over 100 powerful topics carefully selected by our professional team.

How to Choose a Relevant Topic for Your Research

Before you start combing through our list, you should learn how to choose the right topic on Marketing. Below are some useful tips for you to consider:

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List of Marketing Research Paper Topics

If you are looking for some general, non-specific research topic, the following 50 topic ideas can prove valuable to you.

Digital Marketing Topics for Research Papers

If you have to write a research paper on digital marketing, the following ideas will help guide you in the right direction.

Content Marketing Topic Ideas

Thirty years ago Bill Gates said, “Content is king”. It still is. If this sounds interesting to research, here are some topics you can use for your inspiration.

Artificial Intelligence in Marketing

AI is revolutionizing marketing through personalized advertising, chatbots, predictive analytics, and more.

Strategic Marketing Problems

If you have a mindset of a strategist, the following paper topics that address strategic problems will be interesting to you.

Social Media Marketing Research Paper Topics

With billions of people using social media platforms daily, social media provides excellent marketing opportunities. Here are some topic ideas dedicated to social media.

Consumer Behavior Research Topics

If you’re interested in consumer behavior and the purchasing decision-making process, you’ll find the following topics interesting.

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Choosing the right topic for your research is not always as easy as it may seem. These 100 marketing research topics are here to make the entire process easier for you. Don’t forget to acknowledge your research paper requirements when you are choosing the topic. Picking a well-researched topic that you are personally interested in is the best thing to do. If it is impossible to complete your assignment before the deadline, EduBirdie’s professional essay writers are here to help you out.

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    Explore Top Marketing Research Topics in our blog—empowering businesses with insights. From analytics to surveys, discover topics for strategic decision-making. 01344203999 - Available 24/7. ... Analysis of social media marketing's influence on customer behaviour . k) Relationship dynamics between influencer marketing and lifestyle branding ...

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  6. 71+ Research Paper Topics & Ideas for Marketing Students

    Nonprofit Marketing. Market Segmentation & Targeting. Internet Marketing. Marketing Planning & Forecasting. Product Design & Positioning. Direct Marketing. Advertising. Purchasing & Materials Management. Hopefully, these marketing thesis topics will help you come up with a few topics of your own.

  7. Marketing Analytics: Measure, Analyze & Manage Data

    Marketing Analytics: Measure the Impact of Marketing. Marketing teams aspire to reach higher levels of maturity, understand ROI, inform investments and optimize campaigns. By leveraging advanced marketing analytics methods and technologies, organizations can better articulate the full impact of marketing investments. Download our research to:

  8. Research Topics In Marketing (+ Free Webinar)

    Here, we'll explore a variety of marketing-related research ideas and topic thought-starters, covering both traditional marketing (offline media) and digital marketing (including social media marketing, content marketing and the like). We'll also look at actual dissertations and theses from marketing students to give you a view of what a ...

  9. What Is Marketing Analytics?

    Marketing analytics is the process of tracking and analyzing data from marketing efforts, often to reach a quantitative goal. Insights gleaned from marketing analytics can enable organizations to improve their customer experiences, increase the return on investment (ROI) of marketing efforts, and craft future marketing strategies.

  10. Mapping research in marketing: trends, influential papers and agenda

    The purpose of this study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the 100 most influential academic marketing research and to identify trending research topics in the marketing field with a focus on synthesizing data from existing studies, which will facilitate researchers in literature search and academic evaluation, as well as guide them to ...

  11. The state of marketing analytics in research and practice

    5) Marketing analytics inv olves the collection, management, and anal ysis—descriptive, diagnostic, predictive, and prescriptive—of data to obtain. insights into marketing performance ...

  12. 370+ Marketing Research Topics & Ideas for Your Paper

    We invite you to check these compelling research paper topics about marketing and influencers: Measuring return on investment in influencer marketing. How micro-influencers impact small business growth. Authenticity versus promotion: Striking a balance. Ethics in influencer marketing: A critical review.

  13. Marketing Analytics: What It Is, Why It's Important and More

    Using marketing analytics to develop marketing strategies. After collecting data, it's important to identify any patterns the set may contain and use them to make data-driven decisions and refine your marketing strategy.Oftentimes, this requires being able to understand and interpret the data you've gathered, like knowing what an optimal bounce rate or clickthrough rate is.

  14. Marketing Articles, Research, & Case Studies

    Ferran Adrià, chef at legendary Barcelona-based restaurant elBulli, was facing two related decisions. First, he and his team must continue to develop new and different dishes for elBulli to guarantee a continuous stream of innovation, the cornerstone of the restaurant's success. But they also need to focus on growing the restaurant's business.

  15. Marketing Research Topics: 340 Compelling Ideas

    Strategic Marketing Research Topics. Strategic marketing is the process of planning, implementing, and managing marketing activities in alignment with overarching business objectives and long-term goals. Competitive analysis in the digital age. Niche targeting through segmentation.

  16. Guide on Marketing Research Topics

    Digital marketing refers to the use of digital channels, such as websites, social media, email, search engines, and mobile apps, to promote products or services, engage with audiences, and drive business growth. Here are some interesting marketing research paper topics related to the digital product promotion: Email marketing strategies.

  17. Marketing analytics: Methods, practice, implementation, and links to

    Abstract. Marketing analytics is a diverse field, with both academic researchers and practitioners coming from a range of backgrounds including marketing, expert systems, statistics, and operations research. This paper provides an integrative review at the boundary of these areas. The aim is to give researchers in the intelligent and expert ...

  18. 32 questions with answers in MARKETING ANALYTICS

    3.And now the time Big data is the bloom in technology so where it is there is the economical bloom (I mean the application) 4.Yes, businesses analysis is also another relevant area where the ...

  19. Python for marketing research and analytics

    The book presents a hands-on approach to using Python for real marketing questions, organized by key topic areas. Following the Python scientific computing movement toward reproducible research, the book presents all analyses in Colab notebooks, which integrate code, figures, tables, and annotation in a single file. The code notebooks for each ...

  20. 150+ Unique Marketing Research Topics for Your Upcoming Projects

    Have a look at these top-notch topics for your marketing assignment writing: The distribution mechanism in SMEs and large-scale corporations. The impact of strategic and tactical causes marketing on brand loyalty among customers. Best strategies for incorporating new items into the lifestyles of the targeted clients.

  21. Top 100 Marketing Research Topics For Your Paper

    The effect of social media on buying choices. Online purchasing: a study of the product characteristics buyers look for. An exploration of the differences in marketing strategies across cultures. Manipulation tactics: how brands can get more customers. A study of how customer loyalty is affected by brand image.

  22. 100+ Amazing Marketing Research Paper Topics Ideas

    If you are looking for some general, non-specific research topic, the following 50 topic ideas can prove valuable to you. The Relation Between Brand Awareness and Repeat Purchases. Components That Help Improve Brand Performance. Marketing and Company Reputation: The Best Strategies to Use.

  23. Things are getting heated: AI newsletter 1 July 2024

    Market moves YouTube is looking to secure a deal with record labels to licence their songs for AI music generators, the Financial Times reported on 26 June, citing three people familiar with the ...

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