Marketing Research Proposal for IMC 611

1. Market Research Proposal
March 2, 2016
Prepared by:
Renee Watkins
Watkins Creative
904 Vermont Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
Prepared for:
fi360 Management Team
fi360
10 Emerson Lane
Bridgeville. PA 15234

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Table of Contents
Introduction...............................................................................................................................................................2
Background................................................................................................................................................................2
Statement of the Problem...........................................................................................................................................3
Research Objectives....................................................................................................................................................3
Recommended Methodology......................................................................................................................................4
Data Collection Method..............................................................................................................................................5
Analytical Plan............................................................................................................................................................5
Deliverables ...............................................................................................................................................................9
Appendix....................................................................................................................................................................9
References...............................................................................................................................................................22

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Introduction
In January, fi360’s Chief Marketing Officer Suzy Teele contacted Watkins Creative inquiring about our
services. fi360, once the only provider of fiduciary-based education training, is now facing increased
competition in the marketplace. As a result, Suzy Teele and fi360’s senior management team are looking for
ways fend off competitors and while increasing sales of its Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®)
designation training program. Watkins Creative is eager to take on this challenge. Watkins Creative has been
in business for over 10 years and has helped major brands such as Hershey’s, BNY Mellon, PNC, and Heinz
achieve similar objectives in the past. Moreover, Watkins Creative will never sign more than 5 brands at a
time, ensuring your brand and its objectives receives the attention it deserves. At Watkins Creative, fi360 is
not just another client for our books. Instead, your brand and it’s objectives are our priority.
Background
fi360 has been helping its clients gather, grow, and protect assets through better investment and business
decision-making. fi360 provides innovative solutions to financial service providers, including the Accredited
Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) and Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst® (AIFA®) designation programs,
the fi360 Toolkit™ investment software platform, and fi360 Fiduciary Score®. (fi360, n.d.).
fi360’s AIF® designation training program was the core product that fi360 was founded around. Founded back
in 1999, fi360’s AIF® designation training program was the first of its kind as it provided investment
professionals with the knowledge, understanding, and process based tools they need to act in a fiduciary
capacity for the clients in which they serve. fi360’s AIF® Training program remained virtually unchallenged in
the market place for several years.
However, in April 2015, President Obama and the Department of Labor announced they would be moving
forward with the fiduciary rule. This proposed ruling will require retirement advisors to abide by a fiduciary
standard and put their clients’ best interests before their own profits. (The United States Department of Labor,
n.d.). As a result, fi360’s Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) designation training program, is now facing
increase competition from other financial institutions and organizations who are developing and releasing their
own fiduciary-based educational training programs.

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Statement of the Problem
This sudden increase in competition places the fi360 management team in a position where it needs to
determine the AIF®’s unique points-of-difference that will help leverage the AIF® as the industry’s most sought
after fiduciary-based education program among investment professionals in the United States. In other words,
fi360 needs to find ways to generate more brand awareness and sales, while fending off the increasing amount
of competitors entering the market each day.
fi360 can leverage marketing research to answer to these questions. However, as we progress through the
RFP, it’s important to remember who we are talking about when we say investment professionals. Based off
previously conducted marketing research obtained from the Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) designation
and the Department of Labor’s websites, Watkins Creative was able to determine that fi360’s target market is
comprised of demographics located in the appendix.
Research Objectives
Based on the identified statement of the problem, Watkins Creative developed three marketing research
objectives. Below is a list of these objectives, the type of marketing research which needs obtained in order to
fulfill these objectives, as well as we plan on obtaining this information..
Research Objective #1: Determine the level of awareness of the AIF® product line. This particular information
will be obtained through a pre-determined interviewer administered survey, which is located in the appendix
section of the RFP. Watkins Creative will collect information pertaining to investment professional’s brand
awareness of the AIF® designation training program by surveying 100 investment management professionals
from around the United States.
Research Objective #2: Develop a demographic profile of the most likely and easily won customers. On
behalf of fi360, Watkins Creative will develop a demographic profile of the most likely and easily won
customers by performing second hand research. Watkins Creative will view the CFP® Board’s annual
publication of CFP® certificant demographics and the Department of Labor’s demographic information on
financial advisors to compile a complete and thorough target audience profile. Furthermore, fi360 will review

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the interviewer administered survey to gain additional intelligence in order to predict when a member of the
certain demographic is more likely to purchase the AIF® designation training over other investment
management professionals.
Research Objective #3: Determine the best message (and keywords) to communicate with the target market.
To obtain this information, Watkins Creative will leverage fi360’s Google Analytics’ account and the pre-
determined interviewer survey. Google Analytics will allow the brand to understand what keywords are driving
consumers to fi360’s website and how they related to the AIF® designation training product. The pre-
determined survey will provide the brand insight on whether the pending fiduciary rule is driving investment
more professionals to fiduciary-based training and if this should be a key message in fi360’s marketing efforts.
Recommended Methodology
Research Design
In order to fulfill the predetermined research objectives, Watkins Creative will utilize and leverage both
exploratory research methods and descriptive research methods through the pre-determined interviewer
survey. Exploratory research will help fi360 expand their understanding of the investment management
professionals. Exploratory research provides richer quality information that can potentially lead to the
discovery of new initiatives or problems that should be addressed. This type of research will also help fi360
learn what the target audience is doing to prepare for the fiduciary rule, if the pending fiduciary ruling is driving
the need for fiduciary-education in today’s market place, what client’s look for when selecting a fiduciary-based
education training program, and more.
By adding elements of descriptive research into the pre-determined interviewer survey, fi360 will be able to
easily quantify its target audience’s opinions, attitudes, and behaviors when it comes to fiduciary-based
educational training. These type of survey questions will not give the unique insights on issues like exploratory
research will. However, it will allow fi360 to group responses into predetermined choices that will measure the
significance of the results on the overall target market. Through descriptive research, fi360 will be able to

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learn more about the target’s audience brand awareness of the AIF® training program as well as their attitudes
and thoughts towards the program.
Data Collection Method
As previously mentioned, fi360 will collect this data through a pre-determined interviewer survey. The
interview will take place over the phone.
Sample Plan
fi360 will interview 100 investment professionals at their office. The numbers will be supplied by the industry’s
most extensive database, RIA Database. Each survey participant will be asked if they currently provide
investment advice to clients. Only those who directly provide investment advice to clients will be administered
the survey in its entirety.
Analytical Plan
Once fi360 obtains its 100 completed interviews, the brand must begin to turn the collected data into
information. fi360 will do this through data processing and data analysis.
Data Processing
Data processing is comprised of 5 steps. Validating and editing, coding, data entry, machine cleaning
of data, and tabulation and statistical analysis. (West Virginia University, 2016).
Validation and Editing
Validation involves checking for interviewer cheating as well as failure to follow instructions and
procedures. (West Virginia University, 2016). To validate that the interviews took place, fi360 will
contact 20 of the survey participants to determine that the person was in fact interviewed, that the
interviewed person provides investment advice to clients, and that the phone interview was
conducted in its entirety. fi360 will ensure that the survey was completed in its entirety by asking the

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validation respondents if they were asked various questions from different points in the interview.
fi360 will also manually check the paper questionnaires twice to ensure that the proper skip logic was
followed. This step helps fi360 ensure the quality and reliability of the data collected. If any data was
omitted from the questionnaire, fi360 will reconnect with the respondent to obtain the omitted data. If
there is not enough time to reconnect with the respondent, fi360 must unfortunately discard the
interview in question.
Coding
Coding is the process of grouping and assigning numeric codes to the responses to a particular
question. (McDaniel, 2015). Most of fi360’s questions in this particular questionnaire are closed-
ended and pre-coded. Therefore, numeric codes have already been assigned to the various
responses in the questionnaire. However, when it comes to the open-ended questions, coding
demands careful attention and can be particularly time consuming. Therefore, fi360 will first compile
verbatim lists of the responses to each open-ended question or option. Once these samples are
compiled fi360 will consolidate the response for each question into mutually exclusive categories and
set numerical codes for each categories. fi360 will then begin to enter these codes by reviewing the
responses to individual open-ended questions on the questionnaires. fi360 will match the individual
responses with the consolidated list of response categories and determine the appropriate code in the
electronic database. Each response will be assigned a code so it can be easily processed and
analyzed by fi360.
Data Entry
Once all the information is validated, edited, and coded, it must be converted to electronic form for
analysis. Today’s technological systems are programmed to check for out-of-range numbers, invalid
codes, or skip patterns, which helps further ensure data accuracy. fi360 will have the a data entry
operator seated in front of their personal computer and will have them enter the respondent’s
answer’s directly into fi360’s technological system.

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Machine Cleaning of Data
Once all of the data is in the computer, specific questionnaire routines should be written to determine
violations. This is the final error-checking step.
Tabulation and Statistical Analysis
Finally, fi360 will tabulate and analyze the data to determine the results. fi360 will utilize one-way
frequency tables to show the number of respondents who gave each possible answer to each
question. These tables will indicate the percentage of those responding who gave each possible
response to a question.
Data Analysis Plan
Once the data is validated and ready for analysis, fi360 will complete the following data analysis plan.
First, fi360 will perform a descriptive analysis to describe the sample data and what a typical
respondent looks like. A descriptive analysis will allow fi360 to determine the average respondent’s
age, years of experience, their firm’s specialties and assets under management, their attitudes
towards the pending fiduciary rule, if they are seeking fiduciary-based educational training as a result
of the pending litigation, and their thoughts around the fi360’s AIF® Training. This information will
help fi360 determine both brand awareness, if the pending fiduciary rule is the correct marketing
message to lead with, and the demographics and trends of the most easily won customers.
fi360 will compile this information through the use of descriptive statistics that show the number and
percentage of the respondents choosing each answer in the questionnaire. The measure of central
tendency, or mean will convey to fi360 the average response as well as the difference in percentage
between each response. fi360 will also compute the mode by finding the value that occurs most
frequently.
After completing a descriptive analysis, fi360 will begin to focus and perform differences analysis.
fi360 will compare those individuals who have considered in enrolling in a fiduciary-based educational

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training and to those who have not. fi360 can generally assume that those individuals who have
considered fiduciary-based training in the past, are more likely to be converted into customers than
others who have not considered fiduciary-based training in the past. fi360 will compare the different
group’s age, years of experience, firm specialties, firms assets under management, their biggest
concerns surrounding the pending fiduciary rule, what they are doing to prepare themselves for the
pending fiduciary rule, and what their firms are doing to help prepare them for the pending fiduciary
rule. Through this descriptive analysis, fi360 will look for trends that will help fi360 better determine
who is the brand’s most likely and easily won customers, the best marketing message to
communicate with this target market, and if fi360’s marketing message should leverage the pending
fiduciary rule in hopes of raising client conversion rates or if another trending topic or reason is a
better message. Specific measurements for this will include central tendency statistics, dispersion,
and frequencies.
When preparing this information, fi360 will used a discriminant analysis to compare those who have
expressed interest in fiduciary-based training versus those who did not express interest when
completing the questionnaire. fi360 will cross examine how each of these groups and how they
answered the questionnaire. fi360 will look for emerging trends and patterns that may come to light
during this process, in hopes of finding a common pattern between demographics and attitudes
between the various questions. Specific measurements include the t-test for significant differences
and p-value to prove the actual probability of these differences.
fi360 will also engaged is associative analysis. Associative analysis examines the relationship,
strength, and direction between two or more variables. fi360 will examine those individuals who
responded that they have considered fiduciary-based training vs those who haven’t to determine if
there is any type of trending demographics, trends in brand awareness, and attitudes towards the
AIF® designation between each grouping category. Additionally, cross-tabulation tables will be
broken out for the two categories under consideration. Specific measurements will include the chi

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square test to statistically determine the relationships and direction, correlation coefficients, and cross
tabulation tables.
Lastly, fi360 should perform a multivariate analysis, which will simultaneously analyze multiple
measurements on those who researched fiduciary-based training vs. those who did not, the various
age demographics and employees of specific firms who considered fiduciary-based training in the
past vs. those who did not, and more. By entering this type of information into a multiple discriminant
analysis, fi360 will be able to predict who will more than likely register for fiduciary-based educational
training in the future and what group is more likely to be convert into customers.
Deliverables
Watkins creative will deliver a final research report that includes an executive summary, table of contents,
background information on the subject, research objectives, research methodology, findings from the data
analysis, conclusions and recommendations, and an appendix of supporting documents. Noteworthy
subdocuments and features of this report will include a target demographic report, a complete survey filled with
interviewer instructions, tables and graphics for the visualization of data analysis, and an abbreviated report
that summarizes Watkins Creative’s major findings from the marketing research done on behalf of fi360.
These documents will be delivered in their entirety in 6 months.
Appendix
The appendix will include the questionnaire, secondary Watkins Creative found online, and a target
audience demographic report.

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Questionnaire
Interviewer Instructions
Purpose: To determine if the pending fiduciary rule will directly increase fiduciary-based education
training sales in today’s marketplace and to determine the brand awareness and views of fi360’s
Accredited Investment Fiduciary® (AIF®) training program.
Staff: 3 – 4 experienced interviewers per shift
Location: Interviewers will call investment professionals at their office. Numbers will be supplied by
RIA Database.
Quota: 100 completed interviews
Projected materials: For this study, you are supplied with 125 questionnaires and a pen.
Introduction to Questionnaire
Hello, my name is ___________, and I’m calling you from fi360. Today we are calling to gather your
opinions on the department of labor’s pending fiduciary rule and some of the fiduciary-based
education training programs in today’s marketplace. We are no selling anything. This study will take
approximately 25 minutes and may be monitored and recorded for quality purposes. We would
appreciate your time. May I include your opinions?
Questionnaire
1. In your current role, do you directly provide investment advice to clients?
a. Yes (CONTINUE TO Q.2)
b. No (TERMINATE)

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2. When providing investment advice to your clients, do you currently act in a fiduciary capacity?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Sometimes
3. Are you aware that the pending fiduciary rule will force all investment professionals to act in a
fiduciary capacity when providing investment advice to clients?
a. Yes
b. No
4. Are you prepared to comply with the pending litigation?
a. Yes
b. No
c. Somewhat
5. What are your biggest concerns surrounding the pending litigation?
a. Mitigating compliance risk
b. Documenting a prudent investment process
c. Managing my practice in an efficient manner
d. Being able to stand out from competition now that everyone is a fiduciary
e. Other ______________________________________________________

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6. What is your practice doing to prepare for the fiduciary rule?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
7. What are you doing as an individual to prepare yourself for the fiduciary rule?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
8. Have you considered enrolling in one of the industry’s fiduciary-based education training
programs to help you better prepare for the fiduciary rule?
a. Yes (CONTINUE WITH Q. 10)
b. No
9. Why haven’t you considered enrolling in fiduciary-based education training?
___________________________________________________________________________
(CONTINUE WITH Q. 14)
10. Have you actively researched fiduciary-based education training programs?
a. Yes
b. No

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11. What fiduciary-based education training programs have you researched? Please select all
that apply.
a. Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®) Training provided by fi360
b. Fiduciary Essentials provided by fi360
c. ERISA Fiduciary Training provided by Plan Sponsor Council of America
d. Fiduciary Management Training provided by ProCourse Fiduciary Advisors
e. Professional Fiduciary Management Certificate by California State University
f. Qualified Plan Financial Consultant provided by the American Society of Pension
Professionals & Actuaries
g. My organization is providing an in-house training session for investment professionals
h. Other ________________________________________________________________
12. Based on your research, if you were to enroll in a fiduciary-based education training program
today, which one would you choose?
___________________________________________________________________________
13. What program attributes made you choose the program you selected over other competitors?
a. Learning objectives
b. Length of the program
c. Cost
d. Reputation of the program and organization
e. Referral
f. Other _________________________________________________________________

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In the next portion of the survey, we will collect your thoughts on fi360’s AIF® training program.
Please select the response that most accurately describes your feelings towards the following
statements.
14. I am familiar with the AIF® designation training program.
a. Strongly disagree (SKIP TO Q. 22)
b. Disagree (SKIP TO Q. 22)
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree
15. I am aware of the AIF® designation training program’s learning objectives.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree

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16. I believe AIF® designation training can help me mitigate compliance risk.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree
17.I believe AIF® designation training can help me build a sound and efficient practice.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree
18.I believe AIF® designation training will help me stand out from the competition, allowing me to
better market myself and my practice.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree

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19. I can confidently explain the benefits of passing the AIF® exam and earning the AIF®
designation.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree
20. I would recommend the AIF® designation training program to others.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree
21. My colleagues are familiar with the AIF® designation training program.
a. Strongly disagree
b. Disagree
c. Somewhat disagree
d. Somewhat agree
e. Agree
f. Strongly Agree

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22. What are your firm specialties?
a. Registered Investment Advisor
b. Asset Management
c. Independent Financial Planning
d. Independent Broker-Dealer
e. Trust Company
f. Consulting
g. Wirehouse
h. Commercial Bank
i. Other ______________________
23. What are your Assets Under Management (AUM)? Please indicate the AUM for your practice.
a. > $1 billion
b. $501 – billion
c. $251 - 500 million
d. $101 – 250 million
e. $51 – 100 million
f. $26 – 50 million
g. < $5 million
h. N/A

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24. How many years of experience do you have in your field?
a. < 5 years
b. 5 – 10 years
c. 11 – 15 years
d. 16 – 25 years
e. > 25 years
25. Please select the age bracket the directly corresponds to your age group.
a. 20 – 29 years old
b. 30 – 39 years old
c. 40 – 49 years old
d. 50 – 59 years old
e. 60 – 69 years old
f. 70 – 79 years old
Survey Closing
Thank you for your time and cooperation in completing our survey. Your opinions will help fi360
better understand how the pending fiduciary rule is affecting investment professionals such as
yourself and ensure we are producing training programs that better fit your needs. Have a good day.

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Secondary Research
CFP® Professional Demographics
The Certified Financial Planner® (CFP®) designation is a professional certification mark for financial planners.
The CFP® market identifies to the public that those individuals who have been authorized to use the CFP®
certification marks in the U.S. have met rigorous professional standards and have agreed to adhere to the
principles of integrity, objectivity, competence, fairness, confidentiality, professionalism and diligence when
dealing with clients. Many of fi360’s AIF® designee’s also hold the CFP® mark. Others however may choose
to only earn one designation, putting the AIF® and CFP® in competition with each other.
This particular report lists the total number of CFP® designees at 73.684 and lists the number of CFP®
designee holders by state, sex, age, and highest degree level earned. Based off this report, California, Texas,
Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania have the most CFP® designees. 76.86% of CFP® designees are males.
The largest age demographic is between the ages of 50-59 (26.44%) and 40-49 (24.01%). Lastly, most CFP®
designees have obtained a bachelor’s degree (62.07%) as their highest degree earned.
fi360 can use this report to help better understand the competitor’s demographic makeup, compare and
contrast for industry trends between the different designations, and use it as a benchmark when examining
growth and losses when it comes to the AIF® vs the CFP®.
The CFO® board publishes their CFP® designee’s demographic information on their website at
http://www.cfp.net/news-events/research-facts-figures/cfp-professional-demographics.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides an in-depth look at a financial advisor’s employment rate, wages, the
top industries that employ financial advisors, and number of financial advisors in specific geographical regions.
Based off the Bureau of Labor Statistics, financial advisors earn a medium income of $108,090/year. (The
Bureau of Labor, 2014). Most financial advisors live in New York (26,280), California (22,680), Texas (13,920),

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Florida (11,560), and Illinois (11,520). (The Bureau of Labor, 2014). Moreover, the Bureau of Labor Statistics
provides a map of metropolitan areas with the highest employment rate of financial advisors.
This map serves as a great resource when it comes to fi360 determining where to concentrate its market
efforts. This information along with a financial advisor’s income, helps fi360 paint a clearer picture of who its
target market is.
This information can be found at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes132052.htm.

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Target Audience Demographics
Watkins Creative researched the CFP® Board’s demographic makeup and the Department of Labor’s statistics
to compile a complete demographic profile of fi360’s target audience. The demographics of this audience is
listed below.
 76.41% of all financial advisors are male, therefore the male gender will be fi360’s focus. (CFP, 2016).
 A majority of today’s financial advisors fall into the 35 – 49 and 50 – 64 age brackets and will be the
focus of fi360’s target market. (CFP, 2016).
 The average income for financial advisors is $75,320. (The Bureau of Labor, 2014). Therefore, fi360’s
target audience is considered high-income.
 fi360’s targets financial advisors all across the United States. However, the top 10 states with the most
financial advisors are in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio,
Massachusetts, and North Carolina. This target market is evenly dispersed across both urban and the
suburb markets. (CFP, 2016).
 61.34% of financial advisors highest level of obtained education is a bachelor degree. 28.28% have
obtain a master’s degree. Therefore, fi360’s target audience is considered highly educated. (The
Bureau of Labor, 2014).
 fi360’s target audience will primarily be married or divorced.
 fi360’s target market is primarily made up of the Caucasian race.
The CFO® board publishes their CFP® designee’s demographic information on their website at
http://www.cfp.net/news-events/research-facts-figures/cfp-professional-demographics.
The information provided by the Department of Labor can be accessed at
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes132052.htm.

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References
CFP.(2016, January 31). CFPProfessionalDemographics.RetrievedfromCFPBoard: http://www.cfp.net/news-
events/research-facts-figures/cfp-professional-demographics
McDaniel,C.J. (2015). Marketing Research. Hoboken:Wiley.
The Bureau of Labor. (2014, May). OccupationalEmploymentand Wages,May 2014. RetrievedfromThe Bureauof
Labor Statistics:http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes132052.htm
The UnitedStatesDepartmentof Labor. (n.d.). Departmentof LaborProposesRuleto AddressConflictsof Interestin
Retirement Advice,Saving Middle-ClassFamiliesBillions of Dollars Every Year. RetrievedfromThe UnitedStates
Departmentof Labor: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fsconflictsofinterest.html
WestVirginiaUniversity.(2016). DataProcessing & Statistical Analysis.RetrievedfromReedCollege of Media:
https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webapps/blackboard/execute/displayLearningUnit?course_id=_59302_1&content_id
=_2641804_1&framesetWrapped=true