Marketing Data Science: Modeling Techniques in Predictive Analytics with R and Python

DescriptionTo solve real marketing problems with predictive analytics, you need to master concepts, theory, skills, and tools. Now, one authoritative guide covers them all.Marketing Data Science brings together the knowledge you need to model consumer and buyer preferences and predict marketplace behavior, so you can make informed business decisions. Using hands-on examples built with R, Python, and publicly available data sets, Thomas W. Miller shows how to solve a wide array of marketing problems with predictive analytics.Building on the pioneering data science program at Northwestern University, Miller covers analytics for segmentation, target marketing, brand and product positioning, new product development, choice modeling, recommender systems, pricing research, retail site selection, demand estimation, sales forecasting, customer retention, and lifetime value analysis.Miller brings together essential concepts, principles, and skills that were formerly scattered across multiple texts. You’ll gain realistic experience extending predictive analytics with powerful techniques from web analytics, network science, programming, and marketing research. As you practice, you’ll master data management and modeling skills you can apply in all markets, business-to-consumer and business-to-business alike.In a world transformed by information and communication technology, marketing, sales, and research have merged–and data rule them all. Today, marketers must master a new data science and use it to uncover meaningful answers rapidly and inexpensively.This book teaches marketing data science through real-world examples that integrate essential knowledge from the disciplines that have shaped it. Building on his pioneering courses at Northwestern University, Thomas W. Miller walks you through the entire process of modeling and answering marketing questions with R and Python, today’s leading open source tools for data science.Using real data sets, Miller covers a full spectrum of marketing applications, from targeting new customers to improving retention, setting prices to quantifying brand equity.Marketing professionals can use Marketing Data Science as a ready resource and reference for any project. For programmers, it offers an extensive foundation of working code for solving real problems–with step-by-step comments and expert guidance for taking your analysis even further.In Marketing Data Science, a top faculty member of Northwestern University’s prestigious analytics program presents a fully-integrated treatment of both the business and academic elements of marketing applications in predictive analytics. Writing for both managers and students, Thomas W. Miller explains essential concepts, principles, and theory in the context of real-world applications.Key FeaturesThe fully-integrated, expert, hands-on guide to predictive analytics and data science for marketingFully integrates everything you need to know to address real marketing challenges – including all relevant web analytics, network science, information technology, and programming techniquesCovers analytics for segmentation, targeting, positioning, pricing, product development, site selection, recommender systems, forecasting, retention, lifetime value analysis, and much more Includes multiple examples demonstrated with Python and RBy Thomas W. Miller, leader of Northwestern’s pioneering predictive analytics program, and author of Modeling Techniques in Predictive AnalyticsTable of Contents Preface    Figures   Tables    ExhibitsUnderstanding MarketsPredicting Consumer ChoiceTargeting Current CustomersFinding New CustomersRetaining CustomersPositioning ProductsDeveloping New ProductsPromoting ProductsRecommending ProductsAssessing Brands and PricesUtilizing Social NetworksWatching CompetitorsPredicting SalesRedefining Marketing ResearchA Data Science MethodsB Marketing Data SourcesC Case StudiesD Code and UtilitiesBibliography   IndexAuthor BiographyThomas W. Miller is faculty director of the Predictive Analytics program at Northwestern University. He has designed courses for the program, including Marketing Analytics, Advanced Modeling Techniques, Data Visualization, Web and Network Data Science, and the capstone course. He has taught extensively in the program and works with more than forty other faculty members in delivering training in predictive analytics and data science.Miller is owner of Research Publishers LLC and its ToutBay Division, a publisher and distributor of data science applications. He has consulted widely in the areas of retail site selection, product positioning, segmentation, and pricing in competitive markets and has worked with predictive models for more than 30 years.Miller’s books include Web and Network Data Science, Modeling Techniques in Predictive Analytics, Data and Text Mining: A Business Applications Approach, Research and Information Services: An Integrated Approach for Business, and a book about predictive modeling in sports, Without a Tout: How to Pick a Winning Team.Before entering academia, Miller spent nearly 15 years in business IT in the computer and transportation industries. He also directed the A. C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research and taught market research and business strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology (psychometrics) and a master’s degree in statistics from the University of Minnesota and an MBA and master’s degree in economics from the University of Oregon.