Getting to Real Insights

in·sight
?in?sīt/
noun
noun: insight
	1	the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing. 
    2   the capacity of understanding hidden truths

In marketing, at any level, the consumer always comes first. They should be at the core of your research, your product, and everything you do. In order to create and sell a successful product, it’s crucial to know: 

1. Who you are servicing
2. What they are interested in
3. How you can make their life better

These are all key components we should aim to understand in order to create great products and build emotional brands. Only once we know our consumer can we begin to create a tactical plan of attack. 

So how do we know who our consumers are and what needs we should be fulfilling? Insights! 

Marketing has evolved from interruptions to connections into real relationships. It’s no longer just about the big ad spot during the Super Bowl - it’s about the journey the consumer takes while building a relationship with your brand. As creative leaders, we should always aim to speak directly to our target consumer through purposeful storytelling. The only way we know we are truly reaching them with our story is to know them, and this comes from getting real insights into who they are.

To really get to know the consumer, you need to get out from behind your computer and step into their world. Remember,

“If you want to understand how a lion hunts, don’t go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.” 

This approach will reveal to you some of the most powerful insights for your brand - allowing you to create products, design communications, and deliver messages that will resonate with your audience.

Throughout everyday life, there are hundreds of experiences and emotions that we go through as humans. We experience each of these through our own personal lens. A true consumer insight can only be gained when looking at experiences through the lens of our consumers. The same experience can be had by two different people and felt in two completely different ways. We can only begin to understand the consumer when seeing things from their perspective. Think about it… how can we rid them of a pain point if we have never felt or witnessed first-hand what they go through in their daily lives?

It’s easy to make observations, but it’s harder to identify true insights. 

“Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.”  Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Collecting insights starts with your team. It’s important to have a diverse team who can attack the research from different perspectives. This will add enormous value to the insights you’ll be collecting.

In the age we live in, with everything moving so incredibly quickly, our consumers themselves are rapidly changing. So how do we keep up? Modern marketing, people! 

We’re well into the time of moving away from traditional research. It no longer serves us to do research a couple of times a year then plan a campaign around said research. We need to be at the pulse of the consumers’ life. It will serve us better to have consumers as brand ambassadors and with eyes and ears on the ground. 

Have you ever considered making a consumer part of your team?

When it comes to extracting insights, it’s important to be able to predict what’s coming up, what makes our consumers tick, and what’s pulling at their attention. Leverage micro influencers who can have one hand on the consumer, and one hand on the brand.

JOIN ME

I’ll be hosting a live webinar, “Getting to Real Insights” on Tuesday, June 5 at 4PM EST.

I’ll be sharing a best-in-class framework to teach you how to get to real insights - I’ll take you through a best practice toolkit so you’ll be able to build your own insights program. 

I’ll also be sharing case studies from some of the most iconic brands in the world, along with lessons I’ve learned while building brand plans for Nokia and Nike. Please come ready to learn and bring any questions you may have! This is going to be fun!

Please join me and spread the word!

#creativeleadership #realinsights #digitalmindset