Insight? It’s What You Need
“The act or result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing something intuitively.” This is the second definition of the word “insight” from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 10th Edition.
And, right now, it is what marketers need.
Newly released research from The Marketing Executives Networking Group and Anderson Analytics named “insight and innovation” as one of their top five “going back to basics” trends for 2009. Apparently marketers are a tad more wary of the buzzwords like “social networking” and anything “2.0″ in this deep recession, and that is as it should be. Instead, to hold onto customers who are making hard choices about purchases, a marketer’s top priority must be to “apprehend the inner nature of things.”
To do that, you can dig into the very eye blink-level behavior of your customers via your own research (i.e. a continuing advisory panel of them) – which I highly recommend. But, people aren’t all you need to study. There is more to the “things” you want to get to the nature of – and that includes noticing how those people as consumers are reacting to bigger cultural cues. Then, the next step would be interpreting how that may continue or change with a look to the not-so distant future. A few such questions to answer toward true “insight” might be:
- How does what is known about the people in your market connect with the new “local as global” trend?
- If humans are skeptical of “green,” but interested in social responsibility or flocking to the term sustainability, in general (as this and other research currently shows), how will your customers reflect that?
- How does a habit of “abundance thinking,” which had been the trend leading up to now, play out in consumer behavior in our current crisis?
- Are the customers you serve demonstrating a more gender-neutral life experience/expectation even as the marketplace is just barely catching up to “marketing to women” challenges?
Such a combination of input – what consumers say/do combined with larger cultural movements – is your path to “insight.” It may sound so unrelated to your immediate ROI marketing budget measurements that you just can’t wrap your mind or enthusiasm around pursuing it. (Are you saying to yourself: “Can’t we just play up our brand’s low price right now, and call it good?”) But, getting to the inner nature of the hows/whys/wherefores behind your customer’s fears, anxieties, measured movements and immeasurable risks today IS that pot of gold.
Right now brands are just trying to make it through, but the mistake will be in sticking to the superficial ways they’ve understood their markets up until now. Gathering the real insights in that combined consumer/culture realm takes work and a much broader view than most marketers could ever reach as they tend to their already nose-to-the-grindstone, demanding daily tasks.
In this economy, the partnering or ad hoc sourcing of expert minds will be the key. No need to hire a new employee or work up some long, drawn out consulting retainer relationship. Rather, in combination with your own team’s knowledge base and existing consumer research, an outside counsel already studied in cultural trends and a broader perspective may be just the quick framer you need. That fresh eye will see the missed patterns as if they were in neon, and with his/her eye on the future, point you in a new, more relevant path. And, that’s how a brand will satisfy and keep its most cherished advantage: existing customers.
To apprehend the inner nature of things for your brand, especially in times of great stress, an outer eye is often necessary. Insight is what marketers need, and now is a good time to admit they can’t get it on their own.
