Why do we eat pork and beef when we raise pigs and cows?

The discrepancy is obvious, but the explanation is not. Most brand managers are ignorant of insights, expecting research partners to provide them in PowerPoint presentations.

However, these partners often get lost between describing symptoms and truly understanding what is going on.

The first step in finding insight is to see through the obvious. Finding insight is like being a detective, piecing together clues from data, observations, and facts to arrive at an explanation of why people behave the way they do. For example, in 1066, French-speaking William the Conqueror and his Norman troops took over England, and the ruling class started speaking French. Since the French conquerors didn't need to raise the animals, they could just talk about the kinds of meat they wanted. Thus, the French words "porc" and "boeuf" eventually became "pork" and "beef," while the animals' English names remained the same.

The best insights are like Occam's razor: the simpler, the more likely they are correct.

They also provide a starting point for game-changing actions. For instance, Dove understands that women always feel insecure about their appearance, no matter how they look. In 2006, the brand delivered an impressive "Real Beauty" campaign that went viral and changed the game, allowing Dove to maintain a high lead in the global beauty care segment until today.

Source: VectorStock

Practices

To find out what consumers are thinking, you have to know a lot about their habits, preferences, and needs. Here are some ways to find out what customers think:

  • Do market research. This means getting information about consumers' behavior, attitudes, and preferences through surveys, focus groups, interviews, and observation.
  • Use social listening. This means watching what people say about your brand, your competitors, and the industry as a whole on social media platforms.
  • Analyze customer feedback. This means getting feedback from customer service calls, online reviews, and feedback forms to find out what customers like and don't like about your product or service.
  • Use data analytics. This means using tools for data analytics to look at customer data, buying habits, and other metrics to find patterns and trends.
  • Use empathy and observation. This means putting yourself in your customers' shoes and watching how they use your product or service and how they interact with it to learn about their needs and pain points.
Source: Pexels

Examples

By combining these methods, you can learn a lot about your customers and find out things that can help you make your marketing strategies, products, and services more effective.

Dove, a brand made by Unilever, found that many women feel insecure about their beauty no matter how they look. This led to the brand's "Real Beauty" campaign, which aimed to challenge traditional ideas of beauty and celebrate the different shapes and sizes of women's bodies. The campaign spread like wildfire, which helped Dove become a leader in the beauty care market around the world.

Marriott International found out that when people stay at hotels, many of them want to do something unique and memorable. This led to the company making the "Autograph Collection" brand, which is a group of hotels that are all different and have their own style and personality. The brand has been successful at attracting travelers who want a more personalized and real travel experience.

Coursera, the online learning platform found that many people want to improve or change their skills to move up in their careers, but they may not have the time or money to go to school in the traditional way. This led to the creation of the company's platform, which has a wide range of affordable and easy-to-access online courses and programs. Coursera has been successful in meeting the needs of learners who want to improve their skills and knowledge in a flexible and easy way.

Now that we've read the stories and seen how well they turned out, they seem clear and obvious. But keep in mind that these insights weren't always clear and finding them isn't always a straight line. Besides, finding them also is ongoing work; don't stop once you find one.

Source: Brands Vietnam