Marketing Insights for Innovation

Training Objectives: 

• Better understand insights and why they are useful

• Using insights in innovation and building marketing concepts

• Where to look for insights and how to structure, map and share

• Learning by doing; applying your learning to your objectives and innovation projects

Training Target Profiles: 

• Marketers

• Market research managers

• Communication / Advertising agencies

• Project leaders of innovation projects

Pre-requirements:  No previous experience required to participate

Time estimated: 15H in total: de 3h/week over 5 weeks

Advantages: 

• Understand insights and how to use them to freshen up thinking and develop alternatives for growth

• Put your learning into practice on a project of your choice

• A marketing insights for innovation certificate will be delivered on the successful completion of this course

Training Programme : 

Section 1: Insights : attributes & benefits

• Definition:

Insight...gives new perspective to help deliver new thinking

Helps project teams stretch marketing thinking

New thinking→ new ideas -> sources of growth for brands and businesses

What insights are for?

• • better target understanding

  • demonstrate an unmet need

  • help explain why users might be interested by a new solution / offer

  • create the need to deliver a better solution

• How insights work: the link between a brand, a product and its target.

The start-point in a marketing concept

1. Insight

2. Idea

3. Reasons to Believe

• Driving innovation through insights

  • The desire to act and improve user experience

  • Use insight development as a competitive advantage

• Looking for gold: great insights are precious

• Insight Model: Truth + Dissatisfaction + Empathy = Starter ideas

Output 1: Understand what is an insight and why it is so useful for marketing and developing new business

Section 2: Observation, interviewing & Listening :

• Building empathy: the importance of observing your target market in situ

  • Framing the context to aid understanding

  • Observing with fresh eyes: see what’s in front of you!

• Preparing an interview: a toolkit for better interview outputs

• Difference between what users say & what they do …

  • Spotting the differences

  • Detecting these differences as sources of insight!

• 3 key questions to go beyond the obvious:

  • Why?

  • Why?

  • Why?

• 3 key techniques for building empathy

  • Active listening

  • Using Silence

  • Focus on the user

Output 2: Understand the importance of observing in situ, how to prepare and conduct great interviews

Section 3: Sources of Insight:

• Target market:

  • Methodology vs objectives: consider breadth vs depth (groups vs ethnos)

  • Framing the challenge

  • Experts vs. non-experts : observing different behaviours

• Parallel markets

  • Cultural references

  • Similar & different

• Buying behaviour

  • Buyers & non Buyers

  • In-store habits and attitudes

• Others...legal / market trends

• Insight Mapping

  • sharing outputs

  • building insight platforms

Output 3: Using different sources of insight to map out and consider potential opportunities

Section 4: Insight Creation and Crafting

• Great insights are like great concepts: when you look back, they appear almost too obvious

  • Keep it simple

  • incisive

• Insight springboard: the importance of connection

  • a strong link between user, product & brand

• Using Insight model: crafting an insight; practice, practice, practice!

  • Truth

  • Dissatisfaction

  • Empathy

  • Leads to starter ideas

• Insight Storytelling

  • Testing insight strength

  • Bringing the insight to life

Output 4: Putting learning into practice: crafting insights and mapping opportunities

Section 5: Learning by doing: Fresh insights for your chosen project

• Your project and the insight challenge

  • your challenge, your insights!

  • choice of topic

• 2-3 targets you learned from

  • profile examples

  • context

  • verbatims

• Additional sources of insight

  • richer context

  • extra reasons to believe

• Insight Crafting

  • short and simple

  • tension to highlight un-met need

  • Empathy drives tone of voice

• Insight Storytelling

  • Model

  • Story & visuals

• Conclusion

  • Clearer business opportunities

  • Creating the desire to make you do more!

Output 5: 2-3 insight stories that demonstrate future options for growth. 

Philip Last is a facilitator and strategist specialising in marketing innovation. He has worked with some of the world’s best loved brands, well known names both locally and internationally, specialising in food, healthcare and leisure sectors. Key domains of activity are insight, ideation and innovation development, focussing on improving consumer and customer experiences.