We’re talking brands, not dating.

Finding “the one” – as in, the consumer insight – can make all the difference for your brand and your bottom line.

If you were with us this month to hear Rob Malcolm dish on this most important topic, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. For those who weren’t able to join, we wanted to recap some of the key takeaways and share his presentation, below.

So, how do we go about finding “the one” key insight for our brands and businesses? Follow Rob’s framework:

1. Frame the issue. What specific question about which specific customer do we need to answer?
2. Gather information.  What relevant information do we need to address the issue?
3. What’s the insight?  What is the single most penetrating discovery from this information?
4. What are the implications?  What potential strategies, plans, and benefits can be identified to drive growth as a result of this insight?

Perhaps the most surprising part of Rob’s talk was that when searching for true insights that drive growth, asking the right question is key. Framing that specific question can be your biggest job as a marketer.

In practice, here are two examples of great questions yielding great insights that allowed these brands to win the day.

Metamucil understood that their customers didn’t want to talk about regularity. Really, who does? The question for their customer is not how can I be more regular.  The question is how can I feel better so that I can do all of the things I want to do in life. Speaking to this motivation has driven spectacular growth for this most unsexy brand.

The Obama campaign understood that to win a key state, they had to appeal to this key audience – seniors in South Florida. How to do this? We all know how it ended. Watch this video and see the successful question and insight process in action:

It was refreshing to hear from a marketing and advertising veteran, on something that we too often overlook. These days we’re so busy parsing and analyzing data as marketers, that we sometimes forget that going back to basics can be even more valuable.

Want to read more on this topic? Check out these two recent blogs:

Customer Insights: 4 Questions for Rob Malcolm

What These Brands Know About Marketing That You Don’t