Your marketing mix won't work unless you truly understand your customers (or other target audience), and to do this you need to step into their shoes.

Insight is about unearthing the truth about how your different consumers and customer segments relate/feel/respond to your product sector, product type and brand.

It is about understanding your customers’ needs, and how you can generate better customer value.

And how you can convert this into customer satisfaction and commitment to your brand.

1. Segment, target and then develop a positioning for each target audience.

2. Enhance your insight and build a profile for each group.

3. Work out who your most profitable customers are.

4. Understand the needs of each of your customer segments.

5. Examine their buying behaviour (B2C or B2B).

6. What percentage of your key customer segments, (prospects or other relevant stakeholders) are buying or influenced online?

7. Understand how the members of each segment use and respond to different media.

8. What are their primary touchpoints with the brand (or the product/service)?

9. Find out what your existing customers are thinking by using a customer satisfaction survey or other research techniques.

10. Use your database to develop relevant insight.

    For example carry out a 'recency, frequency, monetary value' analysis.

11. Gain insight on your audience using TGI and other marketing information suppliers.

12. Produce a pen portrait of each target audience.