By: Avery Holland

When starting any public relations campaign for a client it’s always important to do your research before you draw a consumer insight and get started with an idea. I’ve recently learned an insight is an explanation of trends or behaviors based on collected data of your target audience. The best way to go about this is to break down the information you need to know into four sections; culture, category, conversation, and consumer, in order to draw your insight and in turn, create your campaign.

For culture, you want to find out what is currently happening right now that may influence how people think or act. What are people interested in? What’s happening in the news, TV, radio or social media? There might be something trending or viral that could influence the client’s business.

For category, it’s important to know what is happening in the industry your client is looking to occupy. Who are the competitors? What are they selling? What are they doing well? Being up to date on what is happening in the industry is always important to make sure your client is keeping up.

For conversation, you want to know what the media is saying about the client, their products, competitors and industry as a whole. Are people already posting about the client’s brand on social media? What are they saying about the products? Through social listening and media audits, you might get a good idea as to who your target audience is.

Lastly, for consumers, you want to research who is currently buying the client’s products. Why are they buying their product over the competitors? What are they looking to get out of it? What are the things they care about? What are their spending habits? Knowing as much information about the consumers as possible can help the client better meet their needs.

Once you’ve done the research, you can draw your insight! This should be a conclusion based on the information you found that is not merely just a fact. For example, dating app Hinge’s “Let’s be real” campaign was based on the insight that most people make connections through shared vulnerabilities, rather than strengths. They were able to build on this conclusion and offer their customers a dating app where they could share their full story with others.

Even though the research process may be long and strenuous, it definitely helps to better understand how to cater to the client’s brand and reach their goals. The PR team will be more informed on the client, the industry and its competitors in hopes to understand their audience and develop a successful campaign!