“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill; they want a quarter- inch hole.”

This amusing quote by Theodore Levitt, an American economics and business professor, speaks to the idea of focusing on customer benefits rather than product attributes.

Memorable as it is, the quote is also extremely powerful…

People […]

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to opportunities to gather customer insight.

Sometimes, a broad range of perspectives is essential for strategic context when gathering customer insight.

In other cases, however, doing a “deep dive” with a particular segment is necessary.

Broad range or deep dive into your market?

Gaining […]

How do we begin each client engagement?

Simple: By defining what is known and unknown about the customer, market, and current situation.

Some organizations have a staggering amount of market intelligence. In others, it’s virtually nonexistent. You’d think the more customer research, the better the insight.

By studying consumer trends and identifying customer segments, we move next to Concept Optimization REsearch (CORE) to obtain insight on new product solutions, developed using focused ideation and prototyping.

When Business Growth Stalls…

We conducted a study for a client who manufactures baking mixes for pancakes, waffles, cakes, muffins, and […]

EVER EAT PANCAKES AT HOME? 

If so, do you make them from scratch, use a mix, or eat the frozen kind? 

Does adding water to the mix constitute baking? How about adding an egg? 

We set out to answer these and other questions for a client looking to grow their […]

How do you obtain customer input?

Occasionally, we get calls from potential clients who value customer input, but are unsure how to obtain it.

Maybe you can relate.

“We want to conduct research” is their request. We follow up with probing questions to understand their needs better: To whom do you want to talk, and for what purpose?

Using […]

Struggling to revive your marketing strategy?

The insight principle of upstream marketing may be just what you need to transform it.

What is the insight principle, anyway?

The 1989 drama movie Dead Poets Society gives us a great example:

The late Robin Williams, acting as English teacher John Keating, stands on his desk during one of his lectures and […]

What do you know about your important customers that your competitors don’t know?

This is the critical question we always ask in our consulting work at EquiBrand.

Here’s the reality: Collecting the same customer information, in the same way as your competitors just won’t cut it. Not in today’s world – and not in the […]