An insight is the understanding of a specific cause and effect in a specific context. The term insight can have several related meanings:

* A piece of information
* The act or result of understanding the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively (called noesis in Greek)
* An introspection
* The power of acute observation and deduction, penetration, discernment, perception called intellection or noesis
* An understanding of cause and effect based on identification of relationships and behaviors within a model, context, or scenario

An insight that manifests itself suddenly, such as understanding how to solve a difficult problem, is sometimes called by the German word Aha-Erlebnis. The term was coined by the German psychologist and theoretical linguist Karl Bühler. It is also known as an epiphany.

Insights in Marketing

Pat Conroy pointed out that an insight is a statement based on a deep understanding of your target consumers’ attitudes and beliefs which connect at an emotional level with your consumer, provoking a clear response (This brand understands me! That is exactly how I feel! — Even if they’ve never thought about it quite like that) which, when leveraged, has the power to change consumer behavior. Insights must effect a change in consumer behavior that benefits your brand, leading to the achievement of the marketing objective.

Insights can be based on:

* Real or perceived weakness to be exploited in competitive product performance or value
* Attitudinal or perceived barrier in the minds of consumers, regarding your brand
* Untapped or compelling belief or practice

Insights are most effective when they are/do one of the following:

* Unexpected
* Create a disequilibrium
* Change momentum
* Exploited via a benefit or point of difference that your brand can deliver

In order to be actionable, as the expression of a consumer truth, an insight as to be stated as an articulated sentence, containing:

* An observation or a wish, e.g. “I would like to ….”
* A motivation explaining the wish, e.g. “because …”
* A barrier preventing the consumer from being satisfied with the fulfilment of his/her motivation, e.g. “but…”

The gap between the second and the third term offers a tension, which constitutes a potential for a brand. Like there are concept writers for copies, there are insight writers, usually called Idea Architects.

Source for above: Wikipedia

A critical job of marketers and advertisers is to identify insights that can make a significant difference to their businesses and brands.

In the attached article, Unbounce presents twenty marketing insights. I am not sure that all will qualify as insights but they are words of wisdom that all of us can learn from.

Read the article here
Visual courtesy : https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnetbox/