I've been fortunate to see the increase in consumer insights in B2B marketing. It has been a somewhat overlooked art, being reserved for the big brand advertising agencies. However, I argue that planning and consumer insights (or target audience insights) are just as, if not more important in B2B advertising than with the big guys. And I'll take it a step further. The agency I work for, Geoff Howe, has really done a good job (I'm not just saying it because I work there) at elevating another important segment - the professional influencer.
Business to Professional to Consumer (or B2P2C) is about engaging the important influencers that recommend products to us everyday. This audience includes people like doctors, dentists, veterinarians, golf pros, architects, etc. They are the people that we turn to as 'experts'. And they're recommendation holds a lot of weight.
I bring it up because mining insights about these audiences has proven to be invaluable in focusing our creative brief and resulting in very strategic creative ideas. Insights in these categories are extremely useful with these audiences because they tend to be more homogeneous in nature - at least as it relates to their underlying motivations when it comes to their decision making, beliefs and behavior. This point, makes it even more important in understanding these audiences. Especially since the majority of our B2B (or even B2P2C) advertising agencies aren't harnessing this vital knowledge.
I'm actually sitting in the back of a focus group room right now listening to veterinarians talk about a new product. So be on the look out for some of my work in the not so distance future - coming to a market near you.
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