Noob copywriters can learn a thing or two from Daniel Day-Lewis

Actor Daniel-Day Lewis was probably a dick on the set of There Will Be Blood.

Day-Lewis is a method actor. While filming TWBB, he stayed in his character Daniel Plainview -- a greedy, ruthless oilman whose morality vanishes as his wealth increases -- between takes to stay in Plainview's mindset.

(You can imagine the fun everyone on the film set probably had when talking to this Day-Lewis/Plainview mishmash.)

While Day-Lewis's acting methods probably make him a douche to work with, they offer an important lesson to copywriters trying to create cash-generating copy.

If you want your copy to really make loads of cash, you have to get in your target's mind.

Let me explain...

Daniel Day-Lewis lets his character consume him. He becomes the person he's playing.

In much the same way, copywriters need to "become" the people they're writing to. Get in their mindset. Think how they think, see what they see, talk how they talk.

This "becoming-one-with-another-person" works. Day-Lewis is a human cicada, only coming out every four years or so to do a movie. Then he's gone again. But when the dude does take on a movie role, he gets mountains of awards every time.

If you're as dedicated to your audience as Daniel Day-Lewis is to his characters, you're going to get smashing results, too.

Here are just a couple research methods to see how and what your audience is thinking:


-Scour every social-media outlet to find what people in your niche are talking about: Facebook, message boards, Twitter. These sites give you an inside peek at what fears your audience has, how they talk, and what's important to them. Social media is indispensable to copywriters these days.

-Look at copy that's converting in the niche you're writing for. If it's converting, it's successfully speaking to its audience. So find out why it's connecting. Then figure out how to improve on that.

-Actually talk to your target audience. If you're writing for the weight-loss niche, ask people at your local gym why they want to lose weight, and the ideal way they'd want to do it. Or find a message board related to your topic and partake in the discussion. There's no better way to get answers to your questions than to ask, right?


Researching your target audience and getting in their heads will make your copy convert at enormous, "I-can-buy-me-a-Lamborghini!" heights. So don't be scared to go all Daniel Day-Lewis on your next copywriting project.