How Do You Research For Your Copy

Sup Kevin!

When you're working with a solopreneur, he or she is your best asset for revealing topics, approaches, the tone and even branding.

For instance...

Right now, I'm working for a philanthropist who is starting an non profit organization for building and furnishing school libraries.

He is an absolute wealth of information.

But more than that, the reasons WHY he's starting this organization, what his personal objectives are and how he wants to reach people is totally unique in the not-for-profit community.

So...

I spend quite a bit of time interviewing him.

And often, we'll look at what other organizations are doing in the same basic marketplace, together, while on Skype - pinpointing what we like, while voicing how we can (and are) totally eclipsing their efforts.

Then...

In order to derive direction for the copy itself, you have to choose your leading message, target emotion (just like with any copywriting project), develop and execute the brand verbiage...

...and if it's an authority site, decide how you want to build on the brand message with unique page names and approaches to flesh out your client's vision.

At the end of the day...

The website needs to REFLECT your client's passion, insights and desired impact.

After all, they're the face of the brand.

It's their reputation.

That is something you need to take very sincerely.

Mark Pescetti

P.S. The copywriter/solopreneur relationship is sacred. You need to be willing to dive into their world and FEEL their passion, connect with their limitations/frustrations and be able to clearly communicate where you envision taking their business. No small task.

P.S.

The client, the target market and the competition. Usually in that order.

This may sound like a blinding flash of the obvious.

The FIRST THING I do is research what TOOLS are out there on and offline to help me do my research and analyze the situation.

Without the tools, you're only getting a partial snapshot of the data or a perspective.

For instance, I recently sold something on eBay. There were two other current auctions selling the exact same thing.

Now that's useful, no doubt. Because that's my current competition.

But there's a research tool called Terapeak.com, which allows you to analyze similar auctions from the past 365 days.

Tarapeak gives you a much more robust and complete view of what's happning on eBay. Data is sliced and diced ten ways from Sunday.

For different markets, medias and platforms, you have different, more precise tools available.

PPC ads? There's a bunch of research tools for that.

Banner ads? There are research tools for that.

Display ads for offline periodicals? There are tools for that.

I could go on and on and on. The data is out there. Already predigested. In other words, you aren't the first one to ask your questions.

Now some of these tools are exclusively for ad agencies and they're really expensive. Like $5K a month subscriptions and up.

So my advice is to determine what specific questions you have. Then figure out how to get those questions answered as accurately as possible.

- Rick Duris

Hi Kevin,

GREAT guidance from Reflection Marketing above. We would add this: You have to come out of your client interviews knowing everything you can about his target market, and when you write the copy you have to BE his target market. You have to transform yourself so that you see what you write through the eyes of his targets while at the same time satisfying his requirements.

Once you know what your client wants and what his target market wants, you may discover a contradiction between the two. Often that will show up as something reflecting some "personal taste" preference of the client and it is in conflict with some preference of the market or some strategy he should be using. In that case the market wins and you have to write to fit that, then sell your rationale to the client. The buyer doesn't care about the seller's personal tastes or internal problems.

And that's only scraping the surface of your question, how do you turn raw data into usable content, but your formula and the answers in this thread are a good start.

Good luck!

MBDirect