REVEALED: 8 Unconventional Market Research Tips & Tools For Copywriters

Wanna know the best-kept secret of the copywriting and marketing world?…

It’s something that ALL copywriters and marketers know to be true…

But something that only the most successful actually do…

Hey, Posse! What’s up? It’s Alex.

Coming at ya this week with a topic that might not seem hot and sexy at first glance…

But it is absolutely CRUCIAL if you want to be a successful copywriter, marketer or business owner…

But before we get into that – if you’re new to the crew – welcome! On my blog, you’ll find tons of in-depth marketing and copywriting tutorials to help you master every aspect of your biz…

From sales to strategizing to social media and so much more. 

So join my newsletter at the bottom to get the next fresh tutorial—hot off the press!

Now… back to this not-so-sexy-but-absolutely-necessary-best-kept-secret of the marketing industry…

MARKET RESEARCH.

Yep. I said it. 

And I know that’s probably not the big, fancy, overnight success secret that you were hoping for…

But the truth is, this ONE THING is one of the biggest differences between the best most highly paid copywriters in the world versus the ones who are stuck in that painful process of trial and error… hoping their words work…  

And that’s because the best copywriters in the world are willing to do what many others aren’t…

And that is thorough market research.

Because here’s the thing – it doesn’t matter how HOT your copy is.. with all the psychological triggers and conversion secrets and power words… If there is a product-market mismatch—they ain’t buying.

So YES market research is really important and can be the marketing superpower you need to write copy that connects more deeply and profoundly than anything your prospects have ever read before…

But listen, I’m not talking about writing a sentence or two about your Customer Avatar here. I’m talking about the type of market research that involves getting INSIDE the mind of your customers and understanding their deepest fears, drives and desires…

What makes them tick, and click…

The type of research that you can’t check off your to-do list after a couple of hours scrolling the internet…

And look – I get it – market research can be tedious, time-consuming, and super boring…

And at some point, you do just need to pull the trigger and WRITE. 

I mean, you are a writer after all! And the only thing worse than NOT doing any market research is to feel like you never have enough and you waste so much time going down the rabbit hole until you end up more lost than when you started…

But it is SO important to know WHO you are writing to (before you write a single word).

Cuz here’s the thing…

Trends come and go… 

But the core reasons why your ideal customer is actually buying something stay the same. Which is why the most timeless copy of all time was created by first gaining a deep understanding of the audience…

And then writing in a way that speaks directly to those pains, fears, desires, and motivations. 

So, if you want to learn how to write copy so good that companies will keep using it for years and years and years – or even decades – because it resonates so well with their audience.

You’re going to want to pay attention to these…

8 Unconventional Market Research Tips & Tools

Now, if you’ve made it this far then hopefully I’ve convinced you to commit 100% to conducting some market research. But now you’re probably wondering… “Okay, but HOW?!”

Here are some of my absolute favorite places to gain invaluable insights and give my writing an undeniable edge….

#1 – Online Forums 

Online forums – like Reddit, Quora, Yahoo Groups, and Google Answers – are basically just online communities of like-minded people where they discuss and talk about particular topics.

These forums can give you a goldmine of information about your ideal customer…

• From what they like and don’t like…
• To their sense of humor…
• What memes they share…
• To the things they’re struggling to solve…
• And so much more. 

You can use the insights you find in these forums in so many different ways: from the pains you address to the tone of voice you use. You can even get inspiration for great hooks and storytelling to use in your copy. 

#2 – Amazon Reviews

Reading reviews – be them from Amazon or any other online marketplace – is another way to gain great insight into your audience.

The best thing about reviews is that they typically tell you EXACTLY what a customer loved about a product… what it helped them solve or accomplish.

Or on the flip side, the reviews will tell you what customers DIDN’T love about a product… and what they would have preferred to see done differently or better.  In fact, reading the 1-star reviews is a freaking’ goldmine.

Once you know what your ideal customer LOVES, what they HATE, and what they want to see done BETTER…

You can write your copy to address those things specifically. 

#3 – YouTube Comments

Similar to reading product reviews… going through YouTube comments is a GREAT WAY to better understand a community. The best thing about YouTube comments is that they usually tell you exactly what a community wants to see next.

Which gives you a crazy advantage because it means you know exactly what your customers want… and when you actually give it to them – they’ll be like: “OMG HOW DID YOU KNOW THIS WAS WHAT I NEEDED?!”

Well, I knew because you told me… and I listened! 

Literally, ALL of my courses and offerings were created as a direct result of reading through my comments right here on YouTube! 

Listening to your community (and then delivering value on what they ask for) will always be one of the best ways to create new offers and have successful launches. 

#4 – Facebook Groups

This one is similar to online forums, in that you get access to a group of like-minded people discussing a particular topic. But the advantage to using Facebook Groups is that you can go EVEN DEEPER than simply reading the threads…

You can actually look at the individual profiles of the people in the group.

Woah – detective level shit right? Find an ACTUAL PERSON who you feel represents your customer avatar based on their comments and then go check out their profile.

• What things have they “liked”?
• What other groups are they a part of? 
• What type of content are they sharing and why?
• Whose posts are they leaving comments on? 

You could literally spend hours going down this rabbit hole and create pages of insights from this alone. 

Next Up, Using Online Tools…

Okay, so the first 4 tips on this list all involve some digging and detective work on your end…

Which is time-consuming – but like I said… WORTH IT. 

This final tip is going to save you a bit of time because you’re using tools that are designed to do all that hard work and ‘digging’ for you. Just a word of caution on these tools…

I do NOT recommend you rely on these alone. 

While they are great and can give you some amazing insight… 

The information you gain won’t be nearly as detailed (or personal) as the other tips will. 

With that said, here are 4 great FREE tools to help you streamline your research process: 

#5 – Answer The Public

When you use Answer the Public, it shows you every useful phrase and question that people are asking about a certain topic… 

So let’s say you want to know what people are asking about “market research”…

Just type that into the search bar and you see EXACTLY what people are asking for. 

#6 – Google Trends 

Google Trends is similar to Answer The Public. You type in a search term and it shows you what’s been trending over time – and even gives it a score, so you know what to place more value in.

#7 – Social Mention

Social Mention works like a search engine… but instead of browsing the world-wide web… you’re looking at ALL social media platforms. It gives you insight into four metrics on your keyword or searching term: strength, sentiment, passion, and reach. 

#8 – Facebook Audience Insights 

Facebook’s Audience Insights give you insight into your ideal audience:

• Demographic information: age, gender, job titles, and education
• What they like: what their hobbies, interests, and pastimes are
• And lifestyles, such as location and relationship status

 

Alright Posse, that’s all for this blog! 

Now you know the BIGGEST secret of all successful copywriters… but the question is this…

Are you willing to put in the time and effort required to actually get it right? If so stick around, and I’ll see ya next time. 

Until then, I’m Alex – ciao for now! 

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