A copywriter who doesn’t research effectively is useless. Research takes up most of my time. Understanding the product, the client’s business, their goals, and getting into the minds of their prospects is vital to writing copy that consistently brings in leads and new customers.

The Business

It all starts with a conversation. Who are you? What do you do? What are your goals? I start every project with an informal Skype call to grasp the basics of the project, making notes as we talk.

My goal is for my clients to do 80% of the talking. There’s always a large disparity between the information you have and the information I have. My goal is to bridge this gap.

I follow up with a more extensive project questionnaire that gets you thinking about some key questions, like:

Why did you hire a copywriter?

Who is your target audience?

What are their pain points? How can you solve them?

How well are your competitors achieving this?

What are your project goals?

Analysing how your competitors are positioning themselves in the industry is also vital to helping you stand out. What are they doing well? What are they doing badly? Some Google-fu and a keyword analysis of their websites will help me get a good grasp of this.

The Product

Whether it’s a physical product or service, understanding the specific nature of what you’re offering (including features and technical details) will allow me to transform that raw data into the most powerful benefits that’ll engage your prospects. I look at:

Technical manuals

Marketing materials

Product videos

Your competitor’s offerings

The Prospect

Digging into your prospects’ minds is the most important part of the entire project. You know them pretty well already, so through our discussions and the aforementioned questionnaire, I get a general picture of who needs your help.

But ‘general’ isn’t good enough. Depending on the project, I become intimately familiar with your target audience, using:

Customer profiles – An in-depth exploration of your prospect’s demographic, interests, fears, desires, and more.

– An in-depth exploration of your prospect’s demographic, interests, fears, desires, and more. Empathy mapping – A great companion to user profiles, empathy mapping dives into the emotions of your prospects.

– A great companion to user profiles, empathy mapping dives into the emotions of your prospects. Customer interviews – If possible, I try to have a chat with 2-4 of your customers or prospects to hear what they have to say about your products.

– If possible, I try to have a chat with 2-4 of your customers or prospects to hear what they have to say about your products. Customer research – I trawl through customer reviews, social media groups, and more to hear how your prospects communicate.

Creation