If you are writing for clients, you will need to use good tools and tactics for copywriting research. Knowing how to do research properly will enable you to write better copy while saving time.
Not only that, but you’ll be able to make money faster.
Why Good Copywriting Research is Important
Writing good copy shows that you know what you are doing. If your writing is the same thing everyone else is putting out, you’ll lose readers.
You must have interesting content to become a trusted leader in your business.
In order to do that you will need to know how to do research from which you can draw ideas. You’ll also want to know how to deliver that message in a way that interests your readers.
And I’m going to tell you exactly how to do that, right now.
Let’s get started so that you can start raking in the big bucks as a copywriter.
Copywriting Research – Getting Started Making Big Money
Copywriting research is considered to be the most important part of writing. Whether you’re writing for a client’s blog, a direct mail piece, or a brochure, the work you do on the front end is where the money is.
Depending on what kind of copy you are writing the time it takes for different projects varies. For example, if you were writing a sales letter, it could take you several weeks to research your client’s product or service.
However, if you are writing a 2-thousand-word blog post you can do the research in 30 to 45 minutes.
Researching Your Client’s Existing Assets
Whenever you have a client who has been in business for several years, researching for them can be easy. If they are brand new or have not been marketing their business, it will be more difficult.
There are four things you can use immediately to create great content for your clients:
- Marketing assets they already have
- Customer research that has already been conducted
- Competitor research
- Interviewing owners and their employees
Use Marketing Assets Your Clients Already Have
People who have been in business will already have marketing assets you can use.
Usually, they will have existing materials, like branding literature. These include blog posts, brochures, advertisements, and other materials. When you are contracted by your clients, you should ask them for these materials.
Many excellent copywriters will shy away from clients who don’t have any previously written marketing materials. There are two reasons why. First, they are brand new to owning a business and don’t understand the importance of marketing. If they are brand new to marketing, they probably don’t have the money or the desire to pay you for your services. They will probably try to get you to work for them for almost nothing.
Second, even if they have the money to pay you, they probably haven’t done any marketing research for themselves. That translates into more work for you. You might be better off ditching this client and working with another one.
The main reason you’ll want to use existing marketing materials is it makes your job so much easier. If your client has already been working with a copywriter, you can use that material as swipe files.
Swipe files are collections of proven and tested marketing materials that you can get your hands on. (Assets like sales letters, brochures, advertisements, etc.)
It is a practice professional copywriters use as a source of generating ideas for projects and inspiration.
Ask for Customer Data from Your Client
You will want to ask your client if they have any data they have been collecting on their customers.
Ask them for any survey data, blog post metrics, or any control information they have collected. The reason for asking for this material is it will show you hot buttons you can use to generate converting content or ads.
You will also want to look at customer testimonials that your client has collected and read them.
Anyone who does not collect marketing data on their business is probably not too serious about their venture.
Some professional copywriters will not take on clients who won’t collect data on their businesses; it is that important.
Spy on Your Client’s Competitors
Spying on your client’s competitors is one type of copywriting research you can do that is fun. (At least it is for me.)
If you ever bump into potential clients who tell you they do not have any competition in the marketplace…Run! Either they are in a venture that has no chance of making any money, or they are dumb when it comes to marketing.
When your clients tell you that they have quite a few competitors, that should make you happy. One reason is that they have marketing savvy and are making enough money to pay you well for your services.
The other reason is you can easily spy on their competitors. Doing this will give you excellent insider knowledge and make you look like a genius in the eyes of your clients.
Here are a Few Ways You Can Spy on the Competition
- Follow them on social media. Watch what they are doing on the different platforms and channels. What kind and how much activity are they doing, and how often.
- Look at their marketing materials and ads. If they are running advertisements in newspapers and magazines, get clips of them. If they are running online advertisements, copy and paste them into a file. Collect as much of this material as you can on them.
- Subscribe to their email list. What could be better intel than having one of your competitors sending you an email with their marketing in it? Since email is one of the best ways to market a business, it would be a mistake to ignore it.
- Check the backlinks. Finding out who is linking to your competitor’s websites can help you too. It will give you an idea of what kind of content is popular in your niche. However, it’ll cost you to use services like Backlinko or Monitor Backlinks to find this data out.
- Look at their online ads. If you see ads being run by the competition, you should look at the content of those ads. What kinds of keywords are they running? What kind of phrases and offers are they making?
- Get on their direct mailing list. This is kind of like getting on an email list, but if a competing company is spending money on a direct mail campaign, see if you can get on their list. Make a swipe file and keep their material where you can access it when you need it.
- Spy on the competition’s competition. If your client’s competition is successful, chances are they have competitors too. Don’t hesitate to check them out as well.
Interview Your Client’s Employees
Secretaries, salesmen, and regular employees know a lot so, book some time to interview them. This is a great way to get good copywriting research completed. Keep in mind that these are busy people, so make sure that you have an agenda and questions already prepared for them. Get their permission to record the interview when you are asking them questions.
Here are some ideas on questions you could ask them:
- Do they feel your client’s product or service could be improved? If so, how?
- What do they like or dislike about the company’s product or service?
- Who are the main customers?
- Are there any clients or customers that they feel they are overlooking?
- What do they feel the competition is doing better?
- Do they feel that their marketing assets are adequate? What would they do to improve them?
I could make this list rather long, but you get the idea. If you do some research on questions to ask, do a search online first to get some ideas.
Yes, You Will Still Use this Copywriting Research
Even if you just write one blog post for a company, a lot of this information can help you. Of course, you will have to determine how much time you are willing to spend on research based on what you’re getting paid.
If you are writing an entire series of posts or web copy for different pages, you will want to do a lot of research. Doing so will give you an idea of where there are gaps in the company’s marketing and what they may have overlooked.
Another benefit of doing a lot of research for your clients is that it will clearly separate your copywriting from your competitors. The more intimate you can become with a client’s business the more value you can add to that business. Therefore they are more apt to hire you to do more work in the future.
If you have any comments on how you do copywriting research or any more ideas about this subject, please leave them below. It would really make my day.