A plain vanilla Q&A email today. Nothing TOO spicy and exciting.
(Hey… can’t always have banger emails, right? š¤£)
The question came from a newbie… and as usual I had a ~~smart ass~~ super-sensible comment to make.
It’s about market research. Which can sometimes be one of those areas that gets neglected in the hurry to churn out copy.
But it’s ALWAYS the foundation.
So…
Question…
‘When we are actually working in āreal lifeā as copywriters, is the client the one who provides the information re who they would like their target audience to be and in what ways the product benefits the target audience/person?’
Answer…
It’s on you to know the target market as best you can. As this will affect the relevance of the copy you write for them.
Hence it affects the results you can achieve for your clients. And also for yourself, in terms of $$, testimonials, and referrals.
So do what it takes to get the best picture of the market and its needs that you can.
You may source this information from what your client provides. And also from your own research.
But your research is the most important because clients can have rose-tinted or narrow views of why their customers buy.
Key thing: it’s the market you need to study.
Know what the market wants. The product and its features play second fiddle.
Sometimes a product will be mismatched with the market your client is trying to sell to.
That’s where you can put on your strategy hat and advise how they can make changes.
Changing the product to suit the needs of the market will almost always give better results than trying to wedge a product into the wrong market.
And I’ll add…
What customers say directly about what they are looking for should be taken with a grain of salt. So watch out for things like customer surveys.
Best place to get an idea of what people are really needing… is to be a fly on the wall. Such as in social media corners of the internet when they’re just letting rip. And not self-censoring too much.
Reddit’s long been a good place for that. And as far as I know still is.
Anyhoo… key thing is, the answer for what people really want is going to come out of the market itself. And can never be imposed by your client… no matter how awesome they think their product is.
But if their product is looking like a good match to customer needs…
Then your job as a copywriter is to make it a clear-and-present, no-brainer match (made-in-heaven) between customer and product.
Should you need to pick up some initial market-research and copywriting skills… click here for a great opportunity to get started.
My dragon’s in the shop for it’s 5,000-mile service, š
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Chris Milham