The One Thing Most Copywriters Won’t Bother Doing

Many clients assume that copywriting services are priced by the page.  And in some cases, that’s true.  But copywriters who price per page—instead of on a per-project basis– may be shortchanging you.

That’s because a copywriter who has a per-page flat rate probably isn’t doing the most important part of our job: market research.

You see, if I already know a market –like real estate, alternative health, or self-help–I know what that market wants.  I understand their hot buttons.  And that means I can find the right “hook” much more quickly than if I had to start researching from scratch.

But when I don’t understand what motivates your prospects, I need to do a mountain of research.  If I don’t do the research, there’s no way I can understand what your prospects really want.  And if I don’t understand what your prospects want, the chances of writing a winning promotion are slim at best.

In fact, for a new market I usually spend 2-3 hours doing background research for the proposal alone.  And after you accept my proposal, I’ll often spend 40-50 hours doing market research before I write a single word of copy.

When I’m researching a new market, I’ll ask my clients to send over every bit of marketing material they have. And I don’t just want to see the winners.  I want to see the losers, too.

That’s because winners show me what’s working and what I can improve.  Losers show me the pitfalls I need to avoid at all costs.  That saves my clients (and me) a lot of time, money, and frustration.

Then I’ll go and check out their competition.  I look my competitors’ websites, online and offline ads, and I usually subscribe to as many competitors’ email lists as possible.

In some cases, I actually subscribe to their competitors’ mailing lists, too.   That’s because companies using direct mail to stay in touch with their back-end customers are usually making money doing it. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t be spending thousands of dollars per month sending out expensive mailers and newsletters.  So chances are your competitor’s customer newsletters, direct mail promotions, and so on are chock-full of proven marketing ideas and tested sales pitches.  I highly recommend you do whatever you can to get on those lists.

After I’ve collected every bit of information I can find on the market and your ideal prospect, I take notes. Lots and lots of notes.  For instance, I’ll usually take 15-20 pages of notes for a 5-6 page sales letter.

After that, I go through my notes and cut out anything I don’t think is important enough to keep.  I underline and highlight powerful benefits, useful facts and items of interest. And I slowly start to hammer out the perfect sales pitch.

Then—and only then—do I start writing the first draft of copy.

So, which approach do you think works better?  The “quick fix” approach of the pay- per-page copywriter? Or the copywriter who spends the time to do the grunt work of research to find the right pitch for your market?

– Paul