5 Copywriting Secrets for Knowing Your Market

If you'd like to know 5 copywriting secrets for truly knowing your niche customer then you're in for a treat. The most important element in good sales copy is appealing to your reader -- by writing about something that interests them. In other words, you have to give them what they want.

This means appealing to their self-interest. Their personal desires. Getting to know their feelings … etc. So how do you do this? By intimately knowing your audience … which is what these copywriting secrets are all about.
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Here are a few copywriting secrets the pros use on a regular basis:

1) Read all the best-selling books relating to your subject / target market. Note the book's title, then any sales copy or reviews on its back cover. Open it up and review the table of contents and index. Finally, read the first and last chapters. Makes notes on all the details / benefits readers are promised to find inside. These will give you a heads up on what your market currently desires.
Tip! Missing the extras. Text links within your site and anchor text pointing to it are important elements of search engine optimisation copywriting.

2) Find all the magazines relating to your subject / target market. If you're at the library get as many back issues as you can. Leaf through these and note any recurring themes or subjects. These will be the popular ones … the ones your target is hungry for.

3) Even more importantly … carefully read all the ads in these magazines. Find the ads appearing over and over in each magazine - from issue to issue. These ads are probably money-makers. What do they sell? What are the emotions they appeal to? What are the key benefits they promise? The key words used? Etc.
Tip! I want to read copywriting from a real live person talking to me person to person, and not from some emotionless corporation.

4) Hold on … you're not done with the magazines yet. One of the most overlooked of all copywriting secrets is reading letters to the editor. They're filled with strong feelings and emotions. Emotions powerful enough to motivate a reader to sit down and write ... then go through the hassle of addressing an envelope ... stamping it ... and then mailing it.

5) Now you're ready to confirm all the research you've done up to this point. By using the biggest secret of all - - which is getting the industry "controls" already being mailed to your subject / target market.

Direct mail packages that keep mailing over and over again are surely profitable … and a winning standard for whoever is mailing them. These are referred to as "controls" in the direct mail industry. And the following resources are relatively inexpensive ones you can use to find such controls:
Tip! Close The Deal. When I began studying copywriting many years ago, one of the first things I was taught was to ask for the sale at least seven times.

a) Who's Mailing What! … found at http://www.whosmailingwhat.com/

You have to pay for a one-year membership. This basic subscription allows you to get information about direct mailers. Paying extra fees gives you access to industry controls. They even identify the "grand controls," which refer to direct mail packages mailed many, many times … over a lengthy period.

b) Inside Direct Mail … found at http://www.insidedirectmail.com/

This excellent resource also tells you what's currently mailing to your market. Get a hold of these controls. Read them very carefully. Note every benefit promised. Every emotional hot button. These mailings can be worth more to you than gold if you've got a great mailing list and a great offer.

Alright. That's enough for now. Use these copywriting secrets to your advantage, and enjoy success with your direct mail!

Copyright 2006 Joseph Farinaccio

Joe Farinaccio helps businesses and entrepreneurs make money using direct response advertising. To discover how to prosper from copywriting and direct response marketing in your business ... visit his website at ... http://www.sales-letters-and-marketing.com