One of the biggest problems I have faced as a copywriter is finding clients with a "real" pre-qualified targeted list.

Copy well written and done works amazing if targeted right. Even the best copy in the world will fail miserably if the target is unqualified. I have seen letters sent out to 10 clients and pulled seven in. Profits were massive. I have seen letters sent out to 3,000 and not had one reply.

Ever tried selling a disabled bath to teenagers? Never, target is completely unqualified. What I want to know is this from you all...

How much time and effort do you put into targeting before you send out your list?

Two comments on your post Alan...

1. Targeting is extremely important to success online. You are right when
you say that the two biggest mistakes made online is a) poor copy and b) poor targeting.

2. I have found that great content and great products attract targeted traffic. What I mean by this is that if your copy is clear, if your articles
that you write focus on your niche, if your product is compelling and
focused, and if you run a newsletter that is aligned well with your product - then creating content will attract jv partners, affiliates, ezine publishers, and website seekers who are well targeted.

On the other hand, if your products are not well defined, your sales message muddy, your articles all over the place - then you will get lots of traffic, but fall short on sales.

Just my two cents...

Jeff

One of the most important things that anyone, either creating a product or writing a salesletter/ad should understand beforehand is, as Dan Kennedy calls it, the "message to market" match... unfortunately most people don't do enough homework about their prospective or respective markets to really understand or know how to correctly target the market and its audience...

To me one of the most important things that can be done by any marketer, whether they write their own copy or hire others to do it for them is to get into the heads and minds of their target audience... to understand the dynamics, demographics, psychographics of the market, to understand what the buzz words, catch phrases, interests, ideas, psychology of the audience is, to know exactly who they are, what they want and how they can be best served...

Once you understand the intricacies of your audience then you can begin to build "affinity" within your marketing message that specifically targets whatever challenges, problems, ideas or solutions your product or service provides for this specific target market...

Hope this helps...

Success!!!

Tony Blake
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Perfectly stated Tony.

Used to have a mentor in another business that stated "Empathize" with
your market, don't "Sympathize"

Empathy requires you putting yourself in the place of your market, feeling
their feelings, living their desires, sharing their ideas and actions as opposed
to sympathy which is an outside looking in notion where you ASSUME you
understand your market - but it's still through your own understanding,
not that of your market.