I've been for many months reading through many books, articles, salesletters, learning what I can from them about writing copy.

In the first book I read "Scientific Advertising" I think it was the second chapter Claude Hopkins says something like "you can't sell a person something they do not want".

That stuck out to me like a sore thumb the first time I read it and really sank in the next few times I went through the book and read it.

It's the same thing I have seen others say, like Marlon Sanders says find the market and give them what they want.

Now that I think I'm ready to start writing copy, I have run into a problem, I really do not know how to find a market, or how to find a product for that market.

I personally don't want to write copy for others and want to write it for things I decide to sell, I just have not read much information on ways to find a market or selecting or creating products for them.

Can anyone help me out with their personal expertise in these 2 areas?

Dear Villain,

There seems to only be 2 ways of "finding a market" - top down and bottom up, in their purest forms.

The one favoured by marketing theorists is bottom up i.e. find a need, a gap in the market or an underserved segment and then create or source product/service to satisfy that need. This can involve quite a lot of market research.

The other method is to create a product or service that you have a "hunch" will do well, and then find a market for what you want to offer. This may then involve refining or modifying the product or service for that market, or it may just involve angling your communications to specifically address that market. This is the method most small business owners use (consciously or otherwise).

The mistake most people make is to not get specific enough about who their market is and what problem they solve. This tends to result in ambiguous communication which leaves the reciever either scratching their head or just feeling bored. I find this particularly prevalent in service businesses.

What's also helpful is to do some work on your business model - what mix of products and services will generate the revenue that you need for your business to be successful? For example, if you sell a $25 ebook, how many will you have to sell in order to reach your monthly financial goal? If it turns out that you need to sell 200 of them, then is that a realistic objective? What could you do to increase the value and therefore the price, so that you would need to make fewer sales? How much would you need to spend on marketing in order to reach your revenue projection?

In terms of choosing markets and service/product mix, it's worth considering such things as:
- what skills and abilities do you already possess that can be leveraged in your business?
- what types of products are you capable of creating now?
- what kind of people do you enjoy working with
- what is your ideal day?
- what is your time frame for starting to make a profit?
- what existing thing can you combine with another existing thing to create something new and innovative?
- do you want to create your own products, or would you be happy selling other people's products, so long as the margins were there?
- what are your interests and passions?

and so on.

I address these issues in my coaching program. If you would like to know more, please PM me.

Hope this helps,
Jane

So how do you find the need or gap in the market?

That's more along the lines of what I meant in my first post, maybe I didn't make it clear enough.

Villain,

You made it quite clear enough - you just don't like my answer. The ultimate answer to your question "how do I find a gap in the market" is contained in the first week of any basic business course: Market research.

But gap in what market? You have to start somewhere. My suggestion is that you begin with something that interests you and that you can get passionate and expert about.

There are no short answers. Most businesses begin on gut instinct and passion with at least a modicum of vision. Some succeed in already crowded market places (think Richard Branson) and yet others actually create markets (think Sony Walkman, Dyson vacuum cleaners) whilst others merely satisfy existing needs (think Walmart).

You may need a multi-pronged approach. At the end of the day, which kind of business you choose to go into is a highly emotional and personal choice - or at least, it should be.

Jane

This could prove very difficult.

I don't really have any interests.

The past few months all I've really done is try to learn how to write copy.

That in itself isn't really of much interest to me either, as I decided to learn it out of more of a necessity to find something I could do from home.

Not having written any real sales copy, I don't see how I could turn that into something I could sell, I'm not even sure theres much of a market for it.

I'm another almost-ready-to-start-copywriting person. I have a number of interests, but none that fit a market that I know of. That's why I made a different decision from yours: I am going to be writing copy for others.

Accepting the oft-stated wisdom of the need for multiple income streams, I'm also exploring niche markets that can be served on the Web. I don't know if any of the stuff is worthwhile yet, but check out http://www.reach-n-relate.com/ask-niche/
Dr. Mani seems like a reputable guy (any detractors?).

Lane

I am my own copywriter and have had success in this area. So here's my two-cents worth.

This is how I would find something to sell to your "yet unknown" market.

Step 1: Make a list of everything...EVERYTHING....you like. If you like to fish, then write it down. If you like to hunt...write it down. Make your list as exhaustive as you can. (The reason you do this is so you don't end up selling something you dislike. You should sell something you like...preferably, something you LOVE! If you sell something you don't like (or hate) it'll stick it out like a sore thumb in your copy. Likewise, selling something you like or love is easy. Your copy will be drugged with enthusiasm and make it an even more powerful ad !)

Step 2: Prioritize your list in the order of what you like best of the things you wrote down.

Step 3: If your first interest is say,...fishing... then the first thing to do is get your hands on a copy of the SRDS books. They have mailing lists of everything you can imagine. These books tell you what lists are available, how many people are on the list, how much they spend, etc.

How much they spend is EXTREMELY valuable info because it's not BS or conjecture. These people voted with their pocketbooks and bought...quite different from filling out some bogus survey to uncover half-truths.

Anyway, you can tell how big your market is by the figures you uncover in the SRDS publication.

As a rule, the higher the average $$ spent, the better chance you have of profitability.

As a rule, try to find a market that's ridiculously passionate about what they like....AND...(most importantly) they have money spend.

Golfers are a good example of that.
Bowlers probably "aren't" a good fit of that profit model. (They may be passionate but it's not a market that spends a lot...not like golfers or others)


Step 4: Go to the bookstore and get (or stealthily read) the magazines on that subject. (or of course, the library). Spend a day doing it. See what keeps selling month after month. That'll give you an idea of what to create or do a knock-off. And it's okay to do a knock off. It's done all the time...but you canNOT duuplicate. In fact, you can make it better. And perhaps you can make more sales because you may possibly market it better. Ask yourself, "What problems are these people having and how can I fix it?" Problems, in our world, mean profit.

For instance, if fishing is your research...and you keep reading about a problem where people are sick of fishing elbow to elbow with others and want to know where the "secret, unpopulated places" are, then perhaps you could research the "secret" places and create a CD or book or whatever revealing the "secret" fishing holes.


Step 5: See if what you wanna sell is sold on the interent because you can test for next to nothing using Google. I can't go into how to test on Google because I don't have 4 to 5 hours to write the explanation for it. But if you go to Google, set up an account you can create ads to test if people are interested.

You can set up 1,2, or 3 ads and split test their viability.

If you can't do that, you can test in magazines. It'll cost more but it's also more targeted.

Step 6: DO NOT GET A BUNCH OF BOOKS OR MANUALS PRINTED UP AND READY TO SELL!...yet

It's happened to just about all of us where we get excited to print a couple thousand copies of something only to find out no one bought. Suddenly, we have garage fodder our spouses complain that there's no room for the garden tools in the garage because those "damn books" are taking up all the space.

Instead, go a head and write up your manual. Have it exactly as you want it on your computer to where all you gotta do is email the file to a printer and have 'em print up copies you sell. Typically, it can be done on demand and you don't need inventory.

This is known as "moist testing" as opposed to dry testing (which is illegal).

Step 7: You've gotta get paid. Quite frankly, if you don't have a merchant account...you aren't in business. There are ways around it but you can't make as much money. On the other hand, if you don't have money to hold you over until you're going good, then you have to look at alternatives.

As a for instance, ebooks are a good way to go. You can sell them through "Clickbank" . And if I remember right, you don't need a merchant account for them. (But if your product doesn't sell good online that doesn't do you much good)

There's also PayPal. The only thing I don't like about PayPal is it's a pain in the back of my front to set up an account. It can, will, and does hinder sales...to what degree it does...I don't know.

Step 8: And before I'd do any of the previous steps, I'd study copywriting if I were you. It IS the key to vault.

And here's a secret lots of people don't know. 90% of your ad's success will be because of the headline.

Here's a story to relate how powerful that knowledge is.

Back in June of '04, I created an ad for a horse training manual written from the late 1800's. (Public domain material is a hot thing to sell...hey!..there's an idea)

Anyway, I wrote the ad and tested it on my site. My results ranged from squat to...well...squat.

But like a trooper, I didn't give up hope. I knew this product would be a killer product that most horse owners would love. So I kept at it.

I wrote about 150 headlines. I chose the ones I thought would do best and kept going down the list until I harmonized with my readers inner most desires.

I knew I found the headline of choice when sales starting happening instantly. I mean instantly.

I've not changed it since because nothing else has beat it.

The headline is so powerful because we are a hurried society. We don't wanna take time to read anything unless we're sure it will benefit us or it interests us in some way. (Your opening sentence, by the way, needs to be just as powerful)

The headline that finally worked has amassed me tens of thousands of dollars very quickly.

If you wanna see the headline, go to:

http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beery.htm

Whew! I'm outta breath almost...

Well, I'll shut up here but there's one other thing I want to impress upon you.

You don't have to be an expert...to be an expert. You can make yourself an expert in the eyes of the reader (which aids greatly in credibility)

When I created my horse training website I honestly did not know that much about horses and horse training.

Turns out I know a helluva lot now because I've read a lot about it, created products for it...and most importantly...I love horses!

A couple of other ways to get a business idea:

1) Think of a problem you have or a product/solution you would like that is not currently available. An example from my own life was when I lived in Australia and I would get cravings for British or European products. I brainstormed a business for importing stuff like UK sweets, chocolates, crackers etc. (things that there was no equivalent for in Australia) and selling it via various methods e.g. a commission scheme for UK backpackers. The idea never got off the ground (it would have needed financial backing that I didn't have access to) - but that's one way of generating ideas.

2) Consider an MLM scheme where you can put your copywriting skills to good use selling the products and bringing people into the business. It's not everybody's cup of tea, but it can be a quick way to get set up in a business without all the overheads of a traditional storefront.

The most important thing for me was to pick one idea and run with it, and not get distracted by other ideas along the way. Once you've made a success out of one concept, you can always move on to the next.

HTH,
Jane