I happen to be known as a pretty good researcher. Not great, like NSA “I have access to your cell phone’s memory even though it’s turned off” great. But good.

I owe a lot of it to the tools I use.

Today, I want to share with you a treasure trove-like resource for doing copywriting research, especially if strong, informative, provocative, curiosity-generating content is a part of your marketing or sales funnel strategy…

Now, before I share this tip, you should be aware of two things.

Realizing the benefits of this copywriting research tool is WORK. There’s no way around it. And #2, it’s going to cost about $120 a year.

Both of which are acceptable, I think. Because few are willing to invest the requisite time, money and mental muscle to thoroughly research and write copy that stands the best chance at converting profitably against paid traffic.

And that’s why you, my friend, will succeed with this  tool in hand. Because odds are, if you’re reading this blog, you ARE willing. And that’s because you’re a kick-ass copywriter hell bent on not just writing cool stuff, but CONVERSIONS. Right?

Using this tool WILL give you that edge you need in the market you seek. The same edge it gives me and others I’ve privately shared it with.

So let’s step back a moment and assess where we’re at.

In many markets today, the way we copywriters get prospects’ attention and interest is we share ideas which can help them first. Whether it’s tips, tools or strategies, it’s known as content marketing and every marketing guru under the sun is beating the drum.

Admittedly, nothing new there.

The challenge? As you probably know, most content is crappy. Poor quality. Inaccurate.

Worst of all? It’s just another reverberation in the Internet echo chamber.

(This will later be your differentiation, because you, my friend, will be sharing new, fresh, quality content.)

I *HATE* often repeated content. It gets boring fast. I can’t tell you how many times I say under my breath each day “I already know that. Tell me something new.”

I don’t think I’m alone.

If you’ve ever tried creating fresh, new, truly useful content, content that ultimately leads to a sale, you know how hard it is.

(If you’re starting to get bummed out by the magnitude of the problem of creating fresh content, stay with me. It’ll be worth it.)

As copywriters, we’ve discovered communicating content initially opens the door to a sale. But be careful. That statement is just true enough to pass the smell test, but it’s far from accurate.

The problem arises when you put that strategy to the test.

“That dog won’t hunt” as my friends in the south say. Because when you do test it, you’ll find one thing: content doesn’t always convert against paid, targeted traffic. (As you know, that’s the holy grail.)

Why?

Let’s be honest. You may be a great copywriter, and even though your content *IS* valuable, but no offense, it can be mind numbingly boring. You’re retelling it one more time in a different way.

Same old story.

Here’s what happens: your content fails at flipping their internal “reciprocity trigger,” where you’re providing obvious, overwhelming value upfront, where they’ve gotta have more of it.

Unfortunately in your prospects’ minds, they’re thinking “God, I’m glad I didn’t waste too much time watching that video” and they bail.

BUT — if your content is fresh AND compelling and articulated clearly, they’re thinking “WOW, this information is good! What else you got? I’M CURIOUS!”

See my point? You need great content. Set the bar high for yourself. Great content in this context being defined as fresh, accurate, relevant and informative.

Your prospects aren’t interested in what they can find on the first page of Google anymore. Just face it. They can search YouTube just as easily as you can. Perhaps better.

So you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and find the best content you can.

But where?

In my work, I spend much of time doing research. (Maybe I’m weird, but I happen to love it.)

I’ll buy research studies. I’ll pay thousands engaging researchers. I’ll do whatever I have to do to find that piece of information that’ll make all the difference.

Because if I do, it can be game changer.

Yeah admittedly, there are a lot of dead ends. Lots of laborious, “I already know that,” “I’ll know it when I see it,” needle-in-the-haystack stuff.

But that’s just the nature of the animal.

Here’s your mission: find fresh, interesting content. You want to be the first to sell a product or service using that content.

So now that I’ve stated my case, let me give you the really valuable research resource I’ve been using lately.

Your New Copywriting Research Tool? Kindle Unlimited

It’s Kindle Unlimited. Yeah, you’re just a couple clicks away from signing up for it.

Launched a little over a month ago, Kindle Unlimited is a subscription service from Amazon offering unlimited downloading of ebooks for a flat fee every month. There are over 600,000 books available as of this writing.

Just search for your subject matter and specifically look for the Kindle Unlimited books.

For instance, I was recently researching vitamin D3. Here’s what I get on my desktop app. The Kindle Unlimited books are circled below:

You see? All told, there are 13 book titles you can get on Kindle Unlimited for vitamin D3 for practically nothing.

That’s a mother lode of quality content to research on vitamin D3 to aid in your quest for fresh content..

The majority of it you won’t find on Google’s first few pages or Youtube. Not because it isn’t good, but the content is too complex, dense or not communicated very well. Because the majority of the time, the writers are not professional writers. They’re scientists, academians, etc. They’re writing a book because they want to be seen as an authority. They want to get published.

Not necessarily to sell something.

Now you may think “Vitamin D3? That’s kinda boring, isn’t it?”

Not if you’re buying it or selling it. What’s boring is the same vitamin D3 “it’s good for your bones” story that’s been told 1000 times before.

Few realize how important vitamin D3 is to your overall health… what biological systems it affects… or how it actually works biochemically in your body.

It’s fascinating stuff.

It gets better. Did you know it’s not a vitamin at all? It’s actually hormone secreted by your skin. And get this: few also realize there’s been conspiracy to suppress our vitamin D3 intake (i.e. sunshine) by pharmaceutical companies for the past 70 or so years.

Again, lots of interesting information, drama and controversy possible. But you won’t find it on the first page of Google. No way.

What’s more, most of the quality vitamin D3 content is technical and difficult to read. Sciencey stuff.

The good news is that’s your job, your opportunity, as a copywriter. To take that hard to read, difficult to comprehend content and be the first to communicate it in a clear, emotionally-compelling, informative way.

Do that? And you have a blockbuster on your hands, my friend. 🙂 All because of this under appreciated copywriting research tool.

Let me give you an example.

About 8 years ago, I was commissioned to write a weight loss promotion.

No, it wasn’t one of those “1 Weird Tip to Lose 10 Pounds” videos. This promotion turned out actually far more successful than anyone could have imagined at the time.

The copywriting centered around a story no one was telling. We told it first and it was really captivating.

Lots of drama.

So captivating in fact, the story helped turn the product into multi-million dollar blockbuster. As well as launch a $300 million dollar a year market with dozens of knock offs swiping our copy.

While I wrote it I just a few days, it took me months to find and research the story. I initially got the idea reading a research paper buried deep in the indexes of Pubmed.com.

My point is this: you’re not going to find the really valuable content people are going to be fascinated by on the first page of Google. No matter what Google’s algorithm does.

There’s only one drawback to my Kindle Unlimited research resource. Kindle Unlimited costs 10 bucks a month.

Whup-dee-doo. You now have the keys for sourcing amazing content, regardless of the market or niche…

So what copywriting research tools do you use? Go ahead and leave a comment below.

 

File under: Copywriting Research Tool