I mad! Screw Google!
There are things you and I want.
And then there are the obsessive thoughts that keep us up at night.
I have known a number of these obsessive thought experiences. And, for a long time, I thought I was the only person in the world that suffered in this way. 
There are many ways to do market research. And the truth is that it’s all based on a hypothesis that weights certain data as important – from numbers to discussions.
I have never put a lot of stock into numbers. Numbers are an effect of cause. My focus is primarily on the psychological side of the game.
One thing is certain – emotions have always been a hindrance to man and I don’t see any end to that in sight.
Here’s something you’ve probably never read anywhere – the idea coming from today’s mastermind.
You can go into a forum and look for the positive buzz. And, maybe, if you can get in front of an already moving train, it’s not hard to get hit.
If you’ve ever tried jumping on a buzz product though (anyone want to buy a half dozen sites focused on specific models of Powershot cameras?) then you know these things come and go – fast.
That’s the obvious approach and you’re not going to be alone. You’re also going to be at somewhat of a loss when it comes to understanding WHY people want what they want.
On the flip side you can learn a lot more, develop a market position, and anticipate where the train might be headed by focusing on just four emotions while doing forum research (all with subsets, yes, but we’ll keep this simple).
1. Fear
2. Anger
3. Frustration
4. Confusion
These are the REAL problems in the market and they will tell you everything you need to know when addressing that market – including what it is that they really need, even when they don’t know it.
Step one, open up a spread sheet and as you go through the forum identify statements of fear, anger, frustration or confusion.
In case this isn’t clear, here are some examples from Parenting.com (in the interest of time, I’m only focused on subject lines but you really want to get into the discussion thread):
- Worried about public school (fear)
- Is college really worth it? (confusion, fear)
- To vaccinate or not to vaccinate (confusion)
- My sanity vs my baby having granparents (frustration)
- It is frustrating to see so little attention focused on dads. (thanks for being so obvious!)
You get the idea.
Now, let’s start with how to deal with each emotion and what it represents.
1. Fear. False Evidence Appears Real – you’ve all heard this.
Another way to say this – person is stuck in a lie, mis-truth, or mis-perception about reality.
Relations to fear include apathy, grief, overwhelm and depression.
These people can be hardest to deal with because they must embrace the idea that what they believe is other than the truth. Best way to do this is to present facts – and to open the door by playing on those fears (help, don’t exploit).
“Doctor reveals the hidden truth about autism and vaccinations. Do not vaccinate your child until after you’ve read this alarming report.”
This is blatantly addressing a fear – the medical community knows something that it isn’t telling us.
2. Anger. It’s everywhere. It’s wanting things to be other than how they are. Similar to fear, it’s based on resistance towards reality but there is a higher level of power on the part of the individual. This person wants control – they want to assert themself and believe they can dominate the situation or suppress what they don’t like.
“Screw Google”, “Google Killer”, “Commission Crusher”, “Day Job Killer”, “Mass Control”, etc. These are all products that target users susceptable to the desire to believe they can control an outside objective.
What these people need is to get clear on the RESULT they want – not on the anger they feel.
But if you can identify who it is they think is the cause of their problems (it’s not them, of course) then you can tap into a powerful, driving energy.
“Insider reveals the truth about how the gurus push-your-buttons at will – and how you can beat them at their own game.”
Yes, it is very similar to . . .
“Unkown Google Adwords Expert Reveals the Brass Knuckles Approach to Kicking Ass and Taking Names on Anyone’s PPC Turf.”
Dude, you’re powerless . . . now take control and hit them back. And give me some of your money so that I can continue marketing to you in a way that reinforces how powerless you are – I’m surfing, you’re not . . . I’m wearing a Cartier, you’re not . . . I’m driving a Lamborghini, you’re driving a Pinto . . .and so that I can buy lap dances from “models” for my top affiliates in Vegas as we celebrate our coolioness together.
3. Confusion. This is all about “What’s the right choice?” People in confusion are ideal customers. Present the best choice, simple as that. Or help them make a decision.
“Is College the Best Financial Choice?” . . . College guidance counselor reveals the surprising truth.”
COPY TIP: This headline wouldn’t be nearly as effective as if it read “Is College the Best Financial Choice?” . . . High school dropout reveals the surprising truth.”
The headline *implies* that the college guidance counselor might confirm what you’ve believed all along – that someone in the college system is going to “admit” college isn’t worth the money. Of course, we don’t know – so we still have to look.
4. Frustration. The sister of confusion, frustration is also about choice but it’s making a choice that’s producing a disappointing result. They need to let go of the choice they’re making and make a new choice.
“Finally! A magazine that recognizes
dads are parents too!”
(You don’t have to read another parenting magazine that implies mother’s are the only one’s interested in being good parents).
or . . .
“The surprisingly simple solution to dealing with out of control grandparents.”
(You don’t have to be unhappy with the choice to allow those annoying people to be what they are . . . you can have your cake and eat it too)
I could give you a thousand headline copywriting templates – but in the 15-minutes required to do this exercise you’d never come up with anything better.
Right now people are telling you exactly what they want and need (whether they’ll spend their money for it is another matter). And they’re telling you exactly how to talk to them to get their attention.
It really IS as simple as that.
Now, here’s one more thing to help you better understand.
All of these emotions contain an element of fear – fear of making the wrong choice, fear of serious health damage, fear of needing to deal with a problem indefinitely, etc.
Fear is a common element, HOWEVER, people deal with the same fear in a variety of ways. So these 4 emotions are not like 4 unique colors – they are 4 unique shades of the same color. They simply represent a different level of awareness and thus a different level of power of take action.
A person stuck in fear isn’t immediately willing admit they have a choice. They see themself as a victim of circumstance.
A person stuck in anger is ready to fight – but they fear that getting what they want will require a fight too.
A person stuck in frustration or confusion is desiring to make a choice – or has made a choice that isn’t working out.
It is easier to deal with a person based in confusion than it is a person based in anger. It is easier to deal with a person in anger, than a person based in overwhelm (fear).
Because the person based in overwhelm first needs to understand they have a choice – how much of what you feel you need to do actually needs to be done? Of all the voices yelling at you in your head, which one actually matters?
On this note: I’m debating working on a new Adwords Black Book . . . however the Adwords market is stuck in fear right now, and anger too. It is going to take a monumental selling effort, at this time, to allay those fears.
It will take some time, as people realize Facebook is nowhere near as rich as Adwords to embrace reality – Adwords is the best source of traffic, period.
But it will happen – I guarantee that it will.
OK -
Markets are expressing what they want even when they don’t know it. And while most people aren’t going to come right out and say “I want X’s Affiliate Black Book” . . . but when they’re saying “I’m frustrated with Google Adwords”, well you know exactly what they need.
All the best to you – X
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post.
To my mind, this is one of the best posts you’ve written…in an analytical, style and with a crispness that gives each point considerable impact.
I’ve read it twice, and I’m still reflecting on it. Then I’ll read it again. It really is worthy of study.
I’ll call it “brass knuckles enlightenment”. An oxymoron? Maybe. Maybe not. But a lesson for me, better learned late than never.
With thanks,
.P.
Excellent post. If you want to avoid trawling forums, Yahoo Answers is a great targetted source of data for market research.
Good job/ You covered the topic very well.
This knocked me awake, printed it out & re-read it like 4 times. It got me thinking to re-do my landing page approach; go through the research & come up with an entry that matches the users thoughts/frustrations. Great post.
Two thumbs up from this corner. Excellent post.
An interesting little side note from the recent Canadian elections: I saw a poll where they’d broken down the 3 main parties according to which emotion(s) they were playing to. Then they polled the public to find out how many people were actually thinking according to those particular emotions.
Turns out the final vote was somewhat reflective of that poll… and unfortunately for him, Michael Ignatieff (Liberals) had incorrectly decided that the public was by and large angry, and geared his campaign around that. Turns out less than 10% of them were angry, and turns out he got spanked in the election.
Go figure.
All this to simply underscore what X has laid out so well above – do your research, but actually figure out where the majority are at as well. Sometimes it is just the fringe making a lot of noise too.
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