I often get made fun of for this, but one of my favorite movies of all time is “Signs,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Why do I like it so much?

Probably because it shares many characteristics with Alfred Hitchcock films. (Hitchcock is my favorite director of all time.) But it’s also a bit funny, a bit scary, a bit emotional, and very suspenseful. The premise is an alien invasion, but the plot is really about a minister regaining his faith.

Talk about something for everyone!

That brings up a good question. How do you advertise a film that has something for everyone? Do you try to appeal to everyone? Or do you choose the most profitable segment of the market?

As an online copywriter, I often face similar questions for the products I write for. Some products appeal to many different groups of people, in very different ways.

Take web video, for example.

People from all walks of life could use help putting video on the web. From small business owners to corporate types… from eBay sellers to Internet marketers… and from moms who want to show off their kids to kids who want to show off their antics…

… The market for people who want to put video on the web is wide open.

So if your goal is to generate the most sales, who do you direct your copy to? Who is the perfect customer to picture in your mind as you craft the copy?

There are a few ways to answer this question.

If you have an existing site and you’re rewriting the copy, the smartest thing to do is consider where your traffic is coming from. Any basic web stats program should be able to list sites that are sending you traffic (StatCounter.com is one of many, for instance).

A quick analysis of these referring sites is a simple way to discover which market segment is most likely to be your best bet for profitability.

If you’re getting a vast majority of your traffic from say, webmaster forums, you might tweak your copy to address the “techie.”

However, just because you’re getting more traffic from the “webmaster forums,” doesn’t mean this traffic is your most profitable. More advanced tracking programs (like Muvar) can track the number of sales from different traffic sources.

This way, you may discover that “techies” are a majority of your traffic, but a minority of your customers.

Could you tailor your sales message better for the “techies” and see an increase in sales? Maybe. But you may have much better luck going after the traffic that is already converting higher.

But what if you’re writing copy for a brand new site, with no traffic to analyze? Then how do you choose the most profitable market segment to target?

The most obvious choice would be to choose the largest group. But that’s not always the case. You might also consider which segment is easiest to advertise to.

One way to find out which market segment is easiest to reach would be to see how many of them are on the web looking for your product. A basic keyword search can tell you quite a bit.

If you use a program like Adword Analyzer or a web based solution like WordTracker, just type in your root keyword to find out what other keyword suggestions come up.

For example, if you type in “magic tricks” into Wordtracker, you’ll find the most popular related searches are “easy magic tricks” and “simple magic tricks” among others.

So even if your “magic trick” product might be advanced enough for a professional magician, it might be smarter to write your copy for complete beginners… simply because there are more of them searching for magic tricks than there are professionals.

Another consideration when choosing a market segment could be how competitive your market place is. If the largest market segment is being bombarded by several different companies, why not carve out a niche for yourself and cater to a smaller segment?

Also, don’t rule out creating more than one website, aimed at different segments of your market, selling the same product. Maybe a sales letter for complete beginners on one site, and a sales letter for professional magicians on another site will work the best!

Regardless, finding and targeting a profitable market segment in a calculated way is the key to maximizing profits and return on investment.

A product that appeals to the general public isn’t an excuse to write “general” copy. And skipping this step could be a costly mistake.

About the Author

Stephen Dean has been writing compelling sales copy online for over three years. Regular clients include Jim Edwards and Ryan Deiss. He is currently a member of Michel Fortin’s email coaching program. Recently, he compiled many of his most ground breaking conversations with Michel into a special report called “Tapping Michel Fortin’s Brain.” For more, see Stephen’s Blog.

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