Market Detective By Daniel Throssell

You’ve finished it, of course.(Actually, you finished it a couple days ago, but you’re still a bit unsure of yourself.)You give the Google Doc one last nervous scroll through …… aaaaand then another, for good measure.

And then … with trembling fingers …

You click ‘Send’ on the email.

And slump into your chair with relief.

You stare at your inbox for a few moments … then get up and walk around the room anxiously.

Several minutes later, your inbox notifies you:

PING!

It’s a reply from …

Your client.

Gulp.

You open it up …

Read the client’s first line …

“I’m sorry, but … this is NOT what we asked for. Please advise when you are available for a call.”

That’s Freelance Copywriting Nightmare #1, am I right?

Well, if this scene made your blood run cold … this might be the most important letter you ever re I mean, uh, I … have good news for you.

Phew, nearly went full sales letter cliche mode there

Because on this page, I’m going to show you how you can avoid ever having to face that scenario …

… by revealing the underrated ‘copywriting superpower’ that makes bad copy and unhappy clients a thing of the past.

Sound good?

Well, here’s the deal:

I’ve created a course called …

And if all my copywriting memories were erased from my brain tomorrow…

This is one of the FIRST courses I would buy to get it back (for reasons you will see shortly).

And I am not alone in that sentiment.

Cue inappropriately-placed teaser testimonial that I got out of the blue! (drumroll)

It is a rather expensive course (it costs $1500, which is not exactly spare change by most people’s standards).
Also, it is not ‘serious’ or ‘professional’. (In fact, I frequently crack stupid jokes — and at one point I literally stop to abuse a pair of larrikin Australian crows cawing outside my window.)
And WORST of all … it is only available on a smartphone or iPad, via my Learnistic mobile app. And that is utterly non-negotiable.
All right. That’s the bad news.

So … what is this course about?

And, why is it one of the first courses I would buy as a new copywriter?

Well, as the name hints at, Market Detective is a course on …

… market research.
“Huh?” you say in disgust. “Market research? That’s not my problem. I want to learn how to write SaLeS pAgEs!!!”

Yeah … right.

Everyone thinks all they need to learn is sales pages. (Or emails.)

But, listen:

If you feel like a faker who’s making this “freelance copywriting” thing all up as you go along … odds are, it’s because your market research process sucks.
Seriously. If you’re not feeling confident when you hand your copy in …

It means … you didn’t do the right research for the job.

It means … you didn’t find out what your client really wanted* before you started writing.

(*Yes, there are ways to find this out, down to the very FONT SIZE they secretly prefer your draft to have. And no, it is not as simple as “just ask them” or “always use size 18” — I show you how to actually do it in Market Detective)

It means … you don’t actually know if your copy will resonate with the target audience.

And it means … you might even have said something the market would never say, and your client will realise you have NO IDEA what you’re talking about.

So, forget buying yet another ‘sales page’ course.

If you still feel like a copywriting fraud, even when you’ve already taken a bunch of ‘how to write copy’ courses, fix the ROOT PROBLEM: your market research process.

And, admit it: right now, you hardly have a ‘process’ in place. Right?

Well, let me flex a little and show my market research skills …

… by talking about what I think your current market research process is like.

(This is an aggregate of most freelance copywriters, so maybe not every point is you … but I reckon most will be.)

You tell me how this sounds, okay?

So you get a new copywriting job.
If you’re like most copywriters here’s what you do…

You start with those things everyone says you “should” do, like …

• Reddit. That’s a good place to start, right? You go to Reddit and search … but there’s no subreddit for this market. Hm. So much for that suggestion.
• Next you try Amazon. But … the thing you’re selling doesn’t even exist on Amazon. Instead, your search just brings up a list of Chinese gadgets. Oops.
• Okay … what about Quora? Everyone says Quora. But … Quora proves to be as helpful as a punch in the eye. It’s just a bunch of answers. Who even said this was a good idea?

• You’re getting a bit desperate. Forums? That’d be great! You Google for forums … and … don’t find any.

And that’s not to mention
organising your research document…

You have a vague idea that you’re meant to look for things like “desires”, “pains”, “fears”, “failures” and so on.

But when you start writing stuff down, you find that things don’t fit that neatly.

So you end up putting most of your stuff into a messy ‘uncategorised’ pile instead.

WHAT MOST OF YOUR MARKET RESEARCH DOCUMENTS LOOK LIKE

And your research document blows up … till it’s bloated and useless.

Oh, and you’ve heard people say you’re supposed to “call” people…

… but you have no idea how you’d even do that.

And let’s be honest:

You don’t WANT to have to call some randoms!!!

Really? All you want is something you can do from behind your laptop, WITHOUT having to talk to someone or rely on your client sending out questionnaires.

And then there’s the biggest question of all …

“When can I stop researching?!?”

You stare at a wall of text, and wonder which part you’re supposed to take…

So you just take it all!

You keep accumulating more and more, never sure if you’ve actually got “enough”, or when you can stop.

And when you DO stop, and start writing your copy …

You’re not sure if your client’s going to like it.

Because you didn’t actually find out HOW to know what they like.

No wonder you feel like a fraud.

And no wonder every time you submit copy …

… you fear the nightmare of the “Please Explain” email from your client.

Don’t worry though! There are plenty of ‘market research’ modules in copywriting courses, full of HELPFUL tips like:

1. You can NEVER do enough market research. Go deep … deeper … DEEPER!!! Know the books they read. Know the movies they watch. Call them … date them … stalk them … kill them and wear their skin. THAT’S the secret to copy that CoNvErTs!!!
2. What? No, it doesn’t matter if this is a job you are only getting paid $40 for on Upwork. You must still do 30 hours of research. DEEEEEEPEERRRRRR!!!
3. PiCk Up ThE pHoNe!!! Speaking of going deeper. You have to actually TALK to people, don’t you know?!? Who cares if you’re an introvert? Get dialling!
4. Do surveys.
5. Don’t do surveys. People lie in them and they suck. (Pick up the phone instead.)
6. And yeah, just basically use Google, Reddit, Amazon, Quora, Twitter, Facebook groups, SEMRush, forums, Tik Tok, Instagram, AHRefs, Facebook analytics, Google Trends, customer service emails, AnswerThePublic, and interview the company’s CEO, product designer, head of marketing, junior accountant, and the janitor. As well as calling customers AND reading all the books they read.

Oh hey I was gonna explain HOW and WHEN to do all this stuff but I ran out of time in my module so just do it all or figure it out yourself or something lol kthxbye

Yeah … very helpful.

Top job, guys!

Way to make it easy!

Well, dear reader — fear not.

That’s where MY new course on market research comes in.

I’ve drawn on my years of copywriting experience for some of Australia’s biggest brands and businesses, and helping launch Australia’s bestselling book in history …

And I’ve packaged the entire process of market research into a course you could finish in a couple of evenings if you really wanted to.

And as I mentioned (gee, you sure forget fast), it’s called …

Market Detective is my original, five-step, graded system for doing market research on any freelance copywriting job.
It is as close as possible as you’ll get to a step-by-step system for doing market research.

Ask your client this. Check their answers for X, Y and Z. Call up this person, and say that. If that’s not enough, go to this website, and look for this. Send a survey to this list, and write these specific questions.

And — so on. Until your job is complete.

But here’s the important part:

This course is NOT just a list of actions, or questions to ask your client, or videos on how to browse Reddit.
I mean, I do show you every single step of the process.

And, I show you in more depth than any other copywriting course out there (because, frankly, who else has an entire course dedicated just to the research process? They always wedge that into one module!).

But that’s nowhere near all I have to show you in this course.

In fact, it’s probably not even the thing you will find most valuable.

The reason Market Detective is different is that it is also …

The first and only course that shows you HOW TO ONLY DO THE RESEARCH YOU NEED TO DO.
No more … and no less.

Here’s what I mean:

You do NOT have to call up 5 of your client’s customers on the phone, go out and buy the product, and create a 67-page customer avatar for every sales page you write. Especially if you’re earning just $250 to write it.

On the other hand … sometimes trawling Reddit and Amazon for hours from the safety of your computer (like many courses teach you) is just NOT ENOUGH for the job you’re doing.

But … HOW do you know when to do the different kinds of research? And when to stop?

THAT is what is totally unique about this course.

Market Detective gives you a five-stage, graded system for knowing exactly what and how much research to do on any job.

And I guarantee you have never seen anyone tell you this system — because I invented it.

So … what’s inside the course?

Well, rather than throw in a bunch of bulldust bullets … I’m just going to SHOW you what’s in the course. Undoctored, unfiltered, unembellished.

And guess what? You don’t just get MY market research process. I also interviewed a bunch of OTHER copywriters to get THEIR market research processes too.

I spoke to …

And in most cases … they told me stuff they hadn’t even included in their own courses!

These recordings alone could have been their own product — an investigative look into the market research processes of many successful copywriters.

But you get them all free in Market Detective.

Relaaaaaax. Even though this course looks hefty, I designed it for EASY consumption.
This is no ‘normal’ course … where I just fire up a screen recording and crap on for 50 minutes per video.

Nope.

I designed the videos in Market Detective to be like the content you actually consume on your phone:

Short … pithy … and entertaining.

Most of the vids range from 2 to 12 minutes in length.

(There are a few SUPER long videos — over 2 hours — but these are the ones where I just show you my ENTIRE research process, uncut. They’re not essential to the training.)

The text is legible on a small screen (and for the few screen recordings where it’s small, I narrate everything I’m reading or writing.)

And because these videos are in your pocket — and not behind some course platform login on your desktop — you can do them while you are at the bus stop … brushing your teeth … or … uh … skydiving.

Once you finish this course you will know with crystal clarity:

1. How to ONLY do the minimum research necessary on any job, while still writing good copy (so you aren’t spending 10 hours researching a webpage you’re earning $200 for)
2. WHICH tools to use for your research on any given job (and which you can safely ignore)
3. The EXACT questions to ask your client when starting the job (so you don’t look like an idiot later)
4. Step-by-step instructions for what to do when you “can’t find anything good online”

And, you’ll also discover …

5. EXACTLY when to stop your research!

I know we’re only 5 bullets in, but let’s be honest, you were skimming already, weren’t you?

Well, I want to pause for a moment on this one.

One of the BIGGEST problems copywriters have is knowing when they can ‘stop’ doing research.

Well, with Market Detective, that’s not a problem.

Because I give you five distinct ‘stages’ of research to go through, in order.

And you get exact, step-by-step instructions for WHEN to move on to each (with actual project value dollar amounts and “if-then” questions about your project) …

… or if you can stop researching there.

It took me a LONG time to work this stuff out … and I think you will find my system extremely helpful and time-saving.

Okay, a few more things you’ll know once you finish Market Detective…

6.How to know when you’ve found your market’s true, deepest pain (the one that makes them BUY)

7.How to avoid being ‘tricked’ by misleading feedback — and even judo-flip it into sales copy on the spot (I show a live video of how to do this exact thing)

8.When you DON’T have to call people to do research (and, IF you do actually need to — which is much rarer than you think — how to do it and what to say)

And … which is probably MOST exciting of all …

9. HOW to do every step of your research!

Since you get to watch live, over-my-shoulder video of me actually demonstrating almost every single ‘theoretical’ concept in the course.

You’ll watch as I do things like …

Rapid-fire researching & writing FIVE sales emails, from scratch, in 30 minutes … for an obscure market I know nothing about (learning Estonian):

Filtering out the gold from the garbage on Amazon:

Writing bullets for an info product on-the-fly:

Walking you through advanced survey design psychology:

Doing competitor research to improve a landing page’s conversions:

Showing you how to find the top-converting sales letters in your niche:

Scouring Reddit for email ideas:

And even writing THIS VERY SALES PAGE (which you’re reading now) from my own research:

In short, you will have the confidence to turn in your copy on any freelance copywriting job KNOWING that it’s good — AND that the client will like it.

Here, take a look at some of that confidence. These are reviews from real, working copywriters who’ve taken Market Detective:

NOW, however…

…I know exactly WHAT to ask the client to squeeze the best info out of them.
…I know how much time I should spend on research and when I can finally say “that’s a wrap”
…I know how to organize all the info in the awesome Zukan Sheet
…I feel more confident to take on bigger projects
…I enjoy the research phase and don’t feel like I’m going in blind anymore.

There is ZERO fluff in Dan’s course. Every minute of it is packed with teachings that will up your game.

The way I see it, Market Detective is a rite of passage for every copywriter who wants to join the pro league.

Alex Cho
Freelance Copywriter

I hope you’re seeing the picture here? This course isn’t just about “here’s what to do“. It’s about “here’s how to stop feeling like a fraud“. This process WILL do that for you — like it did for these guys.

Or maybe you’ll just love watching my ‘market research brain’ in action, like Harry did:

Or there’s this beta tester, whose RAGINGLY gushing ‘review’ was so good, I have to insist I did NOT pay him to say this:

Here’s my friend Shiv Shetti eating humble pie after seeing what was in Market Detective:

Okay, just one more. But before I show you this last one, a bit of context:

Eric Orellana was an Inbox Detonator coaching student of mine.

One week, he submitted some emails to me for review.

I was stunned. They were amazing.

I messaged him: “Dude, where did THIS come from? These are the best emails you’ve ever sent me!“

And then, I literally created a new area in my archives called ‘Copy That’s Already Excellent’, with his emails at the top:

Real proof this stuff works.

Okay. Yeah, yeah, everyone who takes Market Detective loves it. We get it. But get to the point Daniel. How much does it cost?

A LOT, OKAY?!? I said that.

This is honestly some of the most valuable knowledge I’ve learned. So I have NO qualms about making it pricey.

Besides … I hate it when people buy my products and don’t use them.

Which is why Market Detective is very deliberately priced at a stinging $1,500.

Obviously, this is not an ‘impulse’ buy. Nor do I want it to be.

And especially given that I am not offering change-of-mind refunds on this product.

So think carefully before you pull the trigger.

And to help you make the decision …

Before you buy Market Detective, I want you to put your hand on your heart and repeat after me:

“I am a freelance copywriter.”
Market Detective is designed primarily for copywriters. Not for marketers, or business owners, or entrepreneurs. If you are one of these people, purchase at your own risk.

“I am fine with taking the course on my smartphone or iPad.”
This course (for now) is ONLY available via my Learnistic mobile app. You must have a new-ish smartphone and be comfortable watching videos on it.

“I understand Market Detective is not a course on how to write sales pages.”
Market Detective is a course on research. And while I show you how to turn your research into sales copy, and show you me doing it, it is NOT a ‘how-to-write-a-sales-page’ course.

“I understand Market Detective is not a quick-profit plan, but a long-term investment in my skills and success as a copywriter.”
i.e. unlike what other courses claim, Market Detective is not a magic copywriting bullet that will land you high-paying clients next week. Don’t buy it with your last remaining 2 months’ worth of rent money.

“I am willing to spend at least 6 hours going through the content.”
The ‘core’ training in Market Detective takes around 6 hours to go through on 1.5x speed. The full course runs for 12+ hours (on 1.5x).

“I don’t already have a dozen other unfinished copywriting courses.”
This one’s self-explanatory, really.

“I understand there are NO refunds if I change my mind about wanting the course.”
I’m serious on this. I hate quitters and refunders, and I don’t welcome them into my business. So if you have even a smidgeon of doubt that I can deliver the goods, join my daily email list here instead and get to know me first.

Could you say all those things without needing to huff into a paper bag? Then, here’s how to buy Market Detective and get started using it in the next 5 minutes:

Simply use this fat, red button to buy the course:

Could you say all those things without needing to huff into a paper bag? Then, here’s how to buy Market Detective and get started using it in the next 5 minutes:
Simply use this fat, red button to buy the course:

Once you purchase, you’ll get an email from ‘Learnistic’ inviting you to download the Learnistic app, where you’ll be able to access your purchase.

(If you already have this app, the content will just be added to your account automatically.)

If you buy and have ANY troubles whatsoever, email me immediately at daniel@<this domain name>.com, and I will get you sorted. (Domain name removed to spite the spambots)

All right. That should be enough to make up your mind. Honestly, I’m mainly directing warm traffic to this page, and 90% of people already knew if they wanted it before getting here.

• Intro
• Survey the Client
• Survey the Market
• Speak to the Market
• Become the Market
• Produce Research and Final Steps
• Bonus – 1
• Copy
• Critique
• Other Copywriting Process