When it comes to the research process of finding new winning angles, there’s one thing separating the “A-players” from the rest.

In our AI-driven world where people are looking for a shortcut, there’s a magical little 9-word practice everyone seems to have forgotten about.

It’s the same “lost art” people like Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, Nikola Tesla, and countless others have used to change the world.

And, in my opinion, it should definitely be used in the DTC space as well. 

Because once you start implementing this effective method, it becomes effortless to uncover what your target market is really thinking and feeling.

And when you know what they’re thinking and feeling, it becomes much easier to “speak to them” in our ads and in our messaging.

From there, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that “selling” them becomes much easier as well.

This “forgotten” 9-word practice is the art of IMMERSION.

And based on my 8 years in direct response...

I know for a fact this is SINGLE HANDEDLY the one thing that’s going to allow you to “crack” your market and find your winning angle.

I’m going to “stepify” the entire research process, but the whole premise of what we’re doing  is based on completely immersing yourself in your market.

Immersion works for...

Language learning...

Picking up ANY new skill...

Identity shifting...

World-class acting...

Becoming a master seducer...

Increasing your stress tolerance...

Overcoming phobias...

And... finding new winning angles ;)

The same concept is also used in military operations, pilot flight training, and countless other “high stress” professions.

That said, I also believe the more “experience” you have, the less “research” you will typically need (as explained later in this article).

But for creating those massive BLOCKBUSTER campaigns, research will be your required friend, so embrace it.

“But can’t you just use AI for research AND SAVVEEEE TMEEE?”

Yes, you can. And I’ve used AI for this. 

Here’s the problem I ran into:

1) AI will bring you PILES of “research.” How do you tell what’s usable and what's slop?

2) AI tends to MISS the nuances, the golden nuggets we find in our research that later become our winners.

Every time I strictly used AI for research, it would bring me a lot of “stuff.”

Then I told it to share its sources with me, the exact pages, links, threads, etc. 

And when I went back and “fact checked” the research myself, I realized it completely MISSED a lot of the best hooks, angles, and ideas.

So I found that using AI is better for organizing information and building various systems. 

But for coming up with NEW WINNING ANGLES? 

In SATURATED markets? 

With HIGH SOPHISTICATION LEVELS?

Where everyone is COPYING EACH OTHER?

And when PERFORMANCE IS TANKING?

I prefer to completely immerse myself in the market first. 

Because I know if I spend enough time researching, reading, and analyzing, all I need is a blank page for the right ideas to flow out, both strategically and creatively.

That might sound confident, and IT IS, but it's also based on a proven process. 

After immersing myself in any offer and market, my brain naturally sees what's missing from the ads and/or funnel.

Once we know what’s missing, adding those elements into the ads, both in the scripts and in the visuals, will allow us to “unlock” new winners. 

So here is how I execute the “IMMERSION PHASE” that lays the groundwork for finding new winning angles.

The below steps are the research process only. 

For bringing the ads to life, there are a few additional things to do as well.

But for now, here is the process:

Step 1: Open a new Google doc. Name it: [Brand] Big Doc.

This is just what I do. You can name it whatever you want.

Step 2: Go through EVERYTHING the brand I’m working with gave me.

This includes previous ads, customer interviews, avatar persona documents, SOPs, customer surveys, ad account KPIs, funnel data, PDPs, advertorials, manufacturing process, product formulation, every little known “resource” the brand has, I will read it and go through it.

Step 3: Look at my client’s current ads in the ad library.

I’m not doing anything “special” at this point. I’m just getting a feel for the brand, the market, the problems, the claims, the product, all of it.

Usually the brand I’m working with will tell me what typically works for them. If they don’t, I’ll ask. They’ll tell me. And then I have that info as well.

I will also take notes on the sophistication levels, as well as how direct/indirect and aware/unaware they go. 

Step 4: Take a glance at competitors (mechanisms and proof elements).

The problem and solution are brain-dead simple in most markets. 

The challenge is uncovering the problem mechanism and the solution mechanism.

And then presenting that in a DIFFERENT and BELIEVABLE way. 

A lot of the stuff out there is not believable, like at all. You can’t fix it with “testimonials” either. 

Just because there are random endorsements in the ad does not mean every claim suddenly becomes believable. And it’s foolish (and lazy) to think they do.

So when I look at competitors, I spend most of my time on the mechanisms and how they’re presenting the whole thing, and if it’s believable. This will help me later on.

Step 5: Take note of what's working, what angles, what problems, etc.

By now, my original Google Doc is starting to look real juicy.

Because everything that catches my attention goes right in the doc. So I already have a TON of ideas. But we’re not done yet.

A huge part of the IMMERSION PROCESS is just absorbing as much material as possible.

So if I see a phrase in a competitor’s ad that catches my attention, I might GOOGLE that phrase. And now I’m down in a separate little rabbit hole.

Not only does this help me get an even deeper feel for the market. 

But also to know how to present my ads DIFFERENTLY. 

So reading up on various stuff in the market is a huge advantage, for the person who can “bother” to be disciplined enough to do it.

Step 6: Recall “evergreen” angles and ideas from experience.

A lot of people will say “if an ad has been running for a long time, that means it’s working”. 

And they’re not wrong. 

However, if you’ve been in the game long enough, you will also know, just from your experience, what TYPICALLY works in certain niches.

For example: 

In men’s dating, anything around “what to say” will typically perform well. 

In finance, it’s prediction events. 

In the coaching niche, it’s how to get clients. 

And so on.

So if I’m writing ads for a GLP-1 company, and their customer avatars are struggling with binge eating or “food noise,” then I know exactly what angles typically work in that market. The reason I know that is because I used to work with a psychoanalyst and author who wrote 3 books on binge eating. And I helped her launch her high-ticket programs. So not only do I know that the “root cause” of binge eating is often emotional (and not lack of willpower or discipline like a big portion of the target market believes), but I also KNOW what kinda “messaging” typically responds with that market.

This is one way of “shortcutting” the research phase, if you want to. 

But I like to complete the full research process to supercharge my results. 

Still though: It helps tremendously to know what ideas are kinda “evergreen” in the niche you’re operating. But this step won’t necessarily “show up” in the research.

By now, “phase 1” of the research process is completed. Once I’ve gotten an idea of the market from an advertising perspective (current ads, competitors, etc), I will go to the “phase 2” of the research process, the ocean-deep ends...

Step 7: Leverage my intelligence and pick out “avatar goldmines”

If you give an illiterate person a pen and paper, he won’t know what to do with it.

If you give it to William Shakespeare, you get timeless genius people read for centuries.

Going on Reddit for research is the same thing.

There is nothing inherently magical about “reading forums.” 

It’s more about WHO the person doing the research is.

How they think, how intelligent they are, how good they are at marketing, and so on.

For me, forums are a goldmine. 

And I get so many unique ideas for hooks and angles, and how to present the problem and the solution, as well as the product and the offer.

Amazon reviews can work as well, but I find people on Reddit are more honest and “raw,” which makes for better hooks. 

Trustpilot can be good too, but that’s better for finding common objections, improving your sales process, and turning complaints into customers, which is a topic for another day.

As always, I’m CONSTANTLY jotting down what catches my attention, throughout every step of this process. 

Step 8: Building my “quote bank.”

I am a HUGE advocate of using customers' own language and phrases.

Specifically in the hooks and openers (in combination with great advertising). 

So when I’m on Reddit, I’ll just copy whatever sounds interesting/new/unique/exciting to me. And paste it into the Google Doc.

All potential ideas, hooks, angles, concepts, ways to phrase a problem, USPs, all of it.

For example:

I was writing ads for a skincare company recently. 

And in the ad, we wanted to focus on facial puffiness (in the morning). 

So I went on Reddit and saw one woman describe herself as “feeling like the ugly duckling” when she wakes up.

So my opener for the ad became:

“If you’ve ever felt like the “ugly duckling” when you wake up, it’s not because of age, stress or bad sleep. It’s actually just [Problem Mechanism] while we sleep.

I removed the problem mechanism out of respect for my client. 

But do you see how that works? 

I immediately put them in a problem state (using their own ‘lingo’). And then I quickly present a new angle in the ad as well.

That’s an example of how you turn the quote bank into a hook, angle or concept. 

It all just depends on what you find in the research, and what you do with it. 

Step 9: Continue browsing Reddit and forums for more goldmines.

I’ll continue just reading, plotting, thinking, and strategizing.

All the potential ideas, hooks, angles.

What problems they face, the small details.

I take note of what they’ve tried before, what worked, what didn’t.

Think of new mechanisms or ways to present the problem / solution.

If you respect the immersion process, it will respect you back. 

And bless you with your new winning angle(s). 

But you gotta be disciplined, and actually spend the hours DOING the research.

Unsexy, but it works, every time.

Step 10: Scratch the itch and write the damn winner already. 

You read hours of their deepest problems and pain points.

Eventually, you find a BANGER hook.

That hook turns into an opener.

That opener turns into a lead.

You handle an objection or two.

You make another argument.

You already know why other alternatives don’t work. 

So you just tell that in the ad too.

Before you know it...

You’re presenting your mechanism, how it works, why it works, it’s super believable too.

Next, you might compare your approach to different alternatives.

Or you just introduce your product.

You’ve written thousands of ads at this point. 

You know what goes where, and when.

It comes naturally to you, intuitively, without resistance.

You add in the proof, the USPs, or whatever other element you feel is missing. 

EVERYTHING JUST FLOWS.

And the whole thing just comes together.

This is USUALLY how it goes.

Once you’ve done enough research, it’s literally impossible NOT to bang out killer ads.

The fingers are itching already.

And so, you just scratch that itch.

Step 11: Edit and tighten it up.

Usually the full ad flows out in one go. Then you go back and edit the thing. 

Shorten it, tighten it up, make it PUNCH. So on and so forth.

Then you can send it to someone for review (if that’s the workflow). 

Or you can send it to the editor/designer. Before that you’d create a creative brief and maybe a storyboard too. 

Again, it all depends on the workflow.

==

That’s the research process, and how I fully immerse myself in the target market to uncover new winning angles.

Once done, there are plenty of ways of bringing the ad to life.

Writing it in one go is one way to do it (as explained above).

Which is something that comes naturally to me (unconscious competence).

You can also follow a certain “reverse engineering” process (that’s based on what’s running (and WORKING) on paid traffic. I might write a post on that as well.

But in essence, a lot of it comes down to being genuinely skilled at your craft, and then executing on that skill.

The better you are, the less you need to copy and rip competitors. 

You can just study the market, see how it’s flowing, and then adjust your own approach accordingly. 

Namaste.