Newspapers.com Marketing Research
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Sam Parr shares his unique research method for finding marketing angles and copywriting inspiration using newspapers.com to analyze historical reporting.
Core Research Method
- Uses newspapers.com to find old articles about similar companies/services
- Looks specifically for how reporters explained similar concepts/businesses
- Searches for catchy sentences or angles that can be repurposed
- Focuses on finding how journalists historically framed similar offerings
Why It Works
- Provides proven angles that have already resonated with audiences
- Offers fresh perspective on how to explain your product/service
- Helps find language that has historically worked to describe similar concepts
- Gives inspiration for marketing copy without directly copying competitors
Implementation Process
- Find competitors that existed previously or currently
- Search for articles written about them in newspapers.com
- Look specifically for New York Times coverage
- Extract compelling sentences or explanations
- Adapt and repurpose the successful angles for current use
Key Benefits
- Avoids reinventing the wheel for marketing angles
- Leverages historically proven messaging
- Provides unique angles that aren't being used by current competitors
- Helps overcome writer's block when creating landing pages
Usage Example
- Sam uses this when writing landing pages
- Particularly helpful when stuck or seeking fresh angles
- Looks for how reporters explained similar businesses/concepts
- Takes successful angles and adapts them for modern use
This method shows how historical reporting can inform modern marketing approaches by leveraging proven messaging patterns and explanations that have worked in the past.
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.