So last night I’m with my wife, our friends, and our friend’s parents.

The plan is to have some dinner then jump in the pool.

So we sit down to eat and the topic of golf comes up.

Normally, I shy away from sports talk. I’m not really into sports — at least not organized sports like golf or football — so I’m a bit of an outsider in these situations.

But right now, I’m writing Pmax ads for an ecom client who sells golf clubs.

And honestly … it’s a weird sport with a ton of jargon.

As a copywriter though, half the battle is understanding how the market talks about their problems.

So when my friend’s dad told me he was a golfer, I started grilling him:

“What does ‘forgiveness’ mean?”

“What’s your average score? Are you happy with it?”

“Do you normally play with friends?”

Oddly, it wasn’t so much the answers to the questions I gave him that helped me as much as it was how he filled in the details.

Like how he used to think golf was a “stuffy” sport, but now he just sees it as drinking all day with his friends.

Or that he really wants to get better at golf so he can beat some of his friends and get a lower score.

The whole conversation was a goldmine.

This practice of asking questions is something I’m trying to do more often.

AKA … “Always Be Copywriting.”

The idea is that when I meet someone in one of the markets that I write for, I ask them questions that can help me understand the market better.

Maybe you hate the idea of “working” after hours like this, but to me, I think of being a copywriter as being a student of humanity through the lens of commerce.

I want to understand what motivates people to do the things they do.

Because I genuinely believe it will help me be the best — and most empathetic — copywriter I can be.

And hopefully it’ll stop me from becoming the dreaded “button puncher.”

David Patrick