You know you need to deeply understand your audience to create successful products and marketing. But actually getting inside their heads feels impossible. How can you really know what they're thinking and what they truly want? And how do you find the secret ingredient that makes your audience sit up, take notice, and cling to your every word?
You've tried all the typical tactics - customer surveys, focus groups, even mining reviews and comments. But people often struggle to articulate their deepest desires and pain points. Or they tell you what they think you want to hear instead of their unvarnished truth.
It's incredibly frustrating watching your "audience-informed" content and offers fall flat. You're putting in all this work trying to give them what you think they want, but it keeps missing the mark. If you can't crack the code of what motivates them at a primal level, your business is going to stay stuck.
What if there was a way to essentially become a fly on the wall inside your audience's minds? To eavesdrop on their unfiltered conversations and observe their authentic thoughts, struggles, and behaviors in their native environment?
Be a Jedi Mind Reader with Sales Safari
That's exactly what the Sales Safari technique allows you to do. By lurking in the online "watering holes" where your prospects gather, you can take meticulous notes on how they communicate their pains, use insider jargon, and make recommendations to each other. This raw data gives you an unprecedented window into their psyches.
In this mega-guide masterclass, you'll get the complete blueprint for conducting your own Sales Safari to deeply understand your audience on a profound level. Pioneered by Amy Hoy of Stacking the Bricks, Sales Safari is the key to:
Identifying the perfect online forums, communities, and discussion spaces (the "watering holes") where your prospects freely open up
Taking meticulous notes that capture their authentic pains, jargon, and recommendations in their own words
Analyzing your notes to extract key themes, insights, and opportunities around their unmet needs
Mapping out and crafting persuasive "e-bomb" content that makes your audience think "Whoa, it's like you plucked this right from my brain!"
Strategically delivering those e-bombs to attract, nurture, and build insatiable demand among your prospects
Leveraging your new deep audience understanding to create wildly successful paid products and services
How Sales Safari Works?
The key to effective marketing is understanding your audience so intimately that you can read their minds and give them exactly what they want before they even realize they want it. This profound audience understanding is the superpower of Sales Safari.
By observing your prospects' natural online conversations and behaviors, you can extract priceless insights into their pains, jargon, recommendations, and unmet needs. With this data, you can craft educational content marketing bombs ("e-bombs") that make your audience think "Whoa, it's like you plucked this right from my brain!"
When your e-bombs demonstrate this level of understanding, your audience will:
Trust you as the go-to expert who "gets" them
Get excited about the novel insights you provide
Become willing to invest their time, social capital, and money into whatever you offer
Mastering Sales Safari allows you to deeply connect with your audience, build insatiable demand for your perspective, and ultimately position yourself as an authority worth paying attention to.
This mega-guide masterclass will give you a start-to-finish blueprint for conducting Sales Safari, creating mind-reading e-bombs from your findings, and delivering those e-bombs back to your audience to nurture them into raving fans and customers.
We'll break down the process into four key stages:
Stage 1: Gather Safari Data
Stage 2: Analyze Safari Data
Stage 3: Create E-Bombs from Data
Stage 4: Deliver E-Bombs to Audience
Each stage will include step-by-step instructions, illustrative examples, common pitfalls to avoid, and pro tips for mastering the techniques. You'll walk away from this guide knowing exactly how to:
Identify the perfect online "watering holes" for observing your prospects
Take meticulous notes that capture their pains, jargon, and recommendations
Analyze your notes to extract key themes, insights, and opportunities
Map out and craft persuasive, mind-reading e-bomb content
Strategically publish and promote your e-bombs to attract and nurture your audience
Leverage your e-bomb success to ultimately sell products/services
Whether you're an entrepreneur, freelancer, marketer, or business owner, Sales Safari and e-bombs are the keys to understanding your audience's deepest desires and giving them exactly what they want. The connection and trust you build through this process is the foundation for creating anything they'll pay for.
Let's dive into Stage 1 and get started gathering priceless audience insights through Safari!
Stage 1: Gather Safari Data
The first stage is to observe your prospects by lurking in their online "watering holes" and taking meticulous notes on how they communicate their pains, use jargon, and make recommendations. This raw data will fuel all your future audience understanding.
Step 1: Identify Watering Holes
Watering holes are any online locations where your prospects gather and have natural conversations amongst themselves, free from sales agendas. This could include:
Niche forums/message boards (e.g. makermoney.com, chowhound.com)
Facebook/LinkedIn groups (e.g. Keto Recipes, Social Media Marketers)
Reddit communities (e.g. r/woodworking, r/webdev)
Amazon product reviews (e.g. for cameras, cookware, software)
Blog comment sections (e.g. copyblogger.com, nngroup.com)
Slack communities (e.g. Tropical MBA, Dynamite Circle)
Email lists/newsletters (e.g. Hustle Crew, Brain Food)
Q&A sites like Stack Overflow, Quora
The best watering holes have active, ongoing dialogues rather than just one-off questions and answers. You want places your prospects feel comfortable openly discussing their struggles, curiosities, and experiences without filters.
Example: Let's say you want to create products for beginner rock climbers. Potential watering holes could include:
mountainproject.com forums
REI.com gear reviews
Climbing Narc newsletter
Local climbing gym message boards
You'll want to identify 5-10 potential watering holes to start with for your particular audience of interest.
Step 2: Set Up Safari Notebook
For each watering hole thread you explore, you'll create a new document with the following sections:
URL:
Date:
Pain:
Jargon:
Recommendations:Having a consistent format will keep your notes organized as you gather more and more data over time. You can use a simple text file, Google Doc, Evernote, or any other method you prefer.
Step 3: Observe and Take Notes
Spend 15-30 minutes carefully reading through the full thread conversation. As you read, jot down any observations that fall into the pain, jargon, and recommendations categories:
Pain - Note any statements, outcomes, or behaviors that indicate your prospects are experiencing struggles, frustrations, or unmet desires. Pain can be subtle, like procrastinating on a task or constantly seeking workarounds.
Example Pain Notes:
"Tweaked my knee bouldering last week and the pain just won't go away."
"Forced to take time off climbing until my meniscus tear heals, which could be months."
"Rehabbing my knee has been way slower than I hoped and it's really demotivating."
Jargon - Record any specialized terminology, insider phrases, or common words used in unconventional ways by this audience. Jargon creates tribal signals that build trust.
Example Jargon Notes:
"Bouldering"
"Meniscus tear"
"Proj" (short for 'project' climb)
"Knee bar"
"Gaston"
Recommendations - Document any advice, tips, product recommendations (positive or negative), or suggested actions made by your prospects.
Example Recommendations Notes:
"I used a knee brace when I had meniscus issues and it helped a lot for prevention and stability."
"Definitely lay off any knee-bearing moves like knee bars until it's 100% healed."
"Look into RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and some PT exercises."
Don't worry about being comprehensive at first - just note anything interesting that could reveal insights into how your prospects think and what they need.
Common Pitfall: Feeling lost or overwhelmed in the beginning is normal! Safari is an analytical skill that takes practice. Keep an open mind and don't self-edit your notes.
Pro Tip: Use shorthand, abbreviations, and bullet points to capture notes quickly as you read through threads. You can go back and expand on things later.
Stage 2: Analyze Safari Data
Once you have raw notes from several watering hole threads, it's time to look for patterns and extract key insights. The more data you gather, the clearer the patterns will become.
Step 1: Review Pain Notes
Comb through your pain observations and look for:
Frequently mentioned struggles or frustrations
Intense emotional language indicating deep pain
Behaviors that indicate underlying dissatisfaction (procrastinating, seeking shortcuts, expressing confusion/uncertainty)
Unmet desires or aspirations they wish to achieve
Identify the core pains your audience faces. Don't just look for explicit complaints, but read between the lines for implied or oblique pains.
Example Pain Analysis:
From the rock climber notes, some core pains appear to be:
Injuries preventing them from climbing and progressing
Lack of knowledge around proper rehab/recovery for climbing injuries
Frustration and demotivation from having to take time off
Wanting to get back to climbing at their previous level as soon as possible
Step 2: Study Jargon Notes
Your jargon notes reveal the vocabulary and tribal language of your audience. Look for:
Recurring specialized terms they use
Common words/phrases used in unconventional ways
Coded language only insiders would understand
Mastering their jargon is critical for communicating in a way that builds instant rapport and trust when you share content with them later.
Example Jargon Analysis:
For rock climbers, important jargon includes:
Bouldering (climbing short, rope-less routes)
Proj (slang for 'project' - a climb they're working on sending)
Knee bar (using bent knee to make climbing hold)
Gaston (using the back of the hand as a grip)
Meniscus tear (common climbing knee injury)
Step 3: Examine Recommendations
Your recommendations notes provide clues about:
Products/services your audience currently uses or avoids
Existing solutions they perceive as incomplete or ineffective
Advice they share with each other about particular approaches
This data can uncover opportunities to create a product or e-bomb that improves upon the current limited solutions.
Example Recommendations Analysis:
Some recommendations made for dealing with climbing injuries:
Knee braces for prevention/stability
Avoiding knee-bearing moves like knee bars
RICE method (rest, ice, compression, elevation)
Physical therapy exercises
Potential opportunities:
Comprehensive rehab/prehab guides for climbers
Knee braces designed specifically for climbers
Preventative knee exercise programs
Step 4: Identify Themes and Patterns
As you review your categorized notes, look for overarching themes that connect different pains, jargon, and recommendations. These themes represent the core challenges and missed opportunities in your market.
For example, you may notice a theme around your prospects feeling frustrated and confused by certain common practices in your industry. Or struggling to achieve a particular outcome due to lack of guidance. Identifying these key themes allows you to create e-bombs and products providing clarity.
Example Themes:
For rock climbers, some potential themes:
Climbers feeling defeated by injuries and unsure of proper recovery
Lack of rehab resources tailored specifically to climbers
Wanting preventative exercises to avoid common climbing injuries
Confusion around modifying training during rehab periods
Common Pitfall: Having too little data to confidently pinpoint patterns. Gather more Safari notes from additional watering holes before moving to Stage 3.
Pro Tip: Use sticky notes, index cards, or spreadsheets to categorize and visually organize your pain, jargon, and recommendation notes as you analyze for themes.
Stage 3: Create E-Bombs
Now that you intimately understand your audience's pains and how they communicate, it's time to create educational, mind-reading content that "bombs" them with value and solutions.
Step 1: Choose E-Bomb Topic
Review your identified themes, pains, jargon, and recommendations. Look for a specific pain point or unmet need that your e-bomb can provide clarity around.
Example E-Bomb Topic:
For rock climbers, a hot topic could be:
"How to Rehab a Climbing Knee Injury and Prevent Re-Injury"
This allows you to tap into the pains around injuries, lack of knowledge, and desire for preventative guidance.
Step 2: Map Out E-Bomb Sections
Effective e-bombs have a narrative arc that begins by articulating the audience's pain in their own words, then progresses through providing insights and solutions:
1. The Opening Pain Punch: Use your audience's verbatim words/jargon to describe their painful situation so vividly that they immediately feel understood.
Example Opening:
You tweaked your knee while bouldering on your proj last weekend, and that nagging pain just won't go away. Taking time off climbing is the last thing you want, but that meniscus tear needs to heal before you risk re-injuring it worse...
2. The Empathetic Exploration: Expand on the nuances of the pain, showing deeper layers of the struggle that they may not overtly express, but you know they experience.
Example Exploration:
While you're trying to stay positive, the thought of missing out on prime climbing season is really demotivating. You've worked so hard this year, making solid progress and finally feeling like you're breaking through to the next level. But now you're forced into being a gumby again, watching your hard-earned strength and technique get rusty as the weeks off add up...
3. The Aha! Insight: Provide a key paradigm shift or new perspective that reframes the pain in a novel, enlightening way.
Example Insight:
What if I told you that with the right rehab approach, you could use this enforced downtime to not just recover from your injury, but come back stronger than before? By focusing on mobility, stabilization, and preventative exercises, you can rebuild your climbing body in a way that bulletproofs you against re-injury...
4. The Recommendations: Give specific advice, tips, or strategies for overcoming or mitigating the pain you outlined.
Example Recommendations:
Here are 5 steps for rehabbing a climbing knee injury the smart way:
Optimize the RICE protocol for climbers...
Perform these mobility exercises to restore full range of motion...
Strengthen these muscle groups to stabilize the knee joint...
Slowly reintroduce climbing using this progression plan...
Incorporate these preventative exercises into your warm-up...
Step 3: Write E-Bomb
Using the above structure as an outline, write out your full e-bomb content. Generously use the jargon you gathered, provide real-world examples that mirror your prospects' experiences, and sprinkle in recommendations you overheard.
The more you demonstrate a deep, mind-reading level of understanding of their realities, the more your e-bomb will resonate.
Example E-Bomb:
[Opening Pain Punch]
You tweaked your knee while bouldering on your proj last weekend, and that nagging pain just won't go away. Taking time off climbing is the last thing you want, but that meniscus tear needs to heal before you risk re-injuring it worse. You're already feeling rusty and weak just thinking about it.
[Empathetic Exploration]
While you're trying to stay positive, the thought of missing out on prime climbing season is really demotivating. You've worked so hard this year, making solid progress and finally feeling like you're breaking through to the next level. But now you're forced into being a gumby again, watching your hard-earned strength and technique get rusty as the weeks off add up.
Even worse, you have no idea if you're doing the right things for recovery. You've iced and rested per the usual RICE protocol, but that knee still doesn't feel right. And you've heard too many stories of climbers rushing back too soon only to immediately re-injure themselves in a way that shelves them for months.
[Aha! Insight]
What if I told you that with the right rehab approach, you could use this enforced downtime to not just recover from your injury, but come back stronger than before? By focusing on mobility, stabilization, and preventative exercises, you can rebuild your climbing body in a way that bulletproofs you against re-injury and actually unlocks new levels of performance.
[Recommendations]
Here are 5 steps for rehabbing a climbing knee injury the smart way:
1. Optimize the RICE protocol for climbers. While standard RICE works for most injuries, we need some modifications for our sport. For ice, use an ice cup to drive deeper into the joint. For compression, use a knee brace that still allows range of motion...
2. Perform these mobility exercises to restore full range of motion. Regaining full flexibility around the knee is critical for preventing re-injury. Movements like knee sculpting, quad smashing, and meniscus flossing will get you there...
3. Strengthen these muscle groups to stabilize the knee joint. Weak stabilizers like VMO, glute med, and the entire posterior chain are ground zero for most climber knee issues. Add these exercises to reinforce those areas...
4. Slowly reintroduce climbing using this progression plan. Going from 0 to 100% crimping is a recipe for re-injury. Follow this 6-week plan to gradually ramp up load and intensity on the knee...
5. Incorporate these preventative exercises into your warm-up. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Make these activation moves part of your pre-climb routine to stay bulletproof...
[Close]
By taking a full-body, prehab-based approach to your knee rehab, you'll not only recover fully from this injury, but you'll come back stronger, safer, and with more potential than before. No more time off for knee issues - get back to sending in no time!
Common Pitfall: Trying to promote or sell something in the e-bomb itself. E-bombs are for building trust and positioning through giving value first.
Pro Tip: Read your e-bomb out loud to yourself as a gut-check for authenticity. Does it really sound like something your audience would say/think? If not, go back and refine it with more of their jargon and real-talk.
Stage 4: Deliver E-Bombs
With your persuasive e-bomb created, it's time to deliver it in a way that attracts and nurtures your prospects.
Step 1: Identify Delivery Channels
There are several potential channels for sharing your e-bomb:
Your blog/website
Relevant watering holes (forums, groups, etc.)
Email list
Social media
Guest posting on other blogs
YouTube/podcasting
Free PDF downloads
The right channels will depend on where your particular audience hangs out online and what content formats they prefer.
Example Delivery Channels:
For the rock climbing audience, potential delivery channels include:
Posting the full e-bomb on your rock climbing blog
Sharing a snippet version in the reddit.com/r/climbers subreddit
Recording a video version for your YouTube channel
Offering a free PDF download of the rehab plan via an email list
Pitching a written version as a guest post to popular climbing sites
Step 2: Establish Posting Rhythm
Don't just blast out one e-bomb and move on. Create a consistent cadence for sharing educational content that keeps feeding your audience's desires for more insights.
A good rule of thumb is to publish one high-quality e-bomb per week across your channels. This rhythm demonstrates your expertise while allowing you to observe how your audience responds.
Example Posting Schedule:
Monday: New blog post with full e-bomb
Tuesday: Snippet on Reddit with link to blog post
Wednesday: Email list update highlighting the e-bomb
Thursday: Guest post goes live on another site
Friday: YouTube video summary of key points
Step 3: Interact and Nurture
As you share more e-bombs, your audience will start to see you as the go-to expert for certain topics. Some will inevitably reach out with follow-up questions or testimonials about how your content helped them.
Be sure to continue the conversation! Respond promptly, offer additional advice/support, and keep nurturing these engaged prospects. They are primed to become your first customers once you create an offer.
Example Interaction:
Someone comments on your rock climbing knee rehab e-bomb:
This is awesome, thanks for sharing! I'm about 4 weeks out from my meniscus tear and have been struggling to find good sources for climber-specific rehab. A couple quick questions if you don't mind:
1. What are some good exercises for regaining full flexion?
2. How do you know when you're ready to start easy bouldering again?
Your reply:
Thanks for the great questions! For regaining flexion, something like the 'ped n' strap' mobilization can be really helpful... [provide specific tips]
As for when to start bouldering again, I'd follow a progression like... [lay out plan]
Let me know if you have any other questions come up! Wishing you the best of luck with your recovery.
By taking the time to directly engage with your audience, you continue building credibility while learning about their biggest sticking points. This helps refine your future e-bomb topics and content.
Step 4: Analyze and Refine
Pay close attention to which e-bombs generate the most engagement, shares, and positive reactions from your audience. This feedback loop allows you to double down on the content that truly resonates.
Over time, you can refine your e-bomb creation process, delivery channels, and nurturing strategies for maximum effectiveness based on what moves the needle for your specific audience.
Example Analysis:
You notice that your knee rehab e-bomb got 5x more engagement than your previous e-bomb about beginner climbing techniques. A few potential reasons:
Knee injuries are a more painful and urgent problem to solve
The rehab topic positioned you as a unique expert
The narrative style and specificity resonated better
From this data, you might decide to double down on creating more injury prehab/rehab e-bombs. You could also analyze what made the narrative and specificity so effective to improve your writing style.
Additionally, you could look at which delivery channels got the most eyeballs on that e-bomb. For example, if Reddit drove very little traffic while your blog/email list did, you could deprioritize Reddit for that audience.
Common Pitfall: Expecting instant results or getting discouraged early on. It takes time to build the momentum and nurture the trust required for monetization. Stay consistent!
Pro Tip: Set up a simple tracking system for monitoring metrics like website visits, e-bomb shares, email list growth, etc. Having these numbers will help you analyze what's working or not.
Bonus: Monetizing Your E-Bomb Success
The entire Sales Safari and e-bomb process is designed to build a tribe of prospects who avidly trust and engage with your content. With that connection established, you'll be able to successfully sell them products or services that provide even more value.
Step 1: Identify Commercial Opportunities
Review your most popular e-bombs and the specific pains/struggles they addressed. Look for opportunities to create a premium paid product that explores the topic in greater depth.
Example Commercial Opportunity:
For the rock climbing audience, the knee rehab e-bomb was a smash hit. Potential paid product ideas:
Comprehensive video course: "Bulletproof Knees for Climbers"
Physical book: "Climb Injury-Free: The Complete Guide"
Ebook: "7 Weeks to Rebuild After a Climbing Knee Injury"
In-person workshop: "Rehab and Prehab for Climbers" seminar
The key is providing more strategic value than the free e-bomb could.
Step 2: Pre-Sell and Get Feedback
Before going all-in on creating your product, get feedback from your engaged audience. You can:
Send a "pre-sale" email survey to your list
Post polls/questions in your watering holes
Get on a call with some of your most active e-bomb participants
Validate there is actual demand, get input on the ideal format/content/pricing, and have them effectively "co-create" the product with you.
Step 3: Create Paid Product
Using all the feedback and data you've gathered, map out and create your premium paid product. Focus on making it as comprehensive, effective, and transformative as possible.
Step 4: Sell to Your Audience
With your credibility as the go-to expert firmly established through your e-bombs, you now have an eager audience to sell to! Some selling strategies:
Offer the product for sale after delivering a popular e-bomb
Promote the launch to your email list
Run a paid advertising campaign re-targeting e-bomb visitors
Collaborate with other creators in your niche for cross-promotions
Publish a free sample/video to drive sales
The more value, authority, and trust you've built through your e-bombs, the more successful your product launch will be.
Step 5: Nurture Customers
The sales cycle doesn't end after someone becomes a customer! Your goal is to delight them and provide transformative results through your product. Nurture them by:
Offering customer-only resources and bonuses
Creating a community for accountability and connection
Gathering feedback for improving your product
Promoting your next premium product to them first
By continuing to nurture your customers, you'll build a base of raving fans who buy everything you create while generating renewable sales through word-of-mouth.
The Sales Safari process creates a perpetual cycle of audience growth, nurturing, and monetization. With each new free e-bomb, you'll attract more prospects. And with each new premium product, you'll convert more customers who'll eagerly await your next creation.
Mastering this system allows you to systematically and sustainably grow an audience-first business that prints money by giving your tribe exactly what they want before they even realize it.
Closing Thoughts
Sales Safari is the ultimate superpower for truly getting your audience at the deepest level. By observing their unfiltered conversations in their native online habitats, you can extract priceless insights into their authentic thoughts, struggles, and desires. This profound understanding allows you to create mind-reading content and offers that make them think "Whoa, it's like you plucked this right from my brain!"
The connection and trust you build by giving your tribe exactly what they want becomes the foundation for a sustainable, audience-first business. One where your credibility as the go-to expert allows you to print money on repeat by delivering more and more transformative value.
So get ready to embark on your own safari. Come back with a treasure trove of insights that will revolutionize how you connect with and nurture your audience. This is how you position yourself as an authority worth paying attention to.
Deepen Your Knowledge:
A quick intro to the Sales Safari concept. Skip to the cheat sheets at the end for a list of great search terms to identify watering holes.
While a decade old, this video from Sales Safari pioneer Amy Hoy illustrates the entire process of studying an online watering hole for endless content gold. I'll reference it again, but watch it now to fully grok the technique.
The full 30x500 curriculum with bite-sized, no-fluff video lessons from Amy Hoy on taking action and getting real results through techniques like Sales Safari.
As the founder of Wisp - a CMS for elevating the blogging experience on Next.js websites - I've seen the power of Sales Safari firsthand. I regularly share insights and resources on my blog aimed at helping marketers and developers leverage content more effectively.
