How to Brief Your Marketing Copywriter

So, you’ve decided to use a marketing copywriter for your next project. Great. Employing a copywriter is a brilliant investment for your business.

A professional copywriter will bring a multitude of marketing ideas to your table, as well as the ability to communicate your key messages clearly and sell your products or services to your target audience with words. And really, what’s more important than that?

But what does your copywriter need to know? How do you brief your commercial writer, so you get the best from them?

As much as you may want to tell your marketing copywriter to crack on. Don’t. Copywriters are many amazing things, but they aren’t mind readers. And to produce the kind of copy that will make a significant impact on your sales, you’ll need to tell them what you want, about your business and who your target audience is.

So whether you’re briefing your writer for your new sales brochure, your latest advertising flyer or your brand-new website, here are the key things they’ll need to know before they start:

What copywriting service you need

Do you need seo-friendly web content or copy for an advertising flyer?

This may sound like an obvious one. And it is. So I’ll say no more.

About your business

To write for your business, your marketing copywriter needs to understand your business. So you’ll need to outline what your company does, your unique selling points, and who your main competitors are.

It’s also a good idea to give your writer as much information to research your company from as possible. Even old, rubbishy content is helpful.

Who your audience is

Your copy needs to motivate your target audience.
And as it’s your target audience your copywriter will be talking to, they’ll need to know who they are. They’ll need to know who your typical customer is, where they live, what they want, and what it is you offer them.

You might find putting together a customer persona or two will be helpful.

What you want to achieve

So your marketing copywriter can effectively persuade your target audience into taking the all-important action you want, they’ll need to know what your objectives are.

What’s your goal? Do you want to educate your audience, build brand awareness or generate enquiries?

A clear call to action is critical for any copy, and your writer will need to know what you’re aiming to achieve.

Tell them about your brand

As well as understanding your business, your copywriter will need to understand your brand.

You’ll need to tell your writer what image you’re trying to get across with your branding and what your company branding communicates to your audience. Does your branding say fun and quirky? Or is it reserved and upmarket?

A good copywriter will be quite capable of adapting their writing style to create an on-brand piece of copy for your business. But before they start, they’ll need to understand the voice and tone you’re after.

Basically, it’s briefs or pants

Working with a professional copywriter can do wonders for your company’s profile and sales. But it’s important to provide a clear and detailed brief or your copy may turn out to be a bit pants.

Give your commercial writer all the tools they need to write a compelling piece of copy, and fabulous things are sure to follow.

At Word Nerds, we always issue a comprehensive copywriting brief to all our new clients. This helps to make your life easier and helps keep our copy strong.

So, if you need to liven up your marketing literature or are looking for a marketing copywriter to help you with your next project, send us a message or give us a call.