What do copywriters need to know? Well that largely depends on the job. Some are considerably more complicated than others so there’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all brief. That said, these are the sort of questions a copywriter might need answered:
Copy Brief
| Client | Project/Job number | ||
| Contact name | Contact number/email | ||
| Briefing date | Copy delivery date |
1. What needs doing?
| Bullet point a list of all the individual bits and pieces that make up the overall brief. Then use a separate brief for each one.ie. “The overall brief is for 5 articles, 6 Facebook posts and 3 case studies. This particular brief relates to the 6 Facebook posts only”. |
| What, if anything, might the reader have seen before about this subject (in any media)? What might they see next? |
2. Where are we at?
| What stage is the project at? Do wireframes* exist (web projects)? Designs*? Concepts*? Scripts*? Or are we starting from scratch? * Attach as appropriate |
3. What have we got to say?
| What is this particular communication all about? |
| What’s the single most important thing to get across? |
| What else, in order of priority, needs to be communicated? |
4. Who are we talking to?
| What do we know about the people who will read this copy? |
| Are they existing customers, prospective customers, both or neither? |
| Will they already know anything about this subject or is this new news? |
| Why would the reader be interested? What’s in it for them? |
| What do we want them to do or feel as a result of reading this copy? |
5. How do we speak to them?
| What is the brand tone of voice? (Attach guidelines if appropriate) |
| How does their ‘voice’ differ from their competitors? |
| Are there any words or expressions that need to be avoided (for example, ones that are associated with competitors)? |
6. Practical considerations
| Is there any further material the copywriter needs to read or watch before starting*? If so, have you clearly identified specific page numbers or timecodes to avoid timewasting?* Attach as appropriate |
| What’s needed from an SEO perspective? (Keywords MUST be supplied before copy is briefed) |
| Are there any character/word count limitations? (This is particularly important for media such as Facebook, mobile, Twitter etc.) |
| Are there any legal compliance issues or terms and conditions? |
| Will the copy be translated? |