What your copywriter needs to know

What makes you special?

First up, tell your writer all about your business. What do you do? Talk about what makes you special, a standout from competitors. Hint – it won’t be your professionalism, that you’re qualified or very experienced. Those are things that should come as standard with anyone in your industry. What can you say that no one else can? It might not be something tangible. It could be about your core philosophies – the underlying beliefs and intentions that drive your business.

What do you need?

Then focus on the job you want to be done. It might be a website refresh, a product launch or copy for a specific business opportunity.

Why?

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to tell your copywriter why you’re pursuing this project. Like, what’s the strategic thinking behind it? What do you want to get out of it, in a business sense? When writers have a handle on that, you’ll get more value out of them – they’ll be able to challenge your thinking and craft text that more directly delivers on that focus.  

What do you want to say?  

What are your key messages? What, specifically, does the piece need to say? These can be big ideas, but should also be what we call ‘mandatories’ – maybe you want your opening hours in there somewhere, mentioning details of your history or your qualifications.

And what’s the call to action?

Be clear about how you want your audience to respond to this communication – call, email, buy online? Why should they do so?

At this point, it’s time to talk about your audience.

Who are you talking to? Be very specific.

Decide right now who your audience is for this bit of writing. Don’t be too general and try to reach everybody, or your copy could end up generic, bland and even wishy-washy. With a message that has no cut-through, no specific relevance, who would bother to read it?

No, you have to be quite specific about your target – age, gender, job, social level, special likes – whatever you can think of to narrow the field. Make this your starting point and then hone in on a single person. I mean REALLY hone in – avoid demographics like ‘mother of three’ or ‘company CEO’. They’re still too general, too faceless. Be brave and pick a single person to represent your audience.

‘Fiona, comfortably married with three children, loves ice cream and holidays at the beach, and dreams of owning her own home someday.’ Add hobbies, appearance, social behaviour and, most importantly, ho nice, comfy Fiona feels about your product or brand.

Whatever personality represents your audience, dream it up and write it down ready to tell your copywriter. That way, you’ll get readable copy that talks to someone.

RIP ASAP

It’s a mistake to beat around the bush with a deadline. ‘Whenever’, ‘no rush’ or ‘ASAP’ don’t work. When there’s no deadline, your brief will sink below other projects that have one.

Actually, no copywriter worth hiring will be happy with wet deadlines. We love dry, solid deadlines – they’re our friends.

So set a rock-hard deadline that works for you, and your happy, deadline-driven copywriter will deliver to it. You might even get it early because that’s how we roll.

Ask for a tone-of-voice sample

Make sure your copywriter sets the right tone – you’ll want the writing to reflect your business and also connect with ‘Fiona’ or whoever you’ve dreamed up as your audience persona. So before your copywriter gets into the swing, ask for a sample – a small bit of the job that can set the tone of voice for the rest.

This is especially important for bigger jobs like a website or a substantial brochure. For a website, you might ask to check the home page so you can make changes in the tone if need be. Too formal? Ask your writer to ‘frienderise’ it. Too chatty? Express your polite dismay and your copywriter will take it on board.

Either way, don’t give the go-ahead for the rest of the job until you’re happy with the tone.

Talk about money before you start

Okay, I know this should come at the beginning, but let’s face it – not many of us like talking about money. It’s cold and crass and, anyway, we’re all friends, right? Yes, well, there’s a practical reason for settling the fee first – you’ll know upfront what your campaign or project budget needs to include.

The best thing is to get the money issue out of the way before you get into any of the fun stuff. Tell your copywriter the length and scope of the job (a short ad, a lengthy awards submission or anything in between), and then ask for a quote. If it fits within your budget, accept it.

That way you can enjoy getting this brilliant writing job started – and finished.

How to recognise an experienced, capable copywriter

A good copywriter will ask to be taken through all these briefing steps – they'll know they can't produce anything great without all the info. A great copywriter will have background experience in your industry, pick up what you'er putting down quickly and push back on your thinking – that's when you know you've struck gold.

An added bonus? They'll have a staff of writers with collective experience covering any kind of business writing you can name. Nice.