Brief your editor

I hear copywriters complain all the time about not getting a good brief. I’m a copywriter too, so I get it.

We know that when the brief is vague or unclear, a gap opens up between what the business wants and what a writer might produce. (We see this a lot right now as brands don’t properly ‘brief’ their LLMs and then receive copy that is not in a brand’s style and instead is very obviously in AI style.)

So if you want me to be more than a real-life Grammarly, then it really helps for me to understand the brief you were given, for exactly the same reasons it helps you!

Let’s dig into the parts of the brief that you’re given (or not), and why they are also necessary for your editor.

There is a constant tension between brand voice and marketing techniques. How we use them and which one takes center stage shifts depending on how close to the sale we are.

Sometimes it will be obviously (you give me a sales page) but it’s also worth making this clear. Not least because sometimes you as the writer (and me as the editor) need to know more about positioning, structure, and POV was used in earlier touchpoints to be sure things are internally consistent throughout the funnel.

This really annoys me as a copywriter, and whether you’re aware of it or not, you’ve likely had to make these decisions too. What happens when I’m given no input as to the intended brand voice? Do I:

a) use my own voice

b) look through the existing copy and content on the internet and model my piece on that

Option b) is always better, but it will take me longer (and did I quote on that basis?). And if there is no brand voice documented, chances are there is no consistency throughout the funnel, or from piece to piece. So if I do spend time on this, how do I decide which voice to choose?

In an ideal world (i.e. when someone who trained through Brand Voice Academy!) a brand voice guide will include not just stats like sentence length and three tone words. It will include details about the brand’s point of view and their relationship with their audience.

But it’s rare to find these even if brand voice is documented. Especially recently, when brands use AI to help them document their brand voice, the guide will naturally focus on objective stats and less on emotional resonance.

Most brands aren’t aware of the preferred structure and format they use to communicate with their audience. While most still use variations of things like AIDA or other formula, they also have a POV format, like Tough Love Reframe, or Step into Story. (I’ll be going into more detail about these soon).

Sometimes if you are confident you nailed the brand voice, the VOC, the messaging, and the marketing techniques but a client tells you it still doesn’t sound quite right, this structure is the issue. (If you have this issue, let me know, I can probably fix it within an hour of consulting work.)

I punch up headlines, suggest edits to the structure (are you spending too long in the 'agitate' section of a PAS and not long enough in the solution? Did you use the right POV format?).

My goal is to help you shine in front of your client. Sometimes that involves preparing and documenting the choices made and why, so that is all visible to your client.

You can only make your jug from the clay you’re given.

But I also hope that after working together, you will also see those gaps that maybe didn’t become obvious to you until I asked these questions. So the next time you are hired, you can ask for the clay you need (and charge for it if they want you to do the work of digging it up).

When you make more money per project, you can more easily afford my editing services to make your draft make you look good. It’s a win win!

• 📖 Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. I’ve heard a lot of complaints about this one from friends. That is feels very first-drafty and confusing. My guess is that there is a structural issue and as it’s rare to find a published work where I can show you why the structure doesn’t work, I’ve committed to reading it (and breaking down my thoughts as I go) over on Instagram.

• 📺 The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. I watched this with my 14-year-old this week. It’s so good! And what a great example of how to trust your audience as you immerse them in the StoryWorld and not over-explain the backstory (looking at you, Christopher Nolan).

Let’s write our fantasy brief

This could be a fun exercise in terms of identifying your ideal client, jut as much as understanding what you need to work well before you go into your next sales call.

If a client was to come to you tomorrow with a perfect project, what would it be for? What kind of copy? What would they have in the brief that would make you excited, and give you everything you needed to write that perfect deliverable?

And if you’re struggling, feel free to rant a bit about what’s been missing in red-flag projects over the years. Then turn that coin over to find what you would want instead.