Make sure you take a great brief

Great copy comes from a great brief, and receiving a brief is an active process, not a passive one. While the client or employer may feel that he or she is giving you everything that you require in the brief, it is up to you as the copywriter to take a great brief. It is common to find that the brief you’re working to does not contain all of the information you need. Certain jobs require you to conduct original research, so consider bolstering your content with additional insights, facts, and figures where relevant. Google is the source of many great research adventures.

A copy brief is the one aspect of the communications process that should not involve a long chain of command. It is vital that wherever possible the writer takes his or her own brief from the person commissioning the work, and builds on this by interviewing other key people associated with the project. The golden rule in every aspect of copywriting, design, and communication is to assume nothing, and this is never more appropriate than when taking a brief. So what do you need to know before you start writing, how do you assess the quality of a brief, and how do you get to the source of your information?

Every brief has three essential elements: a profile of your target audience; clarification of the core message that is to be communicated; and a good reason why the target audience should be interested – what benefit does it give them? There is a lot more that can be included in a brief, but without these three key elements you cannot hope to hit the nail on the head.

The client, or employer, or whoever is giving you the brief, will not necessarily be able to provide all of the information that you will require. This brief could be one of many projects he or she is looking after and it may not be easy for him or her to stand back and see your brief as clearly as you do. The best writers will not accept a half-baked brief; they will make sure they have everything they need before they begin to write. The best way to do this is to ask “stupid” questions. It is all too easy to have a friendly meeting, discuss the brief in general, shake hands, and disappear to draft your copy. When you’re halfway through your project you’re likely to realize there’s not enough to say, or very little substantial material to use.

When you take the brief you must challenge the briefer to provide detail, but be diplomatic. Take a collaborative approach, and put the client at ease with a phrase such as “it’s a good brief, but I need to ask you a few stupid questions.” You can then go through the brief and ask for clarification and expansion of the content without treading on anyone’s ego. Ask for definitions of terms that seem obvious, and you may dig up all sorts of new insights.

When you’ve taken a full brief you can conduct further research or interviews to gather more content and help you make the decisions you need to in order to shape your copy in line with the brief, the target audience, and the overall objectives. A lot can be achieved on the internet, and Google is as good a place to start as anywhere. Your client should be able to put you in touch with key people whom you can interview face to face, over the phone or using email.

Find the best environment for creativity

Having taken your brief and gathered your raw material it is time to lock yourself away and get your creative juices flowing. It doesn’t matter where or how you work, as long as you feel comfortable and can concentrate. Some writers like to be in the middle of a busy studio or office, while others prefer total solitude. Some like to use the latest IT while others prefer a pen and paper. Some are highly efficient and get off to a flying start, while others prevaricate forever and end up burning the midnight oil in order to hit the deadline. Ultimately, creative writing involves wrestling with your mind, and, however you manage this process, your rules are simple: never miss your deadline and never compromise the quality and integrity of your work.

“You must be as simple, and as swift, and as penetrating as possible. And it must stem from knowledge. And you must relate that knowledge to the consumer’s needs.”

Bill Bernbach

Copywriting is a highly disciplined type of creative writing and many new writers are worried that they are simply not sufficiently imaginative or concept-driven to undertake this type of work. Copywriting is challenging because it exposes the writer to direct criticism and there is no hiding from the words and creative ideas you put on the page. Although the degree of creativity required does vary from brief to brief, in general 70 percent of your copywriting will be concerned with organization and decision-making, while perhaps only 30 percent of the process will require you to focus purely on the most creative aspects of your writing, so you are dealing mainly with hard facts and you are not as exposed to criticism for your conceptual thinking as you may feel.

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into taking a thorough brief, so make full use of it. If you have ten working hours available for writing your copy, spend seven of them relentlessly preparing and developing your raw material, processing your notes, and playing with different thoughts and ideas. The remaining three hours will be sufficient to draft your copy. The more thoroughly you process, order, and prepare your copy, the easier it will be to write. Immerse yourself fully in the project. Take on the mindset of your target audience, understand their likes and dislikes, attitudes and beliefs, and create the right viewpoint for writing to them in a clear voice that they will relate to.

The challenge of creating your first draft

Before you begin creating your first draft, you must process and prepare the material provided in your brief, even though you may prefer to simply start writing your copy. The more work you do on it, the smoother and more polished your first draft will be. Read the brief, then re-read it slowly a couple of times, taking it all in and pondering the implications of each piece of information.

Identify all of the raw material where the content overlaps and can be seamlessly linked. Lift phrases and points from the brief and note them carefully on a sheet of paper, grouping them under suitable categories such as “target audience,” “key message,” “supporting details,” and “tone of voice.” This process will extract core content from the rest of the brief and help you to identify patterns.

“I try to get a picture in my mind of the kind of people they are – how they use this product, and what it is – they don’t often tell you in so many words – but what it is that actually motivates them to buy something or interests them in something.”

Leo Burnett

For example, if you’re working on a brief for a press advertisement for an anti-ageing beauty product launch you’ll be limited in the amount of copy you can work with, and will need to condense the raw material into very succinct points. You may be told the product’s USP is that it reduces the appearance of fine lines around the eyes. Elsewhere in the brief you discover the cream is very easily absorbed, and allows makeup to be applied over it. In your notes you would bring these points together, using a shorthand such as: “reduces appearance of fine lines,” “easily absorbed,” “allows makeup application.”

In another category you will link together points such as availability, price point, and promotional offers. Your notes may say: “In supermarkets nationwide from June,” “very competitive price,” and “buy one get one free in first week.”

It is essential that you process every point from the brief, because you will be using these refined notes as the sole reference point for drafting your copy. As you progress you will reshape the content into its core elements, reducing these to a few distinct messages. These notes will give you accurate and highly condensed raw material and a focal point for your innovative creative thinking.

You can now start to make the decisions that will shape your finished copy. The decision-making responsibility that rests on a copywriter’s shoulders can be immense, and is largely overlooked. Many people may have contributed to your brief, there may be sensitivities concerning the project, and the individual stakeholders (those who will be signing off the copy or who own the overall department or product group) will have their own priorities and needs. As the writer, you may decide to lead on a single message and leave out the other points that don’t support this. This requires confidence and clear reasoning.

“Know your prospect and know your product – and know both in considerable depth.”

George Gribbin

Consider the format you are working to and be clear on the parameters, as established in the brief, such as limited space, that will restrict you.

Formulate your concept

Now clear everything off your desk apart from your condensed notes. It’s time for business. Let’s assume your brief is to create text with a creative concept or idea underlying the core message, a limited amount of body copy, and a call to action encouraging and making it easy for the reader to respond (this could apply to briefs ranging from those for newsletters or magazine articles to those for leaflets or advertisements).

The time and effort involved in shaping your creative ideas will be the same as that required to draft the rest of the copy. It makes sense, therefore, to begin by drafting your initial body copy, leaving your conceptual thinking to the end, when you are fully immersed in the subject matter. By the time you have prioritized your messages and written the bulk of your body copy you will have done all of the groundwork needed to formulate a creative hook or concept.

In many cases your creative concept, story, or idea will feature solely in your headline, opening paragraph, and concluding paragraph. These hot spots are your territory for focusing on the benefits, for making enticing promises, and for concluding with a clear direction of what to do next, where to go, and why action is needed now. Your main body copy can then back up your promises with evidence, present the rest of the features, and then build integrity by giving your readers the confidence in your proposals that they need.

When searching for creative inspiration do a mini brainstorm on your own and jot down all of the ideas that come to mind – good and bad, clever and stupid. There will be a range of final approaches you could use, from provocative to reserved, from hard-hitting to subtle, and it is important to try all sorts of ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem – you’ll have time to shape them up later.

If you’re working on an anti-ageing beauty product, your notes may include such ideas as: “look younger/turn back the clock,” “stay beautiful,” “beauty is more than skin deep/beauty is only skin deep,” “beauty is in the eye of the beholder/behold beauty,” “you’re only as old as the man you feel,” “beauty is precious,” and “inspire your children.” This brain-dump clears away a lot of the obvious and clichéd ideas, gives you a rough sense of your options and kicks off the conceptual development in the back of your mind while you process the body copy. You may surprise yourself by coming up with something brilliant straight away.

“If you have all the research, all the ground rules, all the directives, all the data – it doesn’t mean the ad is written. Then you’ve got to close the door and write something – that is the moment of truth which we all try to postpone as long as possible.”

David Ogilvy

Having thoroughly processed your material, writing your body copy in one sitting will help you to maintain a good rhythm and style. Don’t be distracted – include all of the points from your condensed notes, ticking them off as you progress, and make sure you don’t accidentally leave out anything (omitting content deliberately is acceptable only if you can clearly justify your reasoning).

Pick out four or five of your conceptual ideas and play around with them. Can you shape a powerful headline? Does it lead into a great opening argument? Does it come to life naturally or do you have to force it? Aim to finish with two or three concepts.

Now you can merge your draft body copy with your creative concept

(a headline and intro paragraph for starters), confident that you’ve included everything. This is not about how creative, clever, witty, or brilliant you can be. Avoid immediately developing your first few ideas, as these are likely to be more obvious or to have been used before. Push yourself into formulating a third, fourth, and fifth concept. This will force you into new territories where you may stumble across completely fresh and innovative ideas. It’s challenging, but worth it.

Editing – your secret weapon in the struggle for clarity

No copywriter drafts finished copy at the first sitting. The secret to great writing is the way you edit your original draft, regardless of whether your text is two short paragraphs or 2000 words in length. The process of reviewing and revising your copy can transform it from well-written, logical text into a highly compelling proposition.

There are a few rules to editing. It is usually the case that shorter is better. This is not to say that short, punchy copy is always more effective than long, carefully constructed arguments; however, whatever length you’re writing to, you should be concise and to the point and avoid repetition or unnecessary text.

Be merciless, like Ming. If you’ve included statements that make similar points, parallel arguments, or lengthy descriptions, they have to go. Your remaining copy will be tighter, easier to read, and more effective. Less is usually more, and you should follow the mantra “if it can go it should go,” without being precious about your beautifully crafted paragraphs. Your reader will not tolerate waffle, lack of structure, unfocused messages, or ambiguity, and even concise copy can lose a bit more if you are truly merciless.

Never repeat words – there are always alternatives. If you can’t find a single word to replace one you’ve already used, use a description instead, or rephrase the sentence. Replace long obscure words with shorter ones that are in general usage, cut down wordy sentences, and avoid anything that clutters your core message. Be ruthless with yourself when assessing whether your copy is truly on-brief, targeted, and benefit-led. If you’re not this hard on yourself, others will be before the text is approved.

Look into my eyes and follow my lead. When you’re editing copy there is never any room for mercy. If it can go it must go – it’s do or die.

What to do with your early drafts

It’s likely that there will be a number of interested parties who will wish to comment, revise, edit, and amend your original text. Always remember that although you are creating the copy you do not own it and will have to accept direction, even if you think that it compromises your work. You can always argue your point, but only by referring back to the brief and your tone-of-voice guide for justification. Remember that the views of these critics are valid and must be incorporated, or at least considered.

So don’t keep your copy hidden away until it is finely tuned and highly polished. Identify the stakeholders in the project (those who will be signing off the copy or who own the overall department or product group) and consider the value of involving them at an early stage. Your stakeholders will be in the client team, and are usually the people who brief you. Work with them as closely as you can. Their senior managers are sometimes referred to as project “sponsors.” They may have the ultimate sign-off, so try to ensure that they are kept up to speed during the development stages.

“Some of our best successes have been in industries that I knew nothing about.”

Leo Burnett

Share the overall brief (and your copy brief, if there is a separate one) with your stakeholders and ask them to approve it. Any comments or directions that they have can then be incorporated from the very start, and you can explain how you will be approaching the copy in order to deliver the correct solution. When working on larger projects you should check in with these key people as you progress. Show them your rough concepts and test their reactions, discuss your approaches with them to see which one they prefer, and incorporate their thoughts into your final draft as you see fit.

A subtle play on words creates a very powerful and accessible headline, but here the copy plays second fiddle to the very moving imagery.

There is no room for anyone on the team to have personal opinions, only their professional opinions. It is not acceptable for a 50-year-old marketing director to tell you that he or she “doesn’t like” a headline that is targeted at 18- to 25-year-old men. “Not liking” is not a valid criticism. If he or she tells you that the headline is poor because, in his or her opinion, “men aged 18 to 25 won’t buy into it because it doesn’t relate to their lifestyle,” there may be a case and you can discuss this. This is a sensitive area and you may need to be subtle in your approach – try saying that he or she is not in the core target audience and personal opinions are not necessarily valid, and see how far this gets you.

Getting that all-important sign-off

It is important to understand the psychology of approving creative work, and to use techniques to achieve sign-off that don’t involve watching your work being pulled apart.

Consider the attitude of those signing off your copy. In the words of the great Edward de Bono, we all live in a critical society, we are trained from birth to criticize, and it is very rare to find constructive feedback in any field. Most of us find it easy to knock things. We always know what we don’t like, and we tend to highlight problems and issues rather than build on the elements that we do like. Unfortunately, we rarely have a natural capacity to build constructively on concepts and are rarely clear about what we do like – being precise makes it too easy to be criticized by others! It is unrealistic to expect to show a senior figure some creative work, ask for an opinion, and emerge unscathed. Negative criticism is human nature.

Once your senior players are looking at your finished copy, observe their behavior. If they pick up a pen when they start to read your copy, you can politely remind them that they may not need to red-pen the text, that the copy has been carefully crafted and that their role is to check for factual accuracy (content) and not for style. They will have opinions on style and tone, and these can be discussed, but make it clear that you’re not actually inviting them to write copy themselves by amending your text.

Present yourself in the best light

Sometimes you will be presenting your copy to a colleague (possibly a fellow designer, or a creative director or account manager) and at other times you may be presenting your work to a client during the project’s development or as part of a competitive pitch against other designers and writers. One technique that may assist you in this involves breaking a lot of the rules already laid down here.

The golden rule is to ensure that your work is on-brief. However, when

you line up a collection of different creatives in a pitch situation, and they all adhere rigidly to the brief, the resulting solutions are likely to have similarities of tone, look, and feel, especially where the brief has been conservative. One technique for winning a pitch in this scenario is to go off-brief and present highly creative, forward-thinking, and impressive solutions that show some wider possibilities.

Think of this as your catwalk approach. John Galliano sends his Dior models down the catwalk in the most amazing and stunning creations that the core Dior customer couldn’t seriously contemplate wearing. Yet, the customer is inspired by the designs, which appear in all of the magazines because they are so newsworthy, and will visit Dior to buy her twinsets and handbags. If Galliano were to send his models out wearing these twinsets and handbags the fashion press would say he was losing his touch.

“A lot of copywriters think they’re good judges of their own work. I know I’m not.”

David Ogilvy

For your catwalk approach you need to show your client what you can do if you are unrestricted by a brief, and what they might consider if they felt like taking a lead in the marketplace. To avoid the risk of missing the mark entirely, present at least two fully worked-up concepts, one that is completely on-brief, hitting all of the requirements squarely on the head, and another that is your catwalk showpiece. Do this well and you will stand out from the competition for your confidence, your skill, and your creativity. Don’t show too many options.

Manage your copy through to sign-off

There is an art to presenting your copy, whether informally to a colleague or formally to a major client. It is often the case that the best copy solutions, using clear messages to communicate simple concepts, can be underappreciated or undervalued by the client, especially if you’re presenting the copy as word-processed documents in isolation from the design concept. The best way to present copy in this format is to include some basic typesetting. Make the headline larger and center it, lay out the page in landscape, give some prominence to the lead paragraph, and ensure your typography is clear and well laid out.

You must be confident but not arrogant. Set the work in context by quickly summarizing the brief and your approach to it and saying what you have done: “I’ve got three concepts, two of which I feel are on-brief, and another that explores the other options open to us.”

Always finish on a high note, which means saving the work that you consider to be your best until the end. If you show your most stunning and creative work at the start, everything else you reveal will seem like a let-down. Begin with the most solid and reliable concepts, and sell them confidently, with a great deal of enthusiasm – as if you feel this is your ultimate solution. Show how it answers everything in the brief and point out the structure and techniques that you have incorporated. The client will feel confident that you know what you are doing, and should be pleased with the proposal, because it answers the brief.

As you reveal each concept, continue with your enthusiastic and positive approach, taking care not to show off or appear over-confident. Ask for reactions and opinions and build rapport during the meeting. By the time you reach your catwalk showpiece the client will have had plenty of stimulating material to consider. The brief has been answered but even more solutions are being presented. Whether this final piece is liked or not is irrelevant; its role is to show unrestrained creativity, make you stand out from the competition, and prevent them from out-shining you. Explain that although you are totally confident in the recommended solutions, this is conceptual work, and the real solution will incorporate the client’s direction and thinking.

Once your initial presentations are completed, you will probably have a number of work-in-progress meetings where the client and others will have opportunities to make changes to your text. This can become very political, and you must take a purely professional approach to this. The client will know the target customer and the products or services in far more detail than you, and you will have to pay close attention to this direction. However, the client will often be too close to the project to be objective, rarely has enough experience of creative writing and design to genuinely lead its development, and may be making suggestions simply to challenge your confidence or test whether you’re taking a chance with the product.

The way to handle client comments is to relate everything back to the target audience, core message, and USP that are being highlighted. If the client’s suggestion improves these, build it in; if not, prepare a clear explanation of why you wish to override it. If you find yourself in an impasse, go with the client’s views. There is no point fighting to the death; it makes a lot more sense to go with the recommendations, make the best job of it that you can, and live to fight another day.