Your Brief

The better the brief, the better the copy. So, we’ve provided four different types of brief for General Copy and Content, Website, Blogging and Email copy. The briefs are detailed, so it may be that you only need to answer a selection of the questions. However, you need to type in N/A to any question you don't answer to be able to move on to the next question. If you would like to use your own briefing format that’s fine, as long as it covers similar information.

Depending on your requirement, you can complete and submit a Words, Words, Words briefing document below. Alternatively, you can download a copy which you can then fill in and return via email to jeff@wordswordswords.co.uk

General copy & content brief

Please also provide what days of the week you are available.
Please provide a short paragraph outlining who they are, what they do and how they help their customers/clients
e.g. a client's website, blog, white paper, email campaign, social media ads, social media content, etc.
e.g. to inspire people to donate, to inform them about an issue, to become a new supporter, etc.
e.g. mums in the UK aged between 30 and 50 who have children in school, run busy households and have very little spare time. Or young professionals with lots of disposable income who love to socialise with their friends. Provide as much relevant details as you can.
State as many key messages as you want included
What is it that you want your audience to do after receiving or interacting with this piece of communication? Is it to visit a website to get more information? Is it to sign up for email newsletters? Is it to arrange a meeting? Is it to receive more information, etc.
In other words, if audience were to remember just one thing after reading your piece of communication what would you want it to be?
Sentences or key words/phrases that you want the copy to include?
If so, provide links to the images and state how you want the images and copy to marry up. It may be that you simply want 20 word captions to accompany each image, or you may want the copy to reference the imagery directly. Perhaps you simply want the copy and imagery to incorporate the same theme.
e.g. Our tone is warm and friendly but not over familiar. Or, we have a formal tone, but we are not stuffy or unapproachable. Or, we like to inject humour in an irreverent way, but we're never silly.
e.g. We refer to our organisation in the singular 'Comic Relief 'is', not 'Comic Relief 'are', we always write letters in the plural, so 'we' not 'I', etc.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Website brief

Please also provide what days of the week you are available.
Please provide a short paragraph outlining who they are, what they do and how they help their customers/clients
Masculine or feminine, contemporary or corporate, informal, emotive, etc?
Friendly, professional, technical, informal, inclusive, confident etc.
Call to action buttons, eCommerce, blog, etc.
ie bullet points or similar?
Build credibility, build the brand, increase traffic, generate sales, launch a new product?
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Blog brief

Please also provide what days of the week you are available.
Please provide a short paragraph outlining who they are, what they do and how they help their customers/clients
better still, provide a buyer persona if you have one
In other words, what will provoke them to seek out this post, and how is it going to improve or add value to their life.
e.g. a list post, ‘how to’, instructional/educational, news, checklist, case study, profile, interview, review, etc
provide primary keyword or phrase
provide secondary keywords or phrases.
Are they looking for information, entertainment, reviews, comparisons, wanting to make a purchase?
Buy now? Share, comment, download, signup, click through, pick up the phone?
Provide links to them
This should be consistent with your client’s brand and customers’ values
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Email brief

Please also provide what days of the week you are available.
Please provide a short paragraph outlining who they are, what they do and how they help their customers/clients
If your client has taken the time to produce a great ebook, whitepaper, ebrochure, updated website or simply a new sale item, then include the offer within the brief. Let the copywriter read the whole document – it will help them come up with more ideas for the email content.
No one knows your client’s customers like you do. Tell the copywriter exactly who’s going to be seeing the email in their inbox: who they will have to persuade to open, read, and respond to the email. Knowing your target audience is essential for using the right tone, and effectively communicating the offer to the reader.
The title of the email is usually what you’ll also put in the subject line of the email, so it’s important to remember to keep it short, relevant and specific to the offer. While it might seem dull, a subject line can have a significant effect on the success rates of your email marketing. Vague, fanciful titles, or rhetorical questions do not work well for open rates or response in email. Keep it simple and direct, and you won’t go wrong.
What do you want to happen as a result of sending this email? If it’s brochure requests or e-book downloads, then tell the copywriter. If it’s survey completions, tell them (and provide details of an incentive). This is where you can tell the copywriter anything you don’t want included, too.
With email, less is more. For a simple offer (ebook, whitepaper, brochure, discount etc) 100-150 words is more than enough to communicate the current offer and persuade the reader to find out more. Any longer and you’ll risk bombarding them with too much text and they won’t respond, they’ll unsubscribe – or worse – mark you as spam.

For a newsletter, a few short snippets (around 50-70 words) of text on each subject is best, but different approaches should always be tested for the best response from your client’s particular audience.
Always include a reasonable deadline with the brief, so you can keep your email marketing messages current and responsive to market events.
Always agree this ahead of time, best practice for avoiding excessive costs!
Examples of other successful emails your client has sent out will help the copywriter to create an email that reflects their brand’s voice and style.

Copywriters aren’t necessarily going to be tuned in to your client’s overall marketing strategy and house style right from the start, but with a good brief they can write great email marketing copy that actually gets results.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
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