Copywriting

Describe, in plain English, what your company does. Explain who you are first, then explain what you do. For example, “development team…” then “we manufacture phone we are a factory… we are a shop… we are a website… we are a software handsets, we develop apps for the android platform, we sell bicycles, etc Avoid buzzwords or business-speak (e.g. “we provide solutions”, “we enable companies to leverage their investment and generate increased ROI” etc). What has led to the brief being required? Background information the writers should know.

Describe what specific item you require to be produced e.g. A4 double- sided product brochure, 20 pages of web copy, case study, tender, presentation, newsletter, blogs.

How do you help your clients? What benefits do you offer them? How are their lives / businesses enriched by your product / service? For e.g. “the bicycles we sell from our online shop get you from place to place faster than walking, but cost less than a car, and are better for the environment! Best of all, we deliver!”

What marketing issue should the solution solve? What is your main objective you hope to achieve with the copy? For example, to attract new customers, retain old customers, make your brand sound more modern, enable you to charge higher prices by positioning yourselves as a ‘premium’ product, etc.

Describe the people who will buy your product or use your services (include demographics, pain points or special interests where possible). Who will be reading the copy? Provide as much information about the client as possible. For example, age, income, company size, job title, location, interests, political affiliation, choice of newspaper, gender — anything that can help identify the reader. e.g. “Our clients are typically aged 30-40, have $1000 to spend, are university educated, female, interested in the arts and the environment, liberal, iPhone users, married but don’t have children, etc”

Something your competitors can’t provide] For e.g. we are 50% cheaper than our nearest competitor, we have twice as many staff, all our staff have a university education, we sell our product in more colours than our competitors, our product is proven more reliable, lasts twice as long, etc.

Case studies, product reviews, testimonials etc.

Describe the change your solution will have on the target audience – their behaviour, their attitude, their understanding of your product.

Who are they? What are their strengths? What does their marketing (website, brochure, etc) look like? Provide links to their websites if possible.

A conversion goal is anything you want your website to achieve. It could be an enquiry about your product by phone or email. A sign up to your site or subscription to your newsletter. A click-through to another site. More comments on your blog or inbound links from other sites (“clickbait”).

Conversational? Friendly? Formal? Professional? Educational? Funny? Light-hearted?

What is the key message you wish to communicate? This is the most critical part of the brief.

What mandatories must form part of the communication solution (such as taglines, testimonials, legals). What other copy considerations should the writers be aware of (such as tone of voice guidelines, production limitations, ability to personalise).

What supporting documents or reference materials can you provide? For example, previous brochures and proposals, web links.

Please provide timing / milestones required to be achieved for this project.

Please upload any files for this project here.