The Creative Brief, or The Brief as it is often referred to, is the basis of every good Website design.
Your website developer will take one when you meet to get a sense of what your website will look and feel like, but as copywriters, we take one too so that we can find out what you want to achieve with the message on your website.
What’s your goal, your unique voice and how do you want to come across to your customers or audience? The Brief will help to define exactly that.
The Brief is a series of questions that need to be discussed between you and your copywriter.
And remember this – the better the brief, the better the copy.
Why Use A Creative Brief?
The Creative Brief is the master document that states exactly:
1. What type of task is needed – a 5-page website or 10-page website, a website audit, etc.
2. What is the website about – what is being promoted, what pages do we need and what will each page say.
3. Who is being targeted – who is most likely to buy from us.
4. What aspects of the product we’re going to promote – what are the most important things we need to say about our product or service.
5. Who our competitors are – who else is doing what we’re doing and what will make the reader choose us over them.
6. Our key selling benefits – what will the reader get out of doing business with us, why should they buy our product or service?
• …and much, much more.
Website writing is a very subjective business which creates room for error. To minimize misunderstandings and miscommunications, a brief is the key document that both the writer and the client use as their touchstone.
You will save yourself hours and potentially lots of money if you make the time with your copywriter to complete a comprehensive and detailed brief at the beginning of the writing process.
The Creative Brief
Here’s a version of the brief your website copywriter will use to write your website text. As mentioned, you don’t need to write anything down or fill anything out – that’s the writer’s job.
But knowing what they’ll ask you will save you time and money and ensure a higher-quality result.
| WEBSITE COPYWRITING CREATIVE BRIEF | |
| Client Name: | Client Email and Ph #: |
| Name of Company: | |
| Description of Product/Service: what does the business do/offer? | |
| Date required: when does the first draft of the web copy need to be ready? | |
| Task: how many pages need to be written? Does it require SEO? Has the site been created from scratch or is it being revamped? | |
| What is the primary purpose of this website? to sell products/services online, to provide information/build brand for the company, to give investors confidence in in investing, to display a portfolio etc: | |
| Objectives: What do you want people to do once they have landed on the site? ie sign up to receive a newsletter, buy online, compare prices, download a brochure, request a quote/meeting/sales call etc. | |
| Target Market: You may have more than one target market. Please nominate them in order of importance to you. Please be as specific as possible about the ‘person’ you are targeting, not just the type of industry/company. | |
| Features and Benefits: Feature # 1: Benefit # 1: Feature # 2: Benefit # 2: Etc | |
| Supporting evidence/Proof of Claim: what customer testimonials, examples, awards, accolades etc can you supply? Do you want the copywriter to source them for you?) | |
| Tone of voice/Product Personality: nominate 3 or 4 words to describe the ‘voice’ of the website eg. warm, friendly, officious, classy, blue collar, down to earth, elegant etc. | |
| Competitors: please nominate 3 sites that you perceive to be in direct competition with you. What do you do offer/differently to them that will make a buyer choose you over them? | |
| The Offer/Incentive: (what you can offer the reader that will compel them to consider you (rather than the competitors). It needs to be high value and relevance but low cost eg. free report, free audit, free consultation, free DVD, an upgrade, a bonus gift, a discount. | |
| Essential requirements/Mandatories: what must appear on the website eg. trademarks, logos, disclaimers etc. Please list here in the correct wording. | |
| Constraints: What can’t we say or mention? Are there legal considerations about what we say and not say? | |
The creative brief may seem daunting, but rest assured a great copywriter will make the process as painless as possible, and they would never just email the brief and ask you to complete it yourself.
A quality copywriter knows how important it is to work with the client to complete a comprehensive brief resulting in you getting the very best copy for your business and website needs.
Bluejay Writing can help you through the creative brief process, write the copy for your website and even design and build your website.
The whole package in one place, how convenient is that!
Get in touch today to talk about your exciting new project.
0487 007 836
info@bluejaywriting.com