How to Get Better Copy From Your Copywriters

Part 1: Give them the right information

I’ve worked as a copywriter for 20 years. I’ve done everything from writing banner ads (every copywriter’s favorite) to working as a creative director for some of the most well-known brands and agencies in the world. During this time, I’ve discovered two incredible things:

1. Most people don’t know what copywriters really do.
2. Even fewer know what it takes to create good copy.

These two challenges impact the one thing that matters most:

The work.

And if you’re not a copywriter, it’s not your fault. I certainly don’t know everything that goes into being a strategist, designer, account person, etc.

But sharing is caring, so I’ll share a copywriter’s perspective on how the copy process works, how you can minimize copy-related problems, and what you can do to get better copy from your team. We might save everyone’s sanity in the process.

Note: While this series is mainly intended for ad agency copywriters, these guidelines may apply to writers in other industries.

?Give Your Copywriter the Right Information

Before a copywriter can even begin concepting or writing, your copywriter is going to need two main things to start a project:

1. A proper brief
2. Deep-dive info

These two things are the foundation for giving your copywriter the right information.

A Proper Brief

A brief is a document that summarizes the objectives, insights, messaging, and other important info of a project. Think of it as your team’s North Star to guide them and keep them on track.

Thijs van de Wouw, who works as a Global Strategic Planning Director at Wieden + Kennedy in Tokyo, describes a brief this way:

“A good brief carves out a distinct point of view and messaging within a category, shows how the brand is uniquely positioned to own that message, and captures a truth that inspires people by getting them to think about something in a way they may not have thought of before.

“As a planner, a successful creative brief to me is one where creatives don’t have questions or poke holes into the thinking, but allows them to start throwing out ideas right away and creatives walk away inspired and excited.”

At most traditional agencies that create TV commercials, for example, briefs are typically thoroughly vetted internally by the account and strategy teams as well as the client (creatives should review it as well).

However, at digital agencies, briefs are often hard to come by. Sometimes they’re just a few sentences emailed to the copywriter, given verbally — or worse — are nonexistent.

I get it. There isn’t always time to do a fully blown-out brief. But if you don’t give your copywriters this basic information, how will they know what to write?

Note: There are times when a copywriter may not receive a brief, such as a freelancer working directly with a client. In this case, the copywriter may create the brief with the client together.

Why A Proper Brief is Important:

1. Enables the agency to properly vet the ask before the team begins work.
2. Helps ensure all parties are aligned on the main objectives.
3. Clearly defines the deliverables and helps prevent scope creep.
4. Helps produce better work.
5. Reduces churn, saving time and money.

Keep in mind that your brief will likely look different depending on what your project is — especially if you work for a digital agency.

Here are two brief examples:

Example Brief 1:

This is an example of a traditional brief that you might find for a campaign. I made up this company, but it gives you a general idea of what a traditional brief might look like.

Example Brief 2:

For a digital agency, you’ll have different needs for your brief depending on what the project is. Are you relaunching a website? Is it an app? Are you working on an AI/conversational design project?

Even if you can’t provide a full brief, at least provide an abbreviated version. (I simplified this example quite a bit to make this easier to digest.)

A Brief Case Study

I worked on a conversational design project where our team was briefed verbally. We worked furiously to have a deliverable out by the end of the week.

The only problem? It was the wrong deliverable because the brief was never properly vetted and people on the team interpreted the ask differently.

We lost a week’s worth of time and money — as well as the team’s patience. Afterward, I sat with our team lead and strategist, and moving forward we began writing up simple briefs to ensure this didn’t happen again.

In addition to no longer wasting our efforts, our work also improved since everyone was on the same page.

Deep-Dive Info

The second thing I need as a copywriter is a large quantity of quality information. Yes, I need quantity and quality. This is because copywriters can’t properly write about something if we don’t know what we’re talking about.

Deep-dive info enables copywriters to fully articulate a story, explain in detail how a product works, come up with the “big idea” and so on. The more info you give your copywriters, the better story they can tell.

This doesn’t mean you should send your copywriters a dump of information and ask them to figure it out. Send what you know will be pertinent — remember, we want quality too. Even better, set up a meeting with your copywriter and go over what’s important or no longer current.

I’ve worked on projects where there was a lack of information and the alternative — looking things up on the internet — is not what you want. This is because the information your copywriter might be using may not be accurate or it simply may not be what your brand is trying to convey.

Randi White, a Senior Vice President, and Global Business Lead, has years of experience working as a client partner successfully growing and winning new accounts. Her advice to her team:

“Know your client’s business better than they know it.”

The only way to do that is to have detailed and accurate information. The following case study illustrates how this can help your copywriters and your entire team.

A Deep-Dive Case Study

An agency recruited me some years ago to oversee their luxury automotive account. During the interview process, I was told they were at risk of losing this multimillion-dollar client.

Always up for a challenge and a glutton for punishment, naturally, I accepted the position. After being hired, I met with the client who stated that he felt the agency did not understand his brand’s voice or its products.

So I went to work. I asked for deep-dive product documents from the client. I coordinated with partner agencies to share information. I sat with the client’s automotive designers and product planners to ask questions. I visited their factory to see how their cars were built and found fascinating stories never publicly revealed before.

I then shared all of this information with my team. I gave presentations, held lunch-and-learn meetings, and even asked our client if our team could see their cars up close.

The client obliged and went a step further, inviting our team to drive their cars — on a racetrack. This led to new insights and acted as a catalyst to tell our client’s story in ways that weren’t possible before.

It also impressed upon me that deep-dive info doesn’t just come from PDFs and PowerPoints — talking directly with the right people, as well as seeing and experiencing things firsthand, were just as important.

In the end, we pulled all the insights and stories we learned into everything we created. And the client noticed — instead of losing the account, we slowly regained our client’s trust.

We even won our pitch the following year to keep their business. It was a complete reversal from where we had been just a year before, and getting access to deep-dive information had a lot to do with it.

SUMMARY:

Having a proper brief and deep-dive information will give your copywriters the tools they need to create the level of work that you deserve.

In addition to getting better copy and better stories, you might just get happier clients and more business too.

A huge and heartfelt thanks to my good friends Randi White and Thijs van de Wouw for contributing to this story.

Tim Shin is a freelance writer and creative director living in Brooklyn, NY. He’s worked in advertising and digital communications for over 20 years. He dislikes writing about himself in the third person but has settled on the fact that he has to do it sometimes.