Archives for November 2015

Once you’ve appointed a copywriter for your project, the next step is to create the copywriting brief. It’s the one document you cannot do without. A clear and detailed brief will enable your copywriter to deliver writing that meets your expectations.

What is a copywriting brief?

A copywriting brief has everything your copywriter needs to know about your project. The brief contains instructions outlining what you expect of your copywriter and the goals you want to achieve with the project. It has all the background information necessary to steer your project in the right direction.

To help your copywriter create winning content, you need to outline your requirements and expectations clearly in the brief.

Who writes the copywriting brief?

The person in charge of the project usually prepares the copywriting brief. This could be the creative director, project manager, brand manager, marketing manager, or lead editor.

Why is a tight copywriting brief so important?

It’s all about good communication. A copywriting brief is there to make your life (and your copywriter’s) easier. By letting your copywriter know exactly what you want, your copywriter will be able to create copy that is specific and relevant to your business needs.

A tight brief helps your copywriter to get it right in a shorter amount of time, saving everybody time and money.

How does a copywriting brief benefit you?

It aligns the project with your goals. A brief helps you to articulate your goals to your copywriter. What are you trying to accomplish most with your project? Is it to build up web traffic, increase click-through-rates, boost sales, generate awareness or introduce a new product or service? Specifying your goal ensures your copywriter is committed to the same goal.

It keeps you focused. A copywriting brief helps to keep both you and your copywriter on the right track. Use the brief to set out your target market, specify the message you want to deliver, lay down the tone of voice to use and describe what the desired response should be.

It sets the deadline. Most copywriting projects are deadline-driven. Not only should a copywriting brief spell out what you expect from your copywriter, but it should also specify when you want the copy delivered to you.

It reduces the risk of rewrites. You want a copywriter who “gets it”. A tight brief will help your copywriter to nail the writing in a less amount of time. Time is not wasted on numerous drafts and you get the copy in the style you want.

It reduces the risk of a conflict. The copywriting brief forms the foundation for your relationship with your copywriter. An organized and comprehensive brief sets boundaries and helps your project to proceed smoothly. This reduces the chance of a miscommunication or misunderstanding over what is required of your copywriter.

What if you don’t have a copywriting brief?

For one, it could delay the completion of your project because your copywriter does not have all the information necessary to do a good job. Numerous rewrites could derail your project timeline.

The lack of a tight brief could also lead to less-than-effective copy. You may end up with content that does not communicate your key messages or copy that may not resonate with your audience.

Both you and your copywriter could also end up feeling frustrated. You may feel that you are not getting what you expected while your copywriter may feel it is difficult to deliver results without direction.

A copywriting brief can reduce all these risks.

Invest in a copywriting brief

It may take some time and effort to write a proper brief at the beginning of the project. But this investment is worth your while and the results should speak for themselves.

Coming up next: what goes into the copywriting brief. Stay tuned.

Many businesses often take writing for granted. Whether unintentional or not, poor grammar, bad spelling or sub-par content can reflect poorly on your business. It can even cause you to lose customers.

If you’re not a natural copywriter, it can be difficult to distil your ideas into an attention-grabbing headline or a concise 140-character tweet.

The reality is: writing matters. A great deal.

There’s no place for spelling mistakes and bad grammar in your business communications, website or marketing material. Yet, businesses often end up with gaffes such as its for it’s or your for you’re. Worse, the wrong choice of words could go against their brand identity.

Here are five ways bad writing could affect your business.

1. Poor content can tarnish your brand’s image

Every written word on your website or on your marketing collaterals is a reflection of your brand identity. It is important to cultivate that brand image through consistent positioning and messaging on all your content channels.

A poor written effort that is not coherent with your brand image can send an inconsistent message to your customers. Poor content leaves a bad impression and it can cost you your brand’s reputation.

2. Hard-to-understand content can drive away customers

A brochure that makes no sense, web content that is written in a language that is too convoluted, instructions that are too technical or an article that is full of jargon can be a huge turn-off for readers. They may decide that it’s not worth giving you business.

You only have a small window of opportunity to grab someone’s attention. Don’t waste it. Keep your writing simple and easy-to-read.

3. Sloppy writing shows you cannot be trusted

A brochure with punctuation errors, an email littered with spelling mistakes or a blog full of grammatical blunders show one thing: that you cannot even be bothered to check your writing before you print it, email it or post it.

This can make your business look unprofessional. And it hardly inspires confidence in your company, your brand or your products.

4. Terrible writing can result in negative word of mouth 

Great copywriting can do wonders for your business. A useful how-to blog post or a cleverly-written ad can generate buzz on social media and result in positive comments about your business, products or services.

But the opposite is also true. A terribly written piece could result in negative word of mouth or worse, make your the business the subject of ridicule on social media.

5. Poor grammar and spelling can affect your SEO rankings 

If you have a blog or a website, you’ll know that search engine rankings matter. Many elements go into the algorithm that determines how your page is ranked.

Reliability, usefulness and helpfulness of a website are key. And one of the ways in which to improve user experience is by ensuring that your website uses proper grammar and spelling. 

Matt Cutts, Google’s search engine expert, has been repeatedly asked whether spelling and grammar matter when it comes to evaluating content and site quality. In this 2011 Google Webmaster video, he says that “the ability to spell correlates relatively well” with the PageRank of a page.

Indeed, in assessing the quality of a page or article, Google’s Panda algorithm considers whether the article has “spelling, stylistic or factual errors”.

In short: reputable sites tend to spell better. On the other hand, lower page ranked sites tend not to spell as well.

Bottom line: quality copywriting sets your business apart

The professionalism of your business is reflected in your website and in the content you produce. Giving your customers the best impression of yourself through quality copywriting is absolutely vital to set you apart from your competitors.

Make it a priority to banish common grammar and spelling mistakes. Use your spell checker. And always proofread, proofread and proofread.

But if you’re still struggling to come up with error-free content that has the “wow” factor, perhaps it’s time to outsource your copywriting to a Singapore copywriter.

If you do not have the time nor desire to write, getting a professional copywriter to do the job for you is a better way to get results.