A copywriting brief is an essential part of any writing project. It will make the process more efficient for both parties and help them to define the details of the project. That will leave a smaller margin for error and fewer nasty surprises at the end of it.
Additionally, writing down your ideas is a great way to crystallise exactly what you’re looking for from the copywriting project. If you're a business and you're looking for copywriting help, filling in this brief might even help you to learn more about your business itself.
We already put together a guide on how to write a copywriting brief, so this template is all about combining all of the elements of that guide and putting it into a format which is clear, concise and easy to consume for the copywriter. Below is a summary of the information included in the copywriting brief template. You can download a copy for yourself at the bottom of the page.
Feel free to add or delete sections as you see fit. This is only intended as a guide, and obviously each project is different with its own specifications.
Project Overview
Before jumping into the details of the project, it's useful to first look at an overview of it. In the Project Overview section of your brief you can include the key details of the project. Here is an example.
Client Name:
Gigtimes
Client Website URL:
www.gigtimes.co.uk
Agency Name:
Big Bang Copy
Project Name:
Gigtimes New Website Launch
Start Date:
March 2023
Deadline:
May 2023
Project Information
If you're a copywriter, this is where you can get the key information about the project. The information found here should cover pretty much everything you need to get going.
If you're a company and you're unsure what exactly you're looking for in a copywriting project, answering these questions can give you a clearer idea. They might also get you thinking about what makes your brand unique, what you want to communicate and how you want to communicate it.
1. Tell us a little bit about your company.
The first question of your brief should be to find out more about the company looking for the copywriting. What do they do? Which products/services do they offer? What makes them unique?
2. What type of content do you need?
Next, you need a summary of the type of content that needs to be written. Does the client need copywriting for a new website? Blog posts? Email newsletters?
3. Do you have a target audience?
Copywriting is all about writing the right words for the right audience. In this question, you should aim to find out a little more about the target audience for your content. Where are they based? Are they predominantly male or female? How old are they?
4. What is the purpose of this content?
What's the overall aim of this copywriting project? Is it to drive more sales? Grow website traffic? Get more appointments. Try to be as specific as possible, because this is vital to the process of copywriting.
5. Do you have a brand tone of voice?
If your client doesn’t have a tone of voice document, ask them to send you tone of voice examples from other companies that they want to replicate. Or, they could just let you know what tone of voice you would like for the project using keywords(e.g. professional, conversational, friendly). If you're a company, you could also run through this exercise to get a better idea of your preferred tone of voice.
6. Who are your main competitors?
It's very useful for a copywriter to be aware of any competitors. It's a good way of finding out what makes the company unique. Also, a copywriter can look through competitor content for inspiration.
7. Any additional information?
In your brief, you should always leave a space to include any additional information not covered in the previous sections.
Project Deliverables
By now you should have a good idea in your head about what you're looking for from a copywriter. In the Project Deliverables section of the brief you can get into the specifics - if you already know them. If not, it's worth talking with the writer to discuss quantities, word counts and target keywords.
Here is a simplified version of the Project Deliverables.
Project Deliverables (Detailed)
If you need some extra details on the project deliverables, you can include them here. It's a good place to include information about what exactly you're looking for from every single social media post, web page, blog, email or landing page. You can also include word counts, target keywords and any other comments you might have.
In the case of a web page, you might include what exactly you would like written in the comments section.
Here are a few examples.
Social Media Posts
Blog Posts, Landing Pages, Web Pages
Free copywriting brief template
We've put all of this information into a handy copywriting brief template, which you can view by clicking the link. To save a copy for yourself, hit 'File' and then 'Make a Copy' from the toolbar at the top.
It's part of our pack of 50+ downloadable copywriting templates, which contains everything from contracts to portfolios to rate cards to invoices. Grab your copy here.
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