When do you ask a client to fill in a copywriting brief?
I'm interested if you all get a brief from your client's for every project...
On the one hand, filling in briefs is time-consuming and laborious. While, on the other if you don't have a brief of some sort, you would wind up wasting yours and your client's time by leading up the garden part without the necessary info you need.
Without a brief you can run into issues due to not having the 'right' background info or specific details that may save you time in the edit stages, but if it is just a small job is there a point where you don't bother with a brief.
In my case, I have a formal brief form which is online plus a more informal set of questions for quick job - that said, some jobs require a long phone conversation, others need a face to face meeting, while some just need a quick email and away I go.
In any event, I have learnt that it's always important to get a brief of some sort, as every client has a unique set of expectations and the more they outline for you the quicker you will get to the heart of what marketing support they need and the what, where, why, when and how of their campaign.
Here are a couple of reasons why I avoid starting a project without a copywriting brief form:
What does everyone else do? If a client is doing the same or a similar project with me time and time again I will usually not be as strict however I think this is a more formalised way to do things so that there is a process and all the info is set and ready to go when I am ready to start the project.
I have a great online form I have set up on my website as well as a few questionaires I have saved for different types of projects (which I updated and tailor for each client) ...
What's your process?
On the one hand, filling in briefs is time-consuming and laborious. While, on the other if you don't have a brief of some sort, you would wind up wasting yours and your client's time by leading up the garden part without the necessary info you need.
Without a brief you can run into issues due to not having the 'right' background info or specific details that may save you time in the edit stages, but if it is just a small job is there a point where you don't bother with a brief.
In my case, I have a formal brief form which is online plus a more informal set of questions for quick job - that said, some jobs require a long phone conversation, others need a face to face meeting, while some just need a quick email and away I go.
In any event, I have learnt that it's always important to get a brief of some sort, as every client has a unique set of expectations and the more they outline for you the quicker you will get to the heart of what marketing support they need and the what, where, why, when and how of their campaign.
Here are a couple of reasons why I avoid starting a project without a copywriting brief form:
- If the client changes their mind about the direction halfway through the project, you have nothing to fall back on and will be obliged to follow their new direction.
- How well you complete a copywriting job is often left to personal taste. If you've put your own creative spin on something and the employer doesn't like it, you have none of their initial input as a back-up; you'll have to start again and your time has effectively been wasted.
- Briefs don't only contain key messages that your client would like you to get across in your copy; they also contain predicted timelines, tone, competitor details, background of the business and target market information. There is no way you can possibly be expected to know all of this relevant information without a detailed brief and it's unlikely your copy will be anywhere near as effective as it could be.
- A brief will get your client thinking and may provide additional key piece of information that you can integrate into the project, that they may not have shared to you via an email or in their original conversation to confirm the project.
What does everyone else do? If a client is doing the same or a similar project with me time and time again I will usually not be as strict however I think this is a more formalised way to do things so that there is a process and all the info is set and ready to go when I am ready to start the project.
I have a great online form I have set up on my website as well as a few questionaires I have saved for different types of projects (which I updated and tailor for each client) ...
What's your process?