Letter #40: Are you making these brief writing mistakes?

Avoid these 5 briefing don’ts like the plague.

Hola fam!

Welcome to the 40th edition of this letter that I’m not writing from my usual spot, my desk. Instead, I’m sitting in front of huge glass windows, watching rain pattering down softly.  

Just a few minutes ago, I was at my desk. But when I spotted a baby — some 9-month-old I’m guessing — professionally steering his/her orange and yellow walker in the light rain outside, I realized I might as well watch the rain with a cold glass of banana shake.

Anyhoo, onto today’s topic: creative briefs. Or simply: briefs. Whatever you prefer calling them, we know they help us streamline content creation.

But where there’s lots said about what to add in a brief, there’s little on the mistakes you’re (most likely) making.

So here goes, my take on 5 major brief writing mistakes as learned from completing 45840283 (sorry, I lost count, so I punched in some random number 🤓) briefs with clients like Shopify, Hootsuite, and Hotjar.

Lezz go:

1. Your briefs are prescriptive

While these types of briefs may help when you’re working with junior writers, they only cause confusion when you’re working with senior writers.

Why? Because the more prescriptive you are, the less room you leave for creativity.

There’s also little welcoming space for experienced writers to, well, bring their experience to the table.

2. Your brief doesn’t share product features to highlight  

The best briefs are ones that share a product feature or two that you think can get the spotlight in the piece.

But here again, it’s important to mention that you’re sharing these features as guideposts — thought starters to get the writer to explore relevant features.

Leave the final decision to the writer as to which feature to add to the piece. You can also share your two cents or guide them on which other feature to add in the outlining stage.

3. The brief doesn’t link to UGC you have in your backlog

In one of my recent letters to you, I talked about creating original content using UGC.

I also shared you need to create a list of case studies and subject matter experts that writers can link and talk to, respectively.

Make sure you add those lists here. Or highlight a few relevant case studies and internal SMEs you can connect writers with.

4. You aren’t sharing the funnel stage the content piece belongs in

This is your key to creating high-converting content.

Knowing each content piece’s place in the buyer’s journey and its goal helps writers create more relevant content.

Similarly, sharing the search intent or what the reader wants to achieve after reading about the topic is another crucial piece of info to share.

5. You forget to share things are flexible

Lastly, it’s uber-important that you clearly specify what’s flexible in the brief.

For example, tell writers the outline is flexible (if it truly is, that is). And that they can add or remove sections as per their research. You can say the same about CTAs.  

The point is: being flexible helps you collaborate to create masterpieces.

So here’s to awesome content 🥂

I’ll get back to watching the rain now!

Cheers,

Masooma