Imagine you hire a freelance writer and every time you give them a writing project, they deliver exactly what you had in mind.
In some cases, it’s even better than what you imagined.
Freelance writers aren’t magicians, but with a great writing brief that provides clear direction, they’ll be well equipped to turn your ideas into reality.
Here’s what you need to know to put together a home-run writing brief when working with a freelance writer.
What is a writing brief for freelance writers?
A writing brief is defined as a set of guidelines, directions, and up-front information that give your freelance writer the information he/she needs to accomplish the goals of your writing project.
While quality work is certainly a benefit of creating an in-depth writing brief, it’s not the only one.
Benefits of a high-quality writing brief
Less work on the back-end. If your freelance writer follows your clear guidelines laid out in the writing brief, you’ll spend less time editing, providing feedback, and fixing mistakes.
More timely delivery. More direction up front means less time editing, and since your freelance writer will have fewer revisions to make to their draft, they’re more likely to get final drafts delivered according to your proposed timeline.
Faster onboarding. It takes time for a freelance writer to adapt to a brand’s messaging, voice, and tone of a new client. However, with a great writing brief, the learning curve is far less steep. Plus: It’s a documented point of reference they can refer back to at any time.
Better results and higher ROI on content. Whether your goals are ranking for keywords, getting new email sign-ups, or just entertaining your readers, a solid writing brief will help ensure all the important boxes are ticked as you work toward objectives.
Stronger client-freelancer relationships. When you provide a freelance writer with a great writing brief, you show them you’re invested in their success. That kind of investment leads to trust and priority placement on busy project calendars.
Next, let’s look at how to make a writing brief that will take your freelance writers’ work from ‘just okay’ to ‘just WOW.’
Elements of a great writing brief
Think of your writing brief as the directive for the mission you’re giving your freelance writer.
It’s a quick but crucial memo that communicates the purpose of the project, lays out key points your writer should touch on, and shares some important tidbits/background info that will help them reach their goal.
Let’s take a quick look at the elements of a well-crafted writing brief:
Concise. Your writing brief should equip your writer with the foundational information they need to make the project a success without overloading them with too many unneccesary instructions.
Clear. Although your writing brief probably shouldn’t self-destruct, it should be clear enough that if it did, your writer would still know exactly what they need to do.
Focused. To help your writer avoid many pitfalls (distraction, research rabbit holes, wordiness) and to stay on-track, your writing brief should communicate a singular objective (not many.)
Evocative. Your writing brief should include something to inspire your writer so they have a better idea of some of the creative elements you have in mind. This can be suggestions on articles to emulate, models to follow, etc.
How to create a writing brief in 6 steps
To create a strong writing brief, you need to answer the five W’s: why, what, who, where, when.
The freelance writer ultimately answers “how” through their work, but you can give them some tools to make their jobs easier.
Answer “why” first.
Every project needs a purpose. Why does this writing piece need to exist? What will it accomplish toward your goals? The more your writer understands the objective of your writing project, the more likely they are to deliver on that objective.
Describe what you want the piece to look like.
Is this writing project a blog post or an eBook? How long should it be? Is the writer working with a graphic designer or should they provide their own images and screenshots? Make sure your writer has a clear picture of what the project will look like once it’s completed.
Say who the reader is.
The better your writer understands your audience, the easier it will be to write for them. My favorite freelance writing clients in SaaS and ecommerce share their customer personas to help me understand exactly who their target audience is and how my writing will help their readers. If you don’t have personas prepared, it’s still a smart move to provide your writer with a simple overview of the person you imagine reading the piece:
Level of education
Occupation/field
Age
Relationship to the topic (level of expertise, depth of experience, opposing viewpoints, etc.)
Include where the piece will be published.
The format of the writing piece may be dictated by the platform on which it’s published. For example, a search engine-optimized blog post designed to rank well requires a header and linking structure that may not be as important in another format, such as a guest post written for Forbes. If you’ve hired a freelance writer to do ghostwriting, remember that each platform has its own style guide that they need to keep in mind.
Indicate when the work is due.
All writing projects have deadlines. Depending on the scope of the project, you may need to provide a timeline for drafts and revisions. You can also communicate the urgency of the deadline (such as is this a hard “due by” date, or is there wiggle room?)
Provide messaging strategy tools to improve how the piece is written.
If you’ve hired an experienced freelance writer, you won’t need to tell them how to write the piece. But with messaging strategy tools in place, you can help them better match the voice and tone of your brand and outshine the competition.
Here are just a few of the insights you can include:
Company description- Define what your company does in two or three sentences.
Value proposition- Sum up the main benefit of your product or service.
Customer personas- Describe who your customer is and what their goals are.
Customer pain-points- Describe what your customers are struggling with (and specifically, what they’re struggling with that leads them to reading your content).
Style guide- Your style guide helps your writer to understand the details of what makes your brand voice. This includes notes on tone (Friendly? Formal?) and editorial style (Are you pro-Oxford comma and anti-title case for headlines?)
Competitive insights- Let your writer know if you have direct competitors that they should avoid as a reference. For SEO posts, it’s also helpful for writers to see the top-ranking content for the keywords you’re targeting.
With writing briefs, you don’t have to reinvent the freelance writer management wheel.
Clarity is kindness. With a fantastic writing brief, you’ll bring out the best work in your freelance writers––and they’ll love you forever while delivering their very best work.
Plus, with the writing brief template included in my editor and content manager template bundle, you can spend less time fixing off-target freelance writing work and more time reaping its benefits.