Do you recognise you need help with your words, but aren’t sure what to do next? It can be as simple as picking up the phone, even if what you need isn’t yet clear in your own mind.

By talking to a professional writer, you can refine and clarify your thoughts – and maybe even gain the confidence to write the piece yourself.

At Writewords, we use some of the following questions to get a clearer idea of what you want written and why.

1. What is your objective? Is it to make a sale, to educate your audience, or to nurture a relationship?
2. Who is your audience? Are your readers existing clients, potential clients, industry partners or business associates?
3. Do you have an idea of how much needs to be written, rewritten or edited? This could be an approximate number of web pages, a word count or the number of A4 pages of notes you’ve written.
4. Do you have a length and structure in mind, or are you happy to go with the recommendation?
5. Do you have background material, or would we need to conduct some research? This could be done via the web, meetings or telephone interviews.
6. Are you working to a deadline?

Once we have a clear picture of what you need, we’ll provide a quote.

Creative brief
Next comes the in-depth brief. We’ll need to get a little more information before we start writing. This not only helps with the writing process, it ensures we all have the same understanding of what you have in mind.

If you haven’t briefed a writer before – here are some of the questions Writewords will ask. We may also need to set aside some time for a more in-depth conversation or even an interview.

1. What are the benefits of what you offer? This is your unique selling proposition. Why are you unique or better than your competitors? Why do – or should – people use your product or service?
2. Knowing your readers will help determine what they need to know – what information do we need to include, and what can we leave out?
3. Does your business have particular values? How would you describe the ‘personality’ of your brand? List some of the keywords relating to your business.
4. Do you have any essential information, keywords or messages you would like to include?
5. What is your call to action? What exactly do you want your readers to do after reading your communications piece? Do you want them to donate, call you or come back to your Facebook page? We need to let them know – and let them know how.
6. Who are your competitors?
7. Have you seen any examples you like? What aspects do you like about them? How would you like yours to differ from them or from your existing material?

What other information is essential to your particular creative brief? Let us know!