Writing a brief that produces good drafts
Draft quality is decided in the brief. Seven fields, and what separates a sharp brief from a vague one.
A draft can never be more concrete than its brief. Below are the fields that make the biggest difference, with examples of weak versus sharp.
Purpose
Weak: “increase awareness”. Sharp: “make homeowners on hourly electricity contracts understand why peak loads cost more than they think”. It should be possible to judge whether the text achieved the purpose.
Audience
Describe a person in a situation, not a demographic. “A finance lead who has to justify an investment internally” produces better text than “decision makers”.
Key message
One sentence the reader should be able to retell. If you need two sentences, you probably have two texts.
Facts
- Include figures with unit, time period and source.
- Mark estimates as estimates.
- Leave a number out rather than shipping an uncertain one.
Tone of voice and CTA
State both what you want to sound like and what you want to avoid. A CTA should be a next step the text actually motivates — not a prompt to buy after a discussion of industry trends.