How to brief a copywriter (so you actually get copy that sounds like you)
The single biggest reason copywriting projects go wrong isn't the writing; it's the brief. Get this part right and everything downstream gets easier.
Tell them what you don't want, not just what you do. "Professional but friendly" means something different to every person who reads it. Send three examples of tone you like and one you don't, and the direction becomes obvious immediately.
Give them the boring details. Who's actually going to read this? What do they already believe about you? What's the one thing you want them to do next? A copywriter without this context is guessing, and guesses read like guesses.
Share your actual words, not just facts. Voice notes, old emails you've written, even a rambling paragraph you typed out yourself; this is gold. It's much easier to sharpen how you already sound than to invent a voice from a blank page.
Be specific about what "generic" means to you. Almost every client says "I don't want it to sound like everyone else," but the specific things that make copy feel generic - stock phrases, empty adjectives, corporate throat-clearing - are worth naming directly so it's clear what to cut.
Trust the edit, but check the facts. A good copywriter will push back on your first draft of the brief and ask questions you didn't think to answer. That's not a red flag; that's the job being done properly. What you should always check yourself is accuracy: figures, claims, and anything factual about your business.
A strong brief takes twenty minutes and saves three rounds of revisions. It's the highest-leverage twenty minutes in the whole project.
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