Shaun Crowley (bio)

Understanding the audience

1. Identify the general demographic of your audience.
To get a general idea who your copywriter is writing for, ask your client for the basic demographic information, so you can obtain a general picture of a typical reader.

• Age group
• Gender ratio
• Location / Nationality
• Typical occupation

2. Identify the behavioral demographic of your audience.
If you can identify commonalities in the audience’s behavior, your copywriter will be able to write copy that best responds to the readers' practical needs.

• What daily routines might they share?
• How do they typically use the product?
• How does the product fit into their lives?

3. Identify the psychological demographic of your audience.
For really emotive copy, equip your copywriter with a knowledge of readers' emotional needs. Ask your client to describe the psychological traits of a typical reader.

• What are their ambitions?
• What do they enjoy doing?
• What are they frightened of?
• What pressures are they under?
• Are they extroverts or introverts?
• Are they people-focused or task-focused?
• Are they logical or creative?
• Do they strive for ideas or do they prefer to focus on detail?

Understanding the copy objectives

1. Find out the purpose of the item.
Your copywriter needs to be clear on the aim of the item before starting.

What is the item supposed to do?
• To sell direct?
• To generate sales leads? If so, what is the call to action?
• To encourage prospects to enquire online?
• To encourage prospects to reply for more information?
• To build awareness of the product?
• To build the client's corporate image?
• To inform existing customers of changes?
• To motivate or inform sales forces or distributors?

2. Find out how the item will it be read.
A knowledge of the context in which the item will be read may help to inform the length, tone, and presentation of the copy. For example, a brochure that is presented to customers by a sales representative may need to be more visually demonstrative than a brochure that is mailed out.

If it’s a brochure, how will it be distributed?
• Mailed to customers? When?
• Used to help sales representatives pitch to customers?
• Distributed at events?
• Handed out on the street?

If it’s an advert, where will it be situated?
• Which journal/magazine/newspaper?
• Who buys it?
• When will the advert appear?
• What will it appear next to?

If it’s a website, what route will visitors take to get to it?
• Will readers type in the URL from memory?
• Will readers type in the URL after seeing it adverised?
• Will visitors click through from an email? What does the email look like?

3. Ask what marketing strategies the item responds to.
A basic understanding of your client's goals will help your copywriter contextualize the project.

What is your client's current marketing strategy?
• Maintain sales?
• Turnaround poor sales?
• Build a new brand?
• Update or reposition a mature brand?
• Enter a new market segment?
• Dominate an existing market?
• Maintain customer loyalty?
• Prove the company’s commitment to innovation?
• Encourage new or maintained investment from shareholders?
• Motivate retailers and distributors to stock the product?
• Aid the sales force to sell the product or service directly?
• Keep employees motivated?

4. Find out what has worked in the past.
Take a few minutes to go through previous marketing collateral with your client to find out what has worked and what hasn’t. If the target audience responded well to a particular type of product message, there may be no point in reinventing the wheel.

Understanding the key selling messages

1. Agree on a USP.
A Unique Selling Point (USP) is an appealing aspect of the product that is only true of that product.
Examples:
• The world’s best-selling cell phone (unique selling point as a fact)
• The first cell phone with Voice Alert™. (unique selling point as a feature)
• The only cell phone that works under water (unique selling point as a benefit)

As you discuss the product’s features and benefits, make a point of enquiring whether they are unique. Do this by asking your client if it is accurate to describe the product as The first…or The only….

2. Establish the top 3 features and benefits.
As you explore your client’s product, develop a long list of features. Try to encourage your client to hone in on the most important features, and clarify the benefits to those features together (Try my tutorial for help identifying features and benefits).

3. Agree on the lead sales message.
When you have explored all the various angles of your client's product, you need to agree on the one thing about the product that the target demographic will find most appealing. This is the feature or benefit that your copywriter should lead on, be it on the front cover of the brochure, as a lead headline for an advert, or a key theme above the fold on a website.

A good way to get your client thinking about the lead sales message is to ask this question:
“If you had 10 seconds to present the product to a customer, what would you lead on?”

The questions we have focused on in these articles are the sort of questions a copywriter would ask a client to feel 100% prepared for his/her task. It is without doubt a very long list—up to 2 hours of questioning time.

Ideal world: invite your copywriter along to the meeting.
Common realities: designers often pick up bigger projects when they least expect it. Your client’s need for copy may only materialize while discussing a smaller design project. Familiarize yourself with the questions a copywriter needs to know, and you’ll always be ready for taking an impromptu copy brief.

Of course, not every item requires you to question your client as thoroughly as this articles suggests. The following open questions may be sufficient to forward-brief a copywriter without in-depth analysis:

What is the product?
Who is the target customer?
Why is the promotional piece needed?
How should the product be communicated?

But if you’re lucky enough to land a big campaign, or your client needs help identifying an effective sales message, you will be expected to dissect every detail. Use the questions in these articles as pointers; take them with you to your meetings, just in case the opportunity arises to take on the entire project.

Adapted from 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists

© Shaun Crowley 2007

Shaun Crowley has worked as a freelance copywriter and marketing consultant. He currently works as a communications manager for a major UK publishing company and is the author of The Freelance Designer's Self-Marketing Handbook and 100 Copywriting Tips for Designers and Other Freelance Artists.