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The Golden Rule for Getting Great Work From Your Freelancers
It’s obvious and often neglected
Recently, a new client asked me to step in to cover for a freelance copywriter that they weren’t happy with. The ensuing conversations were interesting.
The client couldn’t tell me with clarity what they didn’t like about their copywriter. The reasons were vague: the copy wasn’t good, they didn’t get the brand or understand the assignment. Straight away, I had a hunch what the problem was. And if you’ve been in my position, I bet you can guess too.
I asked to see the brief they’d shared with the copywriter to advise how I’d approach it. Predictably, it was also vague.
It was a brief for a landing page. There were no brand guidelines and a lazy ‘arrange it using marketing best principles’. Nothing on the key messaging or calls to action, nothing about structure, no notes on desired actions or similar examples that they liked. Nothing on topics to avoid or focus on.
It was a terrible brief. And terrible briefs beg for terrible results.
