Tips to create a perfect briefing for our authors
Author
Ines Maione
Ines Maione brings a wealth of experience from over 25 years as a Marketing Manager Communications in various industries. The best thing about the job is that it is both business management and creative. And it never gets boring, because with the rapid evolution of the media used and the development of marketing tools, you always have to stay up to date.
A good briefing for authors on the part of the customer is the key to success for the realization of projects. This is especially true for crowdsourcing projects that are handled by numerous persons who generally do not have a personal contact to the customer and who have to rely on the briefing for the correct implementation of their tasks. A good briefing therefore ensures that all of those involved know exactly what to do, what the customer wants, and what the results are expected to look like.
Table of Contents
What is a brief?
A brief is a written document that you can refer to at any time and use as a guide as the project progresses. It also serves as a check that you’re moving in the right direction.
A briefing document identifies a specific issue in an effort to persuade others to take action. This kind of document frequently also offers guidance or a possible solutions to the topic that is being explored.
The briefing is therefore an essential quality factor for the implementation of crowdsourcing projects. With this in mind, this post will provide some tips for your next text orders at clickworker about how to draft your briefing for our authors.
These tips include what you ought to pay attention to, as well as what information must be specified. The most difficult challenge is to provide our authors with relevant information while keeping it brief and straightforward
1. Write a short introduction
An introduction is the first part of a piece of writing where the purpose and objectives are stated. A few sentences that explain what the text is meant for, what the themes and types of text are, greatly simplifies the author’s task.
2. Describe the content and layout
Keep the following points in mind while giving a precise explanation of what your text is about and how you want it to be composed:
- What must be mentioned (for example delivery options), what must not be mentioned (for example delivery periods and prices)?
- How many text parts/paragraphs is the text supposed to consist of?
- How long are the respective text parts supposed to be? What will they be about?
- Is the text supposed to have headings? How long are they supposed to be?
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3. Define the target group and style
The target group is a specifically identified subset of all active consumers who have common traits. The target audience responds uniformly to the same factors, such as advertising, as a result. Effective target group definition is important for business marketing.
A clearly defined target group is quite important. On the one hand, targeting just consumers who are highly inclined to make a purchase boosts conversion rates. On the other hand, because there is less waste, the marketing activity budget is spent more efficiently. Customers and users are also less irritated by advertisements because they are promoting goods or services that they are interested in.
Give the author precise information about whom the text targets and what it is supposed to achieve.
- What style is the text supposed to be written in (businesslike-informative or promotional)?
- Do you want the text to be written from a particular perspective (for example from the view of your company)?
- For Example: The target group consists of young women who enjoy shopping. The reader will be addressed with an informal “you” and the text is supposed to make the reader want to purchase the products. Neutral perspective.
Tips on finding your target audience
4. Be precise when you define the format
If you want a html format give the author exact instructions concerning what you want to have formatted.
Keep in mind that most authors are not html experts and do not necessarily know what a strong tag is or how to format headings in html. Keep in mind that the more complex the formatting the more prone it will be to mistakes.
5. Do not overload the texts with keywords
The more keywords you determine the more difficult it will be for the author to write an interesting and readable text. It is particularly difficult to place closely related keywords (for example, car rental, rent a car, car lease) in a text. Consider whether:
- Keywords can be inflected (would sports car also be permitted for the keyword “sport car”)?
- Stop words are permitted (would hotel in Düsseldorf also be permitted for hotel Düsseldorf)?
- Keywords must be placed in a certain place (for example keyword 1 must be in the heading 1 x).
- If you define a number of keywords please make sure that the keywords do not overlap. If wine is your keyword 1, and winery is your keyword 2, then keyword 2 contains keyword 1. This may cause problems for an automatic check.
- Keep in mind that the texts must not contain too many keywords. We recommend 1-3% with a maximum of 3-4 keywords.
6. Dispense with the obvious
Remarks such as “write in a good style”, “avoid repetitions” or “do not copy from other sources” are not helpful for the authors. Authors will not purposely use repetitions or poor style and every author pledges to deliver self-written texts.
Use the space to give a clear and exact description of the style you have in mind.
7. Include a sample text
Even the most comprehensive briefing can only provide a general notion of what you intend. An good technique to ensure that the author is aware of your expectations for the text’s appearance, style, and content is to provide a sample text. Additionally useful is a link to another website where the authors can learn more.
8. Proofread Carefully
Prior to distributing your briefing document to other professionals, take the time to modify and proofread it. Verify the information again and verify the text for grammatical or spelling issues. To ensure that the circumstance represented in it makes sense to someone who hasn’t read through all the research material and to check for errors and omissions, have at least one other person evaluate the document.
Conclusion
A briefing document is a crucial component that contains all the information that other experts and your peers need to know to execute the task properly. As a result, it needs to be carried out carefully and precisely. Remember that lengthier briefs could be counterproductive as they are typically demotivating.
