A person writing in a notebook next to an open laptop and coffee, the everyday scene behind most “quick” briefs.
You hired a freelance copywriter, sent over a two line brief, and got back exactly what you paid for: competent, correct, and completely forgettable. Most founders quietly conclude the writer wasn’t good enough, hire someone else, and get the same result a month later.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth. Most bad copywriting isn’t the writer’s fault. It’s the brief. I’ve spent years doing content strategy work for founders who’ve been burned by this exact cycle, and the pattern repeats itself almost every time: a business assumes “write me a blog post about X” counts as direction. It doesn’t.
Why “Just Write Something Good” Never Works
A writer without real direction has to guess at your audience, your tone, and what you actually want the reader to do afterward. Guessing produces safe, generic output, because safe is the only thing a stranger can reliably hit without information.
This isn’t a fringe problem. A Semrush Marketplace survey of over 700 marketers found that 41% of companies who outsource content said the quality simply wasn’t high enough, and one in ten had stopped outsourcing entirely because they were unhappy with the results. That’s not a writer problem at that scale. That’s a brief problem happening across an entire industry.
Google’s own guidance on ranking content backs this up from the other direction. Their documentation on people first content specifically flags content that’s “mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value” as exactly what search systems are built to deprioritize.
Generic content isn’t just uninspiring. It’s structurally the kind of content search engines are actively trying to filter out.
What a Good Brief Actually Includes
A real brief is a conversation, not a two line request.
Who You’re Actually Writing For
Not “small businesses.” A specific person, with a specific problem, worried about a specific thing. “A solo founder who’s been burned by a $50 Fiverr gig and is nervous about trying freelance writing again” gives a writer something to actually aim at.
Your Voice, in Three or Four Words
Bold, warm, direct. Clinical, precise, no fluff. Playful, a little irreverent. Pick three or four words, not a paragraph, and if you have any past writing you actually like, attach it.
Real Examples of Writing You Like, and Why
Don’t just say “make it sound professional.” Send a piece of writing, yours or a competitor’s, and say what specifically works about it. Tone is nearly impossible to describe in the abstract and very easy to point at.
What the Reader Should Think, Feel, or Do
A brief without an end goal is just a topic. State it plainly: should the reader book a call, understand a concept, feel reassured enough to hit reply?
A Vague Brief vs a Real One
| Vague brief | Real brief |
| “Write a blog about our software.” | “Explain to a first time buyer why our onboarding takes 10 minutes instead of the usual 2 days, and end with a comparison to our two biggest competitors.” |
| “Make it sound professional.” | “Direct and confident, like the intro paragraph on our About page, no exclamation points, no corporate hedging.” |
| “1000 words or so.” | “1200 to 1500 words, with a short FAQ section at the end, since our audience searches in questions.” |
| “Talk about our results.” | “We cut onboarding time from 2 days to 10 minutes for 40 clients last quarter. Use that number, and explain how.” |
The right column takes maybe five extra minutes to write. It’s the difference between a writer guessing and a writer executing.
How Much Revision Is Normal
Heavy red pen edits on every draft are usually a sign the brief needed more detail, not that the writer needs replacing.
If you’re sending three or four rounds of revisions back on every single piece, the brief is very likely the actual problem, not the writer.
A 2025 survey of freelance writers found that 12.1% cited clients with unclear instructions and unreasonable demands as one of their biggest challenges, and that number sits on the client side of the relationship, not the writer’s.
One or two light rounds of feedback on tone or emphasis is completely normal. Rewriting the core angle every time is a brief that needed a paragraph, not a sentence.
Here’s What to Actually Put in Your Next Brief
A one page checklist is really all a good brief needs to be.
1. The specific reader, including what they’re worried about right now.
2. Three or four words for tone, plus one real example of writing you like.
3. The one thing the reader should do or believe after reading.
4. Any real numbers, results, or proof points you can actually claim, nothing invented.
5. A short “don’t say” list. What words, claims, or angles are off limits.
6. Rough length and format, if it matters to how the piece gets used.
That’s it. It fits on one page, and it’s the difference between content that clicks and content you’ll quietly never publish.
If you’re the founder in this story, still getting generic content back no matter who you hire, I’d can help change that.
I work with founders and marketing leads across the US, UK, and Europe on exactly this: content that sounds like an actual person wrote it, because one did.
Email me at johnm@jbmartyn.com and let’s talk about your project. : )
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How do I brief a copywriter?
Give them a specific reader, three or four words describing your tone with a real writing example attached, a clear goal for what the piece should accomplish, and any real proof points you can claim. A one page brief covering those four things beats a five page document that never mentions any of them.
Q: How long should a good content brief be?
Usually half a page to one page. Length isn’t the goal, specificity is. A short brief with a real example and a clear goal outperforms a long one full of generic adjectives.
Q: What should I include if I don’t have brand guidelines yet?
Send two or three pieces of writing you genuinely like, yours or someone else’s, and say what you like about each one. That does the same job brand guidelines would, just faster.
Q: How much revision is normal with a good brief versus a bad one?
One light round of feedback is typical with a specific brief. Three or more rounds, especially ones that change the core angle rather than the wording, usually points back to a brief that was too vague to begin with.
Q: Does a longer brief always produce better content?
No. A long brief full of vague adjectives is worse than a short one with one real example and one clear goal. Specificity matters far more than length.
Q: What if I write a good brief and still get generic content back?
Then the brief did its job and the fit didn’t. A specific brief should produce a specific draft. If it still comes back generic, that’s a signal about the writer, not a reason to write an even longer brief next time.
Q: Can a copywriter help me write the brief itself?
A good one usually will. Most of my own client work starts with a short call where I ask the questions in this post directly, rather than leaving a founder to fill out a form alone.