The difference between a first draft you publish and one you rewrite is rarely talent — it is the brief. After 4,000 delivered pages, we can predict draft quality from the intake form alone. Here is the five-part brief we wish every client sent.
1. Name one reader, not a demographic
"Small business owners" is a census category, not a reader. Tell your writer who is on the page at 11pm: what they tried already, what they are afraid of getting wrong, and what a win looks like next quarter. One concrete reader beats three paragraphs of personas.
2. State the job of the page
Every page has one job — book a call, start a trial, compare two options. Write it in a single sentence at the top of the brief, and let the writer cut anything that does not serve it.
Weak briefs describe topics. Strong briefs describe decisions the reader must make.
3. Show, don't just tell, the voice
Adjectives like "professional but friendly" mean different things to everyone. Paste two links: one piece you love and one you never want to sound like. Ten seconds of examples saves two rounds of revision.
4. Fix the structure early
Approve an outline before drafting. Moving an H2 in an outline costs nothing; restructuring a finished 2,000-word draft costs a week. Our process requires outline sign-off for exactly this reason.
5. Set the non-goals
List what the piece must not do — no pricing claims, no competitor names, no medical advice. Writers respect guardrails; they resent guessing them.
Send a brief with these five parts and your next draft will arrive closer to publish-ready than any round of editing could take it. Or skip the homework: our quick order form walks you through each question in two minutes.
