How to create a good editorial brief for writing a blog article?

 Are you considering hiring a professional writer to write your blog posts?

Very good idea ! But are you able to communicate your needs precisely to obtain texts that meet your expectations?

If not, here are the 7 essential points of a successful blog article writing editorial brief.

1) Why write an editorial brief?

Writing an editorial brief, whatever its form (an email, a Word document, a PowerPoint, etc.), is an essential step in your collaboration with a web editor. Indeed, if you have in mind a fairly clear idea of ​​the article you want to have, the same is not true for your editor.

And for good reason, the latter is not in your head! However, I know what you are going to tell me: you do not call on a professional editor to waste time writing a detailed editorial brief. Think again ! This essential task will save you precious time!

With a complete editorial brief, your web editor will have all the keys to writing the article you need. No more disappointments upon delivery, back and forth and endless modifications which risk making the text illegible and incomprehensible! By giving it the framework of your article, you allow your editor to put all his know-how at your service.

Do not panic ! Writing an editorial brief is not as tedious as it seems! By following the few steps that we will detail in this article, you will be able to quickly write a complete and effective editorial brief!

2) Describe the target audience in your editorial brief

A good article is, above all, a text that is aimed at a well-defined audience.

Make sure you have created  buyer personas  (or, at a minimum, have a fairly precise idea of ​​your target) to be able to describe your audience to your  web editor . The latter will adapt his  speech  according to your target audience.

For example, there is an important distinction between content intended for a professional readership (B2B) and that intended for the general public (B2C). Indeed, the vocabulary used will not be the same: rather technical and serious for B2B and rather educational and general public for B2C for example.

Do not hesitate to draw up a quick portrait of your target: age group, type of profession, level of education, region of residence and any information that may be related to your subject. If you are a company that sells extreme mountain sports items on the internet, you will not be addressing the same target as if you were offering a home delivery service for the elderly in Brittany!

3) Explain your objectives in your editorial brief

To write an article that perfectly meets your expectations, your web editor must ideally know the objective you want to achieve.

Ask yourself why you want to create a new article:

• To inform or help your customers?
• To attract new prospects?
• To generate conversions?
• To boost your sales?
• To promote your brand, your products...?

The possibilities are numerous... This is why it is important to make your objectives explicit. You can also specify the context of your item order. This will help your web editor to better understand your needs and objectives. It could be :

• A creation: site, brand, products, etc.
• A site redesign or modification of existing content
• From a promotional campaign…

Here too, the possibilities are numerous, so it’s up to you to specify them to your editor. Don’t hesitate to tell him a little about your company and your values. By knowing you a little more, your editor will better understand your goals and expectations.

4) Indicate the tone and writing style in your editorial brief

Not all brands cultivate the same image.

For some companies, rigor and seriousness are required while others allow themselves more fun and lightness in their way of communicating.

A web editor cannot guess this for you: in your editorial guidelines, it is in your best interest to describe the tone of your brand and the writing style to adopt. Here are some of the elements that will be useful to your web editor:

• You address the reader directly or you prefer to speak of a “customer” (visitor, interlocutor, collaborator, etc.);
• You address or address the reader on familiar terms (if you address them directly);
• When you talk about yourself and your business, you prefer to say “we” rather than “I” (or the other way around);
• You favor technical vocabulary with scientific words intended for informed professionals or your article aims to popularize a specialized field (legal, scientific, etc.).

If you hate certain expressions or if you like funny jokes, now is the time to point it out! Likewise, if you want your company slogan to appear at the heart of the article, don't forget to tell your editor (and tell them what your slogan is, of course).

5) Provide additional resources in your editorial brief

Writing a quality article is not an easy task – there’s a reason you should entrust it to a professional! – and it is in your interest to give your editor all the resources necessary to do their job best.

For example, it could be:

• An article that you would like to draw inspiration from – without plagiarizing it, of course;
• A website or document containing useful information;
• From your website or blog so that the editor can draw inspiration from what you have already written (tone, vocabulary, brand image, etc.)
• Your company documents if this could be useful (a product presentation for example, an internal sales pitch, etc.);
• Photographs or other media…

If you do not have a specific source to send to your editor, you can tell him that you are counting on him to carry out his own research in order to write a documented and relevant article. Don't forget to tell him if you want him to provide you with the sources used and if you want them to appear in your article in the form of links or quotes, for example.

6) Specify the keywords in your editorial brief

If you want  to optimize your article for natural referencing  – and you would be wrong to deprive yourself of it! – don’t forget to specify the main keywords targeted by your article. You can use free tools that suggest lists of keywords based on a given theme.

Be careful, not everything is always right and sometimes you have to use common sense! For good SEO optimization, you need to work on your main keywords, but also their synonyms and all the related terms and expressions you can think of. This type of list may seem daunting at first, but you can trust your web editor to juggle your keywords brilliantly by integrating them fluidly and naturally into their text!

7) Indicate your specific instructions in your editorial brief

This is perhaps the most important part of your editorial brief. This information is in fact absolutely essential to your editor and serves as a basis for their editorial work. You can simply make them appear at the top of the brief in the form of a Bullet Point list:

• The number of words;
• The type of content: blog article, post for social networks, emailing, product sheet or category sheet, etc.;
• The desired delivery date (or the delivery schedule in the case of an order for several items);
• The title of the article;
• The plan: the parts and sub-parts if you have already defined them;
• The delivery format: Word document, Google doc, or other specific format you use;
• HTML formatting (if you need it);
• The links that you want to integrate into your article for your backlinking and netlinking strategy.

Our tip for ordering your texts online

Now that you know how to write complete briefs, place an order on Redacteur.com ! Thanks to the writing of quality briefs, the writing of your articles will take place in the best conditions. On the platform, you will inevitably find a competent writer in your sector of activity.

Writing a brief allows you to guide the writer. This will increase writing speed and reduce the amount of editing needed when the brief is incomplete. Your editor will be grateful to you, but rest assured, he won't blame you if you forgot a detail!