Website design By BotEap.comAlmost everyone has had to write for someone else at some point in their career, whether you’re writing copy for your client’s website, reviewing your boss’s slideshow, incorporating your editor’s reviews into your book or, like me, writing a video that best represents a brand.

Website design By BotEap.comAs a screenwriter and author, one of the biggest challenges I face is balancing what I want to write and what my clients need me to write. Sure, I can (and do) write novels and screenplays for myself, where I pour my heart and soul into complex, multi-layered themes and interesting, evocative characters. But as a professional writer for brands and businesses, I’ve found that sometimes my personal style doesn’t exactly translate into what my clients need.

Website design By BotEap.comI’d like to share some tips I’ve learned along the way on the best way to write for a client.

Website design By BotEap.com1. Stay true to the brand

Website design By BotEap.comWhen writing for other people, it’s important to speak with their voice, not yours. Ideally, your style will fit exactly how the brand or client envisions themselves, but sometimes you have to write for brands you don’t connect with, and sometimes on topics you don’t even understand. In those cases, never lose sight of who you are writing for. You need to be careful to write what is best for the brand, including phrases, word choice, tone, audience, and themes.

Website design By BotEap.com2. Keep it short

Website design By BotEap.comI think in terms of “additive” vs. “Subtractive” scripts for clients. This means that I have tried writing scripts that are too short, asking the client to add the details they think they need and writing longer, more detailed pieces and asking the client to subtract details that are extraneous. In my experience, customers love what they do and are excited to learn more. This means they rarely remove information from a script and so it’s almost always better to write a shorter piece and let your client add anything they think they missed. Also, brevity is the soul of wit.

Website design By BotEap.com3. Murder your loved ones

Website design By BotEap.comThere’s just no way to talk about writing without mentioning this gem. It’s as true with customer-facing writing as it is with any other type of writing. You should be ready at any time to rewrite, revise, delete, or completely gut your favorite parts of what you’ve written. It is for the good of the whole project, even if it is difficult.

Website design By BotEap.com4. Find out what your customer needs

Website design By BotEap.comSpoken or unspoken, articulated or not, it’s your job to figure out exactly what your client needs from this particular piece of prose. A good conversation with your client is always ideal to resolve this, but sometimes even your client doesn’t know exactly what he needs. You may need to do some research to familiarize yourself with the best way to talk to your client’s customers: the audience.

Website design By BotEap.com5. Know your audience

Website design By BotEap.comActually, he knows both audiences. Your client is the main audience, so you have to write to attract them. But the best way to make your client happy is to write to their audience.

Website design By BotEap.com6. Take care of your tone

Website design By BotEap.comRemember that, at the end of the day, the writing is supposed to be ‘heard’ in the mind of the audience. You want your tone and voice to match what the viewer expects to see from the brand. You also want the choice of words you use to match the way a company talks about itself. That way you don’t end up writing a comedy sketch to represent a very serious company, or the other way around.

Website design By BotEap.com7. Accept suggestions gracefully

Website design By BotEap.comLearn to distance yourself from criticism of your work. Usually everyone around you wants to contribute to the project, and that sometimes comes in the form of suggestions. When criticized, it can sometimes feel harsh. But it’s important to remember that the critique is about your writing, not about your personality or your writing skills. Learn to accept criticism without getting angry, understanding that what is best for the project outweighs what is best for your artistic pride.

Website design By BotEap.com8. You will be frustrated

Website design By BotEap.comIt is unavoidable. At some point in your writing career, you will disagree with what you are told to write. I’m not talking about a moral or philosophical conundrum, but more about disagreeing with the wording, word usage, structure, message, or other fine details. Sometimes what you want to write and what your client wants to say are different. Sometimes what your client wants will feel instinctively and profoundly wrong, but you’ll have to do what he asks anyway. You won’t always be able to write exactly what he wants, and sometimes it will be difficult or frustrating. Alright. Sometimes it’s just part of the creative process.

Website design By BotEap.com9. Do your research

Website design By BotEap.comBefore you start the conversation about what specifically you will write about, you may need to study what exactly the client needs to convey. Research their needs and content, but also get familiar with how they talk about themselves, what other media already exists for that client/campaign, the types of words they use, and the tone they tend to set. Then when we first discuss the script, they both start from the same level.

Website design By BotEap.com10. Know when to defend your choices (and when not to)

Website design By BotEap.comPart of writing is knowing why you have used the words you have used, what are your reasons for the decisions you make. Chances are, you are writing for your client because you are the expert and they need you. That doesn’t come without merit, and your stylistic or writing choices matter. There’s a time to stand up to a suggested change and defend your original idea, because your customer isn’t foolproof, and the old saying is wrong: the customer isn’t always right. But the writer isn’t always right, either. There are some battles worth fighting and some battles not worth fighting. It is important to know the difference.

Website design By BotEap.comThese are just some tips when writing for your client, your boss, your client or whoever. The most important thing to remember is that writing can be extremely rewarding and everyone’s goal is the same: to create something awesome. All you really need is the attitude and the will to make it happen.