A fresh, eye-catching new logo. A new website that perfectly reflects your company’s mission, vision, and values. Maybe even an updated name. These are the deliverables you likely have in mind if your company needs a new brand identity. What you may not realize, however, is that the timely delivery of these items by your agency of record, however, hinges on how you decide to handle your copy.
Copy is a critical but often overlooked aspect of a rebrand. You should maintain an efficient process between your company’s leadership and the agency handling outsourced branding elements. That’s why we’re outlining what you should (and shouldn’t) do with your copy to keep your rebrand on schedule and sailing smoothly.
1
Have everything ready
If you have a strong marketing team, preparing an entire site map and getting copy approved internally before hiring a marketing agency may be an attractive option. “Lorem ipsum” placeholders don’t always cut it, so having your copy approved greases the wheels for designers and developers.
By getting your copy as close to the finish line as possible before concepting and design begins, you can avoid unnecessary back-and-forth between your team and your creative agency. The agency will thank you, and your team will be crushing deadlines to get the new brand identity up and running faster.
2
Take advantage of outsourced content services
When you know your platform better than anyone, letting a creative agency take control of copy may seem counterintuitive. But trying to keep components of a rebrand in-house when your team is busy with day-to-day business operations could be a recipe for a delayed launch and a strained relationship with your creative agency.
Not only does an agency bring a fresh set of eyes to in-the-weeds marketing teams, but they also likely have the upper hand on institutional knowledge and experience. Marketing agencies with content services will know what to write, where to put it, and how it should sound. Copywriters will also be familiar with approval processes to keep everything on track and meet deadlines.
While giving up control may be difficult, spending an hour or two bringing a copywriter up to speed could save you days or weeks of trying to squeeze writing and approval into your day-to-day.
3
What not to do
Too often, busy internal teams have hard times approving copy, setting rebrands back. Without a robust marketing team, managers with other responsibilities may get stuck preparing copy themselves. This results in feedback loops and a stunted, piecemeal process while your agency attempts to finalize the design.
Even if you have prepared your copy in advance, it may not be web-optimized. Providing a paragraph when a sentence is needed or being too technical in your writing can result in excessive edits and a prolonged back-and-forth as both parties revise the copy to ready it for the internet.
*
Your copy strategy can make or break the efficiency of your entire rebrand. You should know what works best for your team and execute, or prepare for missed deadlines.
If you’re in the market for an agency that can manufacture seamless client experience through content creation…
