How an Easy 9-Step Process Helps Me Avoid Writer’s Block & Fine-tune My Creative Ideas

My strategy and copywriting formula that's taken me through dozens of projects and all kinds of copywriting jobs

Do you ever sit down to write and find yourself having a good old-fashioned staring contest with the cursor?

You know the task at hand. You believe you know how to write. But it seems like your brain forgot how to start.

It could be writer’s block. Or it could be your brain going in a million directions at once - and you don’t know how to put a method to the madness.

So, how do you kickstart your writing engine?

I’m going to share a couple of tips that have worked for me, whether I’m asked to brainstorm a campaign, tackle a social media calendar, write a video script, or work on a listicle. In short, mostly advertising/marketing-related copywriting. But, I have a friend who writes short stories, and he says that some of these suggestions have helped as well.

As with most “ultimate guides” or collections of tips, your mileage may vary. So just take what you think is helpful, give it a whirl, and check if you’re working better, blanking out less, and getting the results you want out of your content.

Without further ado, here are the 9 steps I use to tackle any writing assignment with strategy, creativity, and confidence:

Step 1: Start with a good, WRITTEN brief

A brief is a summary of facts about the client, their product/service, and instructions for your writing assignment. Do everyone a favor and make sure this is all documented - don’t settle for a couple of vague sentences in an email, a quick call, or a chat over coffee. This brief will CYA (cover your ass) and will be the basis for everything you will work on moving forward.

In general, a good brief will include the following:

• Who the client is

• Their history or background

• The product or service you need to write about

• The unique selling point (USP) of the product (should answer the question “What makes your product different from the rest?”)

• Features and/or benefits AND any pertinent research, such as substantiation of claims

• A list of competitors

• The target market (try to get as specific as possible; e.g. Filipinos aged 21-29; single/married; fresh graduates or yuppies)

• Any research that the client already has on their competitors or target market

• Any other relevant information that your client would like you to read up on

If you didn’t get all this information in one session, compile everything into one document and have the client sign off on it. The last thing you want is to base an entire ad campaign on inaccurate information!

Step 2: Research, research, research

If you work in a large marketing or advertising firm, you may already have a research department to do this for you. But since I’ve mostly worked in boutique agencies or as a freelancer, I have to do my own research. Since I can’t do focus group discussions or surveys, I rely on credible online sources and whatever materials the client has. Of course, clients know that I can only do top-line research given my capacity. But, they generally concur with the additional information that I provide.

Not sure how to start researching by yourself? Here’s how I do it:

First, I research my target market and the product or service. Examples of search terms could be “millennials and eco-friendly products”, “Gen Z and eco-friendly products”, “millennial shopping habits in the Philippines 2021”, “Gen Z shopping habits 2021”, “shampoo bars Philippines” “shampoo bar reviews” “21-29-year-olds Philippines personal care products”.

Next, I try to look for surveys, news articles, and infographics.

You can also do this kind of solo research for competitor analyses.

I once had a client from the construction industry who wanted to become more relevant on social media (as opposed to their competitors, who were decades older, much more formal, and didn’t have much of a social media presence… but more on that later).

To execute the analysis, I went through each competitor’s social media accounts. I checked if they had Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (TikTok wasn’t a thing back then). I checked how many likes/followers they had, plus the average engagement that they got. More importantly, I took note of their tone when speaking to their audience, the kinds of content they would post, and if they had a campaign. I got whatever data was available to me as someone who didn’t have access to the competitors’ analytics.

From here, I was able to carve out a niche for our client based on the target market based on the fact that their competitors didn’t use social media that often, plus the fact that our client wanted to talk to a younger crowd.

If the objective of the brief is to grow a client’s social media following, research will naturally include their social media analytics.

Step 3: Synthesize and simplify

If Step 2 drowned you in a sea of charts and numbers that made you shout, “THIS is why I became a writer!!!”, bear with me for a bit and trust the process.

The next step is to synthesize all the research you have on hand. This turns all that info overload into the seeds of ideas you can use. Some may find this intimidating, but I tend to find this step incredibly exciting!

If you’re working on a 360 campaign that includes billboards, TV commercials, an event, plus digital ads, you’ll need to come up with a unique value proposition (UVP). Depending on how saturated your client’s industry is in terms of competitors, you may also need to come up with a positioning strategy. Confused? Here’s how to tackle each one.

How to Identify a Unique Value Proposition

1. Summarize what the target market wants.

Ex. To wash my hair; to switch to eco-friendly products

2. Summarize the target market’s obstacles when going for their goals.

Ex. Finding the right shampoo for my hair type is hard; where do I get eco-friendly products

3. Review your research and ask: what would make this product have an edge over others, in the eyes of the target market?

Ex. Free delivery for online orders; eco-friendly or minimal packaging

4. Check what the client’s product has to offer.

Ex. Shampoo bars for different hair types

5. What can the client’s product do to defeat the target market’s obstacles?

Ex. Shampoo bars for those with dry hair, oily scalps, hair fall, sensitive skin; available online and in leading groceries

6. What can the client’s product do that gives them an advantage over others?

Ex. Costs less than other shampoo bars on the market

7. Take a step back and see if you can state, in a single sentence, what makes your client’s product unique.

Ex. Earth Candy Shampoo Bars make it easy for anyone with hair to love their hair, and the planet, thanks to their wide range of products and accessible prices.

The Vitalstrats Creative Solutions blog has a great guide for crafting a unique value proposition for your campaign if you want to learn about this in-depth.

How to Create a Positioning Strategy

Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve done positioning strategies based on competitor analyses. The result was a chart that looked a little like this:

Source: https://www.alchemer.com/resources/blog/perceptual-map/

But, MerlinOne and MMMatters have a guide that I think is easier to follow:

1. Identify the category that your product or service is part of.

2. Identify your target market.

3. Identify an end benefit that is anchored on a reason to believe (this can be a product feature or a company value).

The goal of this entire step is to end up with a statement, a chart, or a single slide that tells your client how you’re going from Point A (We are Earth Candy, and we want to generate brand awareness among Gen Z/younger millennials)... to Point B (a 360 campaign focusing on the shampoo bars’ different variants and affordable prices).

Step 4: Brainstorm!

Depending on your set-up, you may be doing this on your own, with an art director, or with your entire team.

If you’re working on a campaign, you’ll usually start by crafting a clear yet clever tagline. A video requirement brainstorm may start with a premise or storyline, or it may be based on the campaign tagline. A social media calendar may be based on an existing tagline, or specific social media goals for the month (e.g. holiday season).

In simpler cases, you might only need to come up with content ideas to address social media goals that aren’t related to a campaign. For example, you want to get customer feedback, have FAQ posts, or come up with 1-minute tutorial videos.

Whatever the scenario, take down notes as you brainstorm. Capture even the weirdest, wildest ideas. You can tweak them later in the process, if necessary. Don’t say no to anything just yet (unless it’s overtly sexist, racist, homophobic...you get the idea).

Step 5: Create outlines

Once everyone involved in the brainstorming session is satisfied with the results, it’s time to turn these big ideas into neat little outlines you can work with. Personally, I start with something like this:

Earth Candy Video

1. Hook: Talk about the importance of hair care and choosing the best hair care products

2. Introduce the product: Earth Candy Shampoo Bars

3. Product features

4. Product benefits

5. Call-to-action: online store; leading groceries; only X pesos

These outlines will serve as guideposts for the actual video script, each frame in a carousel ad, or each section of a funnel page.

Instead of a scattered heap of ideas for witty subheadings, catchy extros, or the facts and figures the client wants you to include, you’ll know where and when to place every clever turn of phrase. Plus, your material will showcase your creativity AND stay on-point in terms of strategy!

Step 6: Fill in the blanks

Now that you have a wealth of information at your disposal, a bucket of witty ideas, and a general outline that’ll help you stay on track, all that’s left to do is write the social media posts, video script, or funnel page. You’ll be surprised at how easily the words will flow!

Step 7: Reset and review

Take some time away from your current writing task. Maybe shift to the next assignment, take your lunch break, or go on a short walk. Then, read it with fresh eyes. Read it out loud. Check your grammar and spelling - not just with spell check, but tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway app. See if it aligns with the brief.

Then, ask yourself: will the client understand this material if you weren’t around to explain it?

Would the audience understand it at first glance, or within the first 3 seconds?

Does it have a clear call to action?

Do the images match the voice-over?

Do the headline or hook REEL the audience in?

Revise until you think it’s checked all the boxes, and don’t be afraid to “kill your darlings”.

Step 8: Stop striving for perfection

One thing that we have to accept as writers is that our work is never really done. So, we have to stop aiming for the “perfect” piece. Most especially if you’re working on a first draft.

Of course, the sooner you finish a project, the better, but be open to the idea of revisions. Your editor or creative director may spot some awkward phrases or dragging segments; a client may have a helpful suggestion.

Try to see your clients and bosses as collaborators with the same goal of sharing your problem-solving product or service with more people. Of course, as the writer they hired, you’re also in a position to advise your client as to why they can’t pack 4 different messages in one social media post. Or why their idea might be bordering on non-compliance.

As a general rule, assume that everyone on the team wants the best for the brand and the target market, and if necessary, shepherd your client towards their goal.

Step 9: Revise as needed

Once you have all of your boss or your client’s comments, turn them into a checklist and cross off every item as soon as you address it. Over the years, I’ve found it helpful to highlight the changes in the document so that whoever is reviewing it can easily spot them. This is also very helpful for cases where the art director has already done the layout and just needs to insert the revised copy.

If you’re working with a large company with a lot of levels of approval, you may need to do multiple rounds of revisions. But with any luck, you can get a consolidated list of comments and do only 1-2 rounds.

And that’s it! My copywriting process, broken down into 9 steps. I hope this helps whether you’re a budding copywriter or an entrepreneur who’s about to work with one for the first time!

If you want to learn more about my process or see how it can help your brand, shoot me a message today!