You’ve got a major project on your desk. Maybe it’s a product launch. Or a website overhaul. Or maybe your organization is undergoing an entire rebrand.
For big undertakings like these you have to commit serious time, resources, and effort from day one. And with so many moving parts demanding attention, there’s always something that gets pushed to the very end of the to-do list.
Too often, that something is copywriting. And that’s a bad thing.
Not only is it a bad thing, but it’s precisely the opposite of how copywriting is best incorporated into the creative process. Ideally, words play a starring role throughout the entire project, from the earliest ideas all the way through to the moment your beautiful baby goes live.
Here’s why.
Copy is the core of any project.
It’s true that everyone who knows how to write is, technically, a writer. Unfortunately, that can lead to an “anybody can do it” mindset that devalues the craft of writing.
Copywriters, however, aren’t just anybody. They are specialists who bring more than a knack for putting the right word in the right place. Writing copy requires critical thinking, analytical skills, and creative license. By viewing the project through these lenses from the start, copywriters not only inform their own tasks but can help bring everyone—designers, product owners, marketing leaders, executives—into alignment around a common message that focuses the broader effort.
Furthermore, copywriters understand communication, and communication is the ultimate purpose of any major project. Copywriters know not only how to tell a story, but how to find it in the first place. When you involve them from the early stages of a project, they will identify and nurture the narrative. In turn, that informs every other part of the process and helps ensure a final product that’s cogent and cohesive.
But developing quality copy takes time.
The process of writing good copy is like water: It cannot be compressed. (No, really — ocean depths aside, you can’t put the squeeze on it.)
When project managers push copy to the end of the timeline they aren’t saving time, they’re sacrificing it. The ensuing mad dash results in uninspired copy that fails to align with strategy and undermines the collective effort—designs get cheapened, brand voice becomes diluted, and impact gets lost among the chaos.
Why does this happen? There are too many ways to count, whether by design or accident. At times it’s simply poor planning. Maybe copy was supposed to start once design was approved, but design work ran into hurdles, then stakeholder approval was delayed, and now every hour added upstream is compounding by the time it reaches the copy process further downstream.
Too often, though, these situations stem from brands and marketing teams underestimating the complexity of copywriting tasks—that “anybody can do it” mindset.
Ultimately, not enough people understand how difficult it is to write strategic, effective, on-point, and on-brand copy. But if they’re working with copywriters from the early stages, they’ll see the benefits of prioritizing copy along with the other major pillars of any project.
So remember the cake theory of project management.
Bringing together a major project is like following a complex recipe where each ingredient has a distinct and critical effect on every other. Sure, when you’re baking a cake you can fiddle with the order of things to a small degree. Just remember there’s going to be a big difference between adding the eggs as you’re mixing the batter versus cracking them on top after it’s all done.
Copywriting is a key ingredient of any project, and you should bear that in mind when you start your planning process. Bringing copywriters in early—and keeping them involved throughout the process—will help ensure the project is as successful as you want it to be.
Want help getting the words right from the get-go? We’re here to assist.
