Working with a copywriter is a collaborative process. 
The first stage of the relationship is to give them a detailed and clear copywriting brief so they know exactly what you’re after. Then, they will go away and put together a first draft.
So what happens when that is emailed to you?
Reviewing the work should be done in 3 separate stages:
1. Get to know it
Don’t dive in with your red pen.
First of all read through it to get a feel for the way it’s been written. Read it out loud and make a note of any areas where you find your attention slipping, those you find confusing or that just don’t flow very well.
Only when you’ve done that are you ready for stage 2.
2. Soft edit
This one looks at spelling and grammar only. As it’s been written by a professional copywriter, the chances are there will be minimal errors, but no matter how good they are, the off typo can still slip through.
Once you’ve done that you’re ready for step 3.
3. Hard edit
Now’s the time to look at the content itself.
Is the information/terminology correct? Are there areas that need expanding on?
The brief you gave originally should have given your copywriter a good idea of what you were looking for, but at times things get forgotten about, so now’s the time to flag them up.
You must also put your feelings aside and trust the experience and expertise of your writer. Their word choices, tone, structure and rhetorical devices are all used to create certain effects and evoke emotions. If you wade in changing everything just because you wouldn’t have written it like that, well, you may as well have done it yourself.
Remember, you hired a copywriter because:
- You don’t have the time to work on the project yourself
- The marketing materials you have simply aren’t working
- You don’t have the right skills to produce effective copy
A copywriter isn’t going to write like you; they will write like a professional, in a style that suits your brand. They have a lot of experience so trust them.
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