A creative review is essentially a meeting designed to present your work to project stakeholders, discuss it, and leave with clear next steps on refining the project to be the best possible version it can be. Sometimes it’s just you and your client. Sometimes it’s you, your design partner, a marketing manager, project manager, and others involved in the project.
You review the creative brief so everyone is on the same page and reminded of the project goals. Listen in to find out why Nicki and Kate call this task essential and discover the best way to make it happen!
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A Sneak Peek at the Episode
[2:35] A creative review is where you and the other creatives talk through the projects with the client(s) who requested those deliverables. As a copywriter, you should be doing a creative review with at least the first project with any new client.
[4:15] Creative reviews make your life easier, they make your clients life easier, and they are helpful for staying within budget. They also help to keep the project from going off the rails!
[7:20] The first thing you want to do on the creative review call is to walk the client through the project, review the project, and answer any questions. Bringing out the creative brief you created together is a great way to review what was discussed.
[13:25] If the client begins to rewrite the copy during the creative review, you can address that on the call and let them know you’ll take some time after the call to work through it. The call is an opportunity for the client to ask questions about the copy you’ve created.
[18:20] If you are working on a big project or are anticipating a lot of feedback, you can conduct a second creative review!
[19:30] If a client doesn’t want to get on a call for a creative review, you can still do your portion of it and send it via Loom, instead of just sending over your work.
Must-Hear Takeaways
As with every episode, we highly encourage you to listen to the entire conversation! But here are a few of the highlights:
“The truth is, is that you should actually be doing a creative review with at least the first project for any new client.” – Nicki
“It’s what we always say, you’re not just a producer, you’re also a partner. So, let them know what their role is next, when they have to do it by and you help then keep the project on schedule.” – Kate
“This might be a step you don’t feel like taking but believe us, it is a step that you absolutely should take. It will make everything smoother and you will be much happier, so, your next step: schedule a creative review for whatever project you’re working on now and you’ll be very glad you did.” – Nicki
“Don’t be afraid to bring out the creative brief, to share your screen with the creative brief and say, ‘okay, as a reminder we agreed on this, this is the objective of the project, this is the goal, this is how we’re measuring it, this was the deliverable.’ … [your client’s] brain hasn’t been focused on this project because they’ve handed it off to you … remind them of the benefit of your copywriting and why they took on this project in the first place and it gets them re-excited in some ways to be like, ‘oh yeah this is the project and this is what we’re going to do with it and what value it’s going to do for our business.’” – Kate
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Ready to turn your love of writing into a successful copywriting career?
Join professional copywriters Nicki Krawczyk and Kate Sitarz to get the tips, tools, and training to help you become a copywriter and build a thriving business of your own. Nicki and Kate have 20+ and 10+ years of experience, respectively, writing copy for multi-billion-dollar companies, solopreneurs, and every size business in between.
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Last Updated on September 10, 2023
