Before you send it  ·  3 min read

Put the brief and the draft side by side. Is it written for the audience named in the brief? Does it take the angle the brief asked for? Does the body deliver what the title promises? Is every claim backed up? Does it end with the action the brief wanted? If the brief named a search phrase, does the post actually answer that search?

The same request before and after a two-minute briefBEFORE“Can you make a flyer for the webinar?Need it by Friday.”Audience? Size? What it must say? Who approves?AFTERResult: a one-page flyer for the June 12webinar.For: new customers, in an email, so 600 pxwide.Must include: date, time (Eastern), twospeakers, Register button.Must not: mention pricing or unreleasedfeatures.Due: draft Thursday noon to Dana. Danaapproves. Final Friday.Same task. Same designer.The first version was redone twice(wrong size, wrong audience). Thesecond went out once.
What the designer had to guess, and what they did not.
1Before you send it

Good post, wrong post

The draft is well written. Clean, friendly, correct. The editor reads it and sighs. The brief asked for a post for first-time managers about giving feedback. The draft is a general piece about communication, aimed at everyone, with no examples. It will be rewritten. Two days gone.

The writer did good work. They did not do the work that was asked. The check below catches that in five minutes.

2Before you send it

The six checks

1. Audience

Who did the brief name? Read the first three paragraphs. Would that person feel the post is for them? A first-time manager wants "when your report sends you something that is not right." A general audience gets "communication is important."

2. Angle

The brief asked for a point of view. "Late feedback costs more than bad feedback." Does the draft make that argument, or does it make a safer, blander one? Drafts drift toward the general. Pull them back.

3. The promise in the title

Read the title. Then read the post and ask: did it deliver exactly that? "20 feedback examples" needs 20 examples, not 12 and some advice. "How to" needs steps someone can follow.

4. Claims

Every statistic, study, and "research shows" needs a source the editor can click. If it does not have one, cut it or find it. This matters double if any part was AI-assisted. How to check AI-written text.

5. The call to action

What did the brief want the reader to do at the end? Try a tool, read a related post, start a trial? Is that action there, and does it follow naturally from the post?

6. Search intent

If the brief named a search phrase, imagine someone typing it. What do they want? Does the post give them that in the first screen? A person searching "how to give feedback on work" wants the method fast, not a story about why feedback matters.

3Before you send it

Then the basics

Meta title and description present and the right length. Headings make sense on their own. Links work. Images have alt text. Spelling of names and products.

4Before you send it

Example

Brief: a post for small agency owners, angle "busy accounts can lose money," 900 words, must include a worked example with numbers, CTA to the rate calculator, target phrase "effective hourly rate."

The draft was 1,400 words, opened with three paragraphs on the history of agency pricing, had no worked example, and ended with "thanks for reading." Well written. Off brief in four of six checks.

The fix: cut the history, add the example from the brief, end with the calculator. Published the next day.

5Before you send it

Where M-Tracker fits

Content teams in M-Tracker give every post a task with the brief attached: audience, angle, length, required examples, CTA, target phrase. When the writer marks it done, M-Tracker checks the draft against that brief and shows them what is missing before the editor opens it. Editors get drafts that are on brief, and spend their time on making them better rather than on making them right.

Start free

How M-Tracker helps

Make it fast

Paste the brief and the draft into the blog post checker. It shows which parts of the brief the draft does not deliver yet. Then do the basics check.

Try M-Tracker free14-day trial. No credit card. No employee surveillance.

How a task moves through M-Tracker: brief, work, review, improve, then the manager1BriefResult, audience,must include, due.Files and linksattached.2WorkThe person does itand attaches whatthey made.3ReviewM-Tracker comparesthe work with thebrief. One plainparagraph.4ImproveThey fix what ismissing while it isfresh.5ManagerSees work thatalready passed itsown test.No screenshots. No scores. The person sees the review first.

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