6 Reasons To Let Your Copy Marinate

When dinner marinates, flavors meld, deepen, and evolve, resulting in a dish that's richer and more nuanced than before. Similarly, letting your copywriting "marinate" allows you to unlock more flavor.

1. Distance Brings Clarity
Just as a painter steps back from their canvas to see the whole picture, distancing yourself from your writing allows you to view it more objectively.

2. Fresh Eyes
By setting your copy aside, you give your brain a chance to reset. When you return, you're more likely to spot errors, grammatical mistakes, typos, awkward phrasing, inconsistencies, or room for improvement.

3. Boosting Creativity
Stepping away can often spark new ideas or angles you hadn't considered before. This can lead to richer, more engaging copy.

4. Emotional Distance
A little time goes a long way to let go of that sentence or angle you’ve been drilling at but deep down know isn’t working.

5. Let It Flow
After a break, relook for coherence. Does one thought transition smoothly to the next? Any repetition? Paragraphs starting with the same word?

6.Where Is She Going?
Reassess whether the tone aligns with your intended message and audience. Look back at the brief and make sure you check off all the asks confidently.

In an industry that often prioritizes speed and immediate results, it's easy for our marketing and project management partners to sometimes overlook the value of patience in the creative process. But just as a well-marinated dish delights the palate, copy that's been allowed to "marinate" can have a deeper impact on its readers and increase clicks. So how long to marinate? Like with a good meal: The longer, the better.

One Hour

This one is for rush cases only. Use your time away from the piece to focus on something completely different.

One Day

This one is the most common. Letting it sit overnight allows the brain to completely rest and reset during the sleep cycle.

One Week

This one is my favorite and more rare than I’d like to admit. After a week of letting particularly creative copy sit, one can come back with a whole new perspective, new experience, new content and cultural input, all while keeping that initial draft in the back of their mind. It’s like planting a seed and coming back to a powerful idea.