Professor Mark Ritson was right all along:
The cost? A hefty 33% of marketing budgets go to waste due to poor briefs and misdirected work. That’s not just money down the drain – it’s time, momentum, and your professional rep at risk.
Dive into creating the perfect brief:
From a client’s perspective, often answering the brief questions in detail will help to clarify the required output in your own mind. This process forces you to consider the core proposition, key deliverables, and timings as an absolute minimum. Think of it as strategic thinking disguised as project planning.
Many clients discover they don’t actually know what they want until they start working through a proper brief. That’s not a failing—it’s the brief doing its job.
Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of briefing, let’s address this fact: a brief will be better if it can link back to your strategy and your messaging. That deep foundational discovery work will make everything stronger, more aligned, and ultimately more powerful.
Start by gathering your internal stakeholders around a table – literally or virtually – and work through the key elements of your brief together. This isn’t about design by committee; it’s about ensuring everyone understands and agrees on the fundamental direction.
Key questions to align on internally:
Consider creating an internal “pre-brief” document that captures initial thoughts and requirements. Share this with key stakeholders a few days before your planning session. This gives people time to think through their perspectives and come prepared with constructive input rather than reactive feedback.
Most importantly, establish who has final decision-making authority before you start. Nothing derails a project faster than discovering three people think they’re the ultimate decision-maker when the first concepts arrive.
With a combined THREE decades of experience with briefing – here’s our best guidance.
Describe, in plain English, what your company does. Explain who you are first, then explain what you do. For example: “We are a factory… we are a shop… we are a website… we are a software development team…” then “we manufacture phone handsets, we develop apps for the android platform, we sell bicycles, etc.”
Avoid buzzwords or business-speak at all costs. Nobody benefits from hearing that you “provide solutions” or “enable companies to leverage their investment and generate increased ROI.” If your grandmother wouldn’t understand it, rewrite it.
Include brand values and your mission statement if you have them, but only if they’re genuinely meaningful to how you operate.
Again, in plain English: what do you do, what makes you better than the competition, and can you detail any unique selling points? Most importantly – can you prove it?
This is where many briefs fall apart. Clients often confuse what they think makes them special with what actually matters to their customers. If your “unique” selling point is “excellent customer service,” you probably need to dig deeper.
Who are we talking to? In as much detail as you can muster. Demographics are just the starting point—what keeps these people awake at night? What do they care about? How do they make decisions?
The more specific you can be, the better. “Busy working parents aged 25-45” is a start, but “Time-pressed parents who feel guilty about not cooking from scratch and worry about their kids’ nutrition” gives your creative team something they can actually work with.
Who are your competitors? What do they do that you like? What don’t you like? This isn’t about copying – it’s about understanding the landscape and finding your own space within it.
Include examples of their communications. Sometimes showing what you don’t want is as valuable as showing what you do want.
If your business was a person, who would it be? This question often makes clients squirm, but it’s incredibly revealing. Are you David Attenborough (authoritative but approachable) or Gordon Ramsay (passionate but demanding)?
Your answer will guide tone of voice, visual style, and communication approach.
Include as many visual references as you think may be useful. What do you like? What do you dislike? Create a mood board if possible. Visual communication often transcends verbal explanation.
Don’t limit yourself to your own sector. Sometimes the best inspiration comes from completely different industries.
What do you need, in detail? Not “some marketing materials” but “A5 double-sided flyer, printed sales brochure and all images (text supplied).”
If you’re briefing for website projects, detail exactly the required pages and all required functionality. The more specific you are here, the fewer surprises you’ll encounter later.
What is your objective? Make it SMART if you can(Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound). “Increase brand awareness” isn’t an objective – it’s a hope.
“Increase website traffic by 25% within three months” is something you can work with and measure.
As Tolkien wisely noted: “It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.”
What are the potential pitfalls? Regulatory requirements? Seasonal considerations? Internal politics? Competitive responses? Identifying these upfront allows you to plan around them rather than scramble when they emerge.
When do you need the project delivered? Do any of your key contacts have events, holidays, or time away from the business within the project timings?
Be realistic about timelines. Great creative work takes time, and rushing usually produces mediocre results. If you have an immovable deadline, make sure you’ve allowed sufficient time for proper development and review cycles.
Be realistic about budget. Many clients hope that by not mentioning budget, they’ll somehow get premium work at bargain prices. It doesn’t work that way.
A clear budget helps agencies propose the right solution. There’s no shame in having budget constraints – there is shame in wasting everyone’s time by not being upfront about them.
AI can help you analyse competitor communications, identify industry trends, and even audit your existing brand voice for consistency. Use tools like ChatGPT or Claude to review your draft brief for clarity and completeness.
Try prompting: “Review this creative brief and identify any ambiguous language or missing information that might confuse an external agency.”
But remember to only use the paid versions and not the open versions which can leak sensitive information!
Remember, AI can support the briefing process, but it can’t replace human insight, intuition, and strategic thinking. It doesn’t understand your company politics, your customer relationships, or the subtle nuances that make your brand unique. Use it as a research assistant and sense-checker, not as a replacement for human judgment.
