Are you planning to outsource a part of your marketing?
Maybe you are looking at engaging a marketing agency or a digital marketing freelancer for your next project? Or someone to help you with branding?
Finding a good partner can be overwhelming but writing a marketing brief will make it easier.
Why do you need to write a marketing brief
Marketing brief is a 1-2 page document that outlines the marketing plan and goals for your campaign. It provides essential information to your potential agency and keeps your stakeholders in the loop about campaign goals and timelines.
A good brief is about communicating what your business needs. That’s why you need to detail the key elements of what you are looking to achieve. Here’s a short guide to writing one for your next campaign.
What to include in your marketing brief?
Here are the key elements you should cover in your marketing brief. The more you cover, the better understanding your marketing partner will get.
- Client Name
- Your Product / Service
- Competition
- Marketing Objective
- Target Market
- Proposition / Promise / Benefit
- Tone of Voice
- Budget
Client Name
The first one is very straight-forward. What is the name of your brand/company/organisation?
Your Product / Service
What is your product or your service that you want to advertise? Try to think if you want to advertise a specific service or product or potentially your whole brand.
Next, list any relevant product information, features, advantages and disadvantages of your product. Be as comprehensive as you can..
Competition
Who are your competitors? List all of your competitors, both direct and indirect.
Marketing Objective
This is one of the most important items to cover in your marketing brief. Before you reach out to potential partners, you need to define your marketing objective.
In other words, what problem do you want to solve? Are you looking to get a new website? Or grow your sales through digital marketing? Or maybe you just want a new logo and increase your brand awareness. Be as specific as you can.
Target Market
This section details the customers you want to reach and to persuade to take action. The more you understand your customers, the more effective your marketing will be.
Include as much detail as you can, but at least the following information:
- Demographics: age, gender, marital status, occupation, education etc.
- Lifestyle: spare-time and professional activities, interests, hobbies, sporting activities, community activities etc.
- Behavioural: purchasing behaviour, decision-making process, their current problems related to your product, what they have tried to do to solve it, past experiences with a similar product to yours.
- Psychographics and attitudinal: what are their beliefs and attitudes toward your product/service category? E.g what makes them buy and, more importantly, why they don’t buy.
Proposition/Promise/Benefit
Earlier we wrote down what your service/product is. In this section, you need to brief what is the benefit your service gives to your customers. Don’t just focus on the features. Instead, focus on what the features help your client.
Budget
What is the budget you have allocated to this particular campaign? If you don’t mention any budget, it’s hard for your partner to provide you with a realistic proposal. If you are not comfortable revealing the budget you can at least give a range and request different packages.
Bottom line
If you are looking to outsource part of your marketing to an agency or freelancer, you must write a marketing brief. A good brief is about communicating what your business needs. That’s why you need to be comprehensive and cover all the key elements. This helps you find the right fit for your business to help you achieve your goals.
