A well-done briefing can mark the success or failure of a marketing campaign. It is a tool that provides a good basis for our brand to be perfectly aligned with the strategy.
And for it to work you absolutely need to know how to do a briefing .
A briefing must address 4 fundamental points
There are four key aspects that a good briefing should definitely consider before launching into learning how to do a briefing . They are the following:
Explain what is the purpose of the marketing strategy
A briefing should not only explain the process of creating a project . It should also detail what is the purpose of the marketing strategy . That is, the purpose for which it is performed. And it must be reflected clearly . Not only to make it clear, but also so that those in charge of developing the project have one more element to rely on when it comes to expressing their ideas and designs to carry it out.
Determine the metrics that will mark the success or failure of the campaign
Each marketing and/or advertising campaign defines its success or failure based on the fulfillment of certain goals . But each project has different metrics to determine if, once carried out, it is successful or, on the contrary, if it is a failure. That is why it is necessary to set and establish these metrics from the moment you start developing the first drafts of the project for its launch.
Identify the audience and expectations
In order to bring virtually every aspect of a campaign to life, you first need to be very clear about what kind of audience you want to target . Only by doing this will you be able to make it clear, among other things, what tone it should have, the style of its image or the language to be used in it. On the other hand, it is also important to set the expectations you have with the campaign as soon as you start to outline it. This way you will be clear from the beginning what you want to achieve with it.
Establish objectives, timelines and people involved in the campaign
Among the details that will be in a briefing there are some as basic as its objectives and who will work to develop and carry it out. It should also include the planning of the campaign creation process, along with the deadlines for the campaign. That is, your timeline. This way you will be able to have at hand all the elements you need to control and supervise its level of development and its status at all times.
How to do a briefing. Steps to follow
First of all, work must be done to define the following aspects in order to know how to make a briefing .
The background or the stage
This is nothing more than providing a product/brand/service framework. What are the core values of the company? What is the personality, philosophy or mission of the brand? What is the voice of it? This should be as detailed as possible.
Target
It is about establishing the priorities of the company. Why is this campaign good and how will it increase brand/product productivity? What is the overall goal of the campaign and what are the risks associated with it? What is this campaign supposed to communicate?
Budget
For the development of the marketing plan it is essential to know how much money you have . That is, knowing the budget available for the project. Thus, each department and work group will know at the time how much it has to work on its development.
Target audiences
When choosing the target audience , that is, the group or groups of people you want to impact with a campaign, the following questions must be taken into account. In the answers is everything you need to know to determine the target audience you are looking for , and also their circumstances.
Is this marketing proposition aimed at consumers (B2C) or other businesses (B2B)? How will the market be segmented and how will the product help the target? Which buyer persona is interested, what is the consumer’s personality type, and what data can be used to best meet their needs? What factors influence purchasing decisions? What are the barriers that delay a certain purchase? How can a company streamline the purchasing process? Are there generational marketing factors – Millennial or Generation Z?
Competence
Describe the current market . Which competitor products are successful and why? How do competitors market themselves to the public and what can be done to stand out alongside them? What ideas are valuable?
Deadlines
Guidelines, terms and conditions, legal requirements, project deliverables, and disclaimers are listed here . Everything should be placed on the table so that there are no surprises. Brand tone and CTA are important.
Types of briefings
Not all briefings are of the same type, but there are several, depending on their purpose or their level of specificity. Some are more creative than others, while some focus more on defining a service or product. The main ones are the following:
advertising briefing
It is the one that is used practically every day in the course of a campaign development process . It is related to the agency in charge of the project, and also to the brand and the product. It is prepared to serve as a summary and compilation of the main data on which the campaign is based . Among them the tone in which it should be developed, other campaigns that can support the one that is going to be developed from it, or the sales propositions of the product. In any case, it should be used as a basic guideto follow the project development process. It will also be useful to the directors of the same, as well as to the heads of the departments involved in its development.
marketing briefing
This type of briefing is used for the description and detail of a marketing project , although it can also be focused on the communication of your brand . It reflects all the main characteristics that it will have, explained in such a way that the members of the marketing department or the creative agency that is going to be in charge of developing it have at hand the information they need to do so.
business briefing
This is a very specific type of briefing aimed at explaining specific points of a business project . It highlights the most important elements of this type of project, in order to prepare and highlight them for the launch of the project.
creative briefing
This is a summary of a main briefing prepared on purpose for a creative department or agency . It contains only what is necessary for the members of the team that is going to work on the creative aspects of a project to carry out their work, as detailed below.
Thus, the briefing is a useful document in the event that the marketing team uses it as a starting guide or for the general direction of the campaigns.
What is a creative briefing
The creative briefing is a great unknown outside the environments in which it is usually worked with. One of the sectors in which more work is done with this type of briefing, and perhaps the main one, is that of advertising . That is why it is common to find it in agencies, companies, departments and creative studios related to it. But, what is it about? Well, basically, from a summary of the main briefing received by the department, agency or company that is going to work on the creative part of a project. It is used above all in social media campaigns, advertising, company openings, creation of digital identity and for the preparation of advertising graphic materials.
A creative briefing is prepared from the main one, and is the result of a task of analysis and synthesis of all the information that a client of a project has provided. Also of the interpretation of what said client has mentioned and has remained more ambiguous. It contains the most relevant of said briefing, and also marks the strategic line that must be followed. But it doesn’t stop at the data it includes. In the preparation of a creative briefing , new data is also added . These are taken from the information shared in meetings, from research on topics to be discussed or from annexes to the main project.
One of the requirements of a creative brief is that it be much shorter than the original brief . Its destination is the creative team of the department, agency or company, and it will contain everything they need to start working on a project. Without superfluous information or that does not interest them, or data that can serve as a distraction.
Of course, the creative briefing, unlike the briefing from which it comes, is not something closed . If there is any flaw in their approaches, or you want to replace any of the guidelines to follow with another more feasible one, you can make the changes you need. But it is not advisable to have an idea after having it ready and that all its content must change to fit it. Therefore, everything must be very clear before starting to elaborate it , and that the changes are, later, minor . Another of its characteristics is that it does not have to reflect ideas . At most, some guidelines that lead to facilitate its creation.
Planning work and how to make an effective briefing
The elaboration of a briefing entails a series of planning work, which is not only related to the elaboration of the campaign itself and that we have seen previously. Other elements must also be taken into account, as we will see below.
Broadcast channel(s)
When working on the preparation of a briefing, it is also necessary to establish the channels that will be used to disseminate the campaign or the message that you want to convey. For this, both the type of message to be transmitted and the type of elements to be disseminated must be taken into account. Of course, it is essential to know the target audience, since not all channels are suitable to reach the type of people you are looking for. You have to know which channel or channels are the best for broadcasting. The right combination will depend on the marketing strategy.
Timing
The planning of a campaign must be very careful with the times . Not only with those invested in its creation and development. You also have to plan the times for the launch of the campaign, and its subsequent development. In addition, it is necessary to analyze how long it should last , something that must also take into account the channel and the budget, since it is directly related to both. All this must be reflected in a briefing, in addition to answering other questions. Among them, the following: is it seasonal? What are the main milestones that need to be completed with the campaign?
Budget
After planning the execution of the campaign and reflecting it in the briefing, it will be necessary to detail the expenses involved . That is, prepare the campaign budget and reflect it in the briefing. At that time, if the expenses are very high, some aspect of the campaign can be adjusted if it is interesting to lower them before putting everything into the briefing.
Evaluation
Metrics . Once the project is completed, measurements must be made to assess the performance of the project. To do this, as we have mentioned, it is necessary to establish a series of metrics and objectives to be met for each one.
Brands and companies require professionals who are capable of preparing these briefings effectively, and to know how to do a briefing, it is best to train. You will learn how to do it in advanced design, advertising and communication training courses.