How to write a creative brief: 5 essential things all great briefs need

Woman standing in front of a pastel pink background, her eyeballs are pure white and she's holding an eyeball in her mouth.

Image credit: cottonbro studio

 

Do you know how much easier life would be if you could ace creative briefing? It’s true, hun. And if you think this isn’t a skill worth learning, then I have two questions for you:

1) Why the hell did you click on this post?

2) Don’t you want amazing work, babe?

Gimme five minutes of your time, and I’ll tell you why creative briefing is such an awesome skill to learn and how to nail it like a heckin’ BAWS.

 
 

Writing a creative brief: why bother?

Writing an effective creative brief is less about learning how to fill out a document and more about communicating your aims to a creative professional.

It’s the difference between getting awesome, impactful work quickly and paying for extra rounds of amendments because you’ve got that ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ mentality (which won’t earn you any friends, lemme tell ya!).

So, here’s how to brief and brief well…

 
 

How to write a creative brief

  1. Cover the essentials

    Let’s start nice and easy, shall we? Kick things off with the key details so they’re smack bang at the top of the page. Your creative will need to know your…

    • First draft deadline

    • Final draft deadline

    • Deliverables (blog posts, email newsletters, web copy etc.)

    • Word counts or limits

    • The main message you want to convey

    • The main action you want the customer to take

    • Elements to include (CTAs, backlinks, info you need front and centre)

  2. Background info

    This may feel unnecessary, but trust me, it’s not. Gotta have a little context! Give details on your business, its mission, and its products or services. Include info on why you’re commissioning the project/copy and where it sits in the grand scheme.

  3. Details on your target customer

    Super important bit, this. Your creative needs eyes on your customer data, like how they interact with the product, the pain points you solve for them, and how they’ll interact with the work you’re briefing. Bonus points for including actual data and links to product reviews or customer feedback.


  4. Additional resources
    Love me some additional resources, boi. Links to the products, links to customer reviews, a copy of your brand book and brand guidelines, and any style guidelines you use in marketing and comms. It’s all solid intel!

  5. A collaborative mindset and an open door

    The cherry on the top of the brief, babes! Make sure your creative knows they can contact you anytime and that you’re happy to answer questions.

    It’s also helpful to introduce your creative to other members of your team who might be involved with the project, so there’s no awkward weirdness if they need to collaborate or get extra intel.

 

Still stuck, hun? No problem; book me for an hour, and I’ll take you through my personal briefing document and give you or your team tailored pointers. Failing that, you can hire me yourself, and I’ll bring my own briefing document and process, so you can learn ‘on the job’ 😜

Emma Cownley