Writing a brief can feel like an unnecessary faff, but it’s a crucial step that can make or break your project. A thought-out brief sets expectations and gives everyone a clear direction. And it can save you a bunch of time and an annoying headache down the road.

Why are briefs so important?

A good brief can save you time and money, help you reach your goal, and keep everything on track. It can help you:

• Figure out what’s important: It should answer what you’re doing, who you’re targeting, how it should be done, and most importantly, why you’re doing it. If you find yourself fumbling to answer those questions, head back to the drawing board.

• Keep everyone aligned: The brief makes sure that everyone involved, from client to creative, is on the same page. It’ll help you keep a consistent tone, style, and message throughout the project.

• Avoid any misunderstandings:When working with creative and abstract ideas, it’s easy for your view of it to be different to everyone else’s. Having an in-depth brief avoids any misunderstandings.

• Set expectations and measurable goals: What’s the point of this project? What do you hope to achieve? A good brief should have specific, measurable goals that allow you to track your project’s success.

• Get better estimates: The clearer the brief, the better your team, agency or freelancer can estimate timing and costs and avoid any unwanted delays or bills.

What should you include in a great brief?

There’s no set rule on what exactly you should have in your brief. It depends on your project, who you’re working with, and the nature of the job. But we recommend covering these four sections.

1. Give a project overview

What is the project?

Give a short explanation of what you’re creating and what you’re trying to achieve. Include a list of deliverables as well as any specific formats you need. And summarise the main points you want to get across.

Who is your audience?

Share your audience personas and describe who you’re targeting. Are there multiple audiences? What are their interests? And what are their pain points?

What’s your budget?

Roughly how much do you expect to spend on this project? If it’s a larger project, it’ll help to give a budget for each task or area.

What are your deadlines?

Explain when you need the project done. Make sure to include important milestones, like when you expect to see the first draft, changes, etc.

Hot tip: If you have a hard deadline, add in contingency time. As a rule, if the agency or freelancer you’re working with says it’ll take them a week to deliver the project, add double that time as contingency time.

This is simply to account for anything unforeseen. Anything can happen – people get sick, briefs change, files get corrupted. This mindset can help you avoid missing any important deadlines internally. And if everything runs smoothly, great. You’re ahead of schedule.

What are your objectives?

Think about the main goal of your project. What are you hoping to achieve? Is there anything else we’re trying to achieve here?

2. Go over the ‘know, feel, do’

What do you want the audience to know?

Add specifics here, like product features, an explanation of an industry trend, how much it costs. If it helps, think: what main points do I want people to remember? A bulleted list is fine.

What do you want our audience to feel?

Do you want them to be worried about the future of our world, or excited at the fact they’re going to save loads of time?

What do you want our audience to do?

Where should they go next? To your website? To email you? Or to buy something?

3. Describe your tone and style

Explain your brand’s tone of voice, like whether it’s formal or friendly. Include any specific style preferences or formatting rules. If you have any brand guidelines, now would be a good time to share them.

4. Go over any specific details

Include your must-haves

These are your absolute requirements and non-negotiables. Are there any stats you want to include? Any specific imagery? Any messaging?

Give background, references, and examples:

• Background: Is there any context or industry knowledge that you think they should know?
• Examples: Share examples of similar projects for inspiration.
• Resources:Give links to relevant resources, like brand guidelines or research you want to include.

Cover the approval process

Figure out who the decision makers are in this process to avoid any roadblocks. And outline how work will be reviewed and feedback given.

A good brief will cover your back

It’s easy for the brief to change over the course of a project. It’s normal. By having a clear brief from the start, it can not only keep you on course, but set a clear scope. You want to make sure where the boundaries are so you know where your project ends, and another begins.

About Lewis Dowling

I help businesses define their tone of voice, create their content and decide their strategy. But mostly, I have a sense of what's important: The story.