Brief

A briefing or brief is a document that serves as a communication tool between a company and its marketing providers. In a brief, the company must explain the objective, purpose, and time frame of a proposed project, as well as the means they intend to use to reach the objective.

A brief must:

Follow a logical order, from the most general point to the most specific.
Include enough information for the agency to target its campaign. Information must be clear and concise.
Avoid using the company’s technical language or jargon. The brief must be understandable for all team members, including those who may be unfamiliar with the industry,
Be very clear about what the project seeks to achieve. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-frame).

What can’t be left out of a brief?

Objectives: what you want to achieve with the campaign or project. Ideally, these should be measured through a series of KPIs (key performance indicators).
Target audience: the audience to which the communication is addressed. This element is essential for determining the type of action, the tone of communication, and the channels to use.
Description of the company: if this is the first contact between the company and the agency, it is essential to include a section explaining the company’s products and services, as well as its values and history.
Project requirements: what characteristics does the project you want to launch have. This section can vary a lot — sometimes briefs are more general, while in others, the action to be carried out will already be well-defined. For example “design an interactive website that takes advantage of the resources created in previous campaigns”.
Restrictions: in some sectors, for example the health sector, communication campaigns to the public must comply with a series of legal requirements. Therefore, it is very important to include this information in the briefing so that the agency can take it into account.
The project budget.
Deadlines for execution and delivery.