Use Content Creative Briefs to Keep Your Sanity
How to implement simple creative briefs for all content production inside your company
How to implement simple creative briefs for all content production inside your company
Creative briefs for content production have been widely discussed and templated. Beware of using random templates found online though, as creative briefs should be part of your content strategy and tailored to your company needs.
Before thinking to use creative briefs, write down the step-by-step workflow to be followed for any content production. It needs to precise the roles and responsibilities of the main stakeholders, such as product owners, marketers, copywriters, editors, and designers. Then communicate the workflow to all stakeholders so that they buy in early to content projects and follow the process. You need all of them to keep your sanity and avoid many rounds of edits and changes!
The creative brief needs to be one step of this workflow. Attach the template to the workflow so that the idea of a creative brief can be more concrete. I copied below a very simple creative brief that answers four easy questions, corresponding to why, who, what, and how.
This creative brief applies to the production of marketing messages and communications and needs to be filled out by the business owner, so that the marketing and/or content teams can start putting the campaign together.
Do not use it as is, take time to think if the template makes sense for your organization and how it should be tailored to you.
Remember, creative briefs are supposed to help you, so if you or the stakeholders don’t understand why they are important, it’s just a waste of your time.
BUSINESS CREATIVE BRIEF
Department:
Prepared by:
Prepared on:
PROJECT SUMMARY
Project type (email blast, newsletter, press release, etc.):
Project description (2, 3 sentences about the initiative):
Requested date of publication:
PROJECT DETAILS
[WHY] What is the objective of this initiative?
Indicate the goal of the initiative and potential KPIs, such as revenue, number of clicks, number of coupons used...
2. [WHO] Who is the target audience for this initiative?
Precise who is going to receive the message.
3. [WHAT] What should be covered in this initiative?
This can be a draft of the text or as bullet points the main points to cover in the message.
4. [HOW] What are the supporting visuals?
List the pictures, links, videos, contacts, etc. that should be included