How to Write A Great Brief for a Digital Agency
Starting a new project is always exciting, especially when you’ve got a great idea and you’re raring to go! But before you start reaching out to digital agencies you’d like to work with, making sure that you’ve created a really good briefing document will be time well spent. You’ll get better information to help you choose who to work with, and it will help your chosen agency hit the ground running.
In this blog, we talk about what a good brief should contain, and why it is so important to have one.
Why is writing a brief so important?
Simply put, a brief is a document that tells an agency about what you require. There are lots of benefits to thinking carefully about this – both for you and the agencies you contact!
Firstly, a clear brief will help an agency give you an accurate quote and timescale. You’ll get a realistic picture of what is involved and can begin to work out your priorities should you need to make adjustments.
Secondly, going through the process of writing a brief will help you fine-tune your ideas and develop a clear picture of what you want the outcome to be. You’ll be able to iron out any details that you might not have thought about initially and identify any potential issues that might pop up. Taking a step away from the big picture and looking at the detail can make all the difference to how a project goes!
Finally, a good briefing document is like gold dust to us agencies! The first step in a long-term collaboration, it helps us to get to know you, your industry and your business. When a client gives us loads of details about who they are and what they want to achieve, we can create a really specific proposal document that is tailored to their individual needs and brand.
How to write a brief and what it should include
While every project is different, and one size definitely doesn’t fit all, when we receive a brief from a client there are a number of things that we love to see. We’ve listed eight of them below.
1. Tell us about your business and your industry
You want the agency you partner with to be as excited about your project as you are, so tell us your story. What are your business goals? And why do you do what you do? Who are your competitors? Give us an overview of your industry too. What are the main challenges it faces today?
At this stage, some agencies may tell you that they aren’t experienced enough in your industry or that it’s outside of their niche. This is a good thing − you only want to partner with an agency that is aligned with your values and wants the best for you!
2. What do you want your project to achieve?
It’s important that you’re really clear about what your business goals are and how your project will help you achieve them. Try thinking about the problems you’re experiencing, rather than the solutions you want. Let us do some brainstorming and use our digital expertise to help you!
3. Who is your target audience?
Anything we create has to be with your target audience in mind, so the more you can tell us about them, the better. As we get into the detail of the project, we can help you dig even deeper to create customer ‘personas’ that will help us create highly targeted solutions to your problems, and theirs.
4. Is this a completely new project?
If you want to upgrade an existing website, marketing campaign or any other design assets, then we’ll have different questions than if it’s an entirely new project. Let us know about what you’ve had before and why it’s not working any more.
5. Will you need any other content?
Digital projects can have a wide scope of work, and it’s good to think about whether you need any additional content to support your project. For example, a new website could benefit from some beautiful videography or new photography. Factoring that into your brief means you’ll get a better idea of how much the project will cost.
6. How does this project feed into your other marketing plans?
We always want to know the bigger picture so we can make an impact. Do you have brand guidelines that will help us understand the style of work that you need us to create and allow us to maintain consistency across your marketing materials?
7. Are there any technical details that we need to know about?
If you’re getting a new website, do you have a domain name and hosting? Or, do you need us to arrange this for you? Do you need us to factor in SEO, accessibility and payment processing?
8. Last but not least, let us know your budget and timescale!
Your brief doesn’t need to be perfect, and it doesn’t need to be final, but it will allow us to begin designing a proposal document that will be the starting point for us working together.
At Giant Peach, we love getting into the details of what you need and brainstorming with you to take your ideas to the next level, unlocking the power of digital to make a difference to your business.
If you’d like to work with us, we can send you a copy of our briefing template to make the process easier. It’s not set in stone but provides a great starting point for further discussion.