Once you’ve defined your brand, it’s time to talk about it. A marketing expert can help you uncover the opportunities to reach more customers and grow your business. After carefully planning out your brand, you’ll be armed with all the information you need to write a sound creative brief.
What’s a creative brief, you ask?
A creative brief outlines the objectives of an advertising or marketing campaign. It provides the team working on your campaign with information on the audience and the key messages you want to deliver. It also lets you share ideas on strategy and other details that are important for the team to know. It might sound like a time consuming-piece of work, but well worth the effort. Clear direction will ensure everyone is working towards the same goals.
With the information you’ve pulled together to define your brand, you can easily write a one-page brief. Here are some of the details you’ll want to include.
In your brief …
Why are you advertising?
Think carefully. Is the objective of this marketing piece to educate the audience, to influence or move them to action, or to create brand awareness? Whatever the purpose, be precise. You want to maximize your marketing dollars on a key goal.
Who are you talking to?
Describe the market you’re trying to reach. There may be primary and secondary markets and that’s ok. Who’s in your market (consider age, income, characteristics)?
What is your audience saying about you?
What does your audience currently think about your brand. If you’ve received feedback or conducted research recently, you may have discovered your brand is on point or, sadly, it’s not hitting the mark.
What do you want your audience saying?
What makes your brand stand out from others and why would someone want to work with you or purchase your products? What’s your brand’s truth?
What is the single most important thing to convey?
You will have a few key messages associated with your brand. Think about the one most important message you want to convey.
What advertising strategies will you use?
You probably have a few marketing ideas in mind based on the budget you have available. Do you want to create a brochure, publish a full-page advertisement or maybe run a radio spot? A marketing professional can help you narrow down your options and maximize your advertising dollars, so remain open to other ideas.
What is your brand character?
This is a creative brief. Information about your brand characteristics and personality will help the writer — and designer — capture the tone of your brand.
What’s mandatory?
There’s always information that must be included in when you publish marketing. Perhaps it’s a legal disclaimer or trademark notation. Capture these in your brief.
Other mandatory elements may depend on the time of year you plan to be active. For example, during the week of Earth Day promotions, you might want to ensure that the Earth Day logo is always present.
Language preferences are important to mention as well. If your company operates in multiple languages, make sure to mention this in your brief. This will have a significant impact on your budget and the timelines for delivery.
And, of course, remember to outline details like timing, milestone dates and budgets.
It’s your time to shine
Whatever you’re creating, providing clear direction will help get the job done efficiently. The team will stay focused on the end goal and you’ll have a marketing campaign that will be sure to help your business shine!
Writing for you. 