Keep it Brief! The Creative Brief Process for your Marketing Initiatives.

In a nutshell a creative brief is an outline that will guide you through the process of creating a great ad, postcard, email or marketing campaign.  It is a checklist and will force you to ask yourself some important questions.  Many times we get overwhelmed with doing it right and need a way to help us focus on what needs to be thought about.

The key components that a creative brief needs to have are:

What is the product or service?
What is it in reality?  You may want to describe it physically and what it does.
• What is it as perceived?  What does the public know or think about this product or service.

What is the project?  Simply put — what are you creating — a campaign, an ad or an email? List it — include as many details as possible like the ad size or other specs that you know about.

Who are the prospects?
• Geographics
• Demographics
• Psychographics

What is the back-story — what is going in in the market place or the industry?  Who are the competitors?  Who are we talking to?  Do some research and summarize it in a sentence or two.

What is the objective?  What should this project accomplish?  What do you want the customer to think, to feel, or to do!  Summarize it in a sentence or two.

What is the competitive benefit?  What is the ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ or USP?  

What is the support of the benefit?  Do you have evidence to back up the USP?

What is the communication objective?
• What is the main point?
• What action should be taken?

These steps are important to help you create a clear message.  Remember — do this every time and your marketing messages will stay on track and your results will continue to improve.

You can download a printable version of the Creative Brief — Click Here!