Marketing projects can sometimes be a challenge to get off the ground.
Everyone has a different vision for what the campaign should be, what the creative will look like and what the objectives are.
Not doing your prep work on the front-end can mean you might go too far down the wrong path, which meansâŚ
Wasted timeâŚ
Lost moneyâŚ
And disgruntled clients.
So whatâs a marketer to do?
Create a clear creative brief before the work begins, of course.
If this leaves you scratching your head, have no fear.
Youâll find everything you need in this post, including how to create an effective creative brief, nine examples to model after, and free templates to get your project off the ground.
Three Creative Brief Templates + Your Projects = Success
Start off by downloading our free creative brief templates.
This kit includes three different templates you can use to write effective creative briefs the easy way (in Word, Excel, and Powerpoint format).
Grab âem free below. Then, keep reading to learn how to use them effectively.
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Why You Need a Creative Brief
A creative brief helps clarify expectations between your team and the projectâs stakeholders. Not having one increases the likelihood of missed deadlines and means a heck of a lot more time wasted on making sure everyone is on the right track.
The creative brief serves as the documentation for the projectâs objectives and how youâre going to achieve successâthe âwhatâ and âhowâ, essentially.
Marketing teams need to focus carefully on ROI to prove our worth.
Creativity is often overlooked in this equation. As evidenced by the thrown together creative briefs copied and pasted from old campaigns.
Doesnât it seem odd that youâre willing to spending a bunch of money on a project, but not spend more than 5 minutes making sure your project is set up for success?
Reason 1: Define the Scope and Help Avoid Scope-creep
The creative brief says a lot about what the project is, but it also provides insight into what the project isnât.
For example, letâs say your creative brief outlines a project to redesign your websiteâs blog. Â The scope of this project is clearâyouâre not setting out to re-design any other area of the site.
This avoids what we call scope-creep. Scope-creep can be compared to the âmight as-wellsâ.
âIf weâre redesigning the blog, we âmight as-wellâ redesign the about us pages, too.â
This can be especially difficult if your project is on behalf of a client.
You, as the Project Manager, need to make hard decisions about whether you need to adjust the cost and risk the client getting upset, or eat the cost and hurt your profitability.
Your creative brief can help you avoid this conundrum.
Collaborating with your client or team at the beginning helps prevent misunderstandings about deliverables and gives you a document to reference if scope-creep arises.
Reason 2: Clarify the Projectâs Timeline
Most projects have a definitive delivery date, so itâs a good idea to include a timeline in your creative brief.
Marketing teams juggle multiple projects at once, which means it can be a challenge for individuals to manage everything on their plate. Itâs important for Marketing Managers to value their team memberâs opinions regarding realistic timelines and workloads.
Gain input while formulating the creative brief or use something like CoScheduleâs Team Management Dashboard to make sure timelines are realistic.
Use CoScheduleâs Team Management Dashboard to Set Realistic Timelines
Thereâs nothing more frustrating as a Marketing Manager than (unsuccessfully) trying to stay on top of what everyone on your team is working on.
Our Team Management Dashboard replaces lengthy meetings and email chains required to chase down updates.
Use the dashboard when outlining your creative brief to visualize realistic timelines based on everyoneâs *actual* workload.
Need to re-prioritize? No Sweat.
Simply reshuffle workloads with the drag and drop functionality. Everyone will be able to see their updated tasks in real-time.
Sayonara, spreadsheets.
What Can the Team Management Dashboard Do For Your Team?
What to see how the Team Management Dashboard can get your team organized and never miss a deadline? Schedule a demo with our team to find out more.
Reason 3: Mitigate Confusion and Answer Questions
Have you ever been pulled into a project and felt confused about the who, what, where, when, and why?
Or maybe those questions have lingered in your mind throughout the duration of the project?
(Letâs be honest, weâve all been a part of a marketing project that has felt a little half-baked.)
The process of writing the creative brief itself helps you work through strategic questions that may otherwise go unanswered.
Likewise, everyone involved in the project will have a clear idea of whatâs going on and can understand the projectâs reason for existence.
Which makes your job as the de facto Project Manager a lot easier.
- Questions about timeline? ----> Check out the creative brief.
- Questions about target audience? ----> Creative brief.
- Questions about process? ----> You guessed it... creative brief.
BOOM. Youâve just saved some time by not having to re-answer the same questions over and over again.
Elements of a Great Creative Brief
Creative briefs can vary slightly in what they actually contain. Some opt for more information; others are more condensed. Hereâs a running list of items you may consider including in your brief.
Project Summary
Describe the project in one or two sentences. Boil it down to the basics. This gives everyone who might come into the project (at any point in time) a high-level understanding of what the project is. It also makes it easier to iterate on the project down the road.
âE-commerce research project intended to attract small business owners wanting to launch their own e-shop.â
Target audience
Outline who youâre trying to reach with the campaign. This can be simply a certain user persona or it can be a demographic outline. This is important as it gives the project member an idea of who theyâre talking to/ designing for.
âSmall business owners and âmakersâ that are currently selling on Etsy, farmerâs markets, etc.â
Problem
What problem is the project trying to solve? Why do you need to do *this* project? This narrows down why the project exists and why the company needs to do this particular project.
â{Insert company name} is finding it difficult to convince designers, makers, small business owners etc. of the benefits of creating their own webshops rather than selling via Etsy. This report will provide {the company} with original data to use throughout the year and will highlight the benefits of setting up an e-commerce site.â
GoalÂ
Why are we doing this project? Make sure your goals are measurable and avoid setting too many. Stick to your one metric that matters.
âThe primary goal is to increase interest in using {company platform} as the go-to e-commerce platform. This will help position {company name} Â as the best solution for setting up an e-commerce website. We will create a comprehensive research report that aims to convert 5,000 new paid users by the end of 2019.â
KPI
How will success be measured? This sets the stage for how you will know if your project was successful or not. It also helps you understand if the project should be repeated.
âThis report will be measured based on the number of new accounts generated from gated downloads.â
Process
What are the general steps we must follow to finish the project? This is a good outline that can become a task template once the project kicks off. It also is a good way for each team member to visualize where they fit into the project.
- Write survey questions
- Distribute survey
- Analyze data
- Write content for the report
- Design PDF
- Prepare promotion strategy
- Measure
Individuals/Teams Involved
Who do you need to get this project done? This serves as a reminder to everyone that they need to be involved in order for the project to get off the ground.
âPR, Graphic Design, Social Media, Analytics, Content Marketing, Email Marketingâ
Timeline
What is the due date for this project? Every project needs to have a start and end date⌠they canât drag on in perpetuity. This makes it easier for people to plan their workloads and get things finished on time.
âEnd of Q2 2019â
Budget
How much can you spend on this project? This can either be a clientâs budget or internal resources that are dedicated. You can also think of this in terms of hours devoted to this project.
$25,000
How to Write a Great Creative Brief
Aside from including the right information, there are a couple things you should also think about when compiling a creative brief.
Be Specific
You want your creative brief to clear enough that anyone can understand the project.
A vague creative brief will often produce results that fall far short of expectations. When a creative brief misses the necessary specifics, significant revisions often arise which makes for a frustrating process for all involved.
Set S.M.A.R.T Goals
Setting S.M.A.R.T goals help put your project on the fast track to success.
An example of a S.M.A.R.T goal might be:
âWe will create a comprehensive research report that aims to convert 5,000 new paid users by the end of 2019.â
The goal is specific by identifying that you want to help drive new paid users.
Itâs measurable because your team will be able to tell if you hit your 5,000 increase paid users or not.
Itâs attainable based on previous benchmarking for similar campaigns.
The task is relevant because itâs contributing to the companyâs bottom line.
Finally, the task has a time limit to see if the project was successful or not.
The Operative Word is Brief
The creative brief is exactly what it says⌠brief. It doesnât need everything and the kitchen sink.
Offer an abridged summary that can be easily digested.
It shouldnât be TL;DR.
You donât need to link to a dozen planning spreadsheets, email chains, and related documents. Â Chances are those supporting documents wonât even be looked at, so donât waste your time.
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Show Me an âIRLâ Creative Brief Example
Now that some of the best practice issues have been discussed, letâs jump into a real-life creative brief example.
Most creative briefs arenât distributed externally, so weâre sharing one of our own examples with the world.
Example 1: CoSchedule
Project summary
E-commerce research project intended to attract small business owners wanting to launch their own e-shop
Details
- Who is this for? Small business owners and âmakersâ that are currently selling on Etsy, farmerâs markets, etc.
- What problem does this solve? {Insert company name} is finding it difficult to convince designers, makers, small business owners etc. of the benefits of creating their own webshops rather than selling via Etsy. This report will provide {the company} with original data to use throughout the year and will highlight the benefits of setting up an e-commerce site.
- What is the goal? The primary goal is to increase interest in using {company platform} as the go-to e-commerce platform. This will help position {company name}  as the best solution for setting up an e-commerce website. We will create a comprehensive research report that aims to convert 5,000 new paid users by the end of 2019.
- How will we measure it? This report will be measured based on the number of new accounts generated from gated downloads.
HypothesisÂ
If we shed light on the increased rate of success by simply having an e-commerce site, makers will be more likely to use our platform.
Process
- Write survey questions
- Distribute survey
- Analyze data
- Write content for the report
- Design PDF
- Prepare promotion strategy
- Measure
Team
PR, Graphic Design, Social Media, Analytics, Content Marketing, Email Marketing
Timeline
End of Q2 2019
Budget
$25,000
Example 2: Act-On
Example 3: PayPal
Example 4: Excel Template (Included in Download)
Example 5: PPT Template (Included in Download)
Bring Your Brief to Life with CoSchedule
Once it comes time to plan and execute your creative brief, it's time to use Marketing Campaigns in CoSchedule.
To do this, click a day on your calendar. Then, click Marketing Campaign (itâs the box at the very top).
Start by naming your campaignâŚ
Adding an ownerâŚ
And adjusting the start and end dates.
Click "Create Project." Next, you'll see a green bar across the calendar. This will span across the start and end date of your project:
Now, add each component of your project by clicking on the plus sign in the corner of a given day on the calendar. For this project, let's say we'll have the following elements:
- A team huddle to discuss the brief.
- 5 blog posts to promote the project.
- Landing page.
- Paid ads on search and social.
- Social campaigns.
- Webinar to discuss the findings of the project.
- A launch date.
To create the first item (our team huddle), click the day and choose the option âmeetingâ:
Now, you can see the team huddle on the calendar.
Next, add the remaining parts:
Now you have every piece of your campaign mapped out on the calendar.
Learn more about Marketing Projects from CoSchedule in this video:
OR schedule a demo to learn if CoSchedule is the right project management tool for your team
This blog post was originally published on Nov. 8, 2017. It was updated and republished on Jan. 2, 2019.