If you are going to hire the services of a Digital Marketing Consultant or Consulting, the first step is to specify a Briefing. That is why I want to explain what a Briefing is, types of Brief and how to make a good briefing.
A Briefing is a document where we collect a series of specific questions and answers about your Project, Product or Service.
The Brief is our first contact, where we collect all the necessary information to start planning any campaign or marketing, advertising or communication action, whether online or offline.
First of all, I want to explain to you what kind of information we are going to work with, both general and specific so that we can address your project efficiently from the first moment.
Always taking into account the type of service that your company needs.
But also and if I told you that with the help of this article you will be able to apply the Briefing methodology in your own Company, it would be fantastic, right?
Do we start
What is the briefing?
A Briefing is not just a written document that gathers all the necessary data to start marketing, advertising or communication project of our Company.
But it also allows us to place our client in their sector.
The information provided in the Brief will allow you to develop the most appropriate strategy to achieve your goals and objectives, as well as reveal business opportunities.
In addition to detecting problems and correct them.
A good briefing must have very specific characteristics when it is written. It must be a document:
- Clear in the quality of answers, more than in the number of questions.
- Well defined, let’s get to the point, we don’t want little relevant information.
- Customized, according to sector, activity, and needs.
The Briefing is our roadmap that is a summary of the development, planning, and measurement of project marketing action, strategy, etc. We are doing an online or offline action.
Types of Briefing
Since there are no two companies that are the same, there is no standard Briefing that we can apply to all our clients equally.
For this reason and depending on the work we have to do, the information we need to collect will change depending not only on the sector but on the professional field, whether we are a company or an independent professional.
Depending on the needs or actions to be implemented, these are the main types of a briefing with which we will work, in the field of marketing, advertising, and communication, as well as a business:
1# Advertising Briefing
The advertising briefing is a document of guidelines to follow in the communication process.
It is the relevant information that we deliver as clients to the advertising or communication agency so that we can carry out our advertising campaign.
Relevant points of an advertising brief:
- SSP or single sales proposal.
- The tone of communication.
- Advertising channels that we will use.
- Target to impact per channel.
- Campaign launch dates on different channels.
- Objectives per campaign.
- Budget.
2# Creative Briefing
It aims to inspire bright, ingenious and innovative ideas to the creative team: graphic designers, copywriters, developers.
Therefore it is a detailed summary of the project or action information at a graphic and design level.
In this case and depending on the needs of your Company, and with that I mean the creation and design of a Logo, a product catalog, a claim, etc., we would try, from color, typography, format, the scope of application, etc.
3# Marketing Briefing
It is intended to summarize the main details of the marketing action whether digital or traditional that we need to implement.
This document is more than important given as a starting point to define the advertising and creative briefing.
Most important aspects:
- What products or services do we sell and where?Â
- Who is our ideal client?Â
- What need or problems do you have?Â
- Why and how can we help you?Â
- Do they belong to any specific market niche?Â
- What type of customer are we looking for?Â
- What makes customers buy from our competition and not from us?Â
- Our sales objectives?Â
- What personal means and budget do we have?
4# Business Briefing
It has the same structure as the marketing brief, but with a totally strategic approach, since we will use it when we want to launch a project.
Key points visible from different perspectives:
- Company:
- Brief description of the business.
- Products or services
- Information about the market.
- Particularities of the sector:
- Direct competition.
- Indirect competition
- Competitive advantages.
- Consumer analysis:
- Market trends
- Purchase process analysis.
How to make a good Briefing
The key to making a good briefing is not only in doing it but in doing it well.
As a digital marketing consultant, it is a part of my daily life, I used the Brief as an indispensable document for very specific topics, such as:
- New customers.
- Suppliers
- Work Team Management.
- Interdepartmental Connection
- Commercial management.
Therefore we are going to see what are the essential points according to my criteria that we must take into account when preparing it so that you can apply the methodology of the Briefing in the day to day of your Company.
General data
- Name of the company or professional.
- History and evolution
- Products or service
- Distribution channels.
- Organization chart and structure.
- The number of employees.
- Business volume
- Geographical scope: at local, national or international level.
- Mission, vision, and values.
Target
- Potential client.
- Sociodemographic data.
- Socioeconomic level.
- Consumption habits.
- Attitudes, personality, lifestyle.
- Needs to cover.
- Problems and their impact.
Competition
- Main competitors
- Market share and potential market by zones.
- Ideal competitor: what are its virtues and in what aspects we would like to keep similar.
- Competitive advantages over other brands.
- How are our sales with respect to the competition?
- Prices and Margins.
- Financial health
Goals
We will mark 2-3 goals maximum, applying the SMART methodology. Our objectives should be:
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Bounded in time.
Digitization
- Do you have a website or e-commerce?
- SEO positioning.
- Is blog active? recent posts.
- Social networks.
- Benchmarketing
Additional Information
- Internal or external procedure to which we must adapt?
- Budget available.
- Are other professionals involved?
- Deadline
- How did you know us? And what do you expect from us?
Conclusion
A briefing is not a simple document as you may have observed, it is to implement a professional methodology, which will help us to be more efficient and effective.
Preparing a good briefing is essential in my work as a digital marketing consultant.
Knowing your Company, Service or Product in detail, will allow you to mark not only the best strategy to follow but also reach the established objectives and goals.
In short, preparing a good briefing will help us to:
- Order our ideas.
- Self-analyze
- Know our market, as well as our options.
- Identify and solve problems.
- Guide us towards our goal.
- Control the times and costs.
- Measure our ROI or return on investment.
Would you include any more information that you consider relevant? Do you find it interesting to follow the methodology of Briefing for your Company?
