I don't consider myself a marketing genius.
I've never worked for one of the big agencies or major international brands.
However, I'm also not a wally, and consider myself to be pretty decent at what I do. So I have a good understanding of what it takes to build a marketing campaign or strategy. With this in mind, I'm consistently shocked when I work with businesses and other marketers who don't use briefs within their working day.
As a marketer, the communication with stakeholders both internal and external is vital to the smooth running of a department and business and within this, the creative/promotional/digital/project brief is vital to achieving results you want.
Only when I worked within the world of agency marketing was a solid briefing process in place when I started. In all other avenues, it has been introduced over time or I have initiated it myself, and the big shock? - The number of colleagues and clients who are amazed by the introduction of the process!
"Why haven't we done that before" - Mr V. Obvious
"That makes total sense now". Mrs G. Idea
"Read the brief, all clear". Dr S. O. Simple
A good brief should be crafted and not rushed. It should be specific and not generic. It should be bespoke and not copied. Consider what you want to see at the end of your project and work backwards from there, write it down and work out what you need, there should be no shocks for you when the work is concluded, just a warm glow of satisfaction that your project has been completed as planned from your initial quality briefing.
Ok, not everything requires an essay but PLEASE fellow marketers embrace the power of a writing a good brief, you will reap the rewards in the quality of the output returned to you guaranteed.
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