What's the best way to create a clear creative brief for your strategy?

1 Know your audience

Before you start writing your creative brief, you need to have a clear understanding of who you are trying to reach and influence with your strategy. Who are they? What are their needs, wants, challenges, and motivations? How do they perceive your brand, product, or service? How do they consume and respond to creative content? You can use data, research, personas, or other tools to define your target audience and segment them if needed.

2 Define your goals

The next step is to identify what you want to achieve with your creative strategy. What are the specific and measurable outcomes that you expect from your project? How do they align with your overall business objectives and marketing strategy? How will you measure and evaluate your success? You can use the SMART framework (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) to set clear and realistic goals for your creative brief.

3 Outline your message

Once you have your audience and goals in mind, you need to craft the core message that you want to communicate with your creative strategy. What is the main idea, value proposition, or benefit that you want to convey to your audience? How do you want them to feel, think, or act after seeing your creative content? What is the tone, voice, and style that best suits your message and brand identity? You can use a simple statement or a creative concept to summarize your message.

4 Specify your deliverables

The next step is to describe what you need to produce and deliver as part of your creative strategy. What are the formats, channels, and platforms that you will use to distribute your creative content? How many and what types of assets do you need to create? What are the technical specifications, guidelines, and standards that you need to follow? What are the deadlines, milestones, and dependencies that you need to consider? You can use a table or a list to organize your deliverables.

5 Provide your resources

The final step is to provide the resources that will help you and your team execute your creative strategy. What are the sources of inspiration, information, or evidence that support your message and goals? What are the examples, references, or benchmarks that illustrate the quality and style that you expect from your creative content? What are the budget, tools, or materials that you have or need to complete your project? You can use links, attachments, or notes to share your resources.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?