What is a content brief?

Content briefs - either they're great, or they're totally crap.

Ok, that's not completely true. Worst case, they're completely mid and ineffective.

A basic content brief is a document that provides information for a writer on what and how they should write a piece of content. What's usually included in that depends on a couple of things, which we'll get into later.

But what actually makes a brief good? Or rather, what makes it effective? Because the quality and clarity of the brief may play a huge part as to why the final content actually sucks.

If you're a freelance writer who's worked with many clients, I'm pretty sure you've seen bad, good, and everything in between.

What does a content brief usually look like?

As someone who has both created briefs for other writers and gotten briefs from content leads, here's what I've learned:

? There isn't a standard formula that always works.

I only have experience with B2B SaaS content briefs, so people who write/are content leads in other industries feel free to chime in here.

Things I expect to see/put in a basic brief are:

• A blog title that can be changed as needed
• Who the piece is for, and what they should be able to understand or do after reading the piece
• Examples of similar blog posts from your brand that perform well
• Examples of the competition's blog posts that you feel are well-written
• Keywords*
• Word count range**
• Information about your brand messaging, TOV, and style guide
• Information on who your competitors are
• Deadlines for the 1st draft and expected turnaround times for revisions

* Depends on what the purpose of the content is. We're not looking to stuff keywords for thought leadership or brand-focused pieces. Well, you shouldn't be stuffing keywords anyway.

** Now, this is tricky because many of you tend to charge per word. But honestly, I feel you shoot yourselves in the foot with this. Experienced writers will just know when a piece is done, and I feel word counts shouldn't be fixed; they should be a guide.

? Don't spoonfeed/expect to be spoonfed.

I've been guilty of creating outlines that give everything from the H1 to the H4s, including tips on where to add transitions. ?? I learned the hard way that giving them that comprehensive of an outline usually meant I was getting back really terrible content.

More often than not, the writer just plugged the whole outline into AI, did some very "light" tweaks to what came out, and submitted it.

So don't be me. Just give them information and insights they won't find with their external research. If you've looked at their body of work, you should have some indication of how good their writing is. If you haven't, well, that's on you.

? Be flexible and agile.

• If you're a content lead: Does the writer seem to be struggling? Reach out and ask why. Were the goals clear? Did you give them access to enough resources to write the article? We often tend to outsource TOFU content because it's the easiest content to get out quickly. But if you want content for further along the funnel, your writer will need access to deeper product/service insights with full access to your tools or SMEs they can interview.
• If you're a writer: Always reach out and ask if something is unclear. Too often, writers want to appear competent and professional, so they don't ask questions to avoid looking like they don't know what they're doing. If your client flat-out refuses to help you, I'd suggest never working with them again.

If you're client-side, I just want to note that this part of the process can be challenging if you're working with a content agency vs. an independent freelancer. Agencies normally don't allow you to have direct contact with the writer. That makes it hard to give/receive actual feedback without the customer liaison. The agency has also chosen the pool of writers for you based on their standards. So, ultimately, you have to vet the agency through recommendations or online review platforms.

My take? Work with an actual freelancer that's not attached to an agency. Whether hiring or applying for a content writing job, I want to build more long-term relationships. Having one person that you can communicate and collaborate with will make the process and the writing so much better.

Learn as you go

Btw, I've written all this assuming you've already defined the scope of your collaboration. It's crazy how many people jump into these kinds of working relationships without talking about the definition of done, pricing, and all the rest.

As a client, there are so many other things you could put in a brief, but I'd suggest starting small and growing as you gain more insights into how they're working for you. Especially if you're a small start-up, iteration is your bestie.

If you're a writer, don't expect each company to have the same brief template. We don't. Define your must-haves and nice-to-haves, and go from there.

Remember: Content is a work in progress until the final version is delivered. And even when it's delivered, there's always room for future optimization. That doesn't just apply to the text itself but also to the process.

Want more behind-the-scenes looks at B2B content writing? Check out my other articles:

• How to get into B2B SaaS content writing
• How to get gigs as a new content writer