A Brief Word About Briefs
Just to save time for all my non-industry friends who are well aware of my rather *ahem* quirky sense of humor, I'm not talking about undies. If that's what you were expecting, my feelings won't be hurt if you click the back button. Go ahead. You know you want to.
If you're still with me, that means you're probably a creative professional or work in or around the marketing or advertising industry. (Either that or you're my mom. Hi, mom!) As everyone but my mom has probably guessed, I'm talking about a creative brief. For my mom's sake, a creative brief is a document that outlines the instructions a creative professional needs to complete a particular job. It usually has all the research, deadlines and specifics and is often used as an addendum to a standard contract. Basically, the contract spells out the rules we'll follow working together and the brief gives me the nitty-gritty on each project.
Larger business have either a brief or a request for proposal (RFP) already prepared before they start contacting potential creatives. Small businesses usually don't. A lot of creatives (myself included for a time) try to push through with small businesses sans a brief because that's easier than trying to explain it. In my experience, that's a bad idea.
Smaller businesses can quickly turn into "scope creeps" without realizing it. They don't always know how to work with us or what we need. Using a creative brief gives them direction when putting information together for us and defines the scope of the project. It makes it much easier to point out to them that the work they're now asking for isn't included in the brief (which means it wasn't included in the price) and they'll have to pay more to add work to the project.
I've recently revised my creative brief based on the MarketingProfs University Marketing Writing Bootcamp I attended recently. If you have any suggestions for improvements, comment below or @-reply me on Twitter (@HireHeather).
You can download my brief template below (click the "download" text under the embedded version) to use as is or as a basis for your own. This one's obviously written for writers, but it could easily be redrafted for other creative professionals. If you aren't used to using creative briefs with your small business clients, check out my list of tips below the download.
Tips for Using Briefs with Small Businesses
- Some people may want to fill this out themselves, but many find it intimidating. Bring your laptop to the meeting and ask them these questions out loud, then type their answers as you go. You can always polish it later.
- If they seem reluctant to sit still while you ask this many questions, buy them lunch or some coffee (or a drink if it's that type of relationship).
- Get your clients to sign off on the final version of the brief if you're the one who fills it out.
- Use a standard contract with your non-project-specific terms and use the brief as an addendum for each project. Your contract language should make it remain in effect as long as the relationship does. This way, you can use the brief for each project without a new contract.
- Explain carefully (and in writing if you can) that the brief is part of the agreement and that anything they ask that's in addition to what's in the brief may be an additional charge.
