- A good brief explains the business problem, not just the tactic you have in mind.
- Share your audience, budget range, timing and constraints so plans stay realistic.
- Agree on how success will be measured before the work begins.
- Keep it as short as it can be while still clear.
Why a good brief saves time and money
An agency can only work with what it knows. Without a brief, the first part of any engagement is spent asking questions you could have answered in writing, and early ideas are built on assumptions that may be wrong. With a clear brief, the agency can focus straight away on the problem you need solved.
Writing a brief also helps you. It makes you decide what matters most, which customers you want and what you can spend, before anyone outside the business starts work. If several people in your business have a say, the brief is where you agree on priorities, so the agency is not caught between different opinions.
A good brief also makes proposals easier to compare. When every agency works from the same information, the differences in their thinking stand out.
What to include
Most briefs cover the same ground. Keep each section short and specific.
- Background on your business, what you sell and how you make money.
- The goal of this project and the business problem behind it.
- The audience you want to reach and what matters to them.
- The main message or offer, and why customers should choose you.
- Your competitors and how you differ from them.
- Your budget range and anything it must cover.
- Timing, including any fixed dates or busy periods.
- How you will measure success.
- Brand guidelines, approved language and anything that is off limits.
- Who will review and approve the work.
Writing goals the agency can act on
"We want more visibility" is a hope, not a goal. An agency needs to know what the visibility is for. Do you need more inquiries for a particular service? More bookings in a quiet period? More customers in a new area? A successful launch of a new product?
Describe the business problem behind the goal. If inquiries are steady but the wrong kind, say so. If a new location is struggling while the original one is busy, say that. The problem tells the agency where to look and which channels are likely to help.
Be clear about priorities too. If you have several goals, rank them. An agency can plan well for one or two clear goals; a long list of equal priorities tends to produce a plan that does a little of everything.
Sharing budget and constraints
Many businesses leave the budget out, hoping to see what agencies suggest. That usually backfires. Without a range, one agency may propose a plan far larger than you can afford and another one too small to matter, and neither proposal is useful. A realistic range lets each agency show what it would do with the same resources.
Constraints matter just as much. Tell the agency how many new inquiries your team can handle, whether there are services you do not want to promote right now, whether your industry has rules about advertising or claims, and whether any dates are fixed. Constraints are not obstacles; they help the agency propose work that fits how your business actually runs.
Defining success
Decide how you will judge the work before it starts. Choose measures tied to your goal, such as qualified inquiries, booked appointments, sales from marketing or the cost of winning a new customer. Note where those numbers will come from, such as your call tracking, your forms or your sales records.
Be realistic about timing and about what marketing can control. Platforms, competitors and customer behavior all affect results, so focus on progress you can see and measure, and agree on how often you will review it together.
Common brief mistakes
- Pages of company history but little about the current challenge.
- Describing the audience as everyone.
- Asking for a specific tactic without explaining the goal behind it.
- Leaving out the budget entirely.
- Setting deadlines without allowing time for your own reviews and approvals.
- Using internal jargon an outsider will not understand.
- Sending the brief before the people who must approve the work have agreed on it.
A brief vs an RFP
A brief and a request for proposal overlap, but they do different jobs. A brief explains the project so the work can be planned well; it is useful whether you are talking to one agency or several. An RFP is a more formal process for comparing several agencies, with set questions, evaluation criteria and submission rules. Many small businesses only need a brief and a few conversations. If you do run a formal process, the brief becomes the heart of the RFP.
Read the marketing agency RFP guide.
A marketing brief template
Use this structure for your own brief. The example entries describe a hypothetical commercial maintenance company and are there only to show the level of detail.
| Section | What to write | Example entry |
|---|---|---|
| Background | What you do, for whom and how you make money | We provide maintenance for heating and cooling systems in commercial buildings. |
| Goal | The business problem and the outcome you need | We want more maintenance contracts with commercial clients, not more one-off repair calls. |
| Audience | Who decides and what they care about | Facility and property managers who value reliability and clear records. |
| Message | Why customers should choose you | Planned maintenance that reduces disruption for tenants. |
| Competitors | Who else customers consider | Other local contractors and larger national firms. |
| Budget | Your range and what it must cover | A monthly range for advertising and management, shared in the proposal discussion. |
| Timing | Fixed dates and busy periods | Launch before our busiest season, with approvals built into the schedule. |
| Success measures | How you will judge results | Qualified contract inquiries and the cost of each new contract. |
| Approvals | Who reviews and signs off | The owner approves strategy; the operations manager reviews technical claims. |
Frequently asked questions
What should a marketing brief include?
A brief should cover your business background, the goal and the problem behind it, the audience, the main message, your competitors, your budget range, your timing, how success will be measured and who approves the work. Add any brand guidelines or restrictions. The aim is to give the agency what it needs to plan, without unnecessary detail.
How long should a marketing brief be?
As short as it can be while still clear. A focused brief that covers the essentials is more useful than a long one that buries them. If a section does not help the agency make better decisions, leave it out or move it to an appendix the agency can read if it needs more context.