The creative agency has evolved to be a crucial support partner for marketing professionals. The marketing manager role in recent years has become more varied than most roles within an organisation.

Many of which could be supported by a creative agency. As well as strategic planning, administration, operations, reporting, SEO and events, the marketeer has to ensure that the company ethos is maintained to an impeccable standard throughout. It is very common for the Marketing manager to act as a conduit for several outsourced partners, used to help shoulder the load.

From design agencies for collateral, and digital agencies to online and social, there is a good chance that the marketer has a broad range of external partners they can lean on when needed.

The success you will see when working with partners is driven entirely by how well you communicate and work with your chosen outsourced businesses. In this blog, we are looking at how you can best brief your creative agency ensuring your project is off to the best possible start, accurately budgeted and scheduled.

The Creative Agency Design Brief

Most creative projects are conceptualised in the mind of an individual or very small group. The chances are you are working to achieve one person’s vision, which can be very hard to bring to life if not communicated accurately.

The key to a successful creative design brief is to be as specific as possible, it is better to have too much detail than not enough. A well-thought-through brief will give your agency all of the information they need to bring your idea to life. Whether it’s a brochure, poster or website, the way you communicate your requirements to your agency is crucial in getting what you want.

A successful briefing will…

• Minimise proofs and amendments
• Reduce time requirements
• Minimise unnecessary costs
• Streamline proofing and reviewing.
• Speed up sign-off
• Improve teamwork flow.
• Ensure your brand fairly represents your business.

The briefing process is key to a successful project however it can commonly be overlooked if you have a historic relationship with your creative agency. Providing a written brief is an excellent discipline to maintain. It can help you convey exactly what you’re expecting. It can save time and fees in the long run. It can also act as a benchmark to measure project success. Did your creative agency do what was agreed, in good time? If not, what adjustments did they make to accommodate the completion of the creative brief?

Communicate what you need accurately. Don’t go into extensive detail, be concise, but make sure your brief is detailed enough that your creative agency can understand what you’re looking for.

An important, but often overlooked, make sure you really engage your agency, so they are as fired up with enthusiasm for the project as you are.

Questions to answer in your brief…

All briefs should include some standard elements and ultimately answer the following questions.

• What is the project’s background story?
• What is the objective? What are you seeking to achieve?
• What brand guidelines need to be followed?
• Who is your audience?
• What is your budget?
• What are the timescales and deadlines?
• What are the key messages and propositions?
• Who is responsible for the final sign off?

Employing best practice techniques when briefing your creative agencies makes a huge difference to the speed, ease and ultimate success of your marketing projects.

We strongly recommend making your creative agency briefing a standard working proactive. From our experience, the most efficient projects we manage were appropriately briefed and planned. Maximising the efficiency of your briefing process will help the project run smoothly and ensure your creative agency delivers what you are looking for, on time and within budget.

Please give us a call on 07813 33978 or 01293 886805 and let us know what you need. Alternatively, complete our FREE Brand Audit and let us talk through how an effective creative brief can make your brand can work for your business.