Behind every marketing action there is a planning and an approach for it to be carried out. It is not something that is improvised or that is solved on the fly. A marketing campaign cannot be carried out without an approach or a series of meetings prior to its launch. It is in this development of the idea, in this approach, where the key to success lies.
The briefing is a key element for the marketing strategy of your company. The reality is that it is not as regularly used as it should be, although it is a very important element for any company, whether it is a marketing company or not. It is the work plan, the document that establishes the idea of any marketing action that we want to implement.
The briefing can be applied to any marketing strategy, whether it is digital or not. To obtain a good result from this work plan, it is necessary to be very clear and defined what a briefing is and how to prepare it correctly. If you want to solve these doubts, keep reading!
what is a briefing?
A briefing is a written document detailing how a marketing action or strategy should be carried out. It comes from the word "brief", which in English means brief, so it is understood that it should be a short, clear and concise document.
This document should explain how the process of creating the strategy or project has been carried out, as well as the purpose for which the strategy has been created and the final objective to be achieved. It is like a summary of all the planning, development and measurement of a marketing strategy.
It is a very practical tool to define all your company's actions, and it helps you to be clear about how this action will be developed, not only for your company, but also for third parties, such as investors or agencies.
A marketing briefing should answer a series of questions that the company asks itself when preparing it:
what do I want to do?
what is the objective?
how am I going to carry it out?
when am I going to launch it?
why am I doing it?
how much will it cost?
what will my ROI be?
If you answer all these questions clearly, briefly and simply, you will know that you have done a briefing properly. Even before you write the briefing itself, you can ask these questions and use them as a script for the subsequent drafting of the document.
However, it is essential to establish an outline in which you are clear on how a marketing briefing should be prepared step by step, and in this post we offer it to you ourselves.
How to create a marketing briefing step by step
Now that we have clarified what a marketing briefing is, the next step is to establish how to prepare this document. Don't forget that, above all, a marketing briefing should be as brief as possible, so it is necessary to establish the minimum data in a strategic way.
- The person who prepares it is key
Before launching any marketing action, you must define who is going to be the person in charge of preparing the briefing for that project. You must look for a person capable of conveying information in a brief and effective way.
It is essential to consider a person who has extensive knowledge of your products and services, the market you are in and what your buyer persona is like. This person will be able to define in a clear and simple way the approach and all the data that a good marketing briefing should contain.
The most frequent and advisable is to choose an employee of the company.
- Face to face with the customer
To carry out a marketing strategy, the client is the key point. The essence of marketing, both traditional and digital, lies in knowing who our client is. What are their interests, their needs, the doubts they have, ..
That is why, before a brief, it is more necessary than advisable to establish meetings with your clients. These meetings should be short, and in them the company should acquire all the necessary points to complete a brief, so the questions should be posed strategically to each client.
- Review the document
Before submitting any document, whether it is a briefing or a review, you should review the document from start to finish. If necessary, review it thousands of times, but you need to pay close attention to check for unnecessary information.
Reading through the document repeatedly once you have finished the briefing will help you to spot mistakes, eliminate repetitive or unnecessary information, and simplify the information.
- Simplifying the information
When you prepare a briefing, you know that you will not be the only one reading the document. A briefing does not only reach the hands of the employees of that company, but in many cases it is presented to other companies, partners or even investors of your company.
This should be kept in mind when you are preparing a briefing, so use refined but understandable language, without too many technical or little-used terms, so that the document is easy to read.
- Analyse all options
Having the client's statements is not enough to make a briefing. The briefing writer must pay attention to many details when writing the briefing. He or she must be actively involved, analysing all possible options, offering suggestions or even questioning what he or she already has.
A briefing is the document that plans, develops and implements a marketing action. It is a key point for the success of a marketing strategy, so it is very important to know how it is developed and with what objective. The company must have clear and established what its marketing objectives are, as the effectiveness of its actions, and therefore, of its briefing, will depend on it.
