What Are the Best Tips for Writing a Creative Brief?

A creative brief is used by marketing departments to create marketing strategies, and writing a creative brief can be a challenge, though there are some tips that can help. The writer should concentrate on writing clearly defined and measureable goals that can be used as a success metric. A creative brief is supposed to be short, so the writer should be writing a creative brief that uses as few words as possible. Highlighting the specific demographic can make it easier for the marketing department to tailor the advertising toward potential buyers. Budgeting is an important issue for marketing departments, so the writer's brief should clearly define specific costs of the given strategy.

Oftentimes, when someone is writing a creative brief, he adds in ambiguous goals. For example, someone may write, “get more respondents.” While an increase in respondents can be measured, this does not tell the marketing department how many extra respondents will be considered a success. In this case, the marketing department may not know if 10 more respondents would be successful, or if 100 more would be. Instead, the writer should create specific goals, such as “increase respondent rate by 35 percent.”

When it comes to writing a creative brief, many writers want to add in all the details they can to ensure the information is clear. This tends to do the opposite; too much information can be difficult for the marketing department to understand, and the department may mess up the goals and strategies because of improper wording. It is usually better if the writer focuses on small sentences that say exactly what is needed and nothing else.

Every product and service has a specific demographic, and it can be beneficial if the writer highlights this when writing a creative brief. Much like the goals section, this should be clear and specific. If he or she writes, “adult males” as the demographic, it can be difficult to tailor a product to all males. A better approach may be, “high-income male entrepreneurs under the age of 30." This helps the marketing department create advertising that can target this niche, rather than the department trying to target every male.

Most marketing efforts require money, and the writer including information about a plan's costs while writing a creative brief can help managers properly allocate funds to sponsor the project. The writer should write the exact amount, or a close approximation, of the total marketing costs. A breakdown of costs may be required if the price is high, but the writer often can just state the full costs.