The quality of the work you get from a marketing partner depends heavily on the quality of the brief you give them. A vague brief produces activity; a clear one produces results. If you are wondering how to brief a marketing agency without writing a fifty-page document, this guide sets out what managing directors need to cover, and what you can safely leave out.
Start with the business goal
Most poor briefs start with the tactic: "We need a new website", "We want to do more on LinkedIn", "Can you run some ads?" Those may well be the right answers, but they are answers. A good partner needs to understand the question.
Begin with what the business is trying to achieve over the next year or two. Are you trying to win larger clients, enter a new sector, fill capacity in a particular service line, or reduce reliance on a few big accounts? Explain why it matters now. A goal like "we want more enquiries for our maintenance contracts because they give us recurring revenue" tells a partner far more than "we need more leads".
Be open about what you have already tried. Knowing that a previous campaign fell flat, and your theory about why, saves time and money.
Share the numbers
Many businesses are reluctant to share figures with a new partner. It is understandable, but it makes good advice almost impossible. You do not need to open your management accounts, but the following will help:
- Roughly how many enquiries you get each month, and where they come from.
- Your typical conversion rate from enquiry to proposal, and from proposal to win.
- Average order or contract value, and how long a typical client stays with you.
- Your sales cycle: how long it takes from first contact to signed deal.
- The budget range you are working with, including any internal time you can commit.
If you do not know some of these, say so. Working them out together is often the first useful piece of work. Our article on the five marketing numbers every MD should know is a good starting point.
Define what success looks like
Agree, before any work starts, how you will judge whether it is working. Success should link back to the business goal, not just to marketing activity.
Useful measures are things like qualified enquiries, proposals issued, deals won or pipeline value. Website visits, impressions and followers can be helpful signals, but they are not outcomes on their own.
Be realistic about timing. Some activity, such as follow-up processes or sales emails, can show results quickly. Brand, content and search work take longer. A good partner will tell you which is which, and set expectations accordingly.
Agree how you'll work together
The working relationship matters as much as the plan. Cover the practical points early so nobody is surprised later.
- Who owns it internally. Name one person as the main contact, with the authority to make decisions or get them made quickly.
- Sign-off. Who needs to approve what, and how long approvals typically take.
- Reporting. How often you want updates, in what format and what they should include.
- Access. Website, CRM, analytics, social accounts and brand assets. Delays in access are one of the most common reasons projects stall.
- What sits with you. Clarify which tasks your team will handle, such as responding to enquiries or providing technical input.
Expect a good partner to challenge parts of your brief. That is a sign they are thinking about the result, not just taking the order.
A simple brief template you can copy
Use this as a starting point. One or two pages is plenty.
- About us: what we do, who we serve and what makes us different.
- Business goal: what we want to achieve, by when, and why it matters now.
- Target customers: sectors, company size, job titles of decision-makers and their main problems.
- Current position: monthly enquiries, main lead sources, conversion rates, average deal value and sales cycle.
- What we have tried: past marketing activity, what worked, what did not and why we think so.
- Success measures: the two or three numbers we will use to judge progress.
- Budget and timescale: the investment range and any key dates or deadlines.
- Ways of working: main contact, sign-off process, reporting rhythm and access needed.
- Constraints: anything off-limits, compliance requirements or brand rules to follow.
Frequently asked questions
How detailed should a marketing brief be?
Detailed enough to explain the goal, the audience, the numbers and how success will be measured. For most established businesses, one or two pages works well. A longer brief is not better if the essentials are buried.
Should I tell an agency my budget?
Yes. Sharing a budget range lets a partner recommend the best plan for the money available, rather than guessing. Without it, you are likely to receive proposals that are either too small to work or too large to approve.
What if I don't know what marketing we need?
That is fine, and often a better starting point. Brief on the business goal and the numbers, and ask the partner to recommend the approach. Judge them on the quality of their questions as much as their answers.
Find the right partner, then brief them well
If you are still choosing who to work with, download our free guide on how to choose a marketing agency. Already have a goal in mind? Get in touch and we will help you shape it into a brief that gets results.
