There are SO many ways to write briefs. The way they’re interpreted can be quite an individual process. A content brief is an opportunity to guide a piece of content. This includes your likes, dislikes, things to include, and non-negotiables. Having a document where all this is mapped out means there shouldn't be any nasty surprises when you receive a first or final draft.
Briefs also offer a few other things that you might not have considered:
A brief for one piece of content might inspire ideas for future content that haven’t already been considered
There might be views or angles included in your answers that you didn’t think were important
You might not know the headings or how the piece should be structured – some titles or ideas lend themselves to better formats than others
Let’s take SEO content writing as an example. You start with a list of keywords and a goal to improve your rankings for them. Content like this typically follows a format. Whereas if you want to do more inspirational content that builds relationships, you might have a list of general topics or themes you want to cover.
To write a comprehensive brief, a lot of questions need to be asked. I've split brief writing into different sections, following a chronological process:
Research: Any relevant background information that explains your reasoning for the content. This puts the article into context
Messaging and goals: What you want your reader to think, feel, or do. This guides the content and keeps it focused
Audience: The intended reader of the article and their level of knowledge about the subject
Content function and tone: The purpose of the content and how the article should sound, or be perceived. Informs language choices and sentence structure
You might find that some of the questions in the brief overlap slightly. Like I said, it’s to offer different perspectives on the information - these can help to build a narrative. There also might be details that just don’t immediately spring to mind.
It’s not a problem if you don’t know the answer to every section. Just fill out as much as you can - I can work out the rest!
Research
I LOVE the research stage! It’s your opportunity to share your opinions, topics that you're interested in building on, and get back up to speed or refamiliarise yourself with old ideas.
So, first and foremost, consider:
What topics would you like to create content for?
Is this pillar content or part of a cluster*? Please include any relevant links.
Which SEO keywords are you targeting?
*Content centred around a particular theme or topic.
If you’ve already had a look at your current content offering, and the competitive landscape, it’s also helpful to know:
Do you have any ideas for a working title? If so, what are they?
What content gaps are you trying to fill? Your own and from external sources.
What do you (or this content) offer in comparison to competitors?
Internal website linking opportunities
Not a total must-have, as I find research an iterative process, but if you have some links that help make sense of what you want, they can be included in the research section too.
Messaging and goals
When defining your goals, you could use a framework (such as SMART) to keep it structured. The following questions are designed to give a good idea of the purpose of the piece and how it ties into the wider vision you have for your marketing.
What is the problem you’re trying to solve for your reader?
What message do you want to send to the reader?
How do you want the reader to feel, think, or act?
What is your overall goal?
Target audience
The target audience is who the content is being written for. It’s especially worth knowing if you’re getting really specific on who you’re targeting with your content because the more specific you can be, the easier it is to write something they'll likely enjoy reading.
Who is your target audience?
Prospective or current customers/clients
A specific industry
A group with similar interests or traits
What is their assumed level of knowledge?
Do you have an ideal customer profile (ICP)?
Include their experience, likes/dislikes, challenges, and current situation
Remember, if you're writing for everyone, you're writing for no one.
Content function and tone
Going back to my degree with this, but one of the most helpful things I learned in a translation module is the idea of text functions. Katharina Reiss (I believe) outlined three core text functions:
Informative: Communicative content that states fact
Expressive: Artistic content that creates feelings in the reader
Operative: Persuasive content that encourages action
Before embarking on a translation project, you should first to identify the function of the passage in the source language before translating into the target language. This is because it will affect the type of language you choose when translating.
This is really relevant in a content brief. It sets the tone for the piece. It identifies its boundaries, and whether the content needs to follow a proven formula.
The tone of the content is another light directional steer. This, to me, is how you want the content to feel overall. Think of the tone as macro level, and tone as micro (probably technically medium if we consider vocab!).
Brand guidelines do come in handy here if you’ve already got that all mapped out.
What is the function of the content? Is it:
Informative: stating fact, information, or knowledge
Expressive: using language creatively to convey feelings
Operative: to encourage the reader to do or feel something
What is the tone of the content? How do you want the content to sound?
Friendly, approachable, knowledgeable, confident, aggressive...
Other information
If you've got additional information to include that doesn't fit into the other sections, drop it in this section - simple!
I have been quite detailed in this brief template. The amount of sections you would fill in would depend on your way of working. For example, you might already have a fairly planned content calendar, you just aren’t able to write the pieces yourself. This means you’d be more likely to fill in details, like a suggested working title. Or maybe you only need a batch of content around a topic but need help scoping it out. Try and come up with at least one key theme or idea to build from.
And there we have it, everything that you could possibly want to include in a content brief. Feel free to download the template :)!
