How to Write a Content Brief [Template + Examples]

I’ve labored in a variety of completely different industries — as a freelancer, as a supervisor of freelancers, as a marketer, as a author — and what by no means adjustments? The necessity for content material creators to be crystal clear on their assignments.

A smiling woman looks at a laptop. A thought bubble contains a content brief.

One of many easiest methods to attain that is to jot down content material briefs.

Do not be deceived, although: Despite the fact that a content material temporary is easy, it is nonetheless necessary to get it proper.

Desk of Contents

What’s a content material temporary?

A content material temporary is a brief doc — for those who can maintain it to a web page or two, everyone will probably be glad — that’s a information or blueprint for creating content material.

The specifics will differ relying on the form of content material you’re creating and who the temporary is for, however it ought to anticipate and reply top-level questions on content material, format, communication, and so forth.

For those who handle freelance writers, a content material temporary will probably be a lifesaver for each you and your writers — and that’s solely a slight exaggeration. Your content material briefs will describe precisely what’s anticipated of the author, together with any required subheadings, goal phrase depend, and deadlines.

For those who work on a challenge with a number of companions at a number of organizations, a easy content material temporary will give everyone a single supply of fact.

Content material Briefs vs. Artistic Briefs

Though they sound related, content material briefs and creative briefs serve completely different functions. A artistic temporary outlines a marketing campaign, and will embrace extra in depth messaging, deliverables from a number of contributors, and different particulars that give form to your entire marketing campaign.

A content material temporary focuses on a selected piece of content material — my examples beneath are for written content material, however you could possibly use the identical parts to create a content material temporary for movies, podcasts, or the rest you’re producing. For those who’re utilizing software program like Content Hub, a short would be the basis for every bit of content material.

Significance of Content material Briefs

Positive, you might attempt to muddle via with out one, however they save extra time than they take to jot down.

I as soon as labored on a challenge with a number of exterior companions, and apart from Slack and Google Docs, no one used the identical organizational instruments, and it brought on a variety of frustration and confusion.

I pulled collectively a generic content material temporary that could possibly be iterated on for particular assignments. It included authorised messaging, hyperlinks to all of the paperwork that everyone was engaged on, and main deliverables and deadlines. You can virtually hear the sigh of aid within the Slack channel.

I used to do some freelance writing, and my favourite consumer was the one which had one of the best content material temporary. Writing for a brand new consumer may be intimidating, even for skilled writers, as a result of it’s a must to study a brand new model information, a brand new voice, and possibly even a wholly new audience.

That specific consumer included a one-page temporary with every task. It included the goal phrase depend and the speed, the identify of the publication and its viewers, in addition to hyperlinks to the model information and any property, an outline of the task, and the assigning editor and due date. If an interview was required, contact information was supplied.

They have been a dream to freelance for as a result of I by no means wasted time with logistical questions — the expectations have been clear and all the pieces I wanted was at my fingertips.

For those who’re modifying content material, offering a transparent content material temporary will cut back the variety of revisions and rewrites (to not point out frustration!). Let’s speak about easy methods to strike a stability between detailed and concise.

Components of a Content material Transient

The weather of a content material temporary will differ relying in your wants, however listed here are what I feel are absolutely the necessities:

Level particular person and/or a responsibility matrix
Communication protocols, corresponding to a Slack channel
Clear description of the challenge or task, together with audience and phrase depend
Hyperlinks to property, messaging, model and/or model guides, and every other related shared paperwork
Deliverables and deadlines

You may additionally embrace:

After I’ve labored on advertising multi-partner podcasts, I’ve discovered it useful to incorporate a couple of bullet factors of authorised messaging, noting who has authorised on behalf of every associate.

Some stakeholders could have sure necessities for the way their firm or group is described, and your writers and content material entrepreneurs will want that information.

Maintain it easy:

Professional tip: Particularly when working with exterior companions, it’s usually price repeating necessary model particulars which can be in your model information. Don’t get too slowed down right here — the model information exists for a motive — however stakeholders will recognize having this information at hand.

For those who’re writing content material briefs for freelancers, you’ll wish to make sure that they’ve entry to any data they could want throughout the course of their task — model or brand guidelines, Slack channels, who to contact with questions, and any context for the task.

Let’s dig into “clear description of the task,” since that may comprise a variety of necessary particulars on your author(s), corresponding to:

Goal. Inform the author what the content material objective is; possibly it’s a weblog submit to handle demand for a sure key phrase, or possibly you want advert copy and quite a lot of CTAs for a brand new product.
SEO/key phrases. What does your author must find out about goal key phrases? Are there any key phrases or matters that they need to keep away from to stop content material cannibalization?
Material specialists and sourcing. In our brave new E-E-A-Tified world, firsthand expertise is extra necessary than ever. In case your author is anticipated to conduct SME interviews, embrace that within the temporary. You may additionally ask that they supply hyperlinks to every other sources they’ve used to help with any mild fact-checking.
Required subheadings and different technical specs. For those who’ve performed your key phrase analysis, chances are you’ll have already got H2 or H3 subheadings in thoughts. This may also assist the author perceive the way you need the content material organized. Your author may additionally be anticipated to supply meta descriptions, alt textual content for photographs, or social media copy.
Different formatting necessities. If a doc must be formatted in a sure manner, clarify how (ideally with an instance or template). For those who can solely settle for (or for those who favor) a sure file sort, embrace that — don’t assume that everyone is utilizing Google Workspace or Microsoft Phrase simply since you are.
Sharing/entry necessities. Everyone knows the frustration of seeing “Entry denied.” Set everyone up for fulfillment by together with information on who to share recordsdata with.
How and the place to file the finished task. Does your workflow require tagging sure folks in an Asana card? Do writers e-mail you once they’ve accomplished an task?
Naming conventions. If any of the deliverables, together with property, must observe a selected filename conference, lay that out in your content material temporary.
Submit-assignment expectations. If writers ought to count on to listen to from an editor, allow them to know that forward of time — freelancers particularly might want to finances time for this. And for those who handle a big roster of freelancers, it may be useful to incorporate any reminders concerning the price and invoicing necessities.

Learn how to Write a Content material Transient

Let’s make a template: Utilizing your phrase processor of selection, create a one-page doc with a two-column desk. Within the left-hand column, write out the essential parts: level particular person and/or duty matrix, communication protocols, task description, property, and deadlines and deliverables.

That is private desire, however I prefer to record the communication information within the high left header of the temporary, together with the related Slack channel — I repeat this information when I’ve to create different docs for stakeholders, so everyone will get used to having it entrance and middle.

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How to Write a Content Brief [Template + Examples]

It instantly solutions the highest questions: Who’s in cost? Who wants to supply approval? The place did you inform me that Google Drive was? Why didn’t anyone inform me there was a Slack channel for this challenge?

Even when this information feels redundant, it may be particularly useful for brand new freelancers or new hires, so I recommend making it a part of your template. Freelancers usually have a number of (or extra) purchasers, all of whom may need completely different necessities and codecs, and this may save them a while and sanity.

Your temporary may begin off like this:

Professional tip: You’ll word that I’ve included the time and time zone within the due date — I contemplate this important data. Particularly within the age of distributed workforces, the place workers and freelancers could also be in several time zones, together with this may save everyone a headache and set your author up for fulfillment.

Earlier than you flesh out any particulars within the task description, contemplate who your content material temporary is for. Freelance writers will probably want extra hyperlinks and extra context than in-house writers, who have already got the corporate model information bookmarked (proper? Proper?).

Chances are you’ll discover it helpful to create two templates, one for in-house writers and one for freelancers, so you’ll be able to present your entrepreneurs with essentially the most concise temporary. For example, freelancers could not want information on KPIs; in-house writers who add their very own work to the CMS gained’t want a folder for deliverables.

What’s absolutely the minimal data a author must efficiently full an task? It’s tempting to incorporate hyperlinks to all the pieces associated to the challenge, however don’t overload your writers with pointless context.

It’ll be helpful at this stage to speak to them, whether or not they’re in-house or freelance, and discover out what they discover most useful.

You’ll want to explain the task, its function, and its viewers:

Professional tip: For freelancers, contemplate at all times together with a hyperlink to your model information. That manner it’s at all times helpful. And a easy “thanks” is at all times a pleasant contact.

In case your content material has a variety of particular necessities for conversion technique, search engine marketing, key phrases, and the like, embrace these in a desk so that they’re simple to parse.

After I labored as a contract author, I discovered this extremely useful. It’s a small factor, however having the ability to see all this information in the identical format with every task makes it a lot simpler to get began on assignments.

Information that’s usually included in HubSpot assignments is the month-to-month search quantity, any required CTAs, and search engine marketing and conversion methods:

Write Your First Content material Transient

When you’ve constructed a template (or two) that fits your wants, content material briefs gained’t take you a lot time in any respect to fill out. And whether or not you’re working with in-house content material creators, freelancers, and/or exterior stakeholders, having a single supply of data will make everyone’s job simpler and extra environment friendly.