Writing your marketing campaign brief

Before you produce a successful marketing campaign, you need a brief. But not just any brief, an in-depth description of your aims, objectives, offers, copy, design and so much more. Providing a poor marketing proposal to a mailing house, for instance, can prove detrimental to the final result of your campaign. Similarly, a lacklustre brief does not inspire others to work on the project willingly. Washington Direct Mail, an established mailing house producing millions of direct mail campaigns each year, are sharing their secrets to an effective marketing brief.

Marketing brief template

There are a number of rules available on the internet for briefs, but we’re going to stick to the basics. Include information on:

• Company background

• Any competition in the industry

• What you are doing

• Why you are doing it

• Who you are targeting

• The tone of the campaign

• The call to action/s

• Timeline of campaign

• How you would like to track success

• The budget for the campaign

Firstly, you need to provide info on your company. If you are working with an agency, they need to understand your core values and objectives to stand a hope of achieving your desired results. If you’re a family-run business, tell them - everyone loves a good ‘rags to riches’ story. Similarly, identify any key competitors and successful campaigns they have run in the past. If the template is already there, don’t go to the trouble of creating a new one.

The most important factors of your brief are what, why and who. What marketing channels do you intend to use as part of your campaign? Are you solely focusing on direct mail? Or, are you hoping to integrate your marketing platforms to expand your reach? You must also establish why you are producing the campaign. You need clear and realistic objectives and goals. Is it simply to build brand awareness, or are you hoping to generate sales? Lastly, to achieve all of the above, you must understand your target audience. It’s not simply enough to know their names and addresses, but you must tailor your message to their wants, needs and buying habits. If you don’t have the data readily available through your own CRM, you can buy consumer data online.

You must also provide an incentive for your consumers to do what you ask. Perhaps you could place an exclusive discount that can only be accessed through the specific mailing. We also recommend adding urgency to the mailer, as you don’t want to give your prospect a chance to consider the offer. Your copy and design must make them act immediately.

All of this comes down to the timeline of your campaign. Is it just an initial direct mail piece to raise brand awareness? Alternatively, are you delivering marketing mail as your consumers move further down the sales funnel? If that is the case, you will need to establish whether your third-party agency boasts storage space for your mail before each piece is distributed. Similarly, this comes into the budget. How much are you hoping to spend, and is there any room for flexibility with the budget?

Lastly, how are you looking to track this campaign? Will QR codes form part of the design, or are there specific landing pages where you can measure the number of visitors?

Ultimately, your brief will form the base of your campaign. Of Course, there is room for flexibility, but external agencies will work from your proposal.

Jimmy Holyoak - Journalist