You’ve just signed a contract with a content provider. Here’s how to make the most out of that collaboration. Everything starts with a good brief.
Let’s begin with what a brief should be. A project brief is a short document that sums up key details relating to a project, giving the content creator working on your project clear guidelines and project objectives.
The purpose of a brief is to provide information to the content company. That’s how you’ll get the content you need.
By investing a little bit more time in a brief, you’re making sure you’ll receive exactly what you’re looking for. Always be precise and exact. Otherwise, you and the content creator’s relationship might get rocky due to a lack of communication.
While there’s no one-brief-fits-all scenario, there are a few elements that should be included in every brief.
Project scope.
What is the duration of the project? Do you need a blog post, a social media post, or a white paper? What’s the expected word count? A blog post is usually 500-1,000 words, a White Paper is usually about 10,000 words, and an ebook is about 20,000. This can always change, but that’s the rule of thumb.
Timeline.
What’s the project timeline? When do you need the first draft? What’s the publication date? Set achievable deadlines and inform the content company early. This way, you won’t get a rushed project and have to pay a rush fee.
Goals.
What do you want to achieve? What are your objectives?
Target audience.
Who are you trying to reach? Depending on your audience, the content provider will use a different tone and vocabulary.
Competitive analysis.
Has your competition already posted on this topic? By including them in the brief, you give the content creator a chance to put a different spin on the article and make it better. Send your writer some similar posts so they can understand your mandate.
Your company’s differentiators.
What makes your company stand out? What’s your unique selling point? The content company doesn’t necessarily know you that well; if anything should be highlighted, you need to tell them that.
Be precise!
Give exact and specific directions. Provide all the details that can help the content creator deliver exactly what you’re looking for. By offering as much detail as possible, you can ensure that your contractor doesn’t get confused nor will you have to face endless rewrites.
Remember to make sure that your new content is part of your company’s content plan, we covered it in one of our earlier posts.
Need help with your brief? Contact us.