How to Write an Impactful Creative Brief

Creative briefs are a document and a tool project managers, marketing professionals, and other creative professionals use to plan a project. It can help guide you (or your team) as you work on a specific deliverable, such as a website or advertising campaign. Creative briefs can also be valuable in helping cultivate your brand.

No matter your intended use, learning about what goes into a creative brief and the best practices for developing one can help you understand its potential to positively impact your next project. 

What is a creative brief?

A creative brief contains all the information your creative team will need to complete a creative project successfully. It includes describing the work, the company’s goals in creating it, and who the audience will be. It also can consist of logistics, such as a timeline and budget. 

What is a creative brief used for, and what are the benefits? 

You can use this valuable document to share your vision with your team. Doing so can make the design process smoother, faster, and more transparent. 

• Transparency: With a clearly defined scope and project expectations comes increased accountability for everyone involved. Your team will have a better, clearer understanding of all expectations. 

• Smoother Processes: The creative team knows what you are looking for in the final format, tone, message, and other creative elements essential to your brand, making it easier for them to design a desirable product. 

• Faster Execution: Well-planned creative projects can stay on track and deliver quality results specific to your brand. Best of all, they typically are of higher quality and better aligned with client requirements and business objectives since you establish parameters before beginning work. 

Who uses creative briefs?

Various professionals in the marketing and project management fields use creative briefs, including marketing managers, graphic designers, project managers, and content strategists. Let's explore these roles in more detail.

Marketing managers

Average annual salary: $139,051.42 [1]

Job outlook (2022 to 2032): 6 percent [2]

As a marketing manager, you will often present creative briefs to the rest of the team as you plan advertising and marketing campaigns. You may decide what marketing channels to pursue, such as radio, television, and digital media. You may also decide about brand image and strategy or meet directly with clients. Marketing managers work with other department heads and sometimes lead a team of marketing professionals. 

Graphic designers

Average annual salary: $65,249.18 [3]

Job outlook (2022 to 2032): 3 percent [4]

As a graphic designer, you will use creative briefs to guide you in creating digital images or elements such as logos, images, or illustrations that align with client and company visions and objectives. You may create website designs, advertising, brochures, and more. Graphic designers often work closely with marketing professionals and other members of advertising teams. 

Project managers 

Average annual salary: $102,922.08 [5]

Job outlook (2022 to 2023): 6 percent [6]

As a project manager, you will work with clients to understand the requirements of a project, then develop a creative brief and project plan identifying the costs, resources, time, equipment, labor, and other limitations of the project. You will work with the team throughout the project to measure progress and results, solicit feedback from the client, and work as an intermediary between the client and the creative team to complete revisions. Once your team finishes the project, you will review and deliver it. 

Content strategists

Average annual salary (Lightcast™): $81,800.56 [7]

Job outlook (projected growth from 2022 to 2023): 13 percent [8]

As a content strategist, you will be responsible for planning and implementing a content strategy to meet a company’s needs, such as for a website or social media efforts. You will need to understand how to use digital content to attract the appropriate audience for the company and plan or create content to generate leads and increase engagement. 

How to write a creative brief

Writing a creative brief requires having a thorough understanding of the project and knowledge of the components creative briefs typically include. Design teams benefit from an abundance of information and it’s your job to give the team all the information they need without getting tangled in details that aren’t relevant. Below, you’ll find a description of many of the components of a creative brief that will help you understand which types of information may be helpful to your creative team. To visualize how the components go together, you can find creative brief templates available online. 

Components of a creative brief

A creative brief is a planning document to share all the information the design team needs to deliver a successful project. These elements are some examples of what goes into a creative brief. 

Description

A creative brief should include a description of the project and the company. Any background information that would be helpful to your creative team, such as the products and services you offer and your company philosophies, should go in this section. 

Audience

Your creative brief should answer the question, who are you creating this project for? Your audience is the people who will ultimately use, read, or interact with the project you’re working on. This section could include demographic information or details about their interests and preferences. It should also explain why this is the target audience and how your project will speak to their needs. 

Objectives and goals

The objectives and goals of your project explain why the project is a good idea for you. What do you plan to accomplish? Sometimes, you may have a specific metric to hit, such as a certain number of new customers, subscribers, or sales. In other cases, the goals may be more abstract, such as shifting the brand’s demographic. When objectives are specific with measurable objectives, it’s easier to measure progress and clearly understand what success looks like for both you and the design team. 

Tone and key message

Tone and message explain what the central goal of the project is and how it’s portrayed to the audience. Your message is the main information your audience will learn, while the tone is how that information makes them feel. Writing a creative brief gives you a chance to make sure that tone and messaging are consistent across marketing endeavors. 

Timeline

The timeline of your project helps your whole team stay on track and gives you a metric to gauge whether the project is progressing as planned. In the planning stages, a timeline can help you minimize conflicts down the road. Timelines can also include information such as when a first draft is due, the number of planned revision rounds, and the due date of the final deliverable. 

Budget

Including budget information in your creative brief helps you plan the project's costs and prioritize important parts of it accordingly. Being upfront with your design team about your expectations of the project's cost is essential. 

Proposed distribution 

Your creative brief may also include information about how you'll ultimately distribute the project to your audience. This information is an integral part of the planning process and essential for the creative team. The final deliverable must be compatible with the places you intend to distribute it. For example, you'll need to format a short video correctly to post on social media. The distribution channels can also affect the tone and other design decisions. 

Getting started with Coursera

A creative brief ensures your entire team is on the same page as it takes on a new project. However, knowing how to write this kind of planning document is a crucial skill to have when you're working in creative professions like marketing.  

To take the next steps in a career in digital marketing, consider earning your Meta Social Media Marketing Professional Certificate on Coursera. With this course, you'll have the opportunity to learn skills in digital marketing, brand management, social media marketing, content marketing, and more. In as little as seven months, you can be job-ready for a career as a social media manager or social media strategist.