THE HOLY BRIEF AND WHY WE NEED IT
Author: Sanija Hasanić
I’m sure that his is not your first encounter with the word “brief”. However, if it is, let me explain what exactly that is in just a couple of sentences.
A brief is an important thing to get from a client in order for us to jointly, and as swiftly as possible, prepare a concrete communication strategy with clear key messages, one that is in line with the client’s wishes, wants and goals (I don’t want to keep repeating words such as “mission”, “vision” and all that jazz) and is intended for relevant areas of the public and sectors, all through a list of channels that will be used along the way.
It’s like an instruction manual, the Holy Scriptures, hmmmmm… How can I describe it more vividly… A brief is the foundation according to which the synapses in our PR brains may start to create and transfer ideas that are good or not so good. Then we do a little brainstorming, then we test the ideas, then we potentially contact the client with several more questions and presto! A strategy is born, that truly represents what the client wants and needs and what the agency is completely satisfied with.
Many a time has a client sat across from me and said: “I think I need you.”
That’s a very serious claim. But, many a time has it been the case that the client didn’t think they need PR because they wanted to communicate something concrete, but because they saw that the competition had had some dealings with PR and were thus afraid of becoming a “straggler”.
Unprepared, unaware of what they want to communicate – they would like everything, but everything just might not be what the doctor ordered. They don’t know how. Their competition does things one way, and now they would like something else. They would like to be special, then different, then, come to think of it, maybe not so much… This is where the brief comes in – on a piece of paper, clients should write their services, in other words the things they wish to emphasize, and briefly explain why is it that they specifically want those things to stand out, i.e. what significance do they bear. They state information regarding the products or they tell us where we can find the information we need…
They explain whom they are addressing and what goals they have in mind.
Again, this is our instruction manual, so to speak.
And one more important thing – just to be clear, we don’t consider a brief to be something set in stone 😉
A brief helps us out a lot and is a starting point, but it should be said that we belong to an industry of people who view communication differently than clients and have certain insights that clients don’t…
We may change your structure a bit, tweak key messages, throw in a product which should be communicated. Tweak target groups or channels through which we will communicate – but a brief is a must-have.
The brief is our friend.
Even when you buy a washing machine, you get a brief. This just happens to be a more refined version.
Please, prepare a brief. With a good brief, the journey through joint projects and communication strategies will be a whole lot easier and better for everyone!