Not too short, not too long. Not too detailed, but not too generic. Packed with important information about goals, target audiences, form, and content. And ideally, seamlessly integrated: This is how we envision the ideal content briefing.
In this article, you'll learn how to create an effective content briefing and why going the extra mile is worth it. Additionally, you'll receive a practical briefing template for download.
Achieving Desired Results with Briefings
Do you want to create content that makes an impact? Content that's unique? Not texts that can be found countless times on the internet, but texts that provoke reactions: In short, good content that offers added value - to you as a company and to your target groups. Then it's time to take a look at your content briefings.
Content Briefing is Your Statement of Work
In content marketing, we understand a content briefing as a statement of work. As the client, you formulate your wishes, goals, and framework conditions in the form of a content briefing. You then pass this on to the copywriter, who uses this information to write a corresponding text. A good content briefing forms the basis for content creation: whether you're having a guide article or a white paper written. And with a good briefing, you save yourself extensive feedback loops, subsequent adjustments, and thus time and money.
Define Your Framework Conditions
The content briefing serves as a compass for copywriters during content creation. It defines framework conditions and clearly shows the scope of the project. Therefore, formulate your requirements for the following key points:
Core Message
What do you want to convey? What message should the readers take away? Formulate the core message of your text and indicate what the users should do after reading.
Goal
What do you want to achieve with the article? Focus on one or two goals. Otherwise, you run the risk of contradicting goals or getting sidetracked.
Target Group
Who do you want to address with the article? What kind of people are they? What language level do these people use? Is technical language appropriate or should your content be understood by as many people as possible?
User Needs
What are the needs of your readers? What problems do they want solved? Why do they come to your page? Do they want to get information or complete a task?
Format
What kind of content do you want to have produced? Should it be a guide article, a product page, or an FAQ?
Channel
Is it a text for the website, for the newsletter, or perhaps for a print product?
If it's a website text, it's best to also provide the following information:
Keywords
Should the article rank in search engines like Google? If so, provide the relevant keywords. Alternatively, you can also attach a briefing that you created using SEO tools.
Meta Data
Do you need meta data such as title or description?
Teaser
Should teasers be written for the website or social media? Specify the desired number of characters for both title and text.
Attach all relevant information about the product or your company to the content briefing and formulate your unique selling proposition. Ideally, you have already dealt with your content goals and target groups as part of a content strategy. If available, attach the following documents to the text briefing:
Content core strategy
Content guidelines such as editorial guidelines, rules for UX writing, accessibility, and SEO
Tone of Voice
Do you often receive texts that don't meet your needs?
Let us help you: We'd be happy to assist you in laying a robust foundation for creating your online content.
Three Steps to an Effective Briefing
As you can see, a briefing requires some preparatory work. But you don't have to do this alone: Get internal support for creating your text briefing.
Step 1: Gather Internal Inputs
Consider what role you're currently acting in. Are you a marketing manager? A campaign manager or a product owner? Surely other roles have an influence on your text. Where it makes sense, bring in other perspectives and skills. For example, if you want to generate traffic for a specific topic, there's no way around the SEO manager. Do you need specific technical information or product info? Then it's best to ask the subject matter expert or product manager.
Step 2: Consolidate the Briefing
After you've gathered all stakeholders, compile their inputs. Consolidate the information and eliminate any contradictions if necessary. Position yourself as the contact person for further proceedings and communicate the next steps to those involved.
Step 3: Discuss and Hand Over the Briefing
Once the briefing is coherent, hand over the content briefing to the copywriter. It's best if you go through and discuss the briefing together. This gives the copywriter the opportunity to ask questions or contribute their own ideas and inputs.
From a Single Source: Tools for Collaboration
To facilitate collaboration between the involved parties, a structured approach and collaboration tools are beneficial. At Unic, we work with the tool Gathercontent for this purpose: In this tool, you can define processes, create roles with various permissions, and set up different templates. All participants enter their inputs in Gathercontent, the copywriters write the content in it, and translations can also be done directly in the tool. This eliminates media breaks and all information comes from a single source.
Download Briefing Template
With our template for content briefings, you can record the most important information for your copywriters. For optimal results, adapt the template to your text project. Or transfer it to your collaboration tool.
And if you have questions or need help: We'd be happy to work with you to develop an operational concept so you can create better content. Contact us!
Contact for your Digital Solution with Unic
Book an appointmentAre you keen too discuss your digital tasks with us? We would be happy to exchange ideas with you.
Contact for your Digital Solution
Book an appointmentAre you keen to talk about your next project? We will be happy exchange ideas with you.
