How do you make sure that every action you take, such as blog posts, videos, AdWords, is not only consistent with your brand, but brings in the customers you want for the work that you actually do? It starts with the creative brief - a one page roadmap that will make sure that everything you create is super-charged to get actions you want.
The Creative Brief: The Secret Ingredient That Will Make All Your Content More Powerful and Effective
1. The Creative Brief: The Secret
Ingredient That Will Make All Your
Content More Powerful and Effective
Content Jam
October 2, 2014
#contentjam @nancyagoldstein @CompassX
6. How Could That Happen?
I don’t know anything about moms
with kids, but that seems painful!
Dudebro, that’s
hilarious! Air five!
6 NOTE: Quotes are from the twisted brain of Compass(x) Strategy and do not represent any actual knowledge of the
situation. Comic Sans font has been added for emphasis.
The mommy focus groups said
that sometimes they felt pain
when carrying their kids. We
should use that!
9. The Creative Brief is the Glue That Holds the Execution to the
Strategy
9
Positioning
(Reason for
Being)
Growth Plan
and Goals
Creative Brief
Execution
(social, blog,
video…)
10. The Creative Brief Is Only Miraculous if You Use It
10
Before Creative Begins
When Evaluating
Creative
11. Where Can You Use a Creative Brief?
11
Website content
Topics for blog posts
New features for awesome app
Videos
12. 12
The Compass(x) Strategy Creative Brief
OBJECTIVE
What does this marketing piece need to communicate? What problem is it trying to solve?
AUDIENCE
Who is the primary audience that will receive this? A clear audience definition will guide the type of language used and
the appropriate tone.
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
NOW
• The goal of marketing communications
is to change attitude (thinking and
feeling) and behavior. So, we must
start with identifying what people think,
feel and do now.
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
FUTURE
• What are the desired attitude and action
changes that will result from this?
OUR REASON FOR BEING
Why should the audience want to engage on
this? What is inspiring about it?
SUPPORTED BY MESSAGING
• What are the 2-3 most compelling points
about why they should believe you?
BRAND VOICE
• What is the tone in terms of language
and design that is consistent with your
brand and your audiences attitudes and
beliefs?
REQUIREMENTS
• Anything that someone must know is a
mandatory do/don’t. For example, if
there is language that cannot be used
for regulatory reasons, or other
guidance.
TIMING AND BUDGET
• Speaks for itself - what are your
deadlines, any approval processes they
need to know. What is the budget?
14. Two Major Groups of People Are Expected to
Buy Entrepreneur Barbie
• Traditional stay at home moms who have daughters that love
Barbie
• Career minded women frustrated with their daughters’
obsession with Disney princesses
14 NOTE: Not actually based on fact. For wacky creative-brief exploration purposes only.
15. 15
Entrepreneurial Barbie Launch
OBJECTIVE
Sell One Billion Units of Entrepreneurial Barbie by the end of 2014
AUDIENCE
Traditional stay at home moms who have daughters that love Barbie
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
NOW
• The goal of marketing communications
is to change attitude (thinking and
feeling) and behavior. So, we must
start with identifying what people think,
feel and do now.
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
FUTURE
• What are the desired attitude and action
changes that will result from this?
OUR REASON FOR BEING
Inspiring young girls that if they can
dream it, they can be it
SUPPORTED BY MESSAGING
• What are the 2-3 most compelling points
about why they should believe you?
BRAND VOICE
• What is the tone in terms of language
and design that is consistent with your
brand and your audiences attitudes and
beliefs?
REQUIREMENTS
• Anything that someone must know is a
mandatory do/don’t. For example, if
there is language that cannot be used
for regulatory reasons, or other
guidance.
TIMING AND BUDGET
• Speaks for itself - what are your
deadlines, any approval processes they
need to know. What is the budget?
16. 16
What is their current
lens?
What does your
audience think, feel,
or do now?
Key messages
As a result of your
awesome, what will
the audience think
feel or do in the
future?
Tone and Attitude
17. 17
Entrepreneurial Barbie Launch
OBJECTIVE
Sell One Billion Units of Entrepreneurial Barbie by the end of 2014
AUDIENCE
Career minded women frustrated with their daughters’ obsession with Disney princesses
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
NOW
• The goal of marketing communications
is to change attitude (thinking and
feeling) and behavior. So, we must
start with identifying what people think,
feel and do now.
CUSTOMER THINK/FEEL/ACT
FUTURE
• What are the desired attitude and action
changes that will result from this?
OUR REASON FOR BEING
Inspiring young girls that if they can
dream it, they can be it
SUPPORTED BY MESSAGING
• What are the 2-3 most compelling points
about why they should believe you?
BRAND VOICE
• What is the tone in terms of language
and design that is consistent with your
brand and your audiences attitudes and
beliefs?
REQUIREMENTS
• Anything that someone must know is a
mandatory do/don’t. For example, if
there is language that cannot be used
for regulatory reasons, or other
guidance.
TIMING AND BUDGET
• Speaks for itself - what are your
deadlines, any approval processes they
need to know. What is the budget?
18. 18
What is their current
lens?
What does your
audience think, feel,
or do now?
Key messages
As a result of your
awesome, what will
the audience think
feel or do in the
future?
Tone and Attitude
19. With the Compass(x) Strategy Creative Brief, You Will Now…..
19
Bond more with your company’s leadership team
Cry less
Have less back strain
Look like an official
content marketer
If you look tired and crazy,
people will understand why
Welcome to the wonderful world of the creative brief. We are going to talk about what it is, why you need it and why your life will be filled with ponies and unicorns once you start using it.
First - anyone use a creative brief before?
Before I started Compass(x), I worked in big packaged goods. And in the world of advertising and promotion, everyone lived and died by this thing called the creative brief. Then I started working with smaller companies and working in content marketing and no one used it. And most people were frustrated that they didn’t get the results they wanted or they had to write 15 revisions to the newsletter before their boss let them send it.
Example:
This is really about thinking things through…
So how did the Motrin people mess this up?
We were talking about this earlier in the week about the need for specificity in a brief - dont just say “funny” - you may mean family friendly puns but your creative guy went ironic and detached mocking. Define what you want.
Not really understanding the lens through which your audience sees the world.
Just because a mom says it, does’t mean you can. When the mom said it was she looking for support? Maybe she wanted to be celebrated for the extra effort she is putting in.
Best case scenario - waste of time and money
Even worse, it destroys your credibility and people start to mistrust your brand
Either way there are lots of tears, pain and suffering
The creative brief is a way to get things to happen faster, just because the idea is in your head, the idea in my head is different. So the creative brief gets everyone on the same page so you don’t have the 11 rounds of back and forth
Ensure that the execution matches what you want to happen:
Right audience
Right message
Right tone
Desired action
There are a lot of people that do this differently But, a few years ago we reviewed all the brief formats and created this one. It differs from other brief formats in two big ways.
one page forces you to make choices. Your video can’t say 15 different things so neither can the beige that gives the direction.
- It is focused on behavior change. A lot of other formats talk about the audience and the communication priorities, but if you can’t articulate what you want the call to action to be at the end of this, the execution will be muddy.