The document provides guidance on best practices for briefing marketing communications agencies. It emphasizes that briefing agencies effectively is important for getting good work and achieving business goals. A well-written brief leads to better work, saves time and money, and makes agency remuneration fairer. The key principles of an effective brief are to be clear about the objectives, provide critical information needed to complete the task, and inspire the agency to do their best work. The briefing should follow a format that covers background, the brief itself, and implementation details. An important part is a clear communication objective and understanding what is important to the specific agency being briefed.
The document provides definitions and explanations of key terms related to business contracts and agreements:
- Contractual agreements create legal obligations between two or more parties and are typically in writing.
- Negotiations involve parties trying to reach a mutually agreeable decision on contractual terms and end when all guidelines have been finalized.
- Formal interactions are serious, proper and get straight to the point while informal discussions are more relaxed and casual without serious obligations.
- Commissions are fees paid to an agent for services, often a percentage of a transaction value. Tenders invite suppliers to submit proposals for projects. Cooperative briefs involve joint ideas from partnering parties.
Have we let advertising agencies become dinosaurs? Marketers are looking for effective business solutions, speed and low cost. While many agencies are still enamored by growth in size, stature and heft.
Here are some thoughts on how agencies can close this gap.
This document discusses strategies for winning new major accounts and dispels common myths about the sales process. Some key points made include:
- Developing major accounts requires different tactics than a standard sales process and involves multiple stakeholders with different roles and budgets.
- Involving subject matter experts later in the process, after project parameters are defined, is most effective. Networks alone may not provide access to target industries or companies.
- To win as a preferred vendor, you need to engage stakeholders in each business unit and role (budget owner, influencer, implementer) before defining a specific solution. Each sees the "elephant" differently and represents a go/no-go point.
PM Forum - How to close the loop on client feedbackBen Sutton
Feedback is a source of insight which enables a firm to differentiate its brand in ways that matter to clients. Marketing and BD teams have an essential role to play.
Marketing Agency vs. Marketing Consultant: Which is Better for Project Manage...QuekelsBaro
Should you use a marketing consultant or a marketing agency to help meet your project deadlines and stay on budget? Read this post to find out which is right for you!
Understanding the customer is key to keeping them happy and ensuring project success. This involves listening to understand their true needs, communicating proactively to provide relevant updates and recommendations, and helping the customer by highlighting risks and issues. Barriers like unrealistic deadlines or lack of resources can damage the relationship if not addressed openly and honestly with the customer. Overall, customer satisfaction depends on dedicating effort to understand and support the customer throughout the project.
This document provides guidelines for writing an effective client brief for communications agencies. It emphasizes that a written brief is crucial for setting clear objectives and expectations upfront. The brief should clarify the current situation, the desired destination or goals, and how success will be measured, but not dictate how agencies do their work. This ensures agencies can be creative while understanding the goals. A written brief followed by discussion allows all parties to be on the same page and align their efforts. Proper briefing saves time and money by avoiding wasted work from unclear or changing directions. It also enables fair payment based on results. The guidelines recommend brevity, focus, and concrete, measurable objectives in the brief.
How to grow your marketing agency in tough times - GuideKahootz
This guide will help you seize understand client’s demands on agencies and avenues to:
• Maximise Client Revenues
• Improve Client Retention
• Grow Your Agency
• Create an Agile Working Environment
• Improve Your Internal Processes
The document provides definitions and explanations of key terms related to business contracts and agreements:
- Contractual agreements create legal obligations between two or more parties and are typically in writing.
- Negotiations involve parties trying to reach a mutually agreeable decision on contractual terms and end when all guidelines have been finalized.
- Formal interactions are serious, proper and get straight to the point while informal discussions are more relaxed and casual without serious obligations.
- Commissions are fees paid to an agent for services, often a percentage of a transaction value. Tenders invite suppliers to submit proposals for projects. Cooperative briefs involve joint ideas from partnering parties.
Have we let advertising agencies become dinosaurs? Marketers are looking for effective business solutions, speed and low cost. While many agencies are still enamored by growth in size, stature and heft.
Here are some thoughts on how agencies can close this gap.
This document discusses strategies for winning new major accounts and dispels common myths about the sales process. Some key points made include:
- Developing major accounts requires different tactics than a standard sales process and involves multiple stakeholders with different roles and budgets.
- Involving subject matter experts later in the process, after project parameters are defined, is most effective. Networks alone may not provide access to target industries or companies.
- To win as a preferred vendor, you need to engage stakeholders in each business unit and role (budget owner, influencer, implementer) before defining a specific solution. Each sees the "elephant" differently and represents a go/no-go point.
PM Forum - How to close the loop on client feedbackBen Sutton
Feedback is a source of insight which enables a firm to differentiate its brand in ways that matter to clients. Marketing and BD teams have an essential role to play.
Marketing Agency vs. Marketing Consultant: Which is Better for Project Manage...QuekelsBaro
Should you use a marketing consultant or a marketing agency to help meet your project deadlines and stay on budget? Read this post to find out which is right for you!
Understanding the customer is key to keeping them happy and ensuring project success. This involves listening to understand their true needs, communicating proactively to provide relevant updates and recommendations, and helping the customer by highlighting risks and issues. Barriers like unrealistic deadlines or lack of resources can damage the relationship if not addressed openly and honestly with the customer. Overall, customer satisfaction depends on dedicating effort to understand and support the customer throughout the project.
This document provides guidelines for writing an effective client brief for communications agencies. It emphasizes that a written brief is crucial for setting clear objectives and expectations upfront. The brief should clarify the current situation, the desired destination or goals, and how success will be measured, but not dictate how agencies do their work. This ensures agencies can be creative while understanding the goals. A written brief followed by discussion allows all parties to be on the same page and align their efforts. Proper briefing saves time and money by avoiding wasted work from unclear or changing directions. It also enables fair payment based on results. The guidelines recommend brevity, focus, and concrete, measurable objectives in the brief.
How to grow your marketing agency in tough times - GuideKahootz
This guide will help you seize understand client’s demands on agencies and avenues to:
• Maximise Client Revenues
• Improve Client Retention
• Grow Your Agency
• Create an Agile Working Environment
• Improve Your Internal Processes
The document provides guidance on selling at the executive level, including identifying the appropriate executive, researching the executive and company, conducting effective initial meetings, and creating a value proposition. It recommends analyzing opportunities to identify the executive who would gain or lose the most; performing research on industry trends, the company's goals and initiatives; and proposing a clear next step, such as a follow-up meeting, to the executive.
Your Essential Guide to Proving ABM ValueAndy Bacon
Use the Account Based Marketing Pyramid and KPI Index to manage and exceed your stakeholder expectations. Your Practical guide on how to build an effective ABM programme from the ground up.
Are you interested in starting or scaling a YouTube channel, without having to show your face or become a YouTuber?
Do you want to increase your revenue, freedom, and become your own boss?
This document discusses the challenges of marketing for professional service firms. Some key barriers to effective marketing mentioned include:
1) The partnership structure makes it difficult to commit to consistent strategic marketing as there are many opinions and no clear agreement.
2) Marketing is not seen as the primary job for partners, though they are the "rainmakers" who bring in new business.
3) The nature of professional services means marketing is relationship-driven through partners' networks, so marketing is seen as supplementary rather than essential.
4) Inconsistency in marketing efforts as time spent on marketing decreases when billable hours are high and increases when they are low. Commitment to long-term consistent marketing is needed for
The document discusses 10 frequently asked questions about social media and conversation management.
1) The first question addresses whether social media is just for B2C or also for B2B, concluding that conversation has always been important for B2B and social media allows B2B companies to benefit from word-of-mouth and co-creation.
2) The second question outlines two profiles for a conversation manager - operational or strategic. Both are important but a strategic manager can facilitate organizational change.
3) The third question advises that if senior management does not buy into social media, focus on how it helps with customer satisfaction and sales goals rather than talking directly about social media.
4) The fourth
A consultants guide to building lasting client relationshipsRCP Consulting
The document provides guidance to consultants on building lasting client relationships. It discusses four stages of the client relationship: creating the relationship before an engagement begins through thought leadership and personal connections; aligning the relationship by setting clear expectations on scope, communication, and deliverables; maintaining the relationship through meeting or exceeding promises during the engagement; and strengthening the relationship after the engagement through referrals. The key is to demonstrate expertise, build trust, exceed expectations to deliver more than promised, and provide excellent service throughout.
Licensing Journal - Working With Licensing Agents and ConsultantsMark Hess
This document discusses factors for companies to consider when deciding whether to work with a licensing agency or consultant. It emphasizes that there is no single right approach and that "it depends" on each company's unique situation and goals. The document also outlines key qualifications companies should evaluate in potential licensing agencies or consultants, including their ability to dedicate sufficient time, assemble a talented team, and commit financial resources to effectively manage the licensing program. Overall, it argues that licensing requires a dedicated, team-oriented approach to achieve success.
Strategies in Corporate Communications: Fostering a Collaborative Culture in ...Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Strategies in Corporate Communications: Fostering a Collaborative Culture in the Partnership Ranks
No question about it: culture is defined by the leadership of the firm. But if collaboration is a hallmark of the firm's culture, communications can play a large role in energizing collaboration. This session offers three valuable strategies to help facilitate clear, effective communication and foster creativity between law firm partners. Our presenters will address:
• The Vampire Syndrome: Killing Off Deadly Communications Permanently
A step-by-step program to remove impediments to collaboration that include dreadful practice descriptions, chilly biographies, pale internal updates and bloodless newsletters
• Beyond the Drum Circle
Creative ideas that foster and sustain collaboration.
• What's Your Partner's Elevator Pitch?
How to enable lawyers to "sell" one another through collaborative learning.
Facilitators:
Burkey Belser, President, Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Joe Walsh, Principal, Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
The document discusses effective communication strategies for businesses. It covers topics such as communication basics, self-esteem, oral and written communication techniques, body language, public speaking tips, and how bad communication can damage a business. The chapters provide advice on presenting professionally, listening actively, maintaining confidence, and ensuring clear understanding through well-written documentation to support business goals.
Rick Radermacher was recruited to improve and grow the account service team and strategic planning at Bigelow agency. He made several impactful changes including rewriting the creative brief for clearer client input, establishing standard hourly rates, implementing performance reviews, improving relationships with key clients, partnering with external firms for better media and PR capabilities, and driving new business opportunities and award-winning creative work that significantly grew clients' businesses. His leadership helped transform agency operations, client services, and creative output.
This document provides guidance on business budgeting. It discusses determining revenue and expenses when preparing a budget. Chapter headings address budgeting basics, better budgeting steps, preparing business plans and budgets, corporate budgeting, social media budgets, debt impacts, and managing budgets and finances. The overall message is that accurate budgeting is important for business success by estimating costs and revenues to ensure sufficient funding is available. Careful budget planning can help businesses avoid cash flow issues.
How Strategic Account Management helped a "small" Swiss company grow globallyDev Sharma
How Strategic Account Management helped a small Swiss company grow globally. A first-hand story for any SAM leader (or leader-to-be) that is starting to build a SAM program in a smaller business with high aspirations of growth.
This guide is everything a startup founder wants to know about Public Relations but is too afraid to ask. How much should you spend on public relations? How should you measure PR? Is a retainer the right choice?
The document discusses the importance of having an "unbreakable frame" around a brand through consistent branding and messaging. It emphasizes defining a brand's essence and point of view to achieve true differentiation. A strong brand is built from aligning all communications, from brand strategy to tactics, with the organizational character. Examples are provided of companies like IBM that maintain brand discipline at a large scale through clear guidelines and digital-first thinking.
Forget the Funnel. Enter the Loop. A One North White PaperOne North
FORGET THE FUNNEL. ENTER THE LOOP.
AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIP-BASED MARKETING & DIGITAL STRATEGY FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS
By John Simpson and Kalev Peekna
The world around us is changing and evolving every day. We’re all familiar with the concept of survival of the fittest. Well, in business, it’s no different. Evolution forces us, as businesses, to consider our strengths and what makes us unique. It forces us to regard, and cultivate, those things that set us apart from our competitors, so that we can do more than survive, but thrive.
This is particularly interesting in the world of Professional Services—where differentiation is critical, but difficult. How do we find our strengths? And, from there, how do we nurture the evolution of our strategy? We decided to take a deep-dive and gain a better understanding of the DNA of a professional services firm and how that DNA points us to a unique relationship-based business model. We also explore how technology has also evolved, and how the new realities it’s created, coupled with a new framework for relationship development, should influence and affect your firm’s digital strategy.
The In Flow Communication Skills Accelerator Dominic Colenso
Discover how our unique communication skills accelerator programme can help your business increase productivity, engagement and profit.
www.inflow.global
The document provides tips for writing effective marketing services contracts. It recommends structuring contracts concisely with 2-3 pages, making contracts visually appealing, responding to client requests quickly, including relevant examples from past projects, and offering different pricing packages to allow for upselling. The overall goal is to create a reusable contract template that can be easily customized for prospects.
This document provides guidance on best practices for conducting business-to-business (B2B) customer satisfaction surveys. It discusses defining B2B relationships versus business-to-consumer relationships, budgeting for surveys, obtaining feedback through regular phone calls from company representatives in parallel with occasional formal written surveys, and using feedback to increase sales and profits from existing customers. The goal is to provide practical advice based on decades of experience conducting B2B surveys.
This document outlines an eight-step guide for small companies to develop consistent and effective marketing communications. The steps include: 1) understanding market context and company capabilities, 2) defining specific objectives, 3) determining an appropriate strategy, 4) developing powerful key messages, 5) creating valuable supporting content, 6) ensuring consistent presentation, 7) planning implementation, and 8) reviewing results and lessons learned. Following this process helps small marketing teams overcome complexity and generate compelling communications within their resource constraints.
The document outlines 12 common reasons why agencies lose proposals when trying to win new business. It discusses how agencies often treat proposals as a first step in the sales process rather than a final confirmation of discussions. Key reasons for losing proposals include focusing on costs rather than value, not properly qualifying prospects, failing to develop relationships with prospects, not acting like a true partner, using the wrong pricing framing, not having a standardized process, poor expectations setting, lack of follow up persistence, lack of credibility in proposals, and not challenging clients' assumptions about what they need. The document provides advice on how agencies can improve their proposal success rate by addressing these common shortcomings.
This document contains Abdulsalam Saidu Achem's advertising brief assignment. It begins with his identification and course details. The introduction defines an advertising brief and notes that it is agreed upon between client and agency. The body then discusses different types of advertising briefs such as template, email, missing, and data dump briefs. It also explains what a typical brief contains like client requirements, business background, objectives, target audience, and timing/budget. Key aspects of a brief like product definition, market/market size, market shares, and target consumers are then defined in more detail.
The document provides guidance on selling at the executive level, including identifying the appropriate executive, researching the executive and company, conducting effective initial meetings, and creating a value proposition. It recommends analyzing opportunities to identify the executive who would gain or lose the most; performing research on industry trends, the company's goals and initiatives; and proposing a clear next step, such as a follow-up meeting, to the executive.
Your Essential Guide to Proving ABM ValueAndy Bacon
Use the Account Based Marketing Pyramid and KPI Index to manage and exceed your stakeholder expectations. Your Practical guide on how to build an effective ABM programme from the ground up.
Are you interested in starting or scaling a YouTube channel, without having to show your face or become a YouTuber?
Do you want to increase your revenue, freedom, and become your own boss?
This document discusses the challenges of marketing for professional service firms. Some key barriers to effective marketing mentioned include:
1) The partnership structure makes it difficult to commit to consistent strategic marketing as there are many opinions and no clear agreement.
2) Marketing is not seen as the primary job for partners, though they are the "rainmakers" who bring in new business.
3) The nature of professional services means marketing is relationship-driven through partners' networks, so marketing is seen as supplementary rather than essential.
4) Inconsistency in marketing efforts as time spent on marketing decreases when billable hours are high and increases when they are low. Commitment to long-term consistent marketing is needed for
The document discusses 10 frequently asked questions about social media and conversation management.
1) The first question addresses whether social media is just for B2C or also for B2B, concluding that conversation has always been important for B2B and social media allows B2B companies to benefit from word-of-mouth and co-creation.
2) The second question outlines two profiles for a conversation manager - operational or strategic. Both are important but a strategic manager can facilitate organizational change.
3) The third question advises that if senior management does not buy into social media, focus on how it helps with customer satisfaction and sales goals rather than talking directly about social media.
4) The fourth
A consultants guide to building lasting client relationshipsRCP Consulting
The document provides guidance to consultants on building lasting client relationships. It discusses four stages of the client relationship: creating the relationship before an engagement begins through thought leadership and personal connections; aligning the relationship by setting clear expectations on scope, communication, and deliverables; maintaining the relationship through meeting or exceeding promises during the engagement; and strengthening the relationship after the engagement through referrals. The key is to demonstrate expertise, build trust, exceed expectations to deliver more than promised, and provide excellent service throughout.
Licensing Journal - Working With Licensing Agents and ConsultantsMark Hess
This document discusses factors for companies to consider when deciding whether to work with a licensing agency or consultant. It emphasizes that there is no single right approach and that "it depends" on each company's unique situation and goals. The document also outlines key qualifications companies should evaluate in potential licensing agencies or consultants, including their ability to dedicate sufficient time, assemble a talented team, and commit financial resources to effectively manage the licensing program. Overall, it argues that licensing requires a dedicated, team-oriented approach to achieve success.
Strategies in Corporate Communications: Fostering a Collaborative Culture in ...Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Strategies in Corporate Communications: Fostering a Collaborative Culture in the Partnership Ranks
No question about it: culture is defined by the leadership of the firm. But if collaboration is a hallmark of the firm's culture, communications can play a large role in energizing collaboration. This session offers three valuable strategies to help facilitate clear, effective communication and foster creativity between law firm partners. Our presenters will address:
• The Vampire Syndrome: Killing Off Deadly Communications Permanently
A step-by-step program to remove impediments to collaboration that include dreadful practice descriptions, chilly biographies, pale internal updates and bloodless newsletters
• Beyond the Drum Circle
Creative ideas that foster and sustain collaboration.
• What's Your Partner's Elevator Pitch?
How to enable lawyers to "sell" one another through collaborative learning.
Facilitators:
Burkey Belser, President, Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Joe Walsh, Principal, Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
The document discusses effective communication strategies for businesses. It covers topics such as communication basics, self-esteem, oral and written communication techniques, body language, public speaking tips, and how bad communication can damage a business. The chapters provide advice on presenting professionally, listening actively, maintaining confidence, and ensuring clear understanding through well-written documentation to support business goals.
Rick Radermacher was recruited to improve and grow the account service team and strategic planning at Bigelow agency. He made several impactful changes including rewriting the creative brief for clearer client input, establishing standard hourly rates, implementing performance reviews, improving relationships with key clients, partnering with external firms for better media and PR capabilities, and driving new business opportunities and award-winning creative work that significantly grew clients' businesses. His leadership helped transform agency operations, client services, and creative output.
This document provides guidance on business budgeting. It discusses determining revenue and expenses when preparing a budget. Chapter headings address budgeting basics, better budgeting steps, preparing business plans and budgets, corporate budgeting, social media budgets, debt impacts, and managing budgets and finances. The overall message is that accurate budgeting is important for business success by estimating costs and revenues to ensure sufficient funding is available. Careful budget planning can help businesses avoid cash flow issues.
How Strategic Account Management helped a "small" Swiss company grow globallyDev Sharma
How Strategic Account Management helped a small Swiss company grow globally. A first-hand story for any SAM leader (or leader-to-be) that is starting to build a SAM program in a smaller business with high aspirations of growth.
This guide is everything a startup founder wants to know about Public Relations but is too afraid to ask. How much should you spend on public relations? How should you measure PR? Is a retainer the right choice?
The document discusses the importance of having an "unbreakable frame" around a brand through consistent branding and messaging. It emphasizes defining a brand's essence and point of view to achieve true differentiation. A strong brand is built from aligning all communications, from brand strategy to tactics, with the organizational character. Examples are provided of companies like IBM that maintain brand discipline at a large scale through clear guidelines and digital-first thinking.
Forget the Funnel. Enter the Loop. A One North White PaperOne North
FORGET THE FUNNEL. ENTER THE LOOP.
AN EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO RELATIONSHIP-BASED MARKETING & DIGITAL STRATEGY FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS
By John Simpson and Kalev Peekna
The world around us is changing and evolving every day. We’re all familiar with the concept of survival of the fittest. Well, in business, it’s no different. Evolution forces us, as businesses, to consider our strengths and what makes us unique. It forces us to regard, and cultivate, those things that set us apart from our competitors, so that we can do more than survive, but thrive.
This is particularly interesting in the world of Professional Services—where differentiation is critical, but difficult. How do we find our strengths? And, from there, how do we nurture the evolution of our strategy? We decided to take a deep-dive and gain a better understanding of the DNA of a professional services firm and how that DNA points us to a unique relationship-based business model. We also explore how technology has also evolved, and how the new realities it’s created, coupled with a new framework for relationship development, should influence and affect your firm’s digital strategy.
The In Flow Communication Skills Accelerator Dominic Colenso
Discover how our unique communication skills accelerator programme can help your business increase productivity, engagement and profit.
www.inflow.global
The document provides tips for writing effective marketing services contracts. It recommends structuring contracts concisely with 2-3 pages, making contracts visually appealing, responding to client requests quickly, including relevant examples from past projects, and offering different pricing packages to allow for upselling. The overall goal is to create a reusable contract template that can be easily customized for prospects.
This document provides guidance on best practices for conducting business-to-business (B2B) customer satisfaction surveys. It discusses defining B2B relationships versus business-to-consumer relationships, budgeting for surveys, obtaining feedback through regular phone calls from company representatives in parallel with occasional formal written surveys, and using feedback to increase sales and profits from existing customers. The goal is to provide practical advice based on decades of experience conducting B2B surveys.
This document outlines an eight-step guide for small companies to develop consistent and effective marketing communications. The steps include: 1) understanding market context and company capabilities, 2) defining specific objectives, 3) determining an appropriate strategy, 4) developing powerful key messages, 5) creating valuable supporting content, 6) ensuring consistent presentation, 7) planning implementation, and 8) reviewing results and lessons learned. Following this process helps small marketing teams overcome complexity and generate compelling communications within their resource constraints.
The document outlines 12 common reasons why agencies lose proposals when trying to win new business. It discusses how agencies often treat proposals as a first step in the sales process rather than a final confirmation of discussions. Key reasons for losing proposals include focusing on costs rather than value, not properly qualifying prospects, failing to develop relationships with prospects, not acting like a true partner, using the wrong pricing framing, not having a standardized process, poor expectations setting, lack of follow up persistence, lack of credibility in proposals, and not challenging clients' assumptions about what they need. The document provides advice on how agencies can improve their proposal success rate by addressing these common shortcomings.
This document contains Abdulsalam Saidu Achem's advertising brief assignment. It begins with his identification and course details. The introduction defines an advertising brief and notes that it is agreed upon between client and agency. The body then discusses different types of advertising briefs such as template, email, missing, and data dump briefs. It also explains what a typical brief contains like client requirements, business background, objectives, target audience, and timing/budget. Key aspects of a brief like product definition, market/market size, market shares, and target consumers are then defined in more detail.
The document provides guidelines for writing an effective client brief for communications agencies. It emphasizes that a well-written brief leads to better work, saves time and money, and makes the remuneration process fairer. The key principles of a good brief are to have a written brief, clarity of thinking in the brief, and clearly defined objectives. An effective brief focuses the work, provides the necessary context and information, and sets clear targets to measure success.
Rebranding: A 4 Step Plan for B2B MarketersTodd Ebert
Your brand has huge strategic importance for improving your competitive position, engaging more prospects and ultimately winning more customers. So that’s why I wrote this ebook, “Rebranding: A 4-Step Plan for B2B Marketers”. In the book, I lay out detailed how-to’s for pulling off every part of a rebranding from aligning your leadership around the brand to launching it internally and externally. You’ll discover examples of what my team and I did to make MultiView’s rebranding successful at every stage. I’ve also included a scorecard for selecting your digital agency and a checklist for making sure you have all your bases covered. I hope you find the content helpful and if you have any questions, please DM me on Twitter @ToddEbert. I’d be happy to share my experience having done this several times.
The document discusses frequently asked questions about social media and conversation management. It addresses questions such as whether social media is just for consumer-facing companies, how to convince management to adopt social media strategies, and how to build followers on social platforms. The author advocates for a strategic approach to conversation management that focuses on quality engagement and content over purely operational tasks.
The document discusses mapping a client's journey with a professional services firm to better understand their needs and improve the client experience. It recommends five steps: 1) Form a cross-functional team, 2) Analyze current client insights, 3) Map the ideal future client journey, 4) Prioritize and implement changes, and 5) Continually refine based on metrics. Mapping the client journey provides a framework to intentionally create the experience clients will expect and differentiate the firm through behaviors, actions and propositions.
Appendix ABusiness Plan AssignmentThe Business Plan will be ab.docxjustine1simpson78276
Appendix A
Business Plan Assignment
The Business Plan will be about health organization thinking about buying MRI.
One of the ways that organizations prosper is through the introduction of new programs, projects, and other ventures. A business plan is a document that provides the information needed to determine whether the venture is likely to fail or to succeed. A business plan should help you assess whether the proposed venture is sensible, whether it fits the organizational mission, and whether it will be financially viable.
WHY DEVELOP A BUSINESS PLAN
The more time and effort managers put into a project, the more committed they become to it, and the harder it becomes to recognize the project’s limitations. So the first and foremost reason for developing a business plan is to discover weaknesses and eliminate bad proposals at an early stage.
If the plan provides evidence that the proposed venture is a good one, then the plan becomes a vital tool in a number of ways. It provides the details of why the idea is a good one, supporting the idea with evidence instead of merely opinion. It helps to clarify what we do and don’t know about the venture. It provides a basis to identify and analyze elementary tools for convincing others (e.g., our boss or investors) that the idea is a good one, worthy of financial support.
A business plan also serves other purposes. First, it communicates the purpose of the project to everyone throughout the organization. The plan also provides a road map for the future, laying out the steps that will be needed to fully implement the new venture. It should include a formal statement of both financial and nonfinancial goals for the project, and forecasts of what resources will be needed and how they will be obtained. These resources are not only financial, but also include elements such as management talent that will be needed to implement and run the new program. Finally, we prepare a plan so that we will have a basis for assessing and controlling organizational performance once the venture is fully operational.
QUESTIONS THAT DRIVE A BUSINESS PLAN
A business plan document represents an effort to provide answers to many questions:
· What is the venture that is being proposed?
· Why would our organization want to do it?
· Who will we provide products or services for?
· How much will potential customers pay?
· How many potential customers are there?
· What will our share of the market be?
We must be as clear as possible in defining the business concept. To make an evaluation of a project, we need to know whether we are responding to an opportunity or a competitive threat, or simply following the next logical step in achieving the organization’s mission. We must clearly identify the customer for the products or services that will be provided. Understanding the likely possible pricing and demand for the product or service is critical. Similarly, we must address questions related to marketing approaches. There .
How to Select the Right Digital Marketing Agency to Support In-House Teams Femi Deji Olajiga
The document provides advice on selecting a digital marketing agency to support in-house teams. It discusses researching agencies and freelancers, evaluating their services, structure, experience, and fees. Key questions to ask include what services are needed, agency experience in relevant industries, staff experience levels, and ensuring fees are linked to measurable results. Hiring an agency does not necessarily save costs compared to developing in-house skills, and a freelancer may provide a more flexible alternative.
More effective & future proof channel sales operations Qollabi
1) The document discusses how to transform channel sales operations to make them more effective and futureproof. It provides advice on conducting a gap analysis of processes, people, and tools and creating a roadmap to prioritize improvements.
2) It recommends creating a one-page problem statement to get all stakeholders on the same page about the challenges and opportunities in channel operations. This includes the current situation, key challenges, and a call to action.
3) The document also stresses the importance of understanding partners' needs and creating a shared mission and vision. It provides examples of domains where partners expect support, such as business relationship management, sales enablement, and incentive management.
Unlock The Full Potential Of MTJ By Unlocking Our Three Elite Level Features That Will Skyrocket Your Results And Profit Without Any Additional Work On Your Part!
Lead Generation-A Shift of Focus in MarketingSL ZHANG
Professional services marketers are facing increased pressure to shift their focus from long-term branding to short-term lead generation and numbers. Chief executives have less patience for marketing investments without immediate pipeline growth. This has pushed lead generation to the top priority for many firms. Marketers now need to rethink traditional branding activities and figure out how to use various marketing channels and tools more effectively to generate leads. Activities like corporate websites and white papers can be repurposed for lead generation through tactics like search engine optimization, social media dissemination, and prospect-specific content. Transforming to become more accountable for near-term business performance, professional services marketers must optimize all of their marketing efforts around attracting, engaging, and converting leads
The resume is one of the important documents you need to prepare for your consulting career. Recruiters use this to determine if you are the right candidate for the vacant position. They check your education, experience, skills and accomplishments to know if you acquire the qualities necessary for the vacant job.
Read this presentation to learn some tips on how to write a resume section by section. For additional and more specific guidelines, download our free consulting guide to landing a job in this industry. To know more about its content, visit this page: http://www.consultingfact.com/guides/land_a_consulting_job/
The Client Brief (O Briefing do Cliente)Katia Viola
Material criado e publicado pelo IPA - Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, do Reino Unido. Ensina os anunciantes o passo a passo para a elaboração de um briefing para as agências de comunicação.
This document provides an overview of key components of a business plan, including:
1. The executive summary which clearly states what is being asked for upfront.
2. The business description which outlines the industry, products/services, and plans for success.
3. The marketplace section which describes customers, competition, and market positioning.
4. The financial section containing income/cash flow statements, balance sheets, and break-even analyses.
Key components within these sections include business concept, market strategies, competitive analysis, operations/management plans, and financial factors. The length of a business plan can vary depending on the complexity of the business but typically ranges from 15-20 pages.
Net Promoter is an increasingly popular method of measuring loyalty. This article describes the approach and why a single measure is not enough to improve business performance.
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This document was submitted as part of interview process for Marketing Specialist position at DTA Promotion, an Indonesian company which offers 360 degree marketing services, including ATL and BTL advertising platform.
Global Uniform Market Analysis 2024: Market Size & Trends
Briefing an agency
1. A best practice guide to briefing communications agencies
Joint industry guidelines for marketing professionals in working effectively with agencies
2nd edition, February 2011
Briefing an Agency
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If your role involves marketing communications,
then briefing an agency is one of the most
important things you do. How you brief
determines what you get back. This is reflected
in agencies having to say rather too often that:
“clients get the work they deserve”.
Do all great communication campaigns come
from great briefs? No. But the chances of
getting good if not great work are increased
significantly by a brief into which some real
thought has been invested.
Marketing communications, be that any of the
disciplines of advertising, digital, PR, direct,
social media etc, not only involve a substantial
financial investment, but have the potential to
change the shape of the business, for better
or worse. Briefing communications agencies
requires the same level of professionalism,
attention and thought as any other area of
business activity. Just because it involves
creativity and ideas does not mean that
these qualities are needed less, indeed they
are needed more because of the degree of
subjectivity involved.
Whether it is a top creative agency or a small
local outfit, a major strategic initiative across
multiple disciplines or a specialised low value
project, the same core principles of good
briefing can be applied.
At its heart it’s about working out what you
want and communicating this in a way that gets
the right result.
The result of a better brief is that the right work
is delivered faster. This can have a dramatic
effect on efficiency and on costs. If on average
it takes an agency three presentations of work
to get to the bought solution imagine the saving
in time and cost of reducing that process to an
average of two, or even getting it right first time.
Better briefing will produce better results faster
and at lower cost. It’s not a business option but
a business imperative.
“Why
briefing an agency
is important
BRIEFING an agenc y
“The equation is simple, tightly written briefs plus passionate briefing equals engaged
agencies, impactful campaigns and strong market results.”
Dominic Grounsell Marketing Director, Capital One
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3. IN TROD UCTION
This guide aims to help anyone involved
in briefing any type of communications
agency on how to do it better. It explains the
principles of any good brief, the reasons why
a written brief is important but not sufficient,
the role of the briefing meeting, and provides
guidance on written briefing forms.
As a best practice guide it draws upon the
experience of leading marketing practitioners
and their agencies. In compiling this guide we
have conducted research amongst over 140
advertisers and agencies including many of the
largest spenders and agencies in the UK, held
an industry seminar and used the expertise
of consultants.
This guide to ‘Briefing an Agency’ is an
updated version of a joint industry publication
originally titled, ‘The Client Brief’. Whilst
the original publication still has relevance,
there are two factors in the contemporary
dynamic communication and agency world
that have required an update; firstly the
emergence of digital communications as one
of the leading expenditure categories. Whilst
many advertisers have already adapted their
briefing processes to reflect this, still one of
the most asked questions is, ‘how do I brief
for digital communications?’ Secondly, the
proliferation of specialist agencies in addition
to consolidation of agency groups prompts
questions about how to brief across agencies
or how to brief for integrated solutions.
In this guide digital communications are
considered as one of many channels, and are
About
this guide
subject to the same fundamental principles
of good briefing. Whilst there are specific
differences which are highlighted, briefing
digital agencies can be improved in much the
same way as briefing any other agency. When
this guide refers to digital communications
this refers to digital advertising, social media,
mobile etc. and excludes briefing websites,
which arguably requires a different focus.
This guide forms part of a series published by
the leading industry organisations including
IPA/ISBA/MAA/PRCA and this ‘Briefing an
Agency’ guide has been led by ISBA in
conjunction with MAA,PRCA and IPA.
It can be seen as fitting between the ‘Finding
an Agency’ guide and ‘Judging Creative Ideas’
guides and focuses on briefing an agency
once it has been selected and is not relevant
to the selection process.
The latter is covered in ‘Finding an Agency’,
another guide in the series.
With many thanks to John Howkins of the Nub
Consultancy for his specialist expertise on
briefing and his hard work drafting this guide.
ISBA - Debbie Morrison
MAA - Scott Knox
PRCA - Richard Ellis
IPA - Hamish Pringle
1
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4. Whilst most advertisers acknowledge the need
to write a brief, there are still too many verbal-
only briefs to agencies. The reasons given for
not writing a brief often include:
“It’s a fast-track project” “I don’t have the time”
“The agency already understands what’s needed”
Excuses are quickly exposed when the resulting
work is not what is required. A little time writing
a brief pays dividends in the longer term. Even a
short email stating the aim of the project clearly
is much better than relying solely on a hurried
verbal briefing.
Writing a brief is good business practice, and
without it, it’s the advertiser that is exposed.
There are three compelling reasons to write a brief:
It leads to better work
Without a written brief the work can be creatively
brilliant and extremely effective in working against
the wrong objectives. Even if the aim has been
verbally expressed, agreement in writing is
essential to avoid any doubt or misunderstanding
and to have shared clarity of purpose.
Where ‘better’ is seen as more effective,
measurable work, the lack of a written brief
means there are no agreed objectives, no criteria
for success, and therefore no means of evaluating
how effective the agency’s work is.
Where ‘better’ is seen as more creative, respected
or award-winning work, then similarly this aim
will have not been made explicit in writing to
everyone involved. (A research study from the
IPA, Thinkbox, and The Gunn Report, has revealed
the direct correlation between strong advertising
creativity and business success)
Agencies are also very clear on their wish for
written briefs.
“Writing it down actually forces the client to think,
and they inevitably change their approach when
they do.” (Agency Survey)
It saves time and money
No-one wants to waste time and money, but often
the agency time is viewed as more expendable
than the advertiser’s. Efficiency all round is only
achieved by clear aims and focus of effort.
The view that not writing a brief is faster, assumes
that faster to the first presentation of an idea is the
aim, rather than faster to agreed work. We need
to take into account that most ideas presented are
not agreed first time. So saving time in the short
term is often a false economy.
How does writing a brief save money? Where
time is saved this clearly saves money, not just the
agency’s time but also the ability of the advertiser
to get into the marketplace faster and therefore get
a return on investment (see Page 10 on ‘Improving
the business efficiency of briefing’)
“Sloppy briefing and moving goal posts wastes time
and money” (Agency Survey)
It makes remuneration fairer
Written briefs act as a form of contract between
advertiser and agency. They should lay out what
the agency is expected to deliver in a clear and
measurable way. Without mutually agreed KPIs or
measurable objectives, the agency’s work can only
be evaluated subjectively, leading to dissatisfaction
with PBR and other remuneration schemes based
on performance.
“The point of a brief isn’t to be buttoned up and
restrictive; it’s to give clear direction on what’s
important and to clarify the issue that you’re seeking
to address. The problem with informal briefing is
that it makes a huge assumption that the person
being briefed shares the unstated knowledge of the
person doing the briefing. It’s likely that some key
facts or knowledge in the client’s mind aren’t written
into the brief, because they assume the agency
will already know these. And that’s where the
misunderstandings can begin.”
Will Collin Partner, Naked Communications
Why write a brief?
2
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5. THE P RINCIPLE S OF EFFECTI VE BRIEFING
What makes a good brief is founded on some basic principles which can be applied to almost any
briefing situation. There are three basic principles:
1. Be clear about what is needed
2. Provide the critical information necessary to complete the task
3. Inspire or motivate people to do their best
These principles apply equally to briefing marketing communications as briefing many other things
in life. Often with marketing communications we make it over-complicated and forget the basic
principles ending up with the agency being unclear on what is required. In other areas of life we do
things more instinctively and use the most efficient means of briefing - for example, it’s sometimes
faster and more accurate to brief a hairdresser by using a picture rather than a verbal description.
Clarity of objectives
It seems self-evident that the most important part of a brief is a clear description of what the aim
of the brief is. Yet in our industry review of briefing techniques this is consistently the weakest area
of written briefs. It is often confused with overall business, brand or marketing objectives, whereas
the single most important content section is the communication objective itself. Some briefs simply
describe the sales target without any thought as to the role of communications.
Agencies need this clarity and it is the responsibility of the person writing the communications brief
to provide this. As one agency person commented,
“More time should be spent on trying to understand or describe the problem or opportunity
rather than ‘hinting’ at the solution.” (Agency Survey)
A brief should be just that
There used to be a rigour in advertising agencies to keep creative briefs to just one page. The
principle behind this is relevant to all briefs – that is that it should be possible to boil down any brief
to something that is succinct and memorable.
If it isn’t, it’s likely to be less effective. At the very least aim for something which can be
remembered when the piece of paper is not in front of the person or team that has been briefed -
if the writer of the brief can’t even remember what it was about without a prompt, what chance is
there of others internalising what is required?
Of course there is room for attachments and additional material. Sometimes a large volume of
background material can be helpful as one seemingly small bit of information could prompt a
thought that leads to the solution. But best practice is to provide only the critical information that
The principles of
effective briefing
3
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6. Inspired to greatness
When asking marketing people ’What makes a good brief?’, the answers are mostly about
objectives, requirements, target audience etc, Only on prompting do people recognise that inspiring
the agency or the team to produce great work is a critical element. Perhaps clients assume that an
agency will be motivated enough by remuneration, the fear of losing the business, or simply by any
opportunity to do good work.
However experience shows that those clients who not only put more thought into their brief, but
also use their own creativity to make briefing the agency or agencies an inspiring experience,
tend to get better results. There are three main reasons for this: firstly the brief will stand out
from the other assignments that the agency is working on and get an unfair share of attention.
Secondly a client who has put more thought into the presentation of their brief is likely to have
greater empathy for agency psychology and the creative process making it more likely that they
have provided the springboard for a great creative leap. Thirdly a client who delivers a great brief
signals that they are in the market for a great creative response, and likely to be excited rather
than frightened by one.
If inspiring the agency is recognised as a basic principle of good briefing it should influence both
the way the brief is written and the way it is briefed in. A key new section to this guide is about the
briefing meeting which is just as important as the written brief itself, and provides the opportunity
to motivate the agency team in a very direct way.
To motivate or inspire anyone, there needs to be a good understanding of what’s important to that
individual or organisation. Understanding what’s important to agencies and the particular agency
being briefed comes from closer working relationships. Where both organisations recognise
common aims then success is far more likely to be achieved.
is relevant to the task. Why make agency people wade through masses of irrelevant information?
Often it is a lack of thought that leads to this approach.
As Blaise Pascal wrote as long ago as 1657: “I have made this letter longer, because I have not had
the time to make it shorter.”
Fundamentally brief writing is about making decisions about what is needed. Deciding what to
leave out is part of that.
There is an argument that some types of tasks require longer briefs. For example, those which are
for media which themselves require a large degree of content, such as a traditional direct mail pack
or website builds. Whilst there may be a need to provide greater depth of supporting material, the
overall brief itself still needs to be simple and clear.
BRIEFING an agenc y
4
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7. The marketing communications
briefing format
There are many different ways of creating a written briefing format for marketing communications.
The format should reflect the company’s beliefs about how communications work and therefore
what is important enough to be included in the brief.
Some advertisers may use versions of their agencies’ creative brief formats as a basis for their
own. Whilst this may initially look as if it is encouraging a collaborative way of working, it does
demonstrate a lack of belief in the company’s own practices. An agency’s internal creative brief
usually serves the fundamentally different purpose of inspiring their own creative people. A
client marketing communications brief needs to inspire the whole agency team to deliver the
best communications.
Most marcoms briefs also act as a business process document to initiate a job start – in effect
it’s a purchase order and since large sums of money will be involved in both time and resources it
needs to be taken very seriously.
To provide a best practice guide to constructing a briefing format we analysed responses to the
research survey and combined this with formats supplied during training sessions. From the
research survey a significant number of advertisers are using a style which uses a set of questions
based on a strategic planning approach (Stephen King et al). These were set out in the first edition
of this guide and it’s gratifying to see their adoption.
These are:
• Where are we now?
• Where do we want to be?
• What are we doing to get there?
• Who do we need to talk to?
• How will we know when we have arrived?
These questions provide the logic for the thinking process for a brief. Often they are used as
sub-heads to the broader section headers e.g. Target Audience (who do we want talk to?). This
interrogative style acts as a form of tutorial for those writing the brief.
It also became clear that most marketing communications briefs have three broad areas of
heading; those that describe the background, the brief itself, and an implementation and
process section.
The background headers might include
Background: Usually covers the business and marketing context and why the task is important
Marketing or Sales Objectives: This sometimes includes the business case for the activity
Brand: Remarkably this is often overlooked. It might include brand identity/brand
capsule/brand vision/brand architecture/brand status/brand values/brand personality
Previous Learning: Again a section which is only used occasionally, but may have wider potential
THE P RINCIPLE S OF EFFECTI VE BRIEFING
5
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The choice of ‘proposition/message’ or ‘strategic benefit’ is one which reflects the thinking of the
organisation and the relationship with their agencies. The use of a ‘proposition’ on the marcomms
brief can be quite closely related to how many agencies use a ‘proposition’ in their own creative
briefs. This could be seen positively as aligning thinking. An alternative view is that the role of the
communications brief is to be clear about what the benefit is, and leave it up to the agency to think
through how to best express that as a compelling proposition. This is largely a matter of style.
The main communications brief section headers might include
Communications objectives: Sometimes they might be expressed as communications imperatives/
challenges/barriers
Target audience: Usually this section asks for more than simple demographics and specifically
prompts for attitudes or other motivators
Consumer insights: Sometimes specifically linked to the objective
Key message/proposition: Often phrased as the single-minded proposition/the one thing we want to say
OR
Strategic benefit: May ask for emotional and functional benefits
Consumer takeout: Or consumer take away/what they will think or do
Tone of voice: As distinct from brand personality
The implementation and process headers might include
Timings/key dates: May include project timelines as well as timing for response
Budget: May specify if production is included or not
Response mechanisms: On relevant types of brief
Evaluation/success criteria: A critical element for most disciplines
Mandatories/guidelines: May include what must be included and executional considerations
Approvals: Signatures of both those issuing/approving the brief and the agency
Writing the brief
Many people find the prospect of writing a brief a big challenge. This is often because there is a
perceived pressure on getting to a brilliant proposition or message. But if the writer thinks of the
proposition as being a consequence of the communication objective and the consumer insight then it
becomes an easier challenge.
Other traps are to start at the top of the form and work downwards (often until people become stuck
at the proposition section). Work out what you want to say before starting to fill out the form.
Avoid ‘cut and paste’. Just because the business plan has a section on this year’s business
and marketing objectives does not mean it is relevant to every brief. Work out what the specific
objectives are for the brief that is being written.
Don’t use marketing language or jargon that is familiar to everyone in your organisation, but may
be meaningless to the agency. So much internal marketing language is full of meaning based upon
the culture of the organisation but is not clear to someone outside of that culture. Simple and clear
language will result in a better brief.
There are other tips for writing a better brief in the summary section at the end of this guide.
BRIEFING an agenc y
6
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Briefing
your agency
Our research shows that most advertisers
believe that a combination of a written
brief and a verbal briefing is ideal (98%
agree). But the reality of what is delivered to
agencies is that verbal-only briefings are the
commonest (almost 50% of briefs are verbal
only). Research also indicated that significant
numbers of briefs nowadays are verbal with
only a short email or even SMS text message
by way of written confirmation.
“An email could be a written brief if it gives
all the required information, especially
now that email has become dominant as
the principal medium of communication
between clients and agencies. Within the
industry today there are many more global
or multinational assignments where you’re
dealing with overseas clients – and that
means even if you do receive a written brief
the likelihood is it’s going to come via email.”
Will Collin Partner, Naked Communications
It’s quite understandable that verbal briefings
happen often, especially where there is a
good working relationship, and high level
of trust, and possibly a requirement for fast
turn-around. Indeed the client may value
an agency’s ability to anticipate their needs
almost without needing briefing, but unless
there’s a written brief there is no record of
what is required or how the creative output will
be evaluated and things can go badly wrong.
Best practice is to always issue a written brief
and follow up verbally. In the case of a verbal
brief first, it must be confirmed in writing and if
email is used for this, then it needs to be more
than a one-liner.
In this world of client requirement for ever-
faster response times, there’s a lot to be said
for an annual re-investment in the client/
agency common understanding of the strategic
direction of the brand. There is this shared
understanding after a major agency review,
thus enabling the ‘shorthanding’ of briefs,
THE P RINCIPLE S OF EFFECTI VE BRIEFING
Advertisers agree that agencies prefer both written
and verbal briefs
Q5. Which type of brief do you think most agencies prefer?
100.00%
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%
Written
only
Written
and verbal
Verbal
only
No written
client brief
Yet most briefs are still verbal
Q7. Approximately what proportion of briefs received
are of the following type?
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Written
only
Written
and verbal
Verbal only
No written client brief
7
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but over time the combination of personnel
changes and market circumstances can
lead quite quickly to misalignment and
misunderstandings. So it’s a good idea once a
year at least for the client and agency team to
take time out to re-affirm the strategy and the
brand’s direction of travel.
For larger projects, a briefing meeting should
be considered. The role of a briefing meeting
is often underestimated. It is not just to offer
the agency a means of asking questions
about the brief and clarifying areas of
uncertainty. It is also an opportunity to create
a deeper understanding of what is required, to
emotionally engage with the task, and so inspire
and motivate.
The industry has many examples of briefing
meetings where the agency is taken somewhere
to inspire them, or to illustrate the point of the
brief. Thinking about what will motivate the
recipient to answer the brief well is a part of any
briefing whatever its size or importance.
Reference: from ‘Judging Creative Ideas’
guide: Unilever took the Comfort Brand team
and the Agency team off for two days sailing
in the Solent. “You feel an odd sort of loyalty
towards people you’ve seen being sick” said
Sean Gogarty from Unilever. This initiative
helped inspire the ‘Cloth People’ campaign
now running around the world.
The briefing meeting can also have a role in
helping shape the brief itself. Collaborative
working practices where the agencies and
clients work together to define the way the
task is framed are encouraged by most
industry organisations. The result is often
a joint ownership of the problem and the
solution, which can be much more productive.
Another ‘watch out’ for briefing meetings is
to avoid just going through the written brief.
The agency can read! Think about what will
help them beyond what has already been
written down.
Briefing for
integrated ideas
Getting integrated ideas is high up most
advertisers’ agendas. The reason being
that communications ideas that use all
disciplines together should create a ‘multiplier
effect’ and gain maximum value from
communications budgets.
Most advertisers claim to brief more than one
agency at a time (over 80%) which should lead to
more integrated ideas. This is usually when there
are major new initiatives or annual campaigns.
The disciplines that are most often briefed
together are advertising/brand agency, media and
digital agencies, but many other types of agency
may also be included dependent upon the task.
The integrated marketing communications brief,
often known as the IMC, is commonplace in
global businesses. This brief is often a much
simpler version of the briefing format and reflects
the beliefs and approach of the company. It may
then be accompanied by discipline specific briefs.
BRIEFING an agenc y
8
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11. As the aim of an IMC brief is to produce one
idea that works across disciplines, some
advertisers place the onus on the agencies
to work together to produce one solution. In
the research, agencies reported that this can
create tensions between disciplines where one
agency takes the lead role and does not fully
recognise the contribution of others. Projects
which work best are those where there is
openness to where ideas can come from.
There are a number of different ways
that advertisers can organise themselves
and their agencies to produce integrated
communications strategies and solutions.
With reference to ‘The Communication
Strategy’ guide, these are:
The Client-led model:
Where the client, instead of asking any
agency to devise a communication strategy,
does that strategic thinking themselves. This
model is based around the primacy of the
client’s knowledge.
The Lead Agency model:
Where the client charges one agency with
the responsibility of creating the communication
strategy for the other agencies on the roster
to follow.
The All Agency Model:
Where the client acts as ‘ringmaster’ to
bring together key people from all the
different agencies. This model is about
collective expertise.
The One-Stop-Shop Model:
Where leadership is provided by one agency
group (e.g. WPP, Publicis), but the individual
agencies involved within that group collaborate
to devise communication strategy.
“It is about assembling the best in class talent
you have available to be in the room at the
same time, each area of expertise having
respect for one another and all members of
the client and agency being completely open
and honest...” David Magliano Director of
Commercial and Marketing at England 2018
Briefing for
digital solutions
In the rapid development stages of digital
communications many advertisers have treated
digital as a separate discipline with specialist
managers dealing with specialist agencies.
Whilst that still may be true, the new research
reports clients as saying that digital is often
briefed together with other creative agencies
and media agencies.
In fact briefing for digital communications
solutions can be regarded as being very similar
to briefing any other discipline or channel.
The same principles should apply. However
there are some fundamental differences in
digital communications, with the most obvious
being the unique opportunity for an instant
and ongoing dialogue via social media. This
changes the relationship putting the consumer
in control and demanding that the advertiser
seek permission to engage. This may mean
that the brief is more focussed on how the
TH E P RINCIPLE S OF EFFECTI VE BRIEFING
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12. brand behaves in this new social media context
rather than the more traditional proposition
which tended to rely on a message about a
competitive benefit.
Some digital areas may be regarded differently
because of greater technical requirement,
for example, search engine marketing (SEM)
is highly specialised. But the same basic
principles should apply to briefing.
For web design and build there is also a
strong argument that specialist skills require
a different briefing format. But the basic
principles of understanding what motivates the
agency and using that in writing the brief still
apply. This does not deny that specific skills
and knowledge are undoubtedly needed to
be effective.
For digital briefing, the headers on the brief
form may well use different terminology, but
clarity of objectives, provision of essential
information needed to complete the task, a
good working relationship, and the motivation
to do a good job are all essential.
The same principles also apply for many other
marcoms disciplines that apparently look quite
different but in reality follow a remarkably
similar thought process - PR, media,
promotions etc.
Measurement, benchmarking, and target
setting are standard practice in nearly all areas
of business, but the agency briefing process is
often an exception. Perhaps this is because the
end product is less tangible, and it is associated
with the complexities of trying to untangle the
efficacy of one element of the marketing plan
from the effect of all the others.
“We want people to tell us exactly what
the challenge is, what constraints they are
operating under, and what KPIs they are putting
against it. Unless they know what the KPIs are,
we can’t really make a value judgement about
what the right response might be.”
Chris Whitson Planning Partner, Stephens
Francis Whitson.
But looked at logically there are a number of
simple metrics which can and should
be monitored.
• How long does it take from writing a brief to
the agency receiving it?
• How long does it take for the agency to
respond to a brief?
• How often does the agency present work that
is bought first time?
• How many times does the client ask the
agency to re-work an idea?
These are all fairly simple things to measure
provided there is a good process with written
briefs, dates of issue and receipt, and contact
reports of creative presentations and re-works.
Measurement allows a means of assessing
efficiency even if it is only benchmarked
internally. External benchmarks are harder to
find, but a study by Farmer & Co reported an
average re-work rate of 3.6 times to get to a
final bought solution.
Improving the efficiency
of your briefing process
BRIEFING an agenc y
10
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13. Imagine if the re-work rate was reduced by say
25%. This would produce substantial savings
in time and cost. To illustrate the point here
are some basic calculations:
On a marketing budget of £1m, a delay of two
months due to poor briefing could cost the
business up to £183,000 in lost sales (based
on linear relationship of advertising/sales
ratio of 3% and marketing investment ROMI
of 10% and assuming there was no
replacement activity).
The point being that most marketing managers
do not think about the costs of delay or
inefficiency in briefing. Whilst clearly the most
important requirement is to get the work right,
the costs of delay, prevarication and indecision
are substantial.
Approval processes for the brief
need to be aligned with those for
the creative work
One source of inefficiency in briefing is where
the approval process does not align with
those for the creative work. This could be
where very senior management review work
for major projects without having signed off
the marketing communications brief in the
first place. The use of personal judgement is
fine, but where it’s not aligned to the agreed
brief it can cause wasted time and effort. The
schematic below shows a typical company
approval system and how it might
be improved.
“Any regular turnover of marketing people
in a client organisation has an effect on the
entire process. There is a direct impact on
shared understanding and ultimately on the
brand DNA. Seniority, experience and tenure
should not be undervalued in a relationship.
Also, the more people involved in a process,
the more room there is for ambiguity and
error. So a defined and transparent input
and approval system is critical for the
briefing process.”
Neil Simpson Chief Executive, Publicis
THE P RINCIPLE S OF EFFECTI VE BRIEFING
Approval process
Proposed changes
• Set strategy
• Annual programmes
• Major campaigns
Senior
Management
• Write comms brief
• Brief agency
Marketing
Comms
• Write creative brief
• Creative ideas
External
Agency
1st Stage approval of ideas
2nd Stage approval of ideas
• Evaluation against brief
• Approval of Creative brief
• Approval of Comms brief
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14. • Develop a briefing format that reflects your organisation’s beliefs about communication
• Keep the briefing form simple and provide guidance on how to use it
• Recognise the difference between the marketing communications brief and the agency’s
internal creative brief
• Apply the same best practice principles to digital briefing as any other, but recognise the
technical differences
• Consider the best suited model for getting to integrated solutions and brief accordingly
• Consider more collaborative ways of working and agreeing the final brief
• Monitor the efficiency of the briefing process (time to issue brief, number of re-works)
• Review your organisation’s efficiency of briefing alongside that of the agency
• Align the approval process for the brief with the approval process for the creative work
• Treat briefing with the same levels of professionalism, standards and accountability as any
other area of business
Top tips -
for the briefing organisation
BRIEFING an agenc y
• Before you write anything, think
• Don’t just fill out a form, but use the form to record your thought process
• Be absolutely clear about the aim of the communications brief
• Separate the communications objectives from the business targets or broader marketing objectives
• Deciding what you leave out can be as important as what you put in
• Include only the relevant and critical information in the brief with the remainder in the attachments
• The proposition or message should be the consequence of the rest of the brief
• Understand your agency audience and what motivates them
• Think about how to make your brief stand out from the others
• If you do give a verbal brief it’s essential to confirm it in writing, even if only by email.
Remember a brief is a cheque that will be cashed…
Top tips -
for the brief writer
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15. for more information
Institute of Practitioners in Advertising
Tel: 020 7235 7020
www.ipa.co.uk
ISBA - the voice of British advertisers
Tel: 020 7291 9020
www.isba.org.uk
Marketing Agencies Association
Tel: 020 7535 3550
www.marketingagencies.org.uk
Public Relations Consultants Association
Tel: 020 7233 6026
www.prca.org.uk
The Nub
www.thenubconsultancy.com
Our hope is that this guide will encourage all to think in more depth about briefing techniques and that clients
and agencies will focus more joint efforts on developing briefing excellence. If you would like more copies of
the guide, which is also available as a PDF download please contact your appropriate trade body below.
Many of the organisations involved run training sessions on this subject and ISBA also provides in-house
training for clients on improving briefing techniques – details can be found on the websites below:
For more
information
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16. A best practice guide to agency search and selection
Joint industry guidelines for marketing professionals in working effectively with agencies
2nd edition, May 2009
Finding an Agency
63934 V2.indd 1 14/02/2011 11:50
Creative development and production by Su Johnstone. For information email info@sujohnstone.com or telephone +44(0)7976 793368
IPA
44 Belgrave Square
London SW1X 8QS
United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)20 7235 7020
fax: +44 (0)20 7245 9904
email: info@ipa.co.uk
There are five other joint
industry guides available,
all designed to help
you get more from your
communications agencies.
Please contact the IPA,
ISBA, MAA or PRCA for
more details.
2nd edition. Published May 2009
Published February 2006 Published July 2006
Published August 2005
Published February 2007
£15.00
ISBA
Langham House
1b Portland Place
London W1B 1PN
United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)20 7291 9020
fax: +44 (0)20 7291 9030
email: info@isba.org.uk
MAA
4 New Quebec Street
London W1H 7RF
United Kingdom
tel: +44 (0)20 7535 3550
fax: +44 (0)20 7535 3551
email: info@marketingagencies.org.uk
PRCA
Willow House, Willow Place
London SW1P 1JH
United Kingdom
tel : +44 (0)20 7233 6026
fax : +44 (0)20 7828 4797
email: info@prca.org.uk
Other guides available
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