The most creative, brilliant PR campaigns start with a brief, but so also do unoriginal, dull campaigns. A perfect brief can’t guarantee that you get the former, but it sure can help. The brief is the key piece of information that a client gives an agency, so it’s vital that this, the starting block of a campaign, succeeds in inspiring inventive solutions.

The trick is writing a brief that has all the relevant background, but doesn’t go off on tangents that confuse. Michael Frohlich managing director of PR agency Resonate, says that it is important to be concise: “It is undoubtedly true that the tighter a brief is the better. The more succinct information there is in a brief the easier it is for the recipient to understand what the client is trying to achieve. The worst briefs are those that are either open-ended or are just a stream of consciousness.“

The best briefs are well structured and easily followed. Frohlich explains: “They must have clear deliverables which an agency will be judged against and have the relevant information and background. If a brief is specific, there is no need for masses of background information – just information that is highly relevant to the brief. Unnecessary information clouds confuses the brief and can send respondents off in multiple and wrong directions.“

As well as presenting clear goals and concise background, timing and budget demands must be fair. Frohlich concludes: “All briefs also must be reasonable: reasonable in the timescale to respond; the timescale to deliver; and achievable within the budget parameters. The reason to issue a brief is to get a clear response answering a client’s need, a bad brief that cannot deliver the response required is a waste of time for the issuer and the responder.”

Top tips for writing the perfect brief:

Anne Gregory, professor of public relations at Leeds Metropolitan University and author of Planning and Managing Public Relations Campaigns, offers advice for writing the perfect brief.

The basics: A perfect brief must have sensible lead times, a precise budget range and make clear who the first point of contact is.

Background: This should include business/sector context as well organisational background. Include references to any helpful websites or resources. Clearly identify the broader issues facing the organisation as well as the specific PR challenges. Point out all the areas the consultancy should address, as well as saying what it should not. Offer guidance on what is negotiable and what is not.

Accept input from the agency: Good consultancies are genuine business advisers, so while being clear about the tasks in hand, good briefs also provide some latitude for consultants to give their perspective on the problems identified and to go beyond the strict letter of the brief if they feel they have something to contribute. Consultants are best when used as partners, so provide opportunities to gain an insight on how that might work. This will give you an insight into the agency’s overall and broader capabilities and how it responds to less well-defined problems.

Ask for evidence: A brief should also ask for consultants to say how they will manage the work and the account and to provide examples of work so the they can demonstrate the range of their capabilities.

Crossing the Ts: Finally, a good brief is clear about intellectual property and confidentiality being respected.

Written by Daney Parker