What to Include in a Creative Brief for Freelancers

I’ve been a freelance copywriter and content strategist for about 18 months. Before that, I worked in permanent positions as a Content Marketing Manager or Content Lead in-house and would often brief freelance photographers, writers, content creators and more, if we needed certain expertise or extra support for a project.

As a result, I’ve seen a lot of creative briefs. I’ve written briefs, been on the receiving end of briefs, and seen that the kind of work that comes back directly correlates with the quality of the brief.

I’ve also heard (many, many times) people lament the creative brief. “You’re the writer, you figure it out”. Or “you’re the designer, you should just know what to do.”

It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid. If you’re part of a brand, business or marketing team and you’re engaging someone to complete a project, you need to be really clear about what you want — and give them the tools and assets that will help them give you what you want.

It’s a bit like going on a hike without a map and without an end point in mind. You could go in any direction — and end up anywhere.

When you’re outsourcing content production, it’s really important to get your brief right. I’ve worked at or with brands who engage a freelancer or influencer to create a piece of content, only to be really disappointed with what they get back. But if you looked at the brief, it’s quite often unsurprising that some things go amiss.

You or your team may know everything there is to know about your brand, what style you like or what it is you’re trying to achieve with your content but the person you’re engaging won’t. So be detailed, even if it feels like you’re going overboard.

Here’s what you should include in a creative brief:

• An overview of the project and the task in hand
• Where this content will be used (is it for a website landing page, social media post, magazine article?)
• Deadlines
• Exact deliverables with formats and how to supply them (e.g. 1 x blog post in a Word document, 3 x portrait images, 1 x 30 second video in portrait mode)
• Tone of voice guidelines (for writers)
• Brand guidelines
• Mood boards or links to inspiration
• Any ‘must haves’ e.g. the blog post must include certain keywords and links, or there must be one image that shows a certain detail of a product

Having all of these things in place before the freelancer begins will ensure they have the tools and resources to do what they do best, rather than spending time going back and forth with questions or rounds of amends.

In the long run, it will ensure that your team, brand or business saves time (and money) as well, and you get the best possible content that’s going to get you results.

Parts of this article are taken from my book, ‘Making Content Work: Tips, tools and templates for your brand or business’. Available now on Amazon, in paperback or Kindle.