The clarity of your brief, whether content or design, can make or break your campaigns.
This is something the ClearVoice team knows well. Over the years, we’ve learned a lot about what writers and designers need from a brief to deliver an end product that meets (or exceeds) expectations.
And we’ve realized that content and design briefs actually go hand in hand.
In this article, we’ll explore the roles of content and design briefs, including their differences and similarities. We’ll also explain how combining these briefs can lead to smoother, more impactful marketing projects. (Including fewer revisions.)
What Is a Content Brief?
A content brief is a document that helps writers produce content that aligns with campaign objectives. It outlines everything from the desired tone and target audience to keywords and project goals.
Briefs give content creators everything they need to create high-performing content.
At ClearVoice, we’ve refined our brief process over years of trial and error. We’ve found that every brief should include the following elements so each assignment meets business objectives and audience expectations:
Key Elements of a Content Brief
- Project summary: Including a project summary is something we’ve found to be particularly helpful for writers. This summary describes how the assignment fits into the customer’s larger vision for their content and relays how the content will be used. We often attach customer or competitor examples to provide additional context.
- Target audience: Who is the content for? Including demographic data will help the writer tailor your content to your audience. In-depth personas that detail your audience’s preferences, pain points, and decision-making factors can also be very helpful.
- Messaging: This covers the primary point the content must communicate and any secondary messages or themes to emphasize.
- Tone and style: Should the content be conversational, formal, authoritative, or friendly? Establishing this upfront ensures the writing matches your brand’s voice.
- Objectives: List your goals for the content, whether conversions, brand awareness, or education. This helps shape the content’s structure and style to meet your vision.
- Keywords and SEO guidelines: Including target keywords and SEO guidelines will help your content rank higher in search engines and reach its intended audience.
- Format and length: Does the content need to be a short- or long-form blog post, white paper, or a social media post? The brief should make the format clear.
Importance of Content Briefs for Writers
Writers use content briefs to create materials that meet your project’s goals and connect with your audience.
Without these guidelines, you risk time-consuming revisions.
For example, the ClearVoice team reviews each brief before they go to writers. Over time, we realized the importance of adopting a writer’s perspective during these reviews. This ensures the brief is devoid of ambiguities and provides clear, concise directions, leading to fewer revisions overall.
What Is a Design Brief?
Design briefs focus on the visual elements of a campaign. They provide designers with the information they need to create eye-catching visuals that align with the campaign’s messaging and goals.
Key Elements of a Design Brief
- Visual goals: What is the purpose of the design? This could range from grabbing attention in an ad campaign to providing clear data visualization in a report.
- Brand guidelines: Designers need to know the specific visual elements that must remain consistent with your brand, including colors, logos, fonts, and imagery style.
- Target audience: Just like content briefs, design briefs should define the audience. Are the visuals intended for a corporate setting, or are they more lighthearted and aimed at consumers?
- Aesthetic preferences: This could include any mood boards, references, or examples of the style you’re aiming for — modern, minimalistic, or bold.
- Format and dimensions: What are the required specs? Is it a banner ad, a social media post, or a print flyer? These details are critical for ensuring the design meets the platform or format requirements.
Importance of Design Briefs for Designers
Designers use briefs to create visuals that look great and serve a clear purpose. They ensure that design work is aligned with brand guidelines and that it complements the content.
Like writers, designers rely on briefs to reduce back-and-forth communication, minimizing revisions and wasted time.
Key Differences Between Content and Design Briefs
While content and design briefs are essential for successful marketing campaigns, they serve distinct purposes. Let’s examine their key differences:
Messaging vs. Visuals
Here are the most obvious distinctions:
- Content briefs focus on words. They provide the foundation for the story or message being told, ensuring the audience understands the brand’s narrative.
- Design briefs focus on images. They outline how that story will be seen, ensuring it catches the eye and reinforces the intended message.
Different Tools, Same Goal
Both content and design briefs aim for the same outcome: effective communication. While they’re tailored to different audiences (writers vs. designers), they help result in a final product that’s on-brand, relevant, and high-performing.
Writers need to craft a compelling message, while designers need to translate that message into visuals that engage and persuade. The tools are different, but the end goal is to create a cohesive, impactful piece of marketing material.
Similarities Between Content and Design Briefs
Despite their differences, content and design briefs have common ground.
Alignment With Campaign Goals
Both briefs ensure alignment with larger marketing goals:
- Generating leads
- Building brand awareness
- Encouraging specific user actions
Each brief provides the necessary guidelines for writers and designers to deliver materials that meet these objectives.
The Need for Clarity
When you give writers and designers specific instructions, you help ensure your vision is brought to life.
For example, at ClearVoice, we integrate customer input into every brief to provide further clarity for writers and designers. Whether it’s your brand voice or preferred font, precise details reduce the risk of misunderstandings and set content creators up for success.
This is why every brief requires a clear articulation of your end goals, audience, and expectations.
Can Content and Design Briefs Be Combined?
The idea of combining content and design briefs may seem like an unnecessary overlap, but in reality, it can help streamline communication.
It can also lead to fewer revisions and a more successful end product.
We’ve experimented with integrating content and design briefs for certain projects. This approach has led to more cohesive campaigns and improved collaboration between our content creators and designers.
Benefits of Combining Briefs
- Enhanced collaboration: When content creators and designers work from the same document, they gain a better understanding of your project’s full scope. This encourages collaboration and ensures both sides are on the same page.
- Streamlined process: A combined brief reduces the need for back-and-forth communication, allowing teams to move more efficiently. Everyone has access to the same information, reducing confusion and misalignment.
- Cohesive campaigns: By uniting the messaging and design from the beginning, you’re more likely to produce cohesive, aligned marketing materials. The final product will have strong copy and visuals that work together to tell the same story.
How to Integrate Briefs
Combining briefs is easier than you think. Here’s how to maintain clarity and effectiveness.
- Keep it concise: Focus on key objectives for content and design elements, avoiding overwhelming the document with excessive information.
- Clearly state objectives: Ensure each section has specific, measurable goals for content and visual aspects of the campaign.
- Create a shared template: Develop a standardized format that addresses content and design needs, including sections for messaging, visual guidelines, and overall campaign goals.
- Foster collaboration: Design the template to facilitate easy cooperation between content and design teams, including spaces for both to provide input and feedback.
- Align narrative and visuals: Demonstrate how content and design will work together, highlighting areas where visual elements can enhance written content and vice versa.
- Simplify the process: Use clear, jargon-free language that content and design teams can easily understand, streamlining the briefing procedure to avoid unnecessary complexity.
Unify Briefs for a Cohesive Final Product
Writers and designers rely on these documents to stay aligned with the campaign’s goals, ensuring that messaging and visuals complement each other.
While the briefs serve different purposes, their success lies in how well they work together. Combining them might be the next step in creating more cohesive, efficient, and impactful campaigns.
At ClearVoice, our content strategists, designers, and writers work together to create top-notch content that connects with your audience and drives results. Connect with a content strategist today to elevate your marketing campaigns.
