Blog Post

Most campaign briefs are too long, too vague, or too focused on creative direction without answering the most important question:
“What is this campaign supposed to accomplish?”

I’ve seen briefs with beautiful formatting, brand voice guides, and long backstories—but no clear goal. And if the team doesn’t know what success looks like, you can’t expect performance.

A great brief doesn’t just organize your campaign. It aligns your entire team—from creative to media to strategy—around a single, specific outcome.

Here’s how I structure campaign briefs around marketing goals that are built to deliver—not just look polished.

• Why goal-focused briefs outperform generic ones
  
• The key sections every campaign brief should include
  
• How to connect business strategy to campaign execution
  
• A fill-in-the-blanks brief template you can actually use
  
• Mistakes to avoid when briefing your team or clients
  

Let’s get one thing straight: design, messaging, channel mix—none of it matters if the campaign doesn’t serve a goal.

When your brief is goal-oriented:

• Every asset has a job to do
  
• Execution stays focused (and lean)
  
• Performance tracking becomes easy
  
• Teams stop guessing what “success” means
  

Without a goal, a campaign becomes a guessing game. And when you’re spending money, guessing is not a strategy.

I keep briefs simple. That doesn’t mean light on detail—it means clear. Every section serves a purpose. Here’s how I build them:

Start with this. Always.

What is the one thing this campaign needs to achieve?

Example:

“Acquire 1,000 new subscribers in 30 days at a cost-per-lead under $3.”

Keep it:

• Specific
  
• Time-bound
  
• Tied directly to a business goal (not just a marketing task)
  

If you don’t start here, everything else in the brief drifts.

This isn’t just demographics. It’s about behavior and intent.

Include:

• Customer segment or persona
  
• Buying stage (awareness, consideration, decision)
  
• Relevant pain points or motivations
  
• Known behaviors (e.g., “Visited pricing page but didn’t convert”)
  

The more precise you are here, the stronger your messaging and targeting will be.

Every campaign needs one clear idea. Don’t let your message get diluted.

This section includes:

• Primary message: What we’re saying
  
• Value proposition: Why they should care
  
• Call-to-action: What we want them to do
  

Optional but helpful:

• Secondary message: For retargeting or follow-ups
  
• Objections to address: If we know why people don’t convert, address it upfront
  

Where will the campaign run—and why?

Outline:

• Channels (e.g., Meta Ads, Google Search, email, etc.)
  
• Rationale (how it connects to the audience and objective)
  
• Key formats (video, carousel, landing page, etc.)
  

This is not a full media plan, but it sets expectations and prevents surprises.

Campaigns that don’t have a schedule tend to launch late—or never.

Break it into:

• Brief approval
  
• Asset delivery deadlines
  
• Launch date(s)
  
• Optimization windows
  
• End date / post-campaign review
  

Stick to real dates. “Mid-month” doesn’t count.

This is where goal alignment becomes trackable.

Depending on the goal, include:

• Primary KPI (e.g., CPL, ROAS, conversion rate)
  
• Target benchmarks
  
• Secondary metrics (CTR, bounce rate, time on page)
  
• Reporting cadence (weekly? post-launch? real-time dashboard?)
  

Need help choosing the right KPIs? I’ve laid that out in this post.

You don’t need a full media budget breakdown, but your team needs to know the financial parameters.

Include:

• Overall campaign spend
  
• Allocated spend by channel or asset type
  
• Expected cost per result (based on benchmarks)
  

If the goal is aggressive but the budget doesn’t match, that’s a conversation you want to have before launch—not during.

Now you can talk creative.

List:

• Number and type of assets needed (e.g., 3 static ads, 2 videos, 1 landing page)
  
• Platform-specific guidelines or versions
  
• Notes on tone, brand voice, mandatory elements (if any)
  

This is where the creative team finally gets to stretch—but within the bounds of the goal.

Here’s a simplified version of the brief I use with clients and teams:

[Give it something functional, not poetic.]

[What do we want this campaign to achieve? Be specific.]

[Who are we speaking to? Segment, behavior, or stage.]

[What’s the core message? What action are we driving?]

[Where will this run? And why?]

[Start, key deadlines, end date.]

[Primary + secondary KPIs with targets.]

[How much? Allocated how? Expected efficiency?]

[List of required assets by format and platform.]

This format works for solo marketers, agency teams, and in-house departments. It cuts down on revision cycles and speeds up execution.

Even with a clear format, things can go off-track. Watch for these:

• No single campaign owner: Assign someone who owns the brief from start to finish.
  
• Too much background, not enough direction: Context is helpful. Pages of history are not.
  
• Unclear metrics: If you can’t define success, you can’t measure it.
  
• Creative-first mindset: Don’t lead with what you want to make—lead with what needs to be achieved.
  
• Last-minute changes post-launch: Make updates during planning, not in panic.
  

A brief doesn’t guarantee success—but a weak one almost guarantees confusion.

Your campaign doesn’t start with an ad. It starts with a clear brief.

When you build your campaign around a goal—and structure your brief to reflect that—you reduce friction, accelerate delivery, and dramatically increase your chances of hitting real business outcomes.Want to see how I connect these briefs to SMART goal setting and execution? Check out this full breakdown on how I set campaign goals that actually work.