In this post, we give you a recipe for how to build your campaign brief. The recipe consists of the following points:
- About the company
- Campaign description
- Content overview
- Description of content
What is a campaign brief?
A campaign brief is, in short, an overview of the concept, content, and the requirements and guidelines the brand has for how their campaign should run. Many people encounter challenges when preparing the campaign brief. We would like to overcome these challenges with the following guide.
One of the hardest things about writing a campaign brief is finding the right balance between how much creative freedom you want to give the influencer and how much control you want over the campaign. This lack of control is often what companies find most challenging. Many people may be used to having full control over their marketing campaigns, but when you work with influencer marketing, you give up a large part of the control to the influencer and that's okay. Because by giving up some control, you benefit from their personal voice, often with a really high level of creativity, and this is exactly what makes influencer marketing so effective.
What should a brief contain?
1. About the company
Briefly describe the company in question. The description can serve as background knowledge for the influencer and at the same time provide inspiration for the influencer's content.
The description may include, for example, the following:
- Basic information about the company, e.g. age, origin, geographical location.
- Does the company have any specific values they attach great importance to?
- How does the company differentiate itself? Does the company have any USPs (unique selling points).
2. Campaign description
The description should give an insight into what the campaign is about. Here you describe the concept and message of the campaign. Remember that this should be inspiring and not limiting the influencer.
We believe these points should at least be included in the description of the campaign:
- Campaign purpose. What is the campaign about and what message do you want to convey?
- The campaign concept and the role of influencers in the campaign.
- What expression do you want the campaign to have. For example, is there a visual expression that would fit well into the company's universe? Remember not to give the influencer limitations, but be inspiring. An example of inspiring wording could be: “The product should not appear too clearly in the content and you could possibly be outdoors when you film. We think that would give a cool expression” .
- Describe whether it is a product, a service, an event or something else and mention all the relevant information about it.
- During what period should the campaign run?
3. Content overview
This step does not involve a description of each individual piece of content, but simply an overview of what is expected to be delivered. This is just to provide a clear overview of what is expected to be produced by the influencer. An example of an overview could look like this:
During the campaign period, the following content has been agreed to be delivered:
- 2 stk. Instagram stories
- 2 stk. Instagram post
- 1 pc. Instagram reel
4. Description of content
There are some points that you should at least include in a general description for all content elements. The following points should be expressed as general for all content for the campaign:
- All content must be marked as “advertisement”, “paid partnership” or similar. The company name must appear at the beginning of the content. This is a legal requirement.
- Content must not contain racist attitudes or offensive content.
- If the influencer has a bad experience with the product, this should be discussed with the company before the content is produced. The influencer and the company will work together to find a solution.
Additionally, in this section you will describe each individual content element. This is probably the most comprehensive point, depending on how many pieces of content the campaign contains. This is also where you need to remember to leave some freedom to the influencer, as they know their target audience best.
Each element should be specified and you should mention what each element should contain. The description should be seen as a bit of a do's and don'ts for the influencer, so you ensure that the influencer gets the desired message out - and again, remember to give the influencer the necessary creative freedom.
Hashtags and @-tags: Describe which hashtags and @-tags you want the influencer to mention. Feel free to write the desired tag(s) yourself so the influencer is not in doubt about what the tag should look like.
Examples of do's and don'ts could be:
DO’s 👍
- We want the product to be visible in the image.
- The image must reflect a sporty and active atmosphere.
- Take the picture with #projekfere and @løbeklubben
DON’T’s 👎
- The product must be at the forefront of the image on a table.
- You must take the picture while running.
- Create a hashtag where you write: for runners and tag Løbeklubben
Content plans and deadlines
It is important to mention that the content plan is not the same as the period in which the campaign runs. The content plan tells you when each piece of content should be submitted for approval and when it should go live.
Content plan and deadlines are an important part of your influencer campaigns. Some choose to mention it in the campaign brief and as such it can also be relevant in some cases. However, at Sheer we have chosen that the content plan is prepared in collaboration with the influencer when the agreement has been made. This means that a specific content plan is not sent out in connection with the campaign brief.
There can be challenges with content plans when working with multiple influencers on the same campaign. By negotiating content plans and deadlines after reaching an agreement with influencers, you can ensure, for example, that the same content is not posted on the same day by five or six different influencers during the campaign period.
The above points should be considered as a starting point for preparing a good brief. In some cases, it will be relevant to add other points. For example, if you want to buy rights to the content that is being produced, this should be stated in the brief. Therefore, use this guide as a good checklist of things that should be included in every campaign brief, after which you have the opportunity to model it a little, depending on the context.
If you are thinking about doing more influencer marketing, contact Sheer here - we are always ready for a non-binding chat.
