I’ve worked in many different industries – as a freelancer, as a manager of freelancers, as a marketer, as a writer – and you know what never changes? The need for content creators to be clear about their responsibilities.
One of the easiest ways to achieve this is to write content letters.
But don’t be fooled: Even though a content brief is simple, it’s still important to get it right.
Table of contents
What is a content brief?
A content brief is a short document – if you can keep it to a page or two, everyone will be happy – that is a guide or blueprint for creating content.
The details depend on the type of content you are creating and who the brief is aimed at. However, it should anticipate and answer top-level questions about content, format, communication, etc.
If you manage freelance writers, a content brief will be a lifesaver for both you and your writers—and that’s only a slight exaggeration. Your content descriptions describe exactly what is expected from the author, including any required subheadings, target word counts, and deadlines.
If you’re working on a project with multiple partners across multiple organizations, a simple content brief gives everyone a central source of information.
Content briefs vs. creative briefs
Although they sound similar, content descriptions and Creative briefs serve different purposes. A creative brief outlines a campaign and can include more detailed messaging, contributions from multiple contributors, and other details that give shape to the overall campaign.
A content brief focuses on a specific piece of content – my examples below are for written content, but you can use the same elements to create a content brief for videos, podcasts, or anything else you produce. If you use software like Content Huba briefing will be the basis for each content.
Importance of Content Letters
Sure, you could Try to work your way through without it, but it will save you more time than it takes to write.
I once worked on a project with multiple external partners and, other than Slack and Google Docs, no one was using the same organizational tools, which led to a lot of frustration and confusion.
I put together a general content brief that could be repeated for specific tasks. It included approved messages, links to all the documents everyone was working on, and key deliverables and deadlines. You could almost hear the sigh of relief in the Slack channel.
I used to be a freelance writer, and my favorite client was the one who had the best content brief. Writing for a new client can be intimidating, even for experienced writers, because you have to master a new style guide, a new voice, and perhaps even an entirely new audience.
This particular customer included a one-page brief with each order. This included the target word count and rate, the name of the publication and its target audience, as well as links to the style guide and any assets, a description of the assignment and the assigning editor and due date. If an interview was required, contact information was provided.
They were a dream for me as a freelancer because I never wasted time on logistical issues – the expectations were clear and I had everything I needed at my fingertips.
When editing content, providing a clear content description reduces the number of revisions and rewrites (not to mention the frustration!). Let’s talk about finding a balance between detail and conciseness.
Elements of a content letter
The elements of a content letter vary depending on your needs, but here are, in my opinion, the absolutely essential elements:
- Contact person and/or a Responsibility matrix
- Communication protocols, e.g. B. a Slack channel
- Clear description of the project or assignment, including target audience and word count
- Links to assets, news, style and/or brand guides, and any other relevant shared documents
- Services and deadlines
You could also include:
When I’ve worked on marketing podcasts with multiple partners, I’ve found it helpful to include a few bullet points of approved messages and note who approved on behalf of each partner.
Some stakeholders may have specific requirements for describing their company or organization, and your writers and content marketers need this information.
Keep it simple:
Pro tip: Especially when working with external partners, it is often worth repeating important brand details that are in your style guide. Don’t get too bogged down here – the style guide exists for a reason – but stakeholders will appreciate having this information at hand.
When writing content briefs for freelancers, you’ll want to make sure they have access to all the information they’ll need throughout the course of their assignment – style or brand guidelines, Slack channels, who to contact if they have questions, and any context for the assignment.
Let’s look at the “clear description of the task” as this can contain many important details for your author(s), such as:
- Purpose. Tell the author what the content goal is; Maybe it’s a blog post to address demand for a specific keyword, or maybe you need ad copy and various CTAs for a new product.
- SEO/keywords. What does your writer need to know about target keywords? Are there keywords or topics they should avoid to prevent content cannibalization?
- Subject Matter Experts and Procurement. In our brave new EEA-tified world, first-hand experience is more important than ever. If your writer is expected to conduct SME interviews, include this in the brief. You can also ask to provide links to other sources they have used to support easy fact-checking.
- Required subheadings and other technical specifications. If you’ve done your keyword research, you may already be thinking about H2 or H3 subheadings. This also helps the author understand how the content should be organized. Your writer may also be expected to provide meta descriptions, image alt text, or social media copy.
- Other formatting requirements. If a document needs to be formatted a certain way, explain this (ideally with an example or template). If you can only accept (or prefer) a certain file type, include that – don’t assume everyone uses Google Workspace or Microsoft Word just because you are.
- Sharing/Access Requirements. We all know the frustration of seeing “Access Denied”. Set everyone up for success by providing information about who to share files with.
- How and where the completed task must be filed. Does your workflow require you to tag specific people on an Asana card? Do authors receive an email when they complete a task?
- Naming conventions. If any of the deliverables, including assets, require a specific file naming convention to be followed, outline this in your content letter.
- Post-task expectations. If writers expect to hear from an editor, let them know in advance—freelancers especially need to make time for this. And if you manage a large group of freelancers, it can be helpful to include reminders about rate and billing requirements.
How to write a content brief
Let’s create a template: Using your word processing program of choice, create a one-page document with a two-column table. Enter the basic elements in the left column: contact and/or responsibility matrix, communication protocols, task description, assets as well as deadlines and deliverables.
This is a personal preference, but I like to list the communication information in the top left header of the brief, including the relevant Slack channel. I repeat this information when I need to create other documents for stakeholders so everyone gets used to having it front and center.
It immediately answers the most important questions: Who is in charge? Who has to grant permission? Where did you tell me Google Drive was? Why didn’t anyone tell me there was a Slack channel for this project?
While this information may seem redundant, it can be especially helpful for new freelancers or new employees. So I recommend including them in your template. Freelancers often have multiple (or more) clients, all of which may have different requirements and formats, and this saves them time and stress.
Your briefing could start like this:
Pro tip: You’ll notice that I’ve included the time and time zone in the due date – I consider this information essential. Especially in the age of distributed workforces where employees and freelancers may be in different time zones, this will save everyone a headache and set your writer up for success.
Before you flesh out details in the task description, consider who your content assignment is aimed at. Freelance writers probably need more links and more context than in-house writers who already have the company’s style guide saved to their bookmarks (right? Right?).
It can be helpful to create two templates, one for in-house writers and one for freelancers, so that you can provide your marketers with the most concise brief possible. For example, freelancers may not need information about KPIs; Internal authors uploading their own work to the CMS do not need a deliverables folder.
What is the bare minimum information a writer needs to successfully complete a task? It’s tempting to include links to everything related to the project, but don’t overload your writers with unnecessary context.
At this stage, it’s helpful to talk to them, whether they’re in-house or freelance, and find out what they find most helpful.
You must describe the assignment, its purpose and its target group:
Pro tip: For freelancers, remember to always include a link to your style guide. So it is always at hand. And a simple “thank you” is always a nice gesture.
If your content has a lot of specific conversion strategy, SEO, keywords, etc. requirements, put them in a table so they can be easily analyzed.
When I worked as a freelance writer, I found this incredibly helpful. It’s a small thing, but being able to see all of this information in the same format for each task makes it much easier to get started.
Information commonly included in HubSpot jobs is monthly search volume, any required CTAs, and SEO and conversion strategies:
Write your first content brief
Once you’ve created a template (or two) that meets your needs, filling out content letters won’t take much time. And whether you’re working with internal content creators, freelancers, and/or external stakeholders, a single source of truth makes everyone’s job easier And more efficient.