Crafting a Creative Brief: A Step-By-Step Guide

In the dynamic world of influencer marketing, the role of a well-crafted creative brief cannot be overstated. Brands should view a creative brief as the compass that guides an influencer collaboration, ensuring that the brand's identity, message, and objectives are not only understood but also effectively communicated to the influencer's audience. By providing influencers with a comprehensive creative brief, brands set the stage for a successful partnership, one that maximizes the potential of reaching, engaging, and converting the target demographic.

In this article, we will delve into a few of the reasons why brands should embrace the power of creative briefs when collaborating with influencers, and dive into the musts and mustn't to follow when crafting your own influencer brand creative brief:

Pros of Having a Creative Brief:

• Alignment with Brand Vision: A well-crafted creative brief ensures that influencers understand and align with the brand's vision, values, and messaging, leading to content that accurately represents the brand.

• Consistency: A creative brief helps maintain brand consistency across influencer campaigns, ensuring that the same key messages, words, aesthetics, and values are consistently communicated to the audience throughout your campaign. Is all about maintaining a consistent brand image.

• Measurable Goals: A creative brief can establish clear, measurable objectives for influencer campaigns, making it easier to evaluate the campaign's success and return on investment.

• Inviting Creators: *News-flash!* Creators are not interested in working with just any brand. Now more than ever, with all the offers available to them, before a creator sells a brand to their audience, the brand has to sell it to them. Consequently, a well-crafted creative brief can do half of the work when outreaching and negotiating with them.

Risks of Not Having a Creative Brief:

• Misaligned Messaging: Without a creative brief, influencers will misinterpret the brand's goals, leading to inconsistent messaging that doesn't resonate with the target audience.

• Brand Image: Brands risk damage to their image if influencers inadvertently create content that doesn't reflect their values or misrepresents their products. If not provided to them, dedicated creators will also find the brand's marketing assets online (logos and B-roll) which may be outdated and in low quality, affecting the brand's image.

• Ineffective Campaigns: Campaigns without clear guidance may result in content that lacks a strategic focus and fails to generate the desired engagement or conversions.

Common Mistakes in Crafting Creative Briefs:

• Overly Restrictive Guidelines: Some brands make the mistake of providing overly rigid guidelines that stifle the influencer's creativity. Finding the right balance between guidance and creative freedom is crucial to get a creator to want to work with the brand and allowing them to adapt their unique audience and style, leading to more engaging content.

• Incomplete Information: Brands should avoid being too vague in their briefs. A lack of essential information, such as target audience demographics or campaign objectives, can result in a missed opportunity to create effective content..

Finally, let's talk about what to actually include in your creative brief to achieve the best results in your outreach efforts and post-advertising results.

1. Key Phrases and Words: Start by providing influencers with a list of key phrases and words that your brand currently uses to promote its products online. This will help reinforce your brand's messaging and online presence. It's important to establish word associations that align with your brand's identity and values which already exist in the digital space.

2. Product Benefits and USPs: Clearly articulate the benefits of your products and what sets them apart from competitors. Highlight what makes your products unique and why viewers should be interested in them.

3. Product Usage Instructions: Explain how to use the product, emphasizing its ease of use, application, or account creation. Provide step-by-step instructions so that the influencer can effectively demonstrate its usage to their audience. In my experience, if a creator struggles to convey how easy it is to use a product, the chances of success decrease by 30%. Therefore, it's crucial to ensure that they can effortlessly explain its simplicity to their audience.

4. Creator's Offer: Define the offer that the influencer will make to their viewers with a clear Call To Action (CTA). Whether it's a discount code, a special promotion, or exclusive content, make it clear what viewers can gain from engaging with the influencer's ad and clarify to the creator that the offer is the only talking point that should not be paraphrased or changed in any way, but rather said exactly as it exists in the creative brief i.e.: "The first 100 people to sign-up to X will receive a 1-month free premium account".

5. Ad Structure: Outline the structure you desire for the ad. This might include starting with an organic introduction of the brand, explaining what it is through the talking points, followed by the why the creator likes it/uses it, then how they use it, and finally presenting the offer. Ensure that the ad flows naturally and maintains the influencer's authentic voice.

6. Ad-Lib vs. Scripted: Emphasize that you want the influencer to ad-lib the content based on the creative brief rather than recite it word-for-word. This approach ensures that the content feels more genuine and in line with the influencer's style.

7. Address Constraints: If there are constraints or concerns related to your product or industry, don't ignore them. Address these in the brief to preempt any potential questions or hesitations from influencers.

8. Do's and Don'ts: Create a table that outlines clear "do's" and "don'ts" to guide influencers on content creation. This is particularly important if your product is subject to strict FTC Guidelines or specific promotional regulations.

9. Successful Examples: Include examples of past creator advertisements or campaigns that were successful for your brand. Highlight what made these campaigns effective, as this can instill trust and confidence in the influencer.

10. Marketing Assets: Create a public folder on Dropbox or Google Docs containing high-definition marketing assets. This should include your brand's logo, B-roll footage of the product in use, B-roll of your brand's website, and any other relevant visuals that can enhance the influencer's content.

Now you're ready to go!

The creative brief stands as a linchpin in the world of influencer marketing, bridging the aspirations of brands with the creative genius of content creators. When it comes to influencer campaigns, remember: the brief is not merely a piece of document; it's the blueprint for success, ensuring that the journey from brand vision to audience connection is a harmonious and results-driven one. So, harness the potential of a well-crafted creative brief, and watch as your influencer campaigns take flight, reaching new heights of engagement and conversion.

Cover image by George Pagan IIII