How to Write a Great Branding Brief

When a customer decides to contact the agency for brand development, they should fill out a brief. Many customers consider this a waste of time. However, the brief is one of the essential brand development tools.

A brief is a small questionnaire that allows the contractor to learn more about the proposals of the customer’s company and determine the desired development progress. In addition, the brief helps to establish mutual understanding between the customer and the client to most fully convey the needs and wishes of the customer. Read on to know more about the importance of a branding brief and its impact on the overall branding development process.

The word “brief” means “laconic.” This document is a summary that contains all the necessary data to familiarize a contractor with a specific task.

The customer tells about their company and describes its ideal corporate identity and requirements in their own words in the brief. After viewing this document, the contractor can understand what the client wants and expects and how to implement it in the best possible way.

It’s important not to confuse the brief with the technical task. The essence of the brief is that the information is presented briefly, concisely, and everything is described in general terms. On the other hand, specific tasks for implementing the project, technical issues, and an accurate description of the stages are described in the tech task. Therefore, the tech task must be accurate, detailed, and drawn up only by a specialist.

Here are the specific benefits of such a brief:

• saving the customer’s time: there is no need to hold dozens of meetings with potential performers or conduct lengthy correspondence; it’s enough to send one completed brief to all applicants at once;
• agreement on terms and conditions: based on the brief, the contractor will immediately be able to indicate to you the approximate time frame and project budget;
• mutual understanding between all project stakeholders: the number of edits and improvements is reduced;
• the ability for the performer to quickly begin the task.

The brief advantages are apparent, so you shouldn’t neglect filling out the corporate identity brief. This is a relatively simple document, which doesn’t require technical knowledge to compile, but it plays a critical role in the planned project implementation.

Learn more about What is Branding and Why it’s so Crucial For any Business.

Let’s see what information must be included in the document:

The customer needs to fill in the following blocks:

1. Company or product data

In this block, the customer provides complete information about the company, its positioning, brand legend, market share, regions of operation, etc. In addition, it’s essential to describe the current market situation, competitors’ characteristics, and the strategy that the company plans to apply.

2. Target audience description

• Who are your clients?
• What products are they interested in?
• What are the most important features for them?
• How to satisfy their needs?

Determine the psychological profile of your clients. For example, what is their hobby, where can you meet them? Target audience description is not only sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, social status); the more information the customer can provide, the more accurately the brand will meet the ideas of its customers.

By the way, do you know how vital a psychological type of person is for your product’s success? Then hurry up to read our article about Personality-oriented design.

3. Goal

What exactly does the customer want to receive at the end? The future logo (name, corporate identity), what associations should it evoke among consumers? It’s also necessary to indicate the desired color scheme and style of execution. Examples of well-known brands can help; the customer can describe which aspects he’s attracted to in this or that logo and which he wouldn’t like to see in any way.

Read our Ultimate Guide on How to Design a Great Logo For a Business Success

4. Budget

Budget is one of the most critical aspects. The estimated budget is indicated, not to squeeze out as much as possible from the customer. But to find an opportunity to somehow get into his position with a limited budget and find a compromise that will suit each side. For example, you can reduce the number of advanced logo options or reduce the number of positions described in the brand book, abandoning the minor essential points for the customer.

5. Time

The customer’s conditions are different. Sometimes the result was needed, even yesterday:) But, of course, no self-respecting agency will undertake to complete the work in such a short time that it’ll negatively affect the quality of the product. The brand is the main material asset of the company. Therefore, it should be developed with high quality, paying attention to every detail.

6. Additional information

Usually, the brief also has a field for indicating additional useful information (usually, it is optional to fill in). There, the customer can enter everything that he considers necessary and important. Any information can be helpful. However, this field doesn’t limit the customer; if necessary, any files that will be useful can be attached to the brief.

If the customer has market research results, competitors, or target audience, they must be attached to the brief. Research helps to develop a brand, relying on secure data and not on the professional’s hypotheses, which, although often correct, remain hypotheses. If the customer doesn’t have the necessary information, the agency can help him with the research organization. Unfortunately, most of the customers are abandoning research to save budget and time. This is fundamentally wrong! Research for your project doesn’t need to be long-term and expensive; it may be enough to conduct desk research, which is faster and much cheaper than organizing surveys. In addition, brands developed based on accurate data grow faster, thus more fully meeting the target audience’s desires.

And corporate identity – this is the very “clothing,” but for your company. A high-quality and carefully designed corporate identity will attract the attention of customers to your company. A brief for developing a corporate identity is the first step to making it high-quality and worthy.

Many clients feel that the brief limits the agency’s creativity. Some even believe that filling out the brief is doing the job for the performer. However, this point of view is incorrect. Even if you indicate specific colors, styles, and other characteristics, this limits the creator because there are many ways to create work even within rigorous frameworks.

Contact Gapsy Studio, and we’ll help you write the correct branding brief and make you a brand of the highest level. You can be sure that our long experience and professionalism will not let you down. Take a look at our experience and the services we provide.