Effective communications strategy…do you have one?

In my former life as creative director we would always start with the defining project document known as the “Creative Brief.”

This document also known as a “Design Brief” , “Project Brief” , or “Marketing Brief” is crucial. It is the bare minimum requirement for any creative project and will always come in handy.

Here’s why a creative brief is important. The brief outlines the communications strategy and should be used as a beacon to direct company wide communications doctrine and critical to your brand.

Some of you might be thinking well…I’m in direct marketing and branding isn’t important. Okay, fine…you might be able to do wham-bam-thank-you-mam sales and pull in a bunch of cash but if you want a sustainable business you will build a brand. You’re building one anyway whether you know it or not.

I was watching Celebrity Fit Club last night and one of the therapists said something that made a lot of sense. She asked one of the overweight women where she was. “Are you in there? If you are you better come on out or people are going to make you up.”

That’ totally true. If you aren’t there with a strong brand identity people are going to make you up. This is why you need the brief. The brief is you or your company’s identity. It’s your brand story and promise.

I’ll give you another example of how doing things without one can really screw things up. A few years back when the Acai Berry trend started. A company I was working for was in a rush to get the product out. We we’re one of the first to market the Acai Berry Cleanse pills.

In that effort to get things to market so quick the company’s owner decided to bypass the creative brief. Because their was no brief, there was really no plan either. There was no mission to accomplish or identity to protect. The only goal was to sell lots and make money.

Business suffered because of it. Yes of course, the product sold very well at first and the money coming in was ridiculous. But that was because it was new and those were the early days of forced continuity. Unsuspecting consumers were taking “Free Trial” offers  which later converted to $80 monthly charges for the product.

Chargeback rates were through the roof. The comapany was playing cat and mouse with Oprah’s legal team and generally speaking things wen’t down hill just as fast as they blew-up and the company collapsed.

The point is…there was no communications strategy and no defining document. Nothing to guide employees or the public with regards to what the company was about.

So…What’s in a creative brief? Well, everybody does them differently, but generally speaking here are 10 things I’ve found useful in nailing-down an effective communications strategy.

1. Background and overview. In essence, where is your business now and what opportunities are the poised to act on with an effective communications strategy?
2. Who are your primary, secondary, and possibly tertiary targets. In other words who’s going to benefit from your product/service?
3. What is the single biggest problem your products/services solve?
4. What are your business objectives (they’re not 50 different things either. Keep this list short 1-3)
5. Demographic assumptions based on research (Get the “SRDS Lifestyle Market Analysis Book”).
6. Psychographic analysis. I find this very useful. Get into your prospect’s head. Check the forums, get on the phone, go out in talk to your target customer to find out who they are and get an idea of how they think.
7. What is your single minded message. I’ll use the old Domino’s Pizza message “Pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.” What is the one message you want to communicate?
8. What are your competative advantages…ie, first, best, or different?
9. “Why They Buy,” brand concepts. In other words what is your unique spin.
10. What is your story. A good story is huge. It can define a whole company. You’ve got to have a story even if you have to make one up. Think about the children’s character Barney, or Southpark, the Muppets. Other good stories are Burt’s Bees skin care products, Sam Adams beer, Trader Joe’s Markets.

There are a few other things I like to see in  a brief. First though, before I get into them keep in mind a brief should be just that. Don’t run on forever. Keeping things brief will allow you to narrow in on the most crucial elements.

A couple of other elements you might want to include are:

• Characteristics of your company (based on the values in your story).
• Words and images that describe your brand.
• Symbolism and colors related to your message.
• Words, images, and symbolism that go against your brand. This allows you to unite your tribe against a common enemy.
• Perception and tone guidelines

Okay, now…go out and write your story. Before you go though, let me ask you…what’s your favorite brand story or brand character? I am curious what you’ll come up with.

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