How to write a brief (and why it’s so important to have one!)

When we’re working with clients, they sometimes approach us without having defined exactly what they’d like to achieve when working together. The best way to do so is to write a brief that shares details of your goals in the form of a brief. We’d like to tell you a little bit about why having a brief when you’re commissioning suppliers is a good idea.

TLDR: It’ll save you time, money and frustration!

So, why should you write a brief before you start a project?

According to a study undertaken in 2021 by Matt Davies and Peter-Paul von Weiler:

“33% of every marketing budget (approx $200 billion!) is wasted on poor briefs and misdirected work.”

Charity and non-profit organisations will be particularly aware of how important it is not to waste their precious resources, so putting something in place to minimise risk is vital to ensuring this doesn’t happen.

A project brief also offers direction: it gives suppliers a guide of your vision, stating what you’d like to achieve, and sets the stage for what you require. It also keeps everybody on the same page in terms of timings, how much you have available to spend on the project and who needs to sign off on the finished product. In summary, it manages everyone’s expectations.

What should you include in your brief?

Provide some background

What’s your rationale for creating/updating your website? Give us a bit of detail about why you want to undertake this project and what’s taken place previously, as well as your requirements for the future. You might want to raise awareness about a specific issue that’s related to your cause, advertise certain events, expand your base of volunteers, or increase donations; all of which your project will enable you to do.

Also, tell us about your audience. What type of users will be accessing your website? Do you know how they use your current website and what type of information they’re looking for? Do they have any issues with it or aspects that they really enjoy? It’s worth doing a bit of user research prior to starting a new project so that you can inform the design with these elements going forward. It’s definitely not a requisite for working for us, but it will assist in making the most of opportunities that have arisen, while addressing any pain points for your users.

Define your budget

You don’t need to get too specific on this just yet. However, we do recommend you think about how much you’d like to invest in your project and provide a costing range so we know a ballpark figure that we can work within. There are a variety of options we can offer depending on what you have to spend on your website, from creating a basic ‘MVP’ (minimum viable product) one-page website to get you started, to an all-singing all-dancing multi-page site. We’ll also need to know if your budget is inclusive of VAT or not.

Something else that’s really helpful to know is if the budget is tied to funding. As a charity or non-profit organisation, you might be awaiting a funding grant before starting, or only have a certain amount available due to the limitations of the funding itself. Whether or not you’re relying on funding will also affect the timeline we’re able to work towards, or if we have to fit within specific timeframes, so this is key info to bring up at the beginning of the project.

Specify your timeframe

This is one area where it’s important to be precise. Many clients state that they’d like their project completed “a.s.a.p.” However, that’s quite vague. If you have a specific event, such as a campaign launch or funding goal you need to demonstrate your website for, letting us know these dates in advance will assist us in building it into the project timeline.

Are there any areas in which you can be flexible with your deadlines? It’s useful to work back from any deadlines to ensure your timelines are realistic for both parties. Also, are there any contingencies you’d like to put in place to ensure your goals are met? This is something we can assist with during the discovery phase; in the meantime, add these to your brief so we’re clear from the get go.

Decide on your stakeholders

Give us an overview of your organisation and let us know who are the stakeholders for the project. Who’ll need to sign off on particular elements of the website, or the project as a whole? Are there any particular team members you want to be involved in defining the layout or content, or take part in user testing? State these in your brief so we know who’ll be involved.

While it’s good to get an idea of what your colleagues would find useful with your project, you don’t want to bring everyone in on it. Keep the number of stakeholders to a minimum so you don’t get bogged down by ‘too many cooks.’ If you’re struggling with this, try looking at the RACI responsibility assignment matrix to help you assign responsibilities.

State your deliverables

What are the non-negotiable project elements you absolutely have to have? What would you like, but could live without? What do you ultimately want to end up with at the end of the project? These will form your deliverables. To make these tangible to both yourself and your suppliers, try asking yourself the following questions using the SMART rationale (however, don’t just answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’; really think about how and why they are these things).

At this stage in your journey, it’s a good idea to decide how you’ll measure the success of the project and what your KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are. It’s not a requirement in a brief; however, it’s useful for suppliers, like us, to know these details.

Tell us about the competition

It’s helpful to undertake some competitive analysis to see what other organisations in your space are doing: are there any similar charities or non-profits that have created a website that catches your attention? What about their website makes you like or dislike it (e.g. colour, layout, usability etc)? Have they presented something in an unusual way that makes it stand out to you?

If you have examples of any websites you think are really effective or that you find unusable, list these in your brief for us to take a look at – this could be an entire website or simply particular elements that you think do or don’t work.

Scoring criteria

One piece of information we find incredibly useful to know upfront is the criteria an organisation uses to score project pitches. This serves as an indicator of whether or not a project is right for us. There’s a lower budget limit we’ve set, and if your criteria is based heavily on cost and/or achieving the cheapest quote for a project, then we may not be the best fit for you. However, we’re usually pretty flexible with what we can provide and work with our clients – be they existing or potential – to create something that will meet your needs without overstretching your resources.

What next?

Once you’ve thought about these areas, note them down in a document that you can share with your stakeholders, team members you’re including in the process, and most importantly, with us or your suppliers.

Your first draft shouldn’t be your last version, so don’t be afraid to collaborate with others in putting it together. This is particularly true of the people you’re commissioning. Ultimately, we’re here to help: we don’t expect you to have all the answers or to even have a completed brief ready to go. We might even challenge you on certain aspects of your brief as it’s being shaped, but any suggestions we put forward are only to fortify it. By working with us on building your brief, we hope to strengthen our future relationship and forge an ongoing partnership.

If you have any questions, get in touch and we’ll be pleased to discuss your brief with you.