4 short-form videos (up to 60 seconds), with script, shot list, edit and captions

• 8 LinkedIn posts written in your voice

• 2 carousels (up to 8 slides) in your brand style

• A 30-minute review call on what worked and what’s next

£1,200 at single prices. You save £100 every month, and the review call is included.

The quality of your content is mostly decided before anyone writes a word. It's decided in the brief.

A vague brief gets you a generic post, a second round of changes and a third. A clear one gets you something you'd be proud to publish on the first draft. That's true whether you hand the brief to an agency, a freelancer, a colleague, or an AI tool.

The good news: a strong brief doesn't need to be long. Most of ours fit on one page. This guide covers what goes on that page, with a worked example and a template you can copy.

Why briefs go wrong

Most weak briefs aren't lazy. They're written by people who know their business so well that they forget what the reader doesn't know.

Three things usually go missing:

• The why. The brief says what to make, but not what it should achieve. "A LinkedIn post about our new feature" could be written ten ways, and only one of them helps you sell.
• The who. "Our customers" isn't an audience. A finance director and a production manager need different hooks, even for the same product.
• The decision-maker's taste. Nobody writes down what good looks like, so the first draft becomes the way to find out.

Each gap turns into a round of changes. Fill them up front and you save the time, and the budget, later.

The seven parts of a good brief

You don't need a long document. You need clear answers to seven questions.

1. Who is this for?

Name one reader. Give their job title, the company they work in, and the problem keeping them busy this quarter. If you sell to two very different people, write two briefs.

2. What job should it do?

Every piece of content sits at one stage of your funnel. Pick one:

• Reach: get in front of people who don't know you yet.
• Convert: turn interest into a demo, a sign-up or a sale.
• Retain: help existing customers get more value, so they stay and buy more.

A reach post is short, surprising and easy to share. A convert post shows proof and asks for action. Mixing the two weakens both.

3. What's the one takeaway?

Write the single sentence you want the reader to remember. If you can't fit it in one sentence, you have two pieces of content, not one.

4. What's the proof?

B2B buyers are sceptical, and they're right to be. List the facts that back up your takeaway: a customer result, a number, a quote, a screenshot. Specific proof beats strong adjectives every time.

5. Where will it live?

The format changes the content. Say which channel and format you need:

Format

Typical size

What it suits

Short-form video

9:16, 15–60 seconds

Hooks, quick tips, behind the scenes

LinkedIn post

Up to 3,000 characters

Opinions, stories, lessons learned

Carousel

4:5, 6–10 slides

Frameworks, checklists, how-tos

YouTube tutorial

16:9, up to 10 minutes

Product walkthroughs, deeper how-tos

6. What are the limits?

Deadline, budget or hours, words you never use, claims legal won't allow, people who need to sign off. Limits aren't a nuisance. They stop good work being thrown away at the last minute.

7. What does good look like?

Link two or three posts or videos you like, from anyone, and say what you like about each. "This one, because it gets to the point in the first line" is more useful than a page of tone-of-voice notes.

A worked example

Here's the same request written two ways. The company is made up: a small B2B SaaS business selling scheduling software to manufacturers.

The weak brief

Can you make a video about our new auto-scheduling feature for social? Make it engaging. Need it next week.

It's not wrong. But the person making it now has to guess who it's for, what "engaging" means, which channel it's going on and what the viewer should do next.

The strong brief

Who: Production managers at manufacturers with 50–250 staff, who currently plan shifts in spreadsheets.

Job: Convert. We want existing followers to book a demo.

One takeaway: Auto-scheduling turns a two-hour weekly planning job into ten minutes.

Proof: A pilot customer cut weekly planning time from about two hours to 12 minutes. Their operations lead has agreed to be quoted.

Format: One short-form video, 9:16, under 45 seconds, for LinkedIn and Instagram. Captions on, as most people watch without sound.

Limits: Due Friday 14 November. Don't say "AI-powered". Product lead signs off.

Good looks like: [link] for the fast screen-recording style, [link] for how the customer quote is used.

That's about 120 words. It took ten minutes to write, and it will probably save two rounds of changes.

Five common mistakes

• Asking for everything at once. "Raise awareness, generate leads and show our culture" is three briefs. Pick the one that matters most this month.
• Describing the product, not the problem. Readers care about what changes for them. Lead with their problem and let the feature be the answer.
• Leaving out the call to action. If you want a demo booked, say so. If you just want a follow, say that instead.
• Collecting opinions after the draft. Agree who signs off before work starts. New reviewers at the end bring new briefs with them.
• Treating the brief as a one-off. After a piece goes out, note what worked. Your next brief gets better, and so does your content.

Copy this template

Paste this into your next email, message or project tool. Short answers are fine.

Who is this for?

(Job title, company type, the problem they have right now)

What job should it do?

Reach / Convert / Retain

What's the one takeaway?

(One sentence)

What's the proof?

(A result, a number, a quote, a screenshot)

Where will it live?

(Channel, format, length)

What are the limits?

(Deadline, budget or hours, words to avoid, who signs off)

What does good look like?

(2–3 links, and what you like about each)

What should the reader do next?

(Book a demo, sign up, reply, follow)

Want it made for you?

A good brief is the first step. If you'd rather hand the rest over, the Growth Practice Content studio turns briefs like this into short-form videos, LinkedIn posts and carousels. Book studio hours for one-off pieces, or a Content sprint for ten pieces in two weeks.

Not sure what to make first? Take the free growth scorecard to find your biggest bottleneck in five minutes.