Constructing a Marketing Brief

Effective marketing briefs streamline the process and paint a clear picture of your marketing objectives. The process of writing the brief helps walk you through the campaign in your mind and identify problems or opportunities. When completed, a marketing brief should:

• Explain and communicate the purpose of a marketing initiative.
• Identify and set goals for a marketing initiative.
• Set a tone and identify targeted segments.
• Establish measurements for success in a campaign.

Write and design marketing briefs so they are factual, relevant, engaging, and easy to follow. Set clear requirements to end up with a result that you can be happy with, and stay away from acronyms, industry lingo, or jargon that might not be familiar to everyone reading the brief.

While there a numerous templates in use, we will focus on the 7 key elements discussed in class to create a well-written marketing brief.

1. A brief background of the company, product, or service: If we chose Coke as our product, we would provide the company and product history, along with current position in the market. This checks the SITUATION ANALYSIS requirement.
2. Reasons and objectives: Define exactly what you intend to accomplish with the marketing campaign. As I mentioned in class, let�s use Coke losing market share as our example. Our goal is to reverse the trend. First, we would establish a hypothesis on �why� sales are lower and what this campaign hopes to accomplish. This could be stop share erosion within 6 months and reverse the trend growing share within 12 months. This checks the MARKETING OBJECTIVES requirement.
3. Marketing Strategy: Clarify your desired message and identify the problems�or pain points�you intend to address. Here is where the 4 P�s and the SWOT analysis come into play. Perhaps, we will recommend changing the Coke formula to make for a sweeter taste (product), perhaps we will use lower price as a tool (price) or change our method of distribution(place). Finally, perhaps we will recommend putting more advertising and promotion money to work (promotion). The SWOT analysis outlines where Coke sits in the market. This will check the MARKETING STRATEGY requirement.  
4. Target market: Provide a breakdown of the demographics you are trying to reach. If our research uncovers that sales of Coke is falling in a particular demographic, perhaps this becomes the area of focus. Alternatively, we might focus on a different target market for our growth. This satisfies the TARGET MARKET requirement.
5. Competitive Strategies: This area outlines the competitive environment. It answers the question �Who is winning in the market including how and why they are succeeding. It is an expanded view of the SWOT analysis. In our example, we could point to Pepsi having better taste (as perceived by the target market), or perhaps healthier drinks are taking share which might be addressed with a Coke �image� campaign. This will cover the COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES requirement.
6. Execution plan: If you have specific marketing vehicles in mind, list them and explain why they are good options for the campaign. Here is where we make comments on budget, timing, and human resources required for the plan. In our Coke example, perhaps we will use social media and a price promotion to grow sales. We will have US$XXX for the plan, allocate 1 product manager to create content for social media programs, and employ a digital media agency to create the online buzz. This will satisfy the IMPLEMENTATION requirement.     
7. Tracking and goals: Define clearly how success will be measured. Whether the objective is to increase sales or something else, explain the mechanism for how and when it will be measured. Be specific. This is what will determine whether the initiative worked or not. Here we might measure overall sales of Coke. This satisfies the EVALUTION requirement.

Constructing a Marketing Brief

Effective marketing briefs streamline the process and paint a clear picture of your marketing objectives. The process of writing the brief helps walk you through the campaign in your mind and identify problems or opportunities. When completed, a marketing brief should:

• Explain and communicate the purpose of a marketing initiative.
• Identify and set goals for a marketing initiative.
• Set a tone and identify targeted segments.
• Establish measurements for success in a campaign.

Write and design marketing briefs so they are factual, relevant, engaging, and easy to follow. Set clear requirements to end up with a result that you can be happy with, and stay away from acronyms, industry lingo, or jargon that might not be familiar to everyone reading the brief.

While there a numerous templates in use, we will focus on the 7 key elements discussed in class to create a well-written marketing brief.

1. A brief background of the company, product, or service:�If we chose Coke as our product, we would provide the company and product history, along with current position in the market. This checks the SITUATION ANALYSIS requirement.
2. Reasons and objectives:�Define exactly what you intend to accomplish with the marketing campaign. As I mentioned in class, let�s use Coke losing market share as our example. Our goal is to reverse the trend. First, we would establish a hypothesis on �why� sales are lower and what this campaign hopes to accomplish. This could be stop share erosion within 6 months and reverse the trend growing share within 12 months. This checks the MARKETING OBJECTIVES requirement.
3. Marketing Strategy:�Clarify your desired message and identify the problems�or pain points�you intend to address. Here is where the 4 P�s and the SWOT analysis come into play. Perhaps, we will recommend changing the Coke formula to make for a sweeter taste (product), perhaps we will use lower price as a tool (price) or change our method of distribution(place). Finally, perhaps we will recommend putting more advertising and promotion money to work (promotion). The SWOT analysis outlines where Coke sits in the market. This will check the MARKETING STRATEGY requirement.
   
4. Target market: Provide a breakdown of the demographics you are trying to reach. If our research uncovers that sales of Coke is falling in a particular demographic, perhaps this becomes the area of focus. Alternatively, we might focus on a different target market for our growth. This satisfies the TARGET MARKET requirement.
5. Competitive Strategies: This area outlines the competitive environment. It answers the question �Who is winning in the market including how and why they are succeeding. It is an expanded view of the SWOT analysis. In our example, we could point to Pepsi having better taste (as perceived by the target market), or perhaps healthier drinks are taking share which might be addressed with a Coke image campaign. This will cover the COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES requirement.
6. Execution plan: If you have specific marketing vehicles in mind, list them and explain why they are good options for the campaign. Here is where we make comments on budget, timing, and human resources required for the plan. In our Coke example, perhaps we will use social media and a price promotion to grow sales. We will have US$XXX for the plan, allocate 1 product manager to create content for social media programs, and employ a digital media agency to create the online buzz. This will satisfy the IMPLEMENTATION requirement.
   
7. Tracking and goals: Define clearly how success will be measured. Whether the objective is to increase sales or something else, explain the mechanism for how and when it will be measured. Be specific. This is what will determine whether the initiative worked or not. Here we might measure overall sales of Coke. This satisfies the EVALUTION requirement.