The Importance of the Creative Brief

The creative brief is a document that will provide your graphic designer and/or copywriter with clear, concise direction on how to approach your creative development project. Whether you're creating a full-scale corporate identity platform or designing a small print ad, a creative brief is likely to yield a quicker, smoother process.

I recommend including:

• Project Description
• Desired Marketing Objective
• In-Market Timing
• Distribution Method(s)
• Consumer Target
• Tone (e.g. upbeat, intellectual)
• Important Information to Communicate (e.g. company name, product benefits)
• Communication Priorities (e.g. #1 - Promotional Offer; #2 - Business Location; #3 - Brand Imagery)

The 5 Things You Should Decide Before Starting a Marketing Campaign

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. "

--Benjamin Franklin

In marketing, as in many other disciplines, having a clear vision for what you want to accomplish with your campaign is essential. Based on my experience of kicking off over 200 different marketing or promotional campaigns, it is my belief that energy invested upfront will both streamline the planning process, and make the entire experience much more enjoyable!

Here are the five areas I recommend exploring:

1. What Is The Desired Marketing Objective?
Although you may want to "grow sales," this is likely not specific enough. What is the single-most important thing that you want to accomplish? Perhaps it is "receive two more calls per week from prospects" or "build awareness within the Washington County consulting community."

2. What Is The Desired Timing "In Market?"
Will your marketing effort run for a year, a month, or a week? When would you like your marketing plan to kick-off? It will likely take at least 60 days to develop the marketing plan and create the core marketing tactics.

3. What Does The Consumer Target Look Like?:
Who is the consumer? Fundamental demographics (e.g. age, ethnicity, education, gender, geographic location, employment status), can be helpful, but often behaviors and attitudes are even more important. Examples of behaviors: How does the target consumer make a purchase decision? How does the target use their social network in gathering information about coaching services? Examples of attitudes: What does the target believe about coaching? How does the target see themselves?

4. Who Will Be Your Focus Group?
As the business owner, you will have final say on what your marketing plan includes and what the actual campaign looks like to consumers. It can be invaluable to gather input from a "focus group" of your target audience. Think about people you know who would fall into your target -- you will want to gather them together in-person or virtually and show them your marketing campaign.

5. What Is Your Budget?
A general rule of thumb is for sales and marketing expenses to cost between 12-14% of total sales of a business or brand. Your budget likely will consist of a variety of costs: development, design, printing/production, media, distribution, and possibly redemption.

How Do I Start an E-Mail Newsletter?

An e-mail newsletter can be an efficient way to communicate with potential and existing clients.

It is my belief that e-newsletters can go a long way toward creating "stickiness" for you and your
coaching practice. By engaging readers through the delivery of value-added content you are re-enforcing your brand image and informing your clients -- creating stickiness.

How Do I Define Objectives?

When considering starting an e-mail newsletter (e-newsletter) to build and support your practice, it is important to examine your objectives.

Possible objectives might be:

• Reach potential customers with compelling and persuasive content
• Deliver a special promotional offer
• Promote upcoming events/activities
• Build loyalty with existing clients

Once you have selected your objective(s), consider them when developing the tone, frequency, and content of your e-newsletter.

E-Mail Newsletter Dos

There are general "rules of engagement" when it comes to publishing an e-mail newsletter. These include:

• Be Permission-based: Only distribute your newsletter to those who have "opted in" via your website or other direct interaction with your practice. It is also recommended that you maintain records of registration.
• Make it Easy to Unsubscribe: Include clear instructions on how to unsubscribe. Most e-mail newsletter distributors will handle the mechanics of this for you.
  
• Tailor your Content to your Consumer Target. Think about your target clients' needs, perspectives, and desires. What topics are your clients talking about? Be mindful of maintaining confidentiality.
  
• Be Brief and Compelling in Order to Create Stickiness: Keep content short, use a consistent tone, and use a clear layout and engaging images.
  
• Honor your Clients' Privacy: Keep your e-mail distribution lists secure and clearly state your confidentiality policy.
  

Wow, Sounds Like a Lot of Work!

There are two main components of publishing an e-mail newsletter: creating the content
and publishing it to your e-mail list. Regarding the latter, services like myNewsletterBuilder and Constant Contact can manage all aspects of publishing. I use myNewsletterBuilder to publish my e-newsletter and have been pleased with their service.

When it comes to creating content, consider the time and energy you have to devote to writing and creating the layout. Do you write quickly? Do you enjoy writing? If the answer to either of these questions is "no," you might want to consider using downloadable content from this site or another content-provider, or hiring a writer to handle this for you.

How Do I Measure the Success of my e-Newsletter?

Ultimately, this question will be answered by how well your e-newsletter achieves against your initial objectives. Depending on the service that you use, you can look at open rate and click-through for your newsletter and compare this to industry standards. You also can ask new clients if they were exposed to the newsletter and if it impacted their decision to hire you. Personally, I ask my subscribers for input.

Why I Started This Blog

Hello! I'm Megan Thomas, a life and corporate coach. I've started CoachContent as a one-stop resource for marketing and communication information for coaches.

As a former corporate vice president for an advertising agency and a college marketing instructor, I've worked on a variety of marketing strategies and tactics over the years.

It has been my experience that many coaches spend a disproportionate amount of time on developing marketing materials, writing copy, and working with creative suppliers. It is my hope that this blog will help its readers by providing downloadable pre-developed marketing materials and time-saving techniques on implementing your marketing plan.

Next post: The E-Newsletter

Top Three Things Never to Tell a Creative

1. You should have done it this way.

2. Here, let me draw you a picture.

3. You need to revise it, but we've used up our budget.

Writing the Creative Brief

It is always essential to write a detailed project brief when initiating a design project. Think of it as creating a "recipe." A strong graphic designer or copywriter will want to know if you want to bake a cake or roast a pig.

The designer/writer will in turn take the recipe and add their own expertise and taste -- a dash of panache, a sprinkle of wordplay.