How to Write an Effective Content Brief for Writers?
At Skilfinity, our team writes anywhere between 12 to 20 content pieces each month – be it blogs, long-form articles, deep research documents, product bios or website content.
A good start that makes the writer’s job much easier is a detailed brief entailing the necessary direction to create quality content based on client specifications.
In this article, we will share, based on our experience, how to write an effective content brief. Once the basics are in order, the entire process of creating a content brief can be templatised, thus minimising the initial scramble of setting the right tone of communication.
A basic definition:
A content brief is a record intended to instruct the author on creating a piece of content.
Like most things in life, while creating content briefs, one size does not fit all. Variations exist in the form of:
- The type of content (article, whitepaper, blog post, listicle etc.)
- Target Audience – demography, intent and interest of who the content is for.
- The objective of the content – to inform, have the reader take action, share news, etc.
- Tactical details: Length, keywords, tone of voice, visuals and research data.
The focus should be on what is best for the brand and how can the content writers deliver the necessary.
Elements of a Content Brief
The content brief should include all the details the content writer needs to pen high-quality content that nails the piece’s objective.
Let’s explain with a real-life example, which details the critical elements of a content brief.
Overview (example)
Title:
A Definitive B2B Product Marketing Guide
Word count:
2,000+ words
Description:
Intended for marketers within the business to business space, this article intends to be a detailed guide to refresh and reimagine the company’s product marketing strategy.
Objective:
After reading this blog, the reader should (be it from a startup or SME) should be able to understand successfully, create, manage and carry out their product marketing strategy.
Content language:
British English
Tone of voice:
Formal
Addressing the audience:
First Person Singular (I, me, my)
Target customer:
B2B product marketers for startup & SME’s
Basic Outline for the blog:
1. What is Product Marketing?
2. Goals/Responsibilities of Product Marketing
3. Crafting your product marketing strategy – Audience Persona, Media Mix, Content Strategy, launch and building momentum for at least a year from launch
4. Reporting on product marketing success
5. Optimising strategy according to the Product roadmap planning – course correction checks.
6. Substantiate with Real-world examples
Additional instructions
- Difference between product and services marketing as a quick note or intro
SEO:
- Focus Keywords: product marketing, marketing strategy,
- Secondary Keywords: Product marketing strategy, product promotion
- Keyword placement: primary keyword in the intro, body, and conclusion, at least once; secondary keywords in subheadings and used naturally throughout the entire article.
- Internal links: between three to five internal links to other relevant blog posts in your content armoury.
- External links: As many as necessary external links to legitimate industry sources and studies
Visuals:
- Type: featured image, screenshots, and tables
- Number of visuals: include one featured image, as many screenshots, and data tables necessary
- Placement: featured image with alt text and due credits before the introduction, screenshots, and tables throughout based on the content.
Let’s dig into the various essential elements to include.
The Details (Overview)
This section is a high-level overview of the content. The writer should understand what the piece should necessitate and the approach they need to consider when writing.
Consider including the below for:
- Title or multiple title ideas.
- Short description establishing the direction the writer should take
- Outline, including headings and subheadings
- Word count – The optimal content length should correlate with how broad your topic is. The narrower the subject, the longer the read.
- Target audience – The content should be relevant to meet a user’s search query. Research the target audience to find out who is going to be consuming the content.
- Style guide
This section kicks things off in the example above by presenting the information required to help the writer formulate an idea of the approach and valid data points to substantiate the approach.
Elaborate on Competition
Google indexes 56.5 billion web pages as of 2021. Numbers to understand the web universe – There are 2 billion websites on the internet, of which 400 million are active.
Being unique in this crowd is more about improvisations than reinventing the wheel to create something new. Consider including a competition section in your content brief.
For this, refer to similar published content. Based on backlinks received or social shares, research best content in the associated keyword or ‘query-answer intent’ through tools like Buzzsumo.
Information on the below five can provide much clarity and set the right expectations.
- Competitor links
- Resources to find content ideas
- Recent studies
- Recent statistics
- Related blog posts
Also, include a “don’t link to these brands” list. This should detail the most prolific competitors.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The importance of the SEO section depends mainly on the content marketing plans. A writer will shape everything to the specific target audience, from the topic, keyword suggestions to the writing style including the in-post examples.
Reasonably detailed information on optimising factors gives the content the best chance to rank at the top of the search engines.
The most important points include:
- Topic focus
- Keywords – Precise as well as long tail. When searching for long-tail keywords, consider high search volume, CPC, and low SEO difficulty.
- Density of Keyword
- Placements of Keyword
- Content structure
- Internal links to other content pieces or relevant internal web pages
- External links to relevant and legit websites/ webpages
- Meta description, alt texts, H1
- An index for the article.
Although most of these details vary for each content, most will have guidelines that always remain in place.
For instance, any distinct studies, statistics, internal resources, or links to your content or products that warrant being featured are a must inclusion in brief to the content writer.
Also, there is no magic number as to how many links one should include in an article; the idea is about value add and relevance.
Visuals
Visuals cut the monotony of giant blocks of text. Consider detailing for clarity:
- The types of visuals to include in the article from photos, infographics, charts, to screenshots.
- The number of visuals to be added to the content
- The preferred placement of each of the visuals
Share the direction regarding the above details, along with a list of sites for finding images:
Consider websites like
Ask for Feedback
Creating a solid and strategic content brief is essential to ensuring that the final piece comes out as intended. However, irrespective of providing all the information, a feedback system will enable the writer’s ambiguity to iron out. Ask questions such as:
- Are your content briefs clear and concise?
- Do they help you understand what is being asked of you?
- What is one (or two) things that can be improved in future briefs?
Final Thoughts
Assuming a writer doesn’t need a content brief is a huge presumption. In other words – a mistake.
Similarly, providing a short 2-3 lines brief that includes no real direction doesn’t do anyone any good.
We have combined Skilfinity’s content creation and product development expertise to provide advice and best practices for creating the perfect content brief. Talk to us to develop in-depth content pieces that are interconnected by one broader topic or web page.
