In my last blog, I outlined the reasons why so many agencies fail to deliver against client briefs. One of my esteemed associates suggested that I focus this month on what a client brief should include, given that I profess a robust brief to be the foundation to building solid PR programmes - and to recruiting the right agency talent.

My thoughts may not be all-encompassing and I recognize that a degree of tailoring is always necessary. In essence, however, I have 3 guiding principles in setting up a good brief:

1. CONFIDENTIALITY: No brief must ever be submitted to any outside service provider without a legally endorsed NDA (non-disclosure agreement). I am happy to provide an example of this.
2. INTEGRITY: Extreme care must be taken not to include material of a financially sensitive nature (always worth running a brief past the IR team). An equal amount of care must be taken not to 'spin' content. The brief is not a PR document, but a frank and honest review of the company's opportunities and issues to build robust PR response.
3. RELEVANCE: The brief should be geared towards framing the issues and opportunities that the agency can be expected realistically to support. This demands that clients have given first thought to what their marketing/agency expectations are and that they understand what peripheral information is important in helping agencies better understand the company and climate in which they'll be expected to operate.
   

For me, word count does not matter. Content does. And this, in my view, is what a good agency brief should include:

1) The Corporate Story
This section must give as much flavour about the dimension, character, values and principles of an organisation to help PR agency familiarisation but also to aid external corporate positioning.

• What is the company provenance/history and track record?
• What have its milestone achievements been?
• What are its stated mission, vision, values?
• What are its key metrics (financial/geographic) and growth ambitions?
• Is it a market leader or challenger?...
• ... And how does it shape and execute that role?
  
• What characterizes the company's leadership and internal culture?
• What is its business model and structure?
• What are the company's issues and crisis alert procedures?
  

2) The Trading Environment
Here follows an analysis of the company's trading prospects and opportunities, coupled with a realistic analysis of the marketplace threats/issues that the agency may be required to take into account as it develops PR plans.

• Who is the competition?
• What is driving their strategy against the company?
• Which media channels do they exploit?
  
• What is the company's relative performance?
• What is the company's market differential (eg. technology, innovation, commercial)
• Where are the trading threats - and opportunities?
• What are the regulatory barriers? How are these being addressed?
  
• How does the company plan to raise future market entry barriers?...
• ...Or exploit current market conditions?
• What is the company's product/service roadmap?
  
• What key sales and marketing initiatives are planned over the next year to drive growth?

3) The Market Environment
This section begins to deal directly with the company's public outreach strategy and begins to provide insight into the more direct role a PR agency can be expected to play in support.

• Who is the company trying to reach?
  
• How are these audiences segmented?
• What is the current company proposition/message to these audiences?
• What motivates and characterises the target consumer/purchaser/specifier groups?
• Which (online and offline) media channels most influence these groups?
• Which other organisations (NGOs etc) also influence purchase decision?
• What impact have these media/groups had?
• What have been the company's past, public issues? Were they resolved?
  
• Which marketing/corporate outreach initiatives have seen most success?
• Where has the company failed to reach/penetrate its markets?
• What are the company's key marketing objectives over the next 1-5 years?
  

4) The Internal Community
This section recognizes the interdependencies between external and internal communications planning and focuses on how the internal corporate culture can impact or promote external PR success.

• How many employees are located across the company?
• What are current employee engagement strategies/dialogue channels?...
• ...How effective are they?
• What is the employee retention record?
• What are the outcomes of any employee surveys? What are the key issues?
  
• Are any major corporate restructuring initiatives planned?
• How is internal and external communications structured?
• Who are the key spokespeople/external ambassadors?...
  
• ... How competent or well equipped are they?

5) PR Agency Objectives
This section deals with the very specific company requirements of the PR agency and should relate clearly to the above company analysis. It should form the basis of the final agency quote and be embedded within subsequent contractual obligations. For example:

• What credentials (skills, experience, specialism, contacts) must the agency demonstrate?
• Which geographies will they serve?
• What will be their messaging and corporate positioning contribution?
• What strategic market/PR/media insight should the agency contribute?
• Which markets/audiences should the PR agency engage?
  
• What (online/offline) influencer programmes should the agency deliver?
• How must the agency integrate with the business?
• How should the agency evolve its client PR skills?
• How will success be measured? What are the key performance metrics?
  
• What is the budget?
• How will the agency ensure transparency against spend?
• How will they report (to whom, by which method, with which frequency)?

A good client brief is the precursor to any agency pitch and final selection; it sets clear client-agency expectations and is integral to final contractual obligations; it is the reference against which ongoing agency performance can be objectively measured and reviewed.

A good agency, as I mentioned in my last post, will engage with this brief, may challenge it and generate value-adding discussion to help move the company forward in its thinking.

My passion for a good client brief stems from the conviction that, without a brief, there is no performance. And without performance, the communications role will never be viewed as a robust, commercially-minded and trusted entity within an organisation. It is ultimately, therefore, a tool of professional - and personal - credibility.

(With our FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 in-company credentials, we have vast experience in setting up client briefs, including agency performance goals and metrics, as part of any PR agency recruitment or performance evaluation process. Contact us if you would like to learn more).

Labels: business, managerial, marketing, PR, reputation