Marketing brief template: ready-to-download briefs for every deliverable
The fields every brief needs, what changes for each type of deliverable, the mistakes that cause the most rework and a pack with our templates to download.
A marketing brief template puts on one page everything the person producing the work needs to know before starting: goal, funnel stage, audience, message, tone, call to action, references, restrictions and deadline. With those fields filled in, the request reaches your in-house team or agency complete, and the first version comes out close to what you had in mind.
Below are the fields every brief needs, what changes for each type of deliverable and the mistakes that cause the most rework. At the end, a pack with our ready-to-download templates.
The fields of every marketing brief template
Every brief answers the same nine questions, whether it's for a post or a landing page. Use the table as a checklist before sending any request:
| Field | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Goal | What should this piece achieve: engagement, a lead, a sale, brand recall? |
| Funnel stage | Is the audience at the top, middle or bottom of the funnel? |
| Audience | Who needs to see it, with what role, problem and context? |
| Key message | What is the one idea people should take away? |
| Tone | Educational, direct, inspiring, technical? |
| CTA | What action do you expect after people see the piece? |
| References | Which example shows what you want, and what exactly do you like about it? |
| Restrictions | What must not appear: terms, approaches, information? |
| Deadline | When does it need to be ready, counting the review round? |
Funnel stage is the most forgotten field and the one that changes the piece the most. An ad for people who don't know the problem yet needs a different message from an ad for people already comparing vendors, as we explain in the article on awareness levels.
What changes for each type of deliverable
The shared fields are the base; each format adds the questions only it has.
Blog article
A content brief for the blog adds search intent (informational, navigational or transactional), the main and secondary keywords, length, subheading structure, sources and internal links, with the articles and pages the text should mention. When the topic comes from a well-built content plan, half of these fields are already filled in.
Paid media assets
Here you add the platform (Google, Meta, LinkedIn), formats and sizes, headline copy and the decision on A/B testing. If the request includes a test, say what will vary: the headline, the image or the offer. In Google Ads, an experiment shares the traffic and budget of the original campaign, so the variation needs to be defined before the asset is created. The article on ad creative testing goes deeper on this.
Short video
The brief asks for the format (talking head, on-screen text, voice-over with B-roll, a trend), length, platform and a short script with the key message. References from creators with the style you want save a lot of back-and-forth.
Landing page
Add the value proposition, the suggested structure (header, social proof, video, form, CTA) and the content that already exists, such as approved copy, images and testimonials. This is the brief that depends most on decisions from sales, like the form fields. In our landing page work, it's where we start.
Print pieces and website changes
For print, the brief covers where it will be distributed, dimensions, print finish, mandatory information and the deadline for sending it to the printer, which usually comes before the final deadline. For website changes, the exact page, the device in focus, the priority and what must not change.
The briefs in the pack
The pack brings one template for each everyday deliverable, ready to fill in and send. The templates are based on the briefs we use at Mtools when we open each client task. Inside:
- social media post;
- blog article;
- short video;
- print piece;
- website change request;
- paid media assets (Google Ads and Meta Ads);
- landing page.
Use each template as a starting point and cut the fields that don't make sense for your team. A marketing brief template nobody fills in completely is worth less than a short one that is always complete.
Support material · Templates in PortugueseMarketing briefing packSeven briefing templates, from social media posts to landing pages, for more on-target work from your team or agency.Download the pack
The mistakes that cause the most rework
Almost every round of rework comes from a question the brief didn't answer. The most common mistakes:
- A vague goal. “Promote the product” doesn't say whether the piece needs to generate leads or just be seen.
- A generic audience. “Companies” doesn't help; role, company size and problem do.
- Too many messages. One piece carries one main idea. The others become another piece.
- References with no explanation. Send the example and say what you like about it: the color, the pace, the copy.
- Restrictions remembered at review. The banned term or the data that can't appear has to be in the brief from the first version.
- Requests sent as loose messages. A brief that lives in a chat gets lost, and each person remembers a different piece of it.
These mistakes explain much of the rework in marketing, and fixing them costs less than redoing pieces every week.
Briefing an agency: what to add
People outside the company need context your in-house team already has. In a brief for an agency, add the business moment, what has been done before and the results, who approves each deliverable and which numbers the piece needs to move. At Mtools, every client deliverable starts with a brief using these fields, and knowing how to choose a marketing agency includes seeing how it receives and returns a request.
Talk to usWant help planning this at your company?Tell us what you need. We'll reply by email or WhatsApp and, if it makes sense, put together a quote.Contact us
Frequently asked questions
What is a marketing brief?
It is the document that gathers the information needed to produce a piece or campaign: goal, audience, message, tone, CTA, references, restrictions and deadline. It aligns the person requesting and the person producing before work starts.
What's the difference between a campaign brief and a deliverable brief?
A campaign brief defines the goal, audience, budget and channels for an entire initiative. A deliverable brief details one piece within it, such as an ad, an email or a landing page, and inherits the campaign's decisions.
Who should fill in the brief?
Whoever requests the work, with help from someone who knows the end customer. When the request depends on sales, as a landing page does, sales reviews the audience and offer fields before it's sent.
