The Key to Results-driving Creative

As a business owner, you’ve likely worked with a creative partner in some aspect to execute on your business’s creative needs. Has there ever been a time when you hired someone for an important project, only for the project to fall flat and not result in the creative assets you were envisioning? Or maybe you loved the assets you received, but it took many rounds of revisions and a complete headache to get there? Or perhaps the assets you received from the project didn’t end up achieving the results you were hoping for?

If you’ve encountered any of these situations, I assume that one critical thing was missing from the process — the key to getting creative assets that achieve the results you’re aiming for.

A creative brief.

If I’ve learned anything over the past decade of my creative career, it’s the importance of creative briefs. And not just any creative brief — a well written, thoughtful brief that equips creatives with a clear understanding of what you’re aiming to accomplish, as well as inspires them with enough creative freedom to deliver amazing work. Having been on both sides of a brief (either creating a brief or executing it), I’ve seen first hand how a formal creative brief (or lack thereof) can really make or break a project’s end result.

What is a creative brief?

Simply put, a creative brief is a document that outlines your creative project, goals, deliverables, and guidelines. It is a blueprint that guides your project from conception to completion — a wonderful tool to help ensure that you and your creative partner are completely aligned before starting a project. A well-crafted creative brief has the power to be on of the most impactful documents in your business arsenal.

As a founder looking to create a premium brand, a creative brief can help you convey the style you’re wanting to capture & the goals you’re aiming to achieve with these creative assets. Most importantly, a creative brief will help you be as intentional as possible behind the why of your project, what you’re wanting to receive, when you need it by, and a strategy for the how — the creative assets your team will create in order to get you there.

When should you use a creative brief?

In theory, a creative brief should be used for every creative project you take on. Let’s take a moment to think about all of the creative needs your business may have:

• Branding

• Website design

• Photography

• Videography

• Copywriting

• Packaging design

• Marketing campaigns

• Social media content creation

• The list goes on!

With a solid, strategic creative brief in place for each project, you’ll ensure complete alignment not only with your creative partner, but consistency throughout all your projects (hint: this is part of the process behind creating an elevated, cohesive brand experience!).

How can a creative brief can help you achieve better project results?

Below are some ways I’ve found creative briefs lead to results-driving creative:

• A creative brief can help you make sure the creative you’re wanting to hire is a good fit for the job (and on the flip side, help filter out creative partners that may not be a good fit).

• Creative briefs ensure that the assets you receive are rooted in commercial objectives / success.

• Creative briefs stand as a source of truth throughout the project, and are immensely helpful to refer to during initial conversations, through feedback rounds, and before wrapping the project to ensure you’re achieving everything you need to with your project.

• Crafting a creative brief allows you to get clear on exactly what you’re wanting to achieve with this project, and will help you investing your resources in a project that will further your business and achieve the results you’re wanting (rather than wasting your time and money on a project that didn’t go successfully).

Curious what makes a creative brief successful? Wondering how to create one?

I created a FREE creative brief template + guide to walk you through the process! An intentional, informational, action-filled resource for founders & marketing leaders looking to align their creative projects with their business objectives to achieve big results.