How to Write the Perfect Brief
Writing a brief for a web site (or indeed any marketing / business requirement) is not, for most people, a day-to-day activity. Therefore, when you (or even worse "The powers that be") decide that its time to get your web-site sorted for the next few years, you will need to work out what you want to achieve and how much it will cost you. You will also need to select a supplier who is able to offer the best value for your money and is capable of delivering to your requirements.
To do all of this effectively, you will need a "brief".

What is a "Brief"?
A brief is your document that tells the potential supplier what you are looking for, what you wish to achieve, what market and audience you are targeting and any other related information. The results of producing this document should allow you find out what solution an agency proposes, how much it will cost and how long it will take.
As a generic term, the brief covers all types of projects from a small 5-page site to a large scale, fully integrated, business database system.
For small projects it may just be a few lines in an email, in large projects it will take the form of an invitation to tender (ITT) and may span 2-300 pages.
In general, the response from an agency will probably reflect the brief that is supplied. For this reason alone it is important that you get a good balance in terms of the information you provide for the agency to work on.

Some key general points
Here are some general guidelines that will help you to get the most from your efforts.

	Research Have a look at websites around the Internet critically and note what you do and don't like about them. Try to look at sites in a similar industry to your own and keep this as reference material.
	Keep focussed The clearer you are about what you want to achieve, the more accurate an agency will be able to cost out solutions for you. Stating "We want to update parts of the site ourselves" is not as helpful as "Ideally, we will be able to update the price list, products, news and contacts pages as easily as possible". Ambiguity tends to get punished by an increase in the estimate to cover all eventualities.
	Avoid writing the solution It seems to be very tempting for some parties to part-design or part-build a website / intranet / extranet and ask the agencies to fill in the blanks. This could restrict the types of solutions that are proposed to you and may mean your project will suffer in the long term.
	Maintain flexibility Whatever you write in the brief, you will change your mind about some of the issues at some point. For this reason, give yourself the room to do so within the brief and request that there is some provision for flexibility with specific points or within the project as a whole.

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Writing your proposal
Like a good book, there are 3 main parts to a good brief - beginning (introduction/background), middle (requirements) and end (supporting information). Unlike a good book, it is not necessary to embellish situations, create twisting plot lines or provide excessive character descriptions!

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Introduction
This will provide the agency with some basic yet vital information - such as "who are you?"
Here is an example of an introduction

Eldi Lawnmowers We are a world-leading manufacturer of remote controlled lawnmowers with an established reputation in the pasture removal market built up over the past 9 years. Based in Devon, we sell 70% of our product to re-sellers (30% UK, 40% US, 20% to Europe and the balance to other countries) and 30% is sold directly from our shop. We have uniquely combined the male traits of enjoying remote control gadgets with the avoidance of domestic chores and produced a range of high-powered unmanned grass cutting utility vehicles. Our marketing has a youthful, modern and slightly whacky feel to it targeting the 25-34, medium/high income male with low household aspirations and excessive leisure time. Generally, an eye for product practicality and high quality of lawn finish is not a necessity. We will be launching our highest-powered model next spring once we have perfected the pet filtration system. Our brochure is included. Our competitors are well known brand names such as Qualcast, Flymo and DIY own brands. Our current web site was designed by the son of one of the Tea Ladies and has, regretfully and somewhat surprisingly, not proved to be a very effective marketing tool for us. We now wish to have a more active marketing tool with the ability to sell directly to consumers over the web.

In essence, you need not define much more than is shown above as it gives a good overview of you and your market.

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Requirements
This is the most important part of your document and should be clear, concise and concentrate on the key objectives you wish to achieve.
Remember, at this stage, anything is still possible. Explain clearly what you expect to see but challenge the agency to think a bit further and provide you with ideas.
Here is an example based on our friends at Eldi.

We wish to have a site that provides us with a professional and modern look reflecting our current image and providing a mix of information and entertainment. The main site is likely to have 5 sections though we would not wish to restrict the content to our initial ideas and would welcome further input. The sections will be as follows: About Us History, Overview and a personal profile of the Directors are required with photographs where applicable. There will be approximately 5 pages in total. News We normally have around 4 new items per year and attend at least 3 exhibitions. Our news sections should be designed to allow us to update the site quickly and effectively. Products There are 6 products at present and whilst the range will be expanding we also intend to make some products obsolete as part of our standard product management. Each product page should be dynamic and possibly have some small multi-media content to show the product at its best. We have some video footage and 3D design images but would ask the agency to propose ideas that would enhance our image on the web within a reasonable budget. Contact Us As a minimum, we would like a reply form (we welcome suggested field names), our address and legal information on the site. In general, we encourage the agency to provide comment and ideas on what may be effective additions to the site and provide us the maximum value for our investment.

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Supporting Information
Having written all the important information down for the agencies, you will need to tie up any loose ends with the supporting information.
This will not apply to every brief but you may wish to include some of the following documents:

Competitor List
Listing who your competitors are, quick note on brand strengths and weaknesses and website details can give an agency a very quick overview of your market.

Trade Advertisers / Suppliers
Again, as with competitors, if you advertise regularly it will be useful to see where and how you do so. Additionally, the suppliers can assist in some markets as they often have the same end-user.

Brochures, Letterheads and other Marketing information
All corporate identity information should be supplied, as it is invaluable in achieving a consistent message to market.
Don't forget to include all photography and colour references!

Web likes and dislikes
Websites become very personal so it is worth showing sites that you (possibly collectively) like and dislike. You may not be able to pick out why some sites appeal and others don't but a good designer will and it will speed up the visuals process if you can indicate this early on.

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Budgets
Budgeting is a final issue that you can present in two ways. You can either state your likely maximum cost and request that agencies look to provide as much value for you within the budget as possible (pros: relevant costs and, potentially, less time wasted for you. cons: Lower quotes than your maximum budget are unlikely). This method tends to be of value when you feel your budgets could exceed your requirements e.g. Charities, some Public services and start-up businesses.
The other "traditional" route is to send out the brief and await the costs that come back (pros: Lower than expected costs possible from Agencies. Cons: Likewise, costs could be much higher than is affordable meaning a round or two of re-specification and quotes)

You can also choose to do something inbetween which is actually quite useful to all parties, for example:

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Conclusion
So there you have it - a brief!
Now it really wasn't that bad was it. The time that you have spent creating the brief will save a great deal of money and, most importantly, help to ensure you get the best value from your marketing investment.

Further reading:

• You may now wish to see our guide on Selecting an Agency as the next step.
• If you would like to get an idea on costs for web site projects, please feel free to use our live Online Estimator.