How to Brief an Agency So You Get Better Results

Working With An Agency

Hiring a marketing agency is only part of the equation. The quality of the results you receive often depends on the quality of the brief you provide.

Many businesses believe they simply need to tell an agency what they want. A new website. Better SEO. More social media posts. A Google Ads campaign. But without clear objectives and the right information, agencies are often left making assumptions.

A good brief creates clarity from the beginning and helps both your business and your agency work towards the same goals.

Why a good brief matters

No agency knows your business as well as you do. The more context you provide, the easier it becomes to create marketing that reflects your business, speaks to the right audience, and delivers measurable results. A clear brief also helps to:

• Reduce misunderstandings
• Save time and unnecessary revisions
• Keep projects on schedule
• Ensure budgets are spent on the right priorities
• Deliver better long-term results

The strongest marketing partnerships begin with clear communication.

Start with your business objectives

Before discussing websites, advertising, or social media, define what success actually looks like. Ask yourself:

• What are we trying to achieve?
• Do we want more enquiries, or better quality leads?
• Increased local visibility?
• More online sales?
• Greater brand awareness?

Clear objectives allow every marketing decision to support a measurable outcome. Without them, it becomes much harder to know whether the work is actually delivering the results you need.

Explain your audience

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is trying to market to everyone. Your agency needs to understand who your ideal customers are, the services or products they are most interested in, the problems they are trying to solve, and why they choose your business over competitors.

Your agency can bring the marketing expertise, but you know your customers. That information is extremely valuable.

Share what is working, and what is not

Which activities have worked well, what has not delivered, where enquiries currently come from, which services are most profitable and the questions customers commonly ask. This avoids repeating previous mistakes and gives your agency a much clearer starting point.

Be honest about budget and timescales

Every business has a budget. Being open about available investment allows your agency to recommend the most appropriate strategy rather than creating unrealistic expectations. Equally important are your timescales. If you have product launches, seasonal campaigns, or business events planned, share these from the beginning so work can be properly scheduled. Good planning at the beginning can prevent unnecessary pressure later.

Provide brand guidelines and key information

Consistency builds trust. Where possible, provide brand guidelines, logos, images, tone of voice, existing marketing materials and website access where appropriate. If you do not have these yet, our branding and graphic design team can help you put them in place. The more useful information your agency has at the beginning, the less time is spent going back and forth later.

A good agency should not simply take an instruction and deliver it. There should be a conversation about what you are trying to achieve and why.Barbara Payne & Sarah Ford, Digital House

Collaboration delivers better results

The best marketing projects are collaborative. An agency brings marketing expertise. You bring knowledge of your customers, your industry, and your business. When both work together, stronger ideas emerge and better decisions are made.

Before you brief an agency, ask yourself

• Are our business goals clearly defined?
• Do we know who our ideal customer is?
• Have we shared enough information for an agency to understand our business?
• Are our expectations realistic?
• Have we explained what success looks like?

Answering these questions before work begins often saves time, money, and frustration later.

Frequently asked questions

What should a marketing agency brief include?

Your business objectives, a description of your ideal customer, what has and has not worked before, your budget and timescales, and your brand assets. One or two pages is usually plenty, as long as it answers the question of what success looks like.

How much detail about budget should I share?

Enough for the agency to recommend the right approach. A realistic range is far more useful than no figure at all, because it stops the agency proposing something you cannot afford or, just as often, under-scoping what you could achieve.

What if we do not know our objectives yet?

That is common, and it is exactly where a marketing consultation earns its keep. An hour spent defining goals and audience before any work starts nearly always pays for itself.

Should we brief one agency or several?

Brief them all the same way, with the same document, so you can compare responses fairly. The agency that asks the most thoughtful questions in return is usually the one that will do the best work.