The marketing brief: what to tell an agency and how to fill it in

The marketing brief is the most important document when working with an agency or marketer. Strategy, ads, content and expected results all flow from it. A shallow brief leaves the agency guessing: the wrong audience, the wrong message, budget lost in month one. A good brief saves weeks of testing. This article explains what goes into a marketing brief, what to write in each section, and gives a ready list of questions.

Why you need a brief

A brief does three jobs:

1. It explains your business to the agency — they don't know your product and customers as you do.
2. It turns the goal into a number — not "more sales" but "60 sales a month within 3 months".
3. It gives a baseline for measuring results — if point A isn't recorded, there's nothing to compare point B with.

Briefs are usually filled in as a conversation: the agency asks, you answer. But preparing for the questions in advance makes the conversation far more productive.

Section 1. Business and product

• What you sell: your products or services, and the main ones.
• Which product earns the most and which you want to sell more of.
• The product's strengths and weaknesses (honestly).
• Warranty, delivery, payment methods, instalments.
• Where you operate: city, regions, online.

Section 2. Price and margin

Many owners keep this section back, but without it the agency can't calculate how much it can afford to pay:

• average order value;
• approximate margin or gross profit per sale;
• how often customers come back.

These figures give the maximum acceptable cost per lead and per customer — how to calculate them in customer acquisition cost (CAC) and unit economics.

Section 3. Point A — current numbers

Even if the numbers are rough, write them down — they're the starting point.

Section 4. Customers

• Who buys: age, gender, city, occupation, family status — the 2–3 most common types.
• Why they buy from you — the reasons customers give.
• What they ask before buying and what they fear.
• Who doesn't buy and why — also important information.

How to build a customer persona — target audience and customer persona.

Section 5. Competitors

• 3–5 main competitors and their profiles.
• Where they're better and worse than you.
• Who customers compare you with.

How to analyse competitors in a day — competitor analysis.

Section 6. The sales process

Ads bring the lead; your team makes the sale. The agency needs to know:

• who answers leads and how quickly;
• whether there's a CRM, or where leads are recorded;
• the stages of a sale: call, meeting, site visit, contract;
• working hours and days off.

This section often decides results more than the ads do — marketing and sales alignment.

Section 7. Past marketing experience

• Which channels you've used: paid social, influencers, Telegram, SMS, billboards.
• What worked and what didn't — with numbers if possible.
• The post, video or promotion that performed best.
• Any ad account blocks or restrictions.

Section 8. Goal and timeline

Write the goal specifically and measurably:

Add a constraint alongside the goal: for example, "cost per sale no higher than …".

Section 9. Budget

• Monthly ad budget (or a possible range).
• Budget for content production.
• Readiness for a test period: results may be unstable in the first 1–2 months.

How to calculate a budget — planning a marketing budget.

Section 10. Constraints and resources

• Brand rules: colours, logo, tone, things that can't be said.
• Legal constraints: licensed activities, special goods.
• Who can appear on camera: the owner, specialists, staff.
• A place and time for shooting.
• Seasonal dates and planned promotions.

Legal requirements for advertising — advertising law in Uzbekistan.

Mistakes when filling in a brief

• "Our customer is everyone" — the agency can't speak to anyone specifically.
• Hiding price and margin — budget and cost per lead can't be calculated.
• Not recording point A — results have nothing to be compared with.
• Not describing the sales process — the problem gets blamed on the ads.
• A goal without numbers.

Questions and answers

Who should fill in the brief?

The owner or head of the business, together with the head of sales. The agency asks questions and records the answers — all you need to give is honest, specific answers.

How long does a brief take?

Usually a 1–2 hour conversation. Preparing your numbers in advance makes it faster and more useful.

What if I don't know my numbers?

Give rough figures and start measuring them in month one — that's part of marketing work too. Once tracking is set up, precise numbers appear.

Is a brief filled in once?

The core part once, but update it every quarter: new products, prices, goals. The strategy changes with the brief.

Conclusion

The marketing brief is the foundation of strategy: business, price and margin, point A, customers, competitors, sales process, goal and budget. The more honestly and specifically it's filled in, the faster the agency finds what works. Level Marketing starts every project with a detailed brief and a free audit — and only then proposes a strategy and budget.

More on this topic

• How to choose a paid ads specialist: 9 questions before hiring
• Target audience and customer persona: how to define them
• Planning a marketing budget