“What do you want?”

“It’s not that simple…”

Image Credit: Cosmopolitan

Briefing an agency can sometimes go full-blown The Notebook. Lots of longing looks, half-finished thoughts, and nobody quite saying what they actually mean.

This happens because briefing an agency is harder than it looks. You know you want more coverage, or to be taken more seriously as a voice in your market. But turning this into something an agency can act on is a different skill. If the brief is vague (or worse, non-existent), the results usually are too.

Believe it or not, a clear brief leads to better PR outcomes. It’s not just admin – it’s the foundation everything else gets built on.

Disclaimer: Briefing isn’t about handing over a finished strategy. You don’t need to arrive with key messages perfectly worded or a media list ready to go. That’s our job. What you do need to arrive with is clarity on what you’re trying to achieve and why. Agency-client relationships run much more smoothly when both parties know what’s needed, what’s expected, and the journey it might take to get there. A good brief isn’t a test you have to pass – it’s a conversation starter that saves everyone time.

What to include in a PR brief

Business objectives. Any and all communications activity should be tied back to your core business function and wider goals. Are you trying to enter a new market, support fundraising activity, launch a product, or change brand  perception? PR works best when it’s in service of something bigger – not activity for activity’s sake.

Target audiences. Who actually needs to hear this message? Investors, customers, regulators, and industry peers all respond to different tones, channels, and proof points. The more specific you can be – beyond “the general public” – the sharper the campaign will be.

Key messages. We’ll usually develop these with you as part of the process. But if there’s anything non-negotiable – a legal restriction, a phrase the CEO is attached to, a claim you can’t make – flag it at the brief stage. It’s much easier to build messaging around constraints than to retrofit it later.

Assets. Do you have photography, or do we need to arrange it? And what about video? This will impact the plan AND the price, so include that up front. 

Timelines. Launch dates and milestones. Also – who signs things off, what’s the process and how long does it take? This can cause more delays and missed deadlines than you think. 

Budget. Genuinely one of the most useful things you can tell us. Budget shapes scope, ambition, and the mix of tactics we’d recommend – without it, we’re guessing, and guessing rarely gets you the best value.

What you’re tried before. What’s been tried before, and how was success measured? If a past campaign fell flat, understanding why helps us avoid repeating it. And if you’ve got existing benchmarks – coverage volume, share of voice, sentiment – they give us a starting point to build from and measure against.

One thing that’s absolutely worth saying 

If you’re briefing us to fix a perception problem, we’ll ask whether the thing causing it has actually been fixed. 

Why is this important? Because if it hasn’t, a campaign saying otherwise invites the people who know better to correct us in public. We would rather tell you that than spend the money. 

Sometimes the right advice here is ‘don’t run this yet’ – trust us. 

The bottom line

None of this needs to be a polished document. . A page of honest, specific notes beats a beautiful deck with nothing real in it. 

An open, collaborative briefing process helps agencies develop stronger, more effective campaigns – and it turns that awkward “what do you want?” moment into the start of a genuinely good working relationship. 

The only notebooks we want to be to referencing are our own.