Before the launch of any direct mail campaign, it is crucial to have a structured, clear and concise brief in place for those that are involved. Whether this is your internal team or an external agency, if even one person isn’t on the same page because of a poor campaign brief, then the whole campaign could collapse.
Below we have explored and given guidance on how to create a great campaign brief for a direct mail campaign.
What is a campaign brief?
There are two types of brief when it comes to a direct mail campaign:
- a campaign brief and
- a creative brief.
The campaign brief is the initial plan for a campaign and contains all of the information on what the campaign should achieve.
The creative brief is the brief that is returned from the team writing the campaign and contains the creative ideas proposed for the campaign.
As the title suggests the focus of this article is campaign briefs, which we will discuss in further detail below.
What should you include in a direct mail campaign brief?
As with any campaign brief, listed below are tasks that you must include to make sure an effective direct mail campaign is created. It is important that all parties involved in a campaign understand the campaign brief, so setting SMART objectives will help (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and with timelines).
Make it motivational
No matter how concise your brief, if it is boring and motivational then this is how the team handling the campaign will approach their work. Make it fun, make it motivational, and make it so that the team look forward to their new project.
Contact us – click here
Don’t assume anything
Write your brief in simple language that even a newcomer to the industry could understand. Your team may be more on your level when it comes to the facts, but if working with an external agency it’s likely you won’t know the depth of their knowledge. In particular, avoid jargon, both internal jargon to the organisation and also industry-wide jargonised terms.
Less is more
Taking a minimalist approach is always a good idea, especially to keep a reader’s attention. It’s important to ensure that your message is still delivered, but overloading readers with information will mean that they understand less despite reading more. A complete direct mail campaign brief should be no more than 2-3 sides of A4, see an example of one here.
Information in a campaign brief
The areas that you want to cover in a direct mail campaign brief are:
- The background of your company
- The aims of the direct mail campaign brief
- The problems you are trying to tackle and solve
- The expected results of the campaign (response rates, profitability expectation, KPIs, etc.) – What is unique about this campaign and makes it a compelling proposition?
- Competitors to your company – particularly products/service comparison
Customised any campaign brief template used
Whilst it is advisable to start from a base of a pre-existing campaign brief template, always remember to modify where appropriate. Never try to force your brief into a template, instead adapt the template to suit your latest project.
Contacting the bakergoodchild mailing house
If you keep your campaign brief clear and concise, then there is no reason you can’t have a successful direct mail campaign. If you want to know how bakergoodchild can help further with this, then get in contact with us here or call us on 0800 612 1972 to start discussions.
Get in touch today – click here
