Write a creative brief that designers and writers can understand
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Q: I don’t think I’ve found an effective way to collaborate with designers and writers. They seem to speak a different language than I do. Any tips?
When I first started, I often found myself in frustration of having the creative result turned out to be far from what I expected in mind. I didn’t know better at the time, and when it occurred, I always blamed the designer for not understanding the brief.
My then-manager quickly corrected my course and demonstrated what it really meant to be an effective communicator. The most memorable interaction that we had was when he managed to explain a complex financial product in 10 minutes that I failed to understand in a week. I’ve had my disagreements with him, but to this day, his ability to convey something very complex in layman terms remains the gold standard that I strive to achieve one day.
That moment serves as a wake-up call to me: It was not them (designers & writers) that spoke differently than I did. It was I who hadn’t done a decent job at providing clarity.
Being an effective communicator means to stand on a fine line. Going too detailed, you tend to cross the line by micromanaging what designers and writers should or should not do. Giving too few details, your team will spend too much time and energy to navigate the ambiguity that is your brief.
A great marketer is one that stands in the middle. They can:
Provide enough context for the team to understand the the actual problem
Restrain themselves from giving too much instruction, thus allowing for more creative freedom
Actively drive alignment and rally people back to the true objective
I was very mediocre at these things. I lacked the empathy. To be super frank, I wouldn’t have hired myself if I had the chance. But I’m grateful to learn some frameworks that helped me become a better communicator for the team.
5W + 1H
What is it? (context / description)
Who are we creating this for?
Why this problem, and why is this problem worth solving? .....
Where will we implement this? .....
When do we need to get it done? .....
How does success look like? .....
Depending on the scope of the project, I customize this framework a lot. For example, designing something as simple as a sales flyer might not require all 6 questions. I strongly suggest to not treat this as a fixed framework, but rather as a tool to help you organize your thoughts around a problem and drive alignment with your peers.
If you need to include all 6 questions to reach the level of alignment that you want, then go ahead.
“Jobs to be Done” Framework
🌍 Applying JTBD framework effectively (uxdesign.cc)
GET [specific target users you’re building for]
TO [expected action that we want the user to perform]
BY [strategy to get users to do the expected action]
This framework was first coined by Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business Professor. In a follow-up HBR article, JTBD is described as follows:
“What they really need to home in on is the progress that the customer is trying to make in a given circumstance — what the customer hopes to accomplish. This is what we’ve come to call the job to be done.”
Simply put, JTBD is all about the end user. It is by far my favorite framework that I always use for almost every project, big or small. Why I love the JTBD framework:
It’s so simple that anyone can understand it right away
It’s very versatile and can be applied to almost all aspects of work
It forces you to frame a project from the perspective of your end-user
By framing it with a customer-centric view, it drives a complete alignment among the team members. Each member, whether they come from Product, Engineering, or Designers is given the necessary freedom to figure out what’s needed to be done in their respective fields to achieve the JTBD.
Some examples of JTBD.
GET new registered users
TO experience the benefit of the app right away
BY sending motivational push messages that talk about getting started
GET our target audience in Jalan Sudirman
TO be interested and check our website
BY putting a unique-and-catchy billboard that gets them very curious
Q: Do we use one of them, or should we combine? And how?
I believe that both frameworks are not a matter of “or”. It can, and should be used to complement each other.
Let’s say: I’m a product marketer that’s tasked to lead a project to determine which banner design is the most effective best to get people to buy an item. I have 1 designer and 2 writers that will support this project.
Here’s how I would brief them.
What is it?
We want to run A/B experiment on push notifications to determine which banner is the most impactful to drive more new visitors to buy.Who are we creating this for?
We aim to target new visitors (joined the platform for less than 7 days) but haven’t bought any item 1 day after registering.Why this problem, and why is this problem worth solving?
Our past analysis showed that those who bought an item within 7 days after joining the platform, they were 5x more likely to buy again in the next 1 month than those who didn’t.Where will we implement this?
We will do this experiment on the static banner placement at the top of the page.When do we need to get it done?
We aim to roll out this experiment by 1 March 2022, so it’d be good if we could have the banner ready by 27 Feb 2022.How does success look like?
We know it’s a success when at least 10% of visitors made a purchase with an average basket value of Rp 75,000 within 24 hours after seeing the reminder.Jobs To Be Done
GET new visitors who haven’t bought anything 24 hours after registration
TO buy at least one item in our platform
BY giving them a personalized reminder about items that they show interest inGuideline
Since we have the capability to perform A/B test, feel free to come up with 5-10 banner variations. Some experiment variables that we can test:
The copy / unique selling point
The banner’s background color (affect visibility)
After numerous trials & error, this is by far my favorite format:
I’m able to provide enough context & no crucial info being missed
Clear plan and expectation on what success looks like,
Thanks to JTBD, it forces me to constantly frame the problem from a consumer perspective
Simple enough to understand for anyone
Marketers and PMs, what’s your favorite method / tips / tricks to brief designers and writers?
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