How to brief a digital agency so you get what you wanted
The best projects we run all started from the same six inputs.
Why briefs fail
Most briefs describe a deliverable — "we need a new website" — when what the agency needs is the problem. A brief that leads with the outcome you are buying produces better proposals, more accurate estimates and far fewer surprises in week six.
Lead with the business objective
What has to be true in twelve months for this to have been worth it? More qualified enquiries, a higher average order value, a shorter sales cycle, entry into a new segment. Put a number on it if you can. Everything else in the brief should serve that sentence.
Tell us the constraints
Budget range, deadline and why that date matters, the platforms you are committed to, the approvals required and who gives them, and the things previous agencies got wrong. Constraints are not a weakness in a brief — they are the most useful part, because they eliminate proposals that were never going to work.
Define the audience specifically
Not "businesses in India". The person who signs, the person who uses, what they currently do instead, and what makes them hesitate. If you have sales call recordings or support tickets, share them; they are worth more than any persona document.
Agree how success is measured, before starting
Name the metrics, the baseline, the reporting cadence and who owns each number on your side. Then decide what you will stop doing to make room. If you are assembling one now, our 90-day SEO plan shows what a realistic first quarter contains, and the questions to ask an agency covers evaluating the responses.
A 30-minute consultation and a written summary of what we would prioritise.
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