Tag: agency-resource

Phase 1: Working Session

Tip: Prepare Thoroughly for the Working Session
Ensure you review all client materials and calibration content briefs in advance to lead a productive and focused session.

Schedule and Prepare for the Working Session:

• Schedule a working session with key stakeholders (client, content production manager, client’s editor or content reviewer).
• Send a detailed agenda for the working session, including key topics and goals.
• Request and review the calibration content briefs (if applicable).
• Review any existing client materials.
• Prepare the working session deck.

During the Working Session:

• Align on project scope and agreement terms.
• Establish content goals and objectives.
• Define the target audience and brand voice.
• Outline the desired content structure and style.
• Plan production logistics and timelines, including milestones and deliverables.
• Advise on best practices for content creation, SEO, and quality control.
• Schedule the calibration feedback call. 

Post-Working Session:

• Create a working session summary document and share it with all stakeholders.
• Request approval or corrections to the working session summary from the client. 

Phase 2: Preparation

Best Practice: Double-Check the Project Brief
Compare the project brief to the working session summary to ensure no key details are missed.

Develop the Project Brief:

• Create a comprehensive project brief that includes content goals, target audience, brand voice, content structure, style guidelines, SEO requirements, and other writer-facing content details.
• Compare the project brief to the working summary to ensure all overarching content guidelines are covered.
• Request a review of the project brief by a writer or an editor to identify gaps or opportunities for clarification.

Create a Content Brief Template (if your team is creating the briefs):

• Develop a content brief template that includes the appropriate components and aligns with the project brief.
• Include specific instructions for tone, keywords, linking, audience segment, outline, and any other relevant details.
• Request a review of the content brief template by a writer or an editor to identify gaps or opportunities for clarification.
• Review the template with the person creating the content briefs to ensure understanding of expectations. 

Pro Tip: Use the Content Calendar to Stay on Track
A well-maintained content calendar ensures everyone stays aligned with deadlines and project progress.

Set Up the Content Calendar:

• Establish a content calendar with deadlines for each phase of content production.
• Include columns for data points or information needed by the content brief creator.
• Include a status field to keep all parties up to date on progress.
• Ensure the calendar is shared with all team members and the client.
• Instruct the client on their role in the content calendar.

Build Tailored Workflows:

• Create customized workflows for the project, detailing each step from content creation to delivery.
• Define and communicate roles and responsibilities within the workflows, ensuring clarity for all team members.
• Document and share the process, expectations, and timelines for each step in the workflow. 

Phase 3: Team Building

Note: Start Small, Then Scale
Begin with a small, focused team to iron out any issues before expanding to full-scale production.

Assemble the Writing Team:

• Choose writers and editors ideally suited to the project’s subject, style, and structure.
• Identify which writers and editors will participate in calibration. 
• Provide calibration writers and editors with the project resources.
• Communicate assignment day and completion deadline for calibration. 
• Communicate project timeline to non-calibration team, but don’t share the briefs until after calibration concludes (due to likelihood of updates). 

Phase 4: Calibration

Focus: Use Calibration to Perfect the Process
Calibration helps refine the content and processes before full-scale production, so take the time to get it right.

Assign and Produce Initial Content:

• Begin the trial run with a small batch of content to test project resources.
• Assign content orders to the calibration writers and editors.
• Instruct the writers and editors to follow the project and content brief explicitly. 

Review the Content:

• Review the completed content to gauge the writer and editor’s understanding against your vision of the deliverable.
• Identify any areas for improvement and make a note to update the resources (don’t update yet).
• Adjust the content to match your vision.  

Deliver the Content:

• Submit the content to the client for review.
• Send a calibration feedback questionnaire to the client and request that it be returned at least 24 hours prior to the calibration feedback call. 

Important: Schedule a Calibration Feedback Call
This call is crucial for aligning with the client on content quality and ensuring the final product meets expectations.

Conduct the Calibration Feedback Call:

• Conduct a face-to-face feedback call with the client. 
• Discuss both positive and critical feedback to identify strengths and weaknesses in the content and processes.
• Assess your understanding of the client’s vision of the final content against their feedback on the deliverables. 
• Determine whether additional calibration is needed. 
• If moving into ramp-up or full production, review cadence and submission decisions determined during the working session. 

Refine the Resources:

• Make necessary adjustments to the project brief, content brief template, and workflow based on client feedback.
• Communicate resource updates resulting from the feedback call to the writers and editors who created the content.
• Share resources with the non-calibration writers and editors to prepare them for production. 

Ensure content and workflow precision through iterative feedback and adjustment.

What Is Calibration?

Calibration in content production is the process of aligning your work with the client’s vision. It ensures that the content meets the required quality, tone, style, and timing.

How Calibration Works

Calibration is the fourth phase of onboarding, following the working session, resource and workflow development, and team building. This stage involves testing content and workflows on a smaller scale to see how well they meet the client’s expectations. Feedback is then used to make targeted adjustments to content style, tone, and processes, ensuring everything is aligned with the client’s vision before full-scale production begins.

Here’s a high-level overview of the calibration process:

1. Assign and Produce Content: Test how well the style guides, tools and other resources capture the content’s vision and requirements.
2. Internal Review: Measure the writer’s and editor’s understanding against the content manager’s expectations.
3. Client Review: Evaluate the content manager’s understanding against the client’s vision.
4. Calibration Feedback Call: Gather positive and critical feedback to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the resources and processes.
5. Refinement and Launch or Recalibrate: Repeat the process until alignment is achieved, then move into scaled production.

13 Tips for Effective Calibration

1. Rely on Your Resources

• Let the project and content briefs guide writers and editors.
• Calibration tests these resources to ensure they achieve the desired results.

2. Start Small, Scale Smart

• For long-form content: Calibrate with 2-3 articles using at least two writers.
• For short-form content: Calibrate with 5-10 pieces using at least three writers.

3. Timeliness Is Key

• Begin the calibration process within 3-5 days of the working session to keep insights fresh.
• Schedule the feedback call within 3 days of content delivery.

4. Face-to-Face Feedback

• Always hold a face-to-face call for the feedback session to prevent misalignment from relying solely on written comments.

5. Focus on Actionable Feedback

• Prioritize feedback that can be applied across the entire project, such as style guidelines or tone adjustments.
• Avoid overemphasizing feedback that only pertains to specific articles.

6. Set Clear Client Expectations

• Ensure clients understand that calibration is a test of the workflow and resources, not necessarily an example of the final output.

7. Agree on Readiness

• Both the client and the content team should agree they’re comfortable moving into ramp-up or full production after calibration.

8. Embrace Iterative Improvements

• Be prepared to make thoughtful adjustments based on feedback. Calibration is iterative, and fine-tuning is expected.

9. Maintain Internal Communication

• Communicate resource updates from the feedback call to the writers who created the content to ensure everyone stays informed.

10. Use On-Target Samples

• Once an on-target piece is created, include it as a sample in the project brief for future reference.

11. Continue Calibration in Ramp-Up

• For high-volume or large-team projects, continue calibrating internally with each new set of writers.
• Scale up those who demonstrate a strong understanding while starting slowly with new writers and editors.

12. Set Proper Expectations for Yourself

• Understand that calibration can be a bumpy process. Misalignments may occur due to unclear expectations or misunderstandings.
• Remember, calibration is meant to identify and resolve these issues.

13. Stay Flexible

• Expect that adjustments may still be needed after calibration is complete.
• Treat your project brief as a living document that will evolve over the life of the project.

Calibration Feedback Questionnaire

The calibration feedback questionnaire is a critical supplement to the face-to-face feedback process. 

It serves two essential purposes: 

1. It allows the production team to review client feedback in advance and prepare questions for the calibration feedback call.
2. It documents the client’s approval, providing a reference point for any future revisions. 

Calibration Feedback Questionnaire

We value your feedback and insights. Please take a few moments to complete this questionnaire to help us refine our processes and ensure we meet your expectations. Your responses will be reviewed before the calibration feedback call to prepare for an in-depth discussion.

Your Name and Role:

Company or Project Name:

Names and Roles of Others Who Reviewed the Content:

Rating Calibration Deliverables:

From 0 to 10, with 10 being exactly what you wanted, how would you rate the calibration deliverables compared to your vision of on-target content?

Rating Scale:

• 0 – Not even close
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10 – Perfect!

Please consider the different components that go into good content creation. Check off all items that met your expectations and leave blank anything that missed the mark. If an item doesn’t apply to your content, please check it.

• Writing Quality
• E-E-A-T Principles
• Voice
• Content Structure
• Non-Keyword SEO
• Keyword Usage
• Internal/External Linking
• Flow
• Consistency
• Organization
• Logic
• Expertise
• CTA
• Introduction
• Conclusion
• Adherence to Instructions
• Length
• Delivery Format

Feedback on Unchecked Items:

Please provide brief feedback on what must be done to align with your expectations on anything left unchecked. Give as much detail as you’d like, but note that you’ll have the opportunity to go into detail during the calibration feedback call.

Feedback on Checked Items:

Do you have feedback on the areas you checked that would help us produce even better results? If so, summarize it here. We’ll go into more detail during the call.

Comfort With Moving Into Scaled-Up Production:

Based on these deliverables, do you feel comfortable moving into scaled-up production?

• Yes
• No
• Not sure. Let’s discuss during the call.

Uncovered Issues or Bottlenecks:

Has the calibration round uncovered issues or potential bottlenecks that weren’t considered prior to this point? For example, the need for brief creation, the time it takes to review deliverables, the number of people reviewing content, the need for images, or the need for a more customized deliverable?

Additional Feedback, Questions, or Concerns:

Please provide any feedback, questions, or concerns not already covered in your prior responses.

Contact page copy:

Calibration is where all the preparation comes together and production begins, but a crawl-walk-run approach is key to ramping up an at-scale project. For questions on calibration or client onboarding, contact your account or content manager. Prospective clients can connect with us at sales@stellarcontent.com. 

Create project and content briefs that keep writing teams producing stellar content that’s consistent with SEO requirements and brand voice. 

Table of Contents: 

• The Importance of Briefs
• Brief Component Table
• 8 Common Pitfalls in Brief Creation and How to Avoid Them
• 8 Best Practices for Using AI for Content Brief Creation
• 7 Essential Tools for Content Brief Creation
• 12 Guidelines for Creating a Project Brief
• Creating a Content Brief Template: A 10-Step Guide
• Project Brief Template
• Content Brief Template

The Importance of Briefs

Begin your content project by defining its goals and deliverables with clear project and content briefs. These essential documents ensure alignment across your team and equip content creators with the guidance needed to meet strategic objectives and audience expectations. This step lays the groundwork for successful content creation, providing a solid blueprint for every piece produced.

Project Briefs

Project briefs are essential tools that provide a clear direction for the entire content project, ensuring all team members are aligned with the project’s goals, scope, and specific requirements. They contain high-level information crucial for guiding all content produced within a project:

• Universal Guidance: Ensures every piece of content adheres to a unified strategic vision, including SEO, brand voice, and style.
• Creative Boundaries: Outlines areas for innovation and strict compliance, balancing creativity with adherence to guidelines.
• Consistency Across Content: Maintains a consistent approach to voice, tone, and style, enhancing brand coherence.
• SEO Alignment: Includes vital SEO strategies that ensure content is enhanced for visibility and reach.

Content Briefs

Content briefs act as the tactical tools that translate the strategic insights of project briefs into actionable instructions for creating individual content pieces. They provide detailed guidance necessary to produce focused and impactful content:

• Detailed Roadmaps: Offer precise instructions for each piece of content, ensuring alignment with project objectives.
• Specificity in Execution: Address the unique requirements of each content piece, from structure to differentiation points.
• Direct Knowledge Transfer: Convey specific insights, expertise, and strategic direction directly to content creators.
• Enhanced Engagement: Tailor content to effectively engage the target audience and achieve specific business goals.
• Prevention of Misalignment: Mitigate risks of misinterpretation and ensure content meets the intended business and audience needs.

Project Brief vs. Content Brief: Key Components

Our brief component tables outline the key elements of both project and content briefs, clearly distinguishing their roles in guiding content creation. This differentiation helps ensure clarity in overarching project goals and precision in individual content pieces.

Audience and Author Details

Business Objectives and CTAs

Content Details

Differentiation and Linking

Legal and SEO

Additional Components

Keywords and Analysis

Style and Visuals

8 Common Pitfalls in Brief Creation and How to Avoid Them

This section highlights eight typical challenges encountered during the brief creation process and provides practical solutions to avoid them. Understanding these pitfalls will help ensure your briefs are clear, effective, and aligned with project goals.

1. Vagueness and Lack of Specificity
   • Problem: Briefs that are too vague don’t provide enough direction, leading to misaligned content and revisions.
   • Solution: Be specific with your details. Use clear, concise language and avoid open-ended instructions, especially when working with multiple writers who interpret instructions differently.
2. Overloading With Information
   • Problem: Including too much detail can overwhelm writers, leading to key points being overlooked.
   • Solution: Prioritize information based on relevance to the specific content piece. Use bullet points for clarity and to emphasize important elements.
3. Ignoring SEO Requirements
   • Problem: Neglecting SEO aspects results in content that performs poorly on search engines.
   • Solution: Clearly outline SEO keywords, desired content length, and any linking strategies. Integrate these seamlessly into the content’s narrative.
4. Failing to Define Voice
   • Problem: Without a clear understanding of your brand voice, writers may produce content that doesn’t resonate or engage effectively.
   • Solution: Provide detailed voice attributes, examples, and audience personas in the project brief.
5. Not Setting Clear Objectives
   • Problem: Unclear objectives result in content that fails to meet business or reader goals.
   • Solution: Define the business objective and search intent for each piece of content. Whether it’s driving sales, improving SEO, or building brand awareness, be explicit about what the content aims to achieve, and be sure the writer understands the search intent associated with your topic. 
6. Inadequate Instructions for Call to Action
   • Problem: If CTAs aren’t clearly defined, the content may fail to convert readers.
   • Solution: Specify the type of CTA, its placement, and the action you want the audience to take. Ensure it aligns with the business objectives.
7. Lack of Collaboration and Feedback
   • Problem: Briefs created in isolation may not cover all aspects or miss key inputs.
   • Solution: Involve stakeholders in the briefing process and ensure there’s a mechanism for feedback and revisions.
8. Expecting Too Much From a Writer
   • Problem: Expecting a writer to determine your point of view or create content that reflects your expertise without providing sufficient information leads to generic content that doesn’t stand out from competitors.
   • Solution: Ensure your content brief instructs the writer on how to differentiate the content they’re going to write. Include SME insights, original quotes, or your business’s stance or opinion on the subject matter to ensure unique content. 

8 Best Practices for Using AI in Content Brief Creation

Leveraging AI can significantly improve brief creation by boosting efficiency and precision. To help you make the most of tools like ChatGPT, this list provides eight essential guidelines focused on quality, collaboration, and strategic use. These practices ensure you gain the advantages of AI while retaining control over content development.

1. Collaborative Creation
   • Best Practice: Engage AI as a partner in the content brief creation process, rather than relying on it to generate briefs independently. Use it to refine and expand sections collaboratively, ensuring each part of the brief meets quality standards and aligns with strategic goals.
   • Tip: Ensure the person using AI to create briefs has the capability to create a brief manually. This ensures they can effectively judge and enhance the AI-generated output.
2. Comprehensive Preparation
   • Best Practice: Before starting with AI, gather all necessary background materials such as SEO keyword research, audience data, competitive analysis, and content insights. This preparation ensures the briefs are grounded in strategy and informed by data.
   • Tip: Use AI to help organize these materials into a cohesive strategy that can be directly referenced in the brief.
3. Iterative Review and Enhancement
   • Best Practice: Treat the initial AI-generated content as a draft to be refined. Carefully scrutinize each output before incorporating it into the brief to ensure precision and relevance.
   • Tip: Use AI to suggest variations and improvements on key sections like the call to action or outline, ensuring they’re optimized for user engagement.
4. Quality Over Speed
   • Best Practice: Emphasize the quality of the briefs over the speed of their creation. Although AI can accelerate the drafting process, the focus should be on using AI to achieve a higher standard of clarity and strategic alignment.
   • Tip: Use off-the-shelf AI models such as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude effectively by providing clear and concise inputs each step of the way.
5. Integration of Rich Information Sources
   • Best Practice: Incorporate detailed input such as quotes and insights from SMEs and summaries from strategic discussions to inform the AI’s output. Transcripts from SME interviews and webinars are particularly useful for injecting unique insights into content briefs, and transcripts from a working session help with AI-assisted project brief creation.
   • Tip: Use meeting tools that are able to produce transcripts to make information sharing with the LLM simple.
6. Avoiding Overreliance on Automation
   • Best Practice: Be cautious of over-relying on AI for critical thinking or strategic decisions. Use AI to assist with data processing and suggestion generation, but keep strategic decision-making and final approvals in human hands.
   • Tip: Set clear guidelines for the human operator to ensure they guide the AI effectively, providing it with the information it needs to help create useful outputs.
7. Step-by-Step Component Focus
   • Best Practice: Follow a step-by-step process when creating briefs with AI, focusing on one component at a time. This methodical approach helps maintain control over the quality and relevance of each section.
   • Tip: Provide AI with the necessary information for each component, review its output carefully, adjust or redo if necessary, and then incorporate it into the brief.
8. Careful Outline Crafting
   • Best Practice: Be meticulous when using AI to create content outlines. While AI can generate comprehensive outlines quickly, they need to be guided by detailed input from the user.
   • Tip: Provide specific direction on how to differentiate the content, articulate the business’s stance or opinion on the subject matter, and specify the depth required for certain topics to ensure the outline leads to distinctive and competitive content.

7 Essential Tools for Content Brief Creation

Choosing the right tools is essential for streamlining and optimizing the brief creation process. This carefully curated list highlights tools that can support different stages of creating a content brief. Each tool is outlined with its key benefits, enabling you to build a technology stack tailored to your needs.

1. Automated Keyword Research: These tools generate a list of relevant keywords based on the primary topic, helping ensure search engine optimization.
   • Semrush: Offers comprehensive keyword research, tracking keyword strategy against competitors, and provides SEO audits.
   • Ahrefs: Provides keyword suggestions, search volume, and keyword difficulty, along with competitive analysis and site audits.
   • Google Keyword Planner: A free tool that generates keyword ideas and gives estimates on search volume and competition.
2. Content Outline Generation: Use these tools to create structured content outlines by analyzing top-performing content.
   • Clearscope: Generates content reports that help writers ensure their content aligns with search intent and industry relevance.
   • MarketMuse: Uses AI to analyze your content and compare it with existing content on similar topics to suggest improvements and keywords.
3. Audience Analysis: Understand your audience’s needs and behaviors to tailor your content effectively.
   • SparkToro: Quickly discovers what your audience reads, watches, listens to, and follows.
   • SimilarWeb: Provides analytics on your audience’s online behavior, including traffic sources, geography, and user engagement.
4. Competitive Analysis: These tools help identify content gaps and opportunities by analyzing your competitors’ content strategies.
   • BuzzSumo: Analyzes what content performs best for any topic or competitor, offering insights into popular trends and content engagement.
   • SpyFu: Provides insights into the search marketing formulas used by your most successful competitors.
5. SEO Suggestions: Get recommendations for optimizing your content for search engines.
   • Yoast SEO: A WordPress plugin that provides real-time page analysis to enhance your content, images, meta descriptions, and more.
   • Surfer SEO: Analyzes your pages against the top 10 ranking pages to suggest optimal keyword density, common words, proper content length, and more.
6. Quote Gathering: Tools and platforms to source expert quotes and insights can add authority and depth to your content.
   • Qwoted: A platform that connects media and content creators with industry experts to source quotes and insights.
   • SourceBottle: A free service where journalists and bloggers find sources for stories and content, including expert quotes.
7. Transcription Tools: Convert audio from interviews and webinars into text to easily extract insights and quotes for content briefs.
   • Otter.ai: Provides accurate real-time transcription services and includes features for sharing, editing, and organizing transcripts.
   • Rev: Offers audio and video transcription services with high accuracy, delivered by human professionals, suitable for detailed content creation.

12 Guidelines for Creating a Project Brief

This process guides you through the creation of a project brief, starting from the initial client interaction in the working session to the finalization of a comprehensive document. These 12 guidelines ensure all essential information is gathered, organized, and articulated in a way that guides your content team to successful content production.

1. Prepare for the Working Session: Utilize the working session deck and agenda provided in our resources to guide the discovery process with the client. These tools are designed to help gather comprehensive information about the project’s goals, audience, desired voice, and content structure effectively.
2. Conduct the Working Session: Engage in a detailed face-to-face meeting with the client, using the prepared materials to facilitate discussion and ensure all vital aspects of the content are covered.
3. Complete the Working Session Summary: After the session, use our template to compile a summary of all critical points discussed. This summary should capture the project’s scope, specific content requirements, and any client preferences outlined during the session.
4. Client Sign-Off on Session Summary: Before proceeding, have the client review and sign off on the working session summary to confirm all information is correctly understood and agreed upon.
5. Determine Necessary Brief Components: Refer to the table in this guide to decide which components are essential for your project brief. This step ensures the brief will include all the relevant sections needed for writers and editors to create content that aligns with the project goals. Aim for components that’ll contain information that doesn’t change at the individual article level.
6. Draft the Project Brief: Using our project brief template, start drafting the project brief, focusing solely on information that will direct the content creation process. This includes detailed instructions on voice, style, content structure, and any specific content formats discussed during the working session. 
7. Review of Style and Tone Guidelines: Incorporate detailed voice, tone, and style guidelines to ensure consistency across all content. This section should be informed directly by the client’s input and aligned with the target audience’s preferences.
8. Peer Review by a Writer or an Editor: Have a writer or an editor review the draft brief. This step is crucial for identifying any potential blind spots or areas of confusion that can hinder content production.
9. Test the Project Brief: Assign a writer who has no prior knowledge of the project to create a piece of content based on the brief. This test helps evaluate the clarity and completeness of the brief.
10. Collect Feedback and Adjust the Brief: Gather feedback from the test phase and use it to refine the brief. Adjust any sections that are unclear or insufficient to ensure the brief effectively guides content creation.
11. Finalize and Distribute the Project Brief: Once the brief is finalized and polished, distribute it to all relevant team members involved in the content creation process.
12. Create Your Content Brief Template: With your completed project brief in hand, begin crafting the accompanying content brief template. 

Create a Reusable Content Brief Template: A 10-Step Guide

Developing a reusable content brief template is key to streamlining your content production process for a project. This 10-step guide provides the framework for creating a template that can be adapted to various content pieces within a project.

1. Project Overview and Strategy Review: Begin by thoroughly reviewing the overall project’s strategy, goals, and target audience, as learned in the working session. This review helps inform the fundamental structure and components of your content brief template.
2. Define Template Components: Use the component table in this guide to select essential elements that should be included in every content brief for this project. Avoid including components that are defined in the project brief or aren’t needed by the writer. 
3. Organize the Flow of Information: Arrange the chosen components in a logical order that will make sense to writers and editors. Start with the broad information like title and content goals, then move into specifics like keywords, links, and call to action. Outlines are typically left for last. 
4. Gather and Prepare Resources: Compile all necessary resources that will consistently be part of each content brief, such as a link to the project brief and any templates for specific types of content (e.g., blog posts vs. white papers). Having these resources at hand will ensure each individual content brief is easy to complete and accurate.
5. Draft the Content Brief Template: Construct the template based on the organized flow of information. Ensure each section of the template is clear and provides guidance on how to fill it out. 

For example:

• Introduction: Brief description of the content’s purpose within the project.
• Keywords: Primary and secondary keywords to be included.
• Content Objectives: Specific goals for the content piece (e.g., lead generation, educational, SEO-focused).
• Required Links: A list of internal links that must be included in the content.
• Content Outline: Outline of headings and key points to cover.
• Call to Action: Specific actions the content should prompt from readers.

6. Internal Review and Feedback: Have team members who will use the template, such as writers and editors, review it. This is to ensure the template addresses all necessary aspects of content creation and is clear in its instructions. Use their feedback to refine and improve the template.
7. Pilot the Template: Test the template, along with the project brief, with one or two pieces of content to see how well it works in practice. This helps identify any areas where the template may be lacking or additional guidance is needed.
8. Final Adjustments: Based on the pilot test, make any necessary adjustments to the template. This might involve adding additional sections, clarifying existing instructions, or rearranging components for better logical flow.
9. Template Finalization and Distribution: Once the template is fully adjusted and approved, finalize it for regular use. Distribute the template to all relevant team members and provide a brief training session if necessary to ensure everyone understands how to use it effectively.
10. Ongoing Updates and Revisions: As the project progresses, be open to making revisions to the template based on new insights, changing project needs, or feedback from content creators. This will help maintain the relevance and effectiveness of the template throughout the project’s duration.

Project Brief Template

Click here for an editable version of this template. Once it opens, click File>Make a Copy. 

Content Brief Template

Click here for an editable version of this template. Once it opens, click File>Make a Copy. 

Contact Page: Effective briefs are essential to producing outstanding content consistently. For information on how Stellar can help with brief creation, contact your account or content manager. Prospective clients can connect with us at sales@stellarcontent.com. 

Project Overview

• Client Name:
• Project Name:
• Date of Working Session:
• Attendees:

Content Goals

• Main objectives of the content:
  Clearly define the goals of the content. For example, increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, generate leads, educate the audience, or enhance customer engagement. These objectives guide the content strategy, ensuring it aligns with the client’s business needs.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) for success:
  Identify specific KPIs to measure content success, such as page views, conversion rates, average time on page, social shares, or lead generation. Setting clear KPIs helps track the effectiveness of content and informs future strategies.

Target Audience

• Demographics: [Specify target audience demographics, such as age, gender, location, income level, etc.]
• Psychographics: [Describe lifestyle, values, interests, attitudes, and other psychological traits relevant to the target audience.]
• Pain points and challenges:
  Understand and detail the primary pain points and challenges faced by the audience. For example, frustrations with current solutions, time constraints, financial limitations, or lack of trust. Addressing these helps in crafting content that resonates and provides value.

Content Specifications

• Content types: [Specify content types, such as blog posts, social media updates, white papers, etc.]
• Tone and voice:
  Define the tone and voice to ensure consistency. Should it be formal, casual, friendly, or authoritative? Clarify how the brand’s personality should be conveyed in the content.
• Style guidelines:
  Include any style preferences or adherence to specific style guides (e.g., AP Style, Chicago Manual of Style) or custom brand guidelines to maintain consistency.
• Preferred structure: [Outline the desired structure, such as headings, subheadings, bullet points, etc.]
• SEO considerations:
  Detail SEO best practices, including targeted keywords, meta descriptions, headers, and alt text requirements. Optimizing content for search engines improves visibility and rankings.
• Linking strategy: [Define internal and external linking strategies to support SEO and user navigation.]
• Calls to action (CTAs):
  Clearly state the desired CTAs, such as signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or downloading a resource, to guide user engagement and conversions.
• Word count range: [Specify the desired word count range for each content type.]

Client Preferences and Special Requirements

• Brand-specific guidelines: [Include any unique brand guidelines that must be followed.]
• Competitor considerations: [Mention any competitor content that should be reviewed or avoided.]
• Any additional requirements: [List any other specific requirements from the client.]

Project Logistics

• Content volume and frequency:
  Clarify the amount of content needed and the frequency of delivery, such as the number of blog posts per month, social media updates per week, etc.
• Submission process: [Describe how drafts will be submitted for review.]
• Delivery process and format: [Specify the preferred delivery format (e.g., Word, Google Docs).]
• Content calendar: [Provide a content calendar outlining deadlines for drafts, reviews, and final submissions.]
• Client review and feedback process:
  Detail the review process, including who will provide feedback, the number of revision cycles, and any deadlines for feedback to ensure a smooth content production process.

Calibration

• Calibration resources provided: [List any resources provided for calibration.]
• Calibration dates: [Specify any key calibration dates.]
• Calibration feedback call scheduled: [Include details on any scheduled calls for calibration feedback.]

Next Steps

1. [Action item 1]:
   • Responsible party: [Name]
   • Deadline: [Date]
2. [Action item 2]:
   • Responsible party: [Name]
   • Deadline: [Date]
3. [Action item 3]:
   • Responsible party: [Name]
   • Deadline: [Date]

Welcome to the Content Production Working Session, a pivotal first step in our collaboration. This session is designed to ensure a seamless alignment between your team and ours. It’s where we dive deep into the essential elements of your content and the logistical details of the project to solidify our understanding and prepare for effective execution. 

It’s critical for those who’ll be placing content orders and evaluating the delivered content to attend. Our goal is to gather comprehensive insights to create accurate project briefs, train our writers and editors effectively, build efficient workflows, and ensure the content we deliver meets your expectations precisely.

Pre-Session Preparation Checklist

To ensure our working session is as productive as possible, please complete the following tasks before our call:

• Review Our Style Guide: Familiarize yourself with our in-house style guide, based on AP Style, and note any specific exceptions or adaptations your content requires.
• Send Calibration Content Briefs: Provide content briefs for 2-3 calibration pieces at least 48 hours before the session.
• Share Essential Resources: Submit any additional materials that will aid in content creation, such as your own style guides, voice guidelines, audience personas, or examples of target content.
• Prepare: Be prepared to discuss the topics below during the call.

Agenda:

1. Introductions
2. Scope/Agreement Review
3. Communication Preferences
4. Workflow Roles
5. Project and Goals Overview
6. Content Briefs
7. Voice
8. Style
9. Structure
10. Optimization
11. Linking
12. CTAs
13. Special Requirements
14. Project Logistics
15. Calibration
16. Feedback
17. Touchbases
18. Next Steps

Welcome to the Content Production Working Session, a pivotal first step in our collaboration! This session is designed to ensure a seamless alignment between your team and ours. It’s where we dive deep into the essential elements of your content and the logistical details of the project to solidify our understanding and prepare for effective execution. 

It’s critical for those who’ll be placing content orders and evaluating the delivered content to attend. Our goal is to gather comprehensive insights to create accurate project briefs, train our writers and editors effectively, build efficient workflows, and ensure the content we deliver meets your expectations precisely.

Pre-Session Preparation Checklist

To ensure our working session is as productive as possible, please complete the following tasks before our call:

• Review Our Style Guide: Familiarize yourself with our in-house style guide, based on AP Style, and note any specific exceptions or adaptations your content requires.
• Send Calibration Resources: Provide resources for calibration at least 48 hours prior to the working session. For PDs, send URLs or manufacturer links (or other agreed-upon resources) for 5 to 10 orders. For longer-form content, such as category page footers, please send 2 or 3 briefs.
• Share Essential Resources: Submit any additional materials that will aid in content creation, such as your own style guides, voice guidelines, audience personas, product images, or examples of target content.
• Prepare: Be prepared to discuss the topics below during the call.

Agenda:

1. Introductions
2. Scope/Agreement Review
3. Communication Preferences
4. Workflow Roles
5. Project and Goals Overview
6. Product Resources
7. Data/Information Sourcing
8. Specs/Features/Variations
9. Voice
10. Style
11. Format and Structure
12. Optimization
13. Linking
14. CTAs
15. Special Requirements
16. Project Logistics
17. Calibration
18. Feedback
19. Touchbases
20. Next Steps