The creative process can sometimes feel like navigating uncharted territory. With so many ideas to map out and endless opportunities for how they’re brought to life, some good direction is essential.
Creating strong content is only as strong as its concept, especially for influencer campaign partnerships. What are you trying to say? Who are you talking to? What do you want your audience to get out of it? The answers to these questions become the very foundation of every influencer brief.
Securing a partnership with a popular influencer or social media personality may appear to be the most difficult part, but it is merely the beginning. A solid influencer brief is required because more often than not, poor briefs are detrimental to meeting your campaign goals.
You might be pressured to meet a deadline for running the influencer campaign, but if you want a higher ROI, you must ensure that your brief highlights your expectations from the get-go and at the same time provide inspiration so that influencers understand what's required of them.
What an influencer brief should look like
When putting together an influencer proposal, it’s important to remember that you’re not just pitching a mood board; you’re pitching a campaign partnership built on successful collaboration. This means that the proposal should be tailored to the individual influencer, and should include information about both parties involved.
Presenting your talent with a detailed brief will help ensure you are on the same page, and it will help you get exactly what you want: unique creative content with a clear message that converts.
Below, we’ll cover how influencer marketing proposals can effectively communicate that vision and what to include.
Agencies and brands take heed!
The opportunity
This should serve as your backgrounder, giving influencers a quick summary of what the project is all about; the why. If possible, include any numbers or ratios that highlight trends or statistics explaining the opportunity’s significance. To help focus influencer content, you must remind your preferred influencers why you're a good fit for each other. This section should show how a successful collaboration with the influencer can be mutually beneficial. It should explore what makes them stand out among their peers in terms of expertise, reach, and engagement levels among others.
The objective
Consider why you’re creating content in the first place. Are you looking to build awareness among a new audience sector through clever storytelling? Do you want to drive sales on a shiny new product? Do you want an increase in marketing enquiries? Clearly defined goals and objectives will help the talent deliver content with a purpose.
The message
Your brand is unique. Your message should be, too. Brands have a lot of moving parts, and sometimes it can take a while for everyone to internalise the identity they should all be working towards. Without sharing details on how people can benefit from your product or service, your key messages would be incomplete. Perhaps your product's new flavour is the boldest compared to other brands in the market, or your beauty product is perfect for sensitive skin. Define your message as clearly as possible, so your talent can get a clearer idea of how to transform it into an engaging narrative.
The audience
Provide a detailed description of your target customer. If you don’t have a clear idea, make one up. Assign them an age, a job and an income – you can even develop their hobbies. This persona will help your chosen influencers understand the central point of the campaign and present an opportunity for them to resonate with people on a more personal level. From authentic joy to raw emotion, capturing human experience will connect your audiences to your brand in a way that uninspired content from most brands cannot.
The tone
Whether it’s laugh-out-loud funny or pointy and professional, your tone has the power to completely change the delivery of your messaging points. Setting a signature aesthetic is incredibly important, and it will have a considerable impact on the direction of your content. Consider a couple of adjectives that best sum up how you would like your content to sound on blogs or social media channels.
The inspiration
You can also share examples of creative executions you’ve particularly enjoyed. A creative style guide or visual aid can help. You can help inspire artistic and imaginative ideas by sharing mood boards, screenshots of your favourite campaigns. Let the influencer play with their creativity and get visual stimulation from the content you like!
The timeline
When do you need the content by? When did you start working on this project? What’s your next step after this? Keep an open line of communication with your influencers to stay up-to-date. It is very important that both parties have clear expectations about their roles throughout the process.
The execution
Make sure your brief provides a basic distribution plan to let the influencer know where the content will go. Perhaps provide examples of content from a recent influencer campaign that's had some success on your key social media platforms. Highlight in your influencer briefing document how the narrative delivery and visualisation of artistic and imaginative ideas differ in a print brochure, as opposed to an Instagram story.
Influencer marketing brief example
The following is an example of a brief for a fictitious campaign that requires involvement from a sports influencer who can create relatable content about lawn mowing on a company's social media accounts.
Think of it as an influencer brief template that you can refer to when creating your own. We’ll present the steps necessary to communicate your vision, get what you want from your talent, and ensure hitting the campaign goal.
- The opportunity: As the #2 most visited site in New Zealand (beating Facebook by one spot), there is a huge untapped audience on YouTube for a lawn mowing company that provides business ownership opportunities. Retired sports coach J who recently joined has started to spread the word about the business, but this can be further streamlined to become a full-on social media campaign given his large following on Instagram.
- The objective: Increase sales enquiries for the second half of the year and sell 5+ franchises with YouTube as the referral channel.
- The message: Assert position as the number one lawn company with friendly team members and a solid brand trusted even by sports celebs like J.
- The audience: 40+ males looking to switch from office jobs to working outdoors. Loves sports, specifically cricket (the influencer's main audience).
- The tone: Friendly, outdoorsy, positive, how-to, livin' the lifestyle.
- The inspiration: Most influencers are pro athletes in the United States who embarked on businesses ranging from health and fitness brands, franchising, etc. The influencer's audience loves the outdoors and cricket so it will be a great idea to combine these two into a money-making venture that helps people stay active.
- The timeline: The campaign starts in late August and ends in February of the next year.
- The execution: Influencer J to post one (1) feature video a week initially giving a personalised tour of his own lifestyle block then exploring his newfound career as a mowing business owner. Every 4th week he is to post cricket-related content to keep his audience hooked. Content can be repurposed on his Instagram for an added boost.
Bonus tip: Consult creative experts to help you develop remarkable ideas and a crystal clear brief. It may take a few iterations to get it right, but it’s worth the perseverance. Working with experts in copywriting, design and strategy will ensure your brief is considered in every aspect, from concept to creative deliverables. Plus, your talent will have clear parameters to guide them on how to remain authentic in their content creation process.
Et voila, you can let the creators work their magic.
