A brand brief is the document you would hand a new marketer on their first day. It answers the questions they would otherwise ask you every week: who buys from you, what you charge, how you talk and what you never say.

Many businesses keep all of that in one or two people's heads. That works until someone new writes a post, or until a rushed caption sounds nothing like you. A written brief fixes both.

You don't need a forty-page guide. You need seven short sections.

1. What you sell, in one sentence

Write the sentence you would say to a stranger at a braai. "We groom dogs at your house, from a van." Avoid category words like "solutions" or "services". If a twelve-year-old could not repeat it back, rewrite it.

Then list your main products or services, one line each.

2. Who buys from you

Describe the two or three kinds of customer who actually pay you, not the ones you wish you had. For each one, write:

Where they live or work
What they need when they find you
What nearly stops them buying

"Pet owners in the southern suburbs with older dogs that get stressed in the car" tells a writer far more than "pet lovers aged 25 to 55".

3. What you charge

Put the real prices in, or at least the starting prices. Marketing that dodges price attracts people who can't afford you and loses people who can. If prices vary, write what they depend on: "From R380 for one dog. Large breeds and matted coats cost more."

4. How you sound

Pick three words for your tone and give an example sentence for each. "Warm" means different things to different people. An example settles it:

Warm: "Ruby is fourteen and hates the car, so we come to her."
Plain: "One dog, one hour, at your gate."
Never salesy: no countdowns, no "limited time only".

5. Words you never use

This is the section people skip, and it saves the most rewrites. List the words and phrases that make you wince. For a groomer that might be "pamper", "fur baby" and "pawsome". For an accountant it might be "hassle-free" and "peace of mind".

Be specific. "Nothing cheesy" is not a rule anyone can follow. A list of banned words is.

6. Proof

Write down what you can show: years trading, number of customers, reviews you can quote with permission, qualifications, the suburbs you cover. Proof only counts if it's true and you can point to it.

7. What you want marketing to do this quarter

One or two goals, with a number if you have one. "Fill Tuesday and Wednesday mornings" is a goal a post can serve. "Grow the brand" is not.

Keep it to a page per section

A brief nobody reads does nothing. If a section runs past a page, cut it. Update the brief when your prices or services change, and date it so everyone knows which version is current.

Using a brief with MARKA

MARKA reads a brief like this from a Word or Excel file and shows you every field it found before it saves anything. If you would rather fill in a form than write from scratch, start with our brief template. Zara, Marcus and Leila all work from the approved version, so you write it once.

How to write a brand brief your marketing can use