How to Brief a Marketing Agency

How to Brief a Marketing Agency

by: Chris Smith

A new client recently emailed us a brief here at Mano Design. It was very brief brief indeed. All it said was, กCan you write me some copy for a postcard?ก Resisting the urge to write, กDear Customers. Having a wonderful time wish you were here. Love, The Client,ก we asked him for a more detailed brief and explained why it was necessary.

Why Write a Brief?

Even with something as simple as a small piece of copy, a proper brief will save you time and money.

The agency will also have a better chance of getting the work right first time, so you get the quality of work you expect.

Plus, it gives you something to measure the agencyกs work against; i.e. how well they responded to and met the brief.

What is a Brief?

A brief (sometimes called a กcreative brief) tells the agency what objective you are seeking to achieve. It answers the กwhere are we nowก and กwhere do we want to get toก questions.

Ideally, the brief should be a written one. It focuses attention and provides the foundation for your marketing campaign. The brief should be agreed by both you and the agency before work begins and it can to some extent form a sort of contract.

The length of the brief does not matter as much as ensuring that it contains key information and objectives. Tell the agency what the business problem is, what you wish to achieve and how you will evaluate success.

What Exactly Do you Put in a Brief?

The format of a brief depends on the task. A website creative brief will need to contain different information from one for a brandbuilding press ad campaign for example. However, below are some basic guidelines:

1. Project information

Include your company name, contact details, project name and project manager, brand or product/service name, agency name and date.

2. Background (where are we now)

Here, give background information on your company and your industry. Tell the agency about your product/service (including key attributes and benefits) together with the issues it is facing. Include information on past marketing communications campaigns and their results. Provide details of competitor activity.

3. Objectives (where do we want to be?)

Explain what you want to achieve, e.g. increase sales, improve awareness, raise response levels, etc. Try to make your objectives specific and measurable.

4. Strategy (how do we get there?)

Give details of what you want the agency to do for you, e.g. a direct mail campaign, a website, a brochure, etc. Explain how what you are asking the agency to do fits in with your overall marketing strategy.

5. Audience (who are we talking to)

Your objective is to get a response from your audience. Tell the agency who your target audience is. Define your audience(s) as accurately as possible and share any insights you have about them with the agency.

6. Evaluation (what success will look like)

How will you measure success? When will it be measured? Who will measure it?

7. Practicalities

Mandatories:

Is there anything that must be included; for example offer terms and conditions? Are there any corporate identity guidelines? What legal constraints are there?

Timings:

What are the deadlines? What are the media booking dates (if applicable)? By when do you want to see creative concepts? Does the project have to tie in with dates of other campaigns?

Budget:

Specifying a budget up front will help to avoid reworking of solutions. If you are reluctant to do this, then suggest three budgets and ask the agency which they would recommend and why. Alternatively, ask the agency to recommend a budget.

8. Approvals (who signs off work)

This should be the same person who signs off the brief before you give it to the agency.

The time spent preparing a brief will pay off in the long term. The agency needs a starting point and to know where it is you wish to go. Your brief should inspire them and enable them to do their best work for you.

Copyright © 2004, Chris Smith

About The Author

Chris Smith is a partner in Mano Design ( http://www.manodesign.com ) a Vancouver Design and Marketing agency.

This article was posted on April 27, 2004

by Chris Smith

Entrepreneur and Mom

Entrepreneur and Mom

by: Jennifer Dugan

When I was 12 years old, I had surgery with complications. I was told there was a chance I would not be able to have children. Growing up I could not imagine my life without children and worried about it often. When I got married close to my 21st birthday, my husband and I hoped that we would be lucky enough to have children. Luckily, I found out I was pregnant almost a year later. However, soon after the great news, I got very sick. I was working full time at a corporate travel agency and I could not work. My doctor told me that I had to take care of myself or I would be at risk to lose my baby. My employer got very nasty with me and was not compassionate about my sickness. I almost lost my job, but my doctor was able to get me medical leave from the family leave act. The experience was horrible. I vowed to never have to choose between my career and the health of my baby. I began to look for ways to work from home. I tried Mary Kay Cosmetics but I was terrible at it. It didn’t feel comfortable and I really had nothing to make me want to be successful.

When my son Dillon was born in February 1997, it was one of the best days of my life. I quit my job and tried to stay home full time. I was able to stay home until Dillon was three months old. Then I went back part time at a travel agency. I hated leaving him even for the few hours I had to. So I decided to start my own travel agency from my home. I knew the travel business well enough to be on my own, but I did not know very much about being a home business owner. For the next two years, I had to learn so much about running a home business. I got help from other work at home moms. I met them online and it was so helpful.

I created a website and began actively advertising for business. I read anything I could on having a home business. I learned as much as I could about the internet. I began brainstorming on how I could expand my business. I decided to specialize in family vacations since I had a growing family. My second child, Travis was born January 1999. I began to learn how to balance having a family and a business. I worked whenever I could. Many nights I work late at night when my children are sleeping. My husband is very supportive.

I finally started becoming successful and was gaining more customers each day. I started taking on independent agents and helping them start their own agencies. I let them work with my agency because I had already paid what it took to start the agency. I trained them and began building my business by helping others get into the industry. I took a small percentage of their commissions for running the agency. It slowly turned into a full fledge training program with a handbook and a website dedicated to my agents. I also created a website for people who wanted to join the agency. I marketed to find those who would be interested. The agency has continued to grow as the word has spread. What I offer people interested in the travel industry is unique since I accept those without prior experience and train them for free.

I have been interviewed by several magazines and featured in books on home businesses. Currently I have over 200 independent agents working with my agency. Our sales have skyrocketed. In 2002, we did $20,000 in sales for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. In 2003, we did $147,000 in sales. We are growing in so many ways. I am still very active in the agency. I still answer my emails myself and strive to personally know all my agents. I do not have anyone helping me at my home office. I do have my very first agent as well as many who have been with me for years helping out. I handle all the bookkeeping, shipping, daily business issues, advertising, website maintenance, and many other of the important operations needed to run this business. It has become a part of me.

My goal is to have 300 agents by the time I am 30. I hope to be able to get some help handling daytoday operations. I would also like to continue to grow to become more recognized in the travel industry. I want to help as many people as I can who want to start their own home based travel agency. I want to continue building my business and each year find something new that I can do to be more successful at this business.

I wrote my own ebook on starting a home travel agency. This offered information to those interested and helped spread the word about my agency’s program. Each year we grow more and more. I have written two other ebooks since my first one. One is on juggling a home business and family. The other is on marketing a home business on a small amount of funds. I am just now beginning to have more money available for advertising. What I have done to date has been still on a limited budget. I am just now beginning to spend more money on advertising.

My family has been very supportive. My boys are now 5 and 7 years old and they try to help me out as much as possible. We go on family vacations and I can use it to help my business. I have been able to save on childcare from not having to work outside the home. I was able to be with my children as they have been growing up. I didn’t miss their first words or steps. I also have been teaching them that anything is possible. I want them to know that if they have the drive to do something, they can do it. Every day that I got discouraged, I would think of the fact that if I did not succeed, I would have to go back to work full time and put my children into daycare.

My 5 year old was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last May. This was a hard adjustment for our family. He needed me more than ever. I was able to be there and everyone involved in my agency understood. I was able to take the time I needed to stay with him in the hospital and learn how to handle his diabetes. My agents pulled together and helped me out. I can’t imagine how things would have been if I had a full time job outside the home. I was able to take care of my child without worry.

I feel very fortunate. I had a dream and I was able to make it come true. I also have something I can call my own. I love being a mom. I also love being an entrepreneur. It is very satisfying looking at what I have accomplished in 6 years. I know the possibilities are endless. I know as long as I continue to work hard and be creative in growing my business, I will continue to be successful. I am now able to help others who want to start a home business. I wrote three ebooks and I get to write articles to help others. 6 years ago I would have never imagined this would be my life. It just proves that anything is possible if you really want it bad enough.

Jennifer Dugan CTA

Owner of Duganกs Travels

About The Author

Mother of two who started a homebased travel agency in 1997. She has over 200 outside agents working with her agency and is active in the travel industry. She has been an agent since 1993. She is the author of three ebooks.

This article was posted on January 17, 2004

by Jennifer Dugan

What Is A Home Based Travel Agent?

What Is A Home Based Travel Agent?

by: Jennifer Dugan

Many people are unclear about the travel industry. Travel agents are often thought to be the same as real estate agents. Becoming a travel agent or more specifically a home based travel agent is an exciting career change or retirement option. Some people do it full time while many do it as a part time business.

A travel agent books travel for customers and is paid by suppliers a commission on the booking. For bookings that suppliers do not pay a commission on, a travel agent also can charge the client a service fee for his/her time. An example is if you were to book a hotel for a client, the hotel would then send a check to the agency after the client checked out. Most hotels pay 10% of the price of the hotel before taxes and fees. A $100 per night hotel reservation would mean $10 a night for the travel agent who made the booking. This hotel would cost the same whether the customer uses a travel agent or books through the hotel directly. In many cases the travel agent can get a better price. It costs the customer nothing to use the travel agent unless the travel agent charges service fees.

Can anyone do this? In order to work with suppliers, you must have an account set up with the supplier. Most require an agency to hold an IATAN, CLIA or ARC number. IATAN stands for International Airlines Travel Agent Network. CLIA stands for Cruise Lines International Association. ARC stands for Airline Reporting Corporation. Each of these memberships requires different things including sales, money in the bank, experience or training in the industry, and membership fees. Many will require Errors and Omissions insurance of $1,000,000 or more.

For the average travel agent, membership is not a possibility with some organizations so the agent will team up with an agency and work as an independent agent or outside agent. There are also advantages of working with an agency because most travel agents cannot make enough in sales with a particular supplier to obtain higher commission levels and bonuses. Working with an agency with many agents can increase the commission percentages the agent gets because of the joint sales of all the agents at the agency. Support is also a very important aspect of being a successful agent. Agents who do not work with others tend to feel more isolated and have to learn to do it all solo. Since no agent can have the experience of being everywhere in the world or staying at every hotel or resort, having others that you can get advice from is really helpful.

The future of travel agencies is always questioned. The truth is the industry has changed in many ways. Some changes were for the better, some for the worse. Many airlines have cut commissions for travel agents. However, there are many other suppliers who are paying travel agents more than they were ten years ago. Cruises used to be booked by only the rich and now people in every income book cruises. Each year more and more people go on cruises. Most people say they want to go on a cruise at least once and many who go on their first come home to want to book another.

You can earn commission on many travel reservations.

Hotels

Rental Cars

Tour Packages

Cruises

Some airline tickets

International airline tickets

Travel insurance

Ground transportation including limos

Attraction tickets

Train tickets

People all need travel arrangements at some point in time. Those who take road trips need hotel reservations. Those who need to travel for business need airline tickets, rental cars, and hotel reservations. Families want to experience vacations with their loved ones. People visit family and relatives. Most people who win money say they are going to spend it to take a nice vacation. Newly married couples go on honeymoons. You are not selling something that is hard to sell. People contact you for help, you are not calling them or approaching them trying to sell them something they don’t want.

Educating the public is the main thing any travel agent must do. Most people put travel agents into the same category as real estate agents. They believe it costs additional to use a travel agent. This is untrue. In many cases a travel agent can get a better price than the general public through the suppliers who work only with travel agents. Many people do not know all the options for booking a vacation. A good travel agent does. Once people are educated on how a travel agent gets paid, they are more willing to work with travel agents. If a person knows that if he or she let you book a hotel and it will cost the same price regardless, she or he will work with you. It is important to let people know how you can help them save time and money on their travel arrangements.

So how do you get into the industry? Many people think they must go to school or become certified. This is not true. You can get into the industry and begin training. I don’t recommend anyone spend thousands on a travel school until he or she knows this is a career that he or she will really want to pursue. The truth is you do not have to spend thousands to get trained. There are many courses free to travel agents from suppliers. There are also organizations such as ICTA (Institute of Certified Travel Agents) who offer courses as you get more years experience in the industry. CLIA also offers courses. There are some agencies that will offer training. Even if you decide this is a career you would like to pursue, you do not need to spend thousands to become an educated and competent travel agent. There are many courses you can take with suppliers and organizations to get a better education in travel. I truly believe a hands’ on approach is the best way to become a better travel agent. Learning to work with suppliers and how to find the information your clients need is an important part of becoming a good travel agent.

How can you find an agency to work with? There are a few organizations dedicated to independent travel agents. NACTA and OSSN are the top organizations. NACTA stands for National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents. OSSN stands for Outside Sales Support Network. You can also search online for homebased travel agent programs. I would never recommend anyone spending a lot of money to start this business. It is key to first try and see if it is something you would really want to do and get training before you invest too much money into it. Get involved in the industry first and see if it is really a career that is best for you.

Jennifer Dugan CTA

Owner of Duganกs Travels

Travel agent since 1993

http://www.duganstravels.com

Copyright 2004 Jennifer Dugan

About The Author

Mother of two who started a homebased travel agency in 1997. She has over 200 outside agents working with her agency and is active in the travel industry. She has been an agent since 1993. She is the author of three ebooks.

This article was posted on February 18, 2004

by Jennifer Dugan

Terms Used the in the Stock Photography Business

Terms Used the in the Stock Photography Business

by: Kelly Paal

So you are a small business person or web designer and you want to purchase some stock photography for your website. Great. Photography is a wonderful way to improve the emotional impact of your site. But there are a few terms unique to the stock photography business that you should know.

Royalty Free you’ll see this term often. What it means is that you pay a one time fee for an image and you can use it for as many times as you want for as long as you wish. It is a great way to get inexpensive photos. Now if you are concerned that your competitor would or could use the same image as you, photographers and agencies can continue to sell the image after you purchase it, then you need:

Rights Managed this one is next term you’ll see. This means that you pay a fee for the image based on how, where, how long, and how many people will see the image. This one will cost you a lot more in most cases. This is worth it if you do not want your competitor using the same image for the same purpose. Usually the stock agency or photographer also agree not to sell the image to others in your field for the time that you are using the image. So you can see why this option protects your use of the image but you’ll also pay much more for this protection. Remember too that, at some point, you decided to discontinue using/paying for the image the agency or photographer can then sell the image to someone else, even someone in your field.

Flat Rate this term isn’t quite at common but it is similar to royalty free. Usually this means that you pay a one time fee for an image, but it can only be used for one purpose by one person. Pricing will be higher than royalty free but less than rights managed.

Copyright even with royalty free you are still only purchasing the right to use an image not the image itself. All images are property of the agency or photographer who owns them. How do you know who owns them, there is usually a © symbol with date and name of the person or agency who owns the image. No matter what you paid for the image you are NOT the owner of the image. This means you cannot remove the copyright information, alter the photo, use it as part of a logo that you own a copyright, or resale the image as your own.

These terms will get you started but remember there can be differences in these definitions from agency to agency and photographer to photographer. Every agency and photographer selling stock images should have a legal or license page to explain these terms and any others that they use, if they don’t you may want to move onto another site. Be aware, read all the information, and know what you are buying.

About The Author

Copyright 2004 Kelly Paal

Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. Recently she started her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

This article was posted on August 03, 2004

by Kelly Paal