Agency Briefs
Part of Writing an agency brief
Turning a business problem into an agency scope
Translate an observed business problem into agency work packages, deliverables, dependencies and exclusions without assuming the solution.
Turn the problem into a scope by defining what the agency must investigate or produce, what your team will supply and where the work stops. The scope should give an agency a job it can plan without assuming your preferred tactic is the right answer.
Separate the symptom from the cause
Write one sentence about the observed problem and one about its business consequence. List possible causes as hypotheses. “The sales team rejects many website enquiries” is an observation if your records support it. “Our search ads attract the wrong people” is a possible explanation until the enquiry and campaign data have been examined.
Ask who can verify each statement. If the relevant evidence is missing, the first piece of agency work may be to establish the baseline or diagnose the cause. Scope that investigation as a deliverable, with the questions it must answer and a point at which the business will decide what happens next.
Choose the first work package
A scope can start with one of three kinds of work:
- Diagnosis:review agreed evidence, test plausible causes and recommend options. State the questions and the form of the findings.
- Delivery:produce or change defined assets or services. State the output, intended use and necessary handover.
- Ongoing operation:perform recurring work and make specified decisions within agreed limits. State the cadence and what requires client approval.
The categories can be combined, but mark the boundary between them. An agency asked to audit a website should know whether implementing its recommendations is part of the same request. If it is not, ask it to price implementation as an option or identify what must be learned before that work can be priced.
Work Package Types: Diagnosis vs Delivery vs Ongoing Operation
- DiagnosisReview evidence, test causes, recommend options. Output: findings with clear questions answered.
- DeliveryProduce or change defined assets/services. Output: ready-to-use deliverables with handover details.
- Ongoing OperationPerform recurring tasks within set limits. Output: regular reports or decisions made on cadence.
Define completion at the right level
Describe an output you can inspect. “Improve lead quality” is a desired outcome, but it leaves the purchased work unclear. A bounded first stage might instead require a review of enquiry sources, the agreed qualification definition and a prioritised set of changes with dependencies. That output can inform a delivery decision even if the business outcome takes longer to observe.
For a delivery stage, identify what must be ready for use: the pages, campaign assets, documentation, training or other handover appropriate to the project. Ask who will accept the work. Leave the technical method open unless a particular method is necessary to fit an existing system or constraint.
Mark dependencies and exclusions
Write down what the agency needs from others: access, product facts, developer time, legal review, creative approval or a sales record. Assign a client owner where possible. If your team cannot provide an input by a fixed date, allow for that uncertainty in the timetable.
Name adjacent work that a candidate might otherwise assume is included. A content assignment might exclude photography, translation or website publishing. A campaign assignment might exclude landing-page development. Check these examples against the actual project.
A compact scope statement can read: “Investigate [observed problem] for [audience or process], using [available inputs]. Deliver [decision or output] by [date or milestone]. The client will provide [dependencies]. Include [known work], exclude [adjacent work], and state assumptions about [unknowns].”
If that statement still contains an untested cause as a certainty, revise it before asking for a quote.
