The single biggest predictor of whether a project goes brilliantly or goes sideways isn’t the agency’s talent. It’s the quality of the brief.
I’ve been on both sides of this. I’ve taken beautifully-written briefs from clients who clearly knew their business inside out, and they’ve translated into projects where we basically knew what the final site looked like in week one. I’ve also taken briefs that said “we want something modern and clean,” and spent six weeks figuring out what that meant before we could even start designing.
Here’s the brief structure that gets you the best outcome from any agency — us, or anyone else. It takes about 45 minutes to write, and it saves weeks of back-and-forth.
Section 1: The Business (Five Lines)
Who you are. What you do. Who you sell to. How long you’ve been going. Where you are. That’s it — five lines. Don’t write a history. Your new agency doesn’t need your founding story yet. They need the headline facts.
“We’re a three-person mortgage brokerage in Gosforth. Residential first-time buyers, remortgages, and BTL. Founded 2018. Mostly inbound leads from Google.”
That tells me everything I need to know to start thinking about positioning.
Section 2: The Problem (Two Paragraphs)
What’s wrong right now? Not “the site is old.” What’s the business problem it’s creating? “We’re getting 40 enquiries a month but they’re not qualified — 80% aren’t in a position to buy.” Or: “We rank on page 2 for our main keyword and the competitor on page 1 is half our size but looks three times more professional.” Or: “Our conversion rate from visit-to-enquiry is 1.2% and the industry benchmark is 3%.”
Specific problems lead to specific solutions. Vague problems lead to six-week discovery phases you probably can’t afford.
Section 3: The Outcome You Actually Want (One Paragraph)
What does success look like in 12 months? Be concrete. “More leads” isn’t an outcome — it’s a wish. “100 qualified enquiries a month at under £20 cost-per-lead” is an outcome. “Ranking on page 1 for ‘mortgage broker Newcastle’ and ‘first time buyer mortgages north east’” is an outcome. “A 40% increase in booked consultation calls without increasing ad spend” is an outcome.
If you can’t write a concrete outcome, that’s fine — that’s what the first-hour call is for. But try. It’ll force you to clarify what you actually want, and it’ll save you from commissioning work that doesn’t move the needle.
Section 4: Three Sites You Like, Three You Don’t
This is the shortcut that saves the most time. Three URLs of sites you admire — competitor or not — and three URLs of sites you dislike. For each, one sentence on why.
“Like: atomicagency.co.uk — their case studies have real numbers.”
“Like: fettletyne.com — the founder story on the homepage feels trustworthy.”
“Dislike: — their homepage is 8 scrolls long before I understand what they do.”
Half a page of references like that does more than 20 pages of aesthetic description. Agencies translate visually, not verbally — give us the visual input.
Section 5: Budget and Timeline (Be Honest)
The single biggest mistake clients make is hiding their budget. “Send us your best proposal and we’ll decide.” That’s not a negotiation tactic — it’s a way to get proposals that don’t fit your actual circumstances.
Tell us the range. Even “somewhere between £3K and £8K” is infinitely more useful than “we don’t know.” If you’re unsure, run the numbers through our cost calculator first — it’ll give you a realistic starting point based on what we actually charge.
Same with timeline. “Needs to be live by Q2 trade show” tells me how to scope. “Whenever it’s ready” tells me we’ll be 12 months late.
Section 6: Who’s Deciding
Last one — and the one most clients forget. Who signs off? Who’s involved in the decision? If it’s you plus a business partner plus a board, say so. If it’s just you, also say so.
Projects go sideways when an agency thinks they’re briefing one decision-maker and actually there’s a silent stakeholder. By the time they surface, three rounds of revisions in, goodwill is burning fast.
That’s the Whole Brief
Six sections. A page and a half. Maybe 45 minutes to write. And it’ll save you weeks of discovery calls and multiple rounds of surprise scope creep.
If that feels like work, fair enough — most of my clients don’t send me a formal brief, they just turn up and we work it out in the first-hour call. That works too. But if you’re briefing multiple agencies for a bake-off, sending this exact structure to all of them will give you comparable proposals and a much clearer picture of who’s a fit.
When you’re ready, book the first hour — it’s free, no hard sell, and I’ll happily work through your brief with you even if you end up going elsewhere. Or check your current site first with the credibility scorecard so you walk into the call knowing what you need to fix.
