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<aside> 💡 This content brief is for content marketers, managers, or strategists who need to share relevant information and instructions with a writer. It helps clarify a piece’s overall direction and focus, giving the writer enough information to know what to aim for without overwhelming them with detail—it’s called a brief for a reason 😉

Choose your own content brief adventure: • Keep scrolling to get the theory and some explanation first, or • Click here to jump straight to the ABCD content brief template, or • Click here to see an example of this template in action

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A quick overview of this brief’s structure

This content brief is organised in four blocks that cover:

1. Audience → the people you’re creating your content for
2. Brand → the company and product behind the piece
3. Context → piece-specific instructions (e.g. keywords or internal link requirements)
4. Details → useful information for planning and building the piece

…which, conveniently, spells ABCD 😉

1. Audience

All briefs should start from the audience, since they are the reason you’re creating something in the first place. This version begins by summarising who the audience is, their jobs-to-be-done, and what they should take away from the piece.

2. Brand

Each new piece must fit within the larger narrative of the company behind it. This brief clearly illustrates the company’s goal for the piece, its unique take on the topic, and how the company itself and its products/services fit into the story.

3. Context

No piece exists in a vacuum, so the brief must offer practical contextual information. The info required changes depending on format—for example, what a writer needs to create an ebook is different from what they need to produce a video script. If you’re briefing a keyword-based piece, this section would include primary and secondary keywords, search intent, and a list of internal links to and from other relevant content.

4. Details

Finally, the brief lists the details that will come in handy when planning, building, and publishing the piece, including: author and reviewer name, draft and publication date, plus SEO elements like URL, <title>, and metadescription.