A clear marketing agency brief saves weeks of back-and-forth and gets you proposals you can compare. A vague one invites generic pitches, inflated scopes and prices that mean nothing side by side. This guide gives you a template to copy, the questions to include, and a way to score the proposals that come back.
Before you write the brief
Answer these questions inside your own team first:
- What business result do you need? More qualified leads, more online sales or bookings in a new city, for example.
- What can you spend, including agency fees and ad spend, and for how long?
- Who on your side will approve work and give feedback, and how quickly can they do it?
If you cannot answer the first question, you may need to settle your positioning and goals before hiring an agency. In our view, even a very good agency is a poor substitute for a clear goal, because it will optimise hard for whatever target you give it.
A marketing agency brief template
Copy these headings into a document and fill each in with a few lines.
- About the business: what you sell, to whom, where, and your rough price range.
- Objective: the measurable result, for example “40 qualified B2B leads a month by March”, plus your definition of “qualified”.
- Target customers: who buys, who influences the decision, what they care about and where they spend time.
- Current situation: channels you use now, what has and has not worked, and current numbers (traffic, leads, conversion rates, cost per lead) if you have them.
- Scope: what you want the agency to do, such as paid search, social ads, SEO, content, email or creative. State what is out of scope too.
- Budget: a range for agency fees and a separate figure for ad spend.
- Timeline: start date, fixed deadlines such as a launch or a sale season, and review points.
- Brand and assets: brand guidelines, tone of voice, existing creative, and anything that cannot be said for legal or brand reasons.
- Access and ownership: a statement that your business will own the ad accounts, analytics, tracking pixels and creative files.
- Decision process: how you will judge proposals, who decides and by what date.
- Questions for the agency: the list in the next section.
We think sharing a budget range gets you more useful proposals than keeping it secret. Without it, agencies guess, and you end up comparing a ₹50,000 plan with a ₹5,00,000 one.
Questions to put in the brief
- What would you do in the first 90 days, and why in that order?
- What result do you think is realistic for us, and what assumptions sit behind that number?
- Who will work on our account day to day, and how much of their time will we get?
- How will you report, how often, and on which numbers?
- What will you need from us to succeed?
- What are your contract terms and notice period?
How to judge the proposals
Score each proposal out of 5 on these criteria:
- Understanding: did they restate your goal accurately and ask sharp questions?
- Plan: is there a specific sequence with reasons, or a generic list of channels?
- Measurement: do they report on leads, sales and cost per customer, or mainly on impressions and reach?
- Team: have you met the people who will do the work, as well as the pitch team?
- Commercials: is the fee clear, with what is included and what costs extra?
- Fit: would you be comfortable working with them every week?
Weight the criteria to match what matters most to you. Ask each person on your side to score separately before you discuss, so one strong opinion does not decide for everyone.
Say a Noida edtech company sends its brief to four agencies. One proposal is cheapest but reports only on reach. Another costs more, names the two people who will run the account, and proposes a 60-day test on two channels with a target cost per enrolment. Scored against the criteria, the second wins clearly, and the company can explain why to its board.
Red flags in agency proposals
- Guaranteed rankings or guaranteed results. Google’s own guide to hiring an SEO states plainly: “No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google” (Google Search Central).
- Ad accounts set up in the agency’s name instead of yours.
- Long lock-in contracts with no review point tied to performance.
- Reports built around follower counts and impressions.
- A proposal that could have been sent to any business.
- Unclear handling of ad spend. You should know exactly how much goes to the platforms and how much to the agency.
After you choose
Start with a first phase of two to three months, with agreed numbers to hit. Hold a kick-off meeting to hand over access and confirm the reporting format. At the end of the phase, review results against the brief and decide whether to continue, change scope or stop.
If you want help writing the brief or setting the goals behind it, that is part of our strategy work. If you would rather have one team plan and run the campaigns, see our digital marketing service.
Want a second view on a brief or a stack of proposals? Get in touch for a free call.
Frequently asked questions
Should I tell agencies my marketing budget?
Yes, at least as a range. Without it, agencies guess, and you receive proposals at very different scales that you cannot compare. Separate the agency fee from the ad spend that goes to Google, Meta or other platforms. Sharing a range does not oblige you to spend all of it. It helps agencies propose something realistic.
How many agencies should I invite to pitch?
Three to five is manageable for most small businesses. Fewer gives you little to compare. More takes a lot of your time to review properly and asks a lot of agencies who put effort into each pitch. Build a shortlist from referrals and work you admire, have a short call with each, then send the brief to those who seem a good fit.
Who should own the ad accounts when I hire an agency?
Your business should. Create the Google Ads, Meta business and analytics accounts in your company’s name and give the agency access as a partner or user. That way your data, campaign history and audiences stay with you if you change agency later. Write this into the contract before any work starts.