Marketing Agency Brief: The Template to Use Before Hiring

Hiring a marketing agency often starts with a deceptively simple question: “What can you do for us?”

But before an agency can give you a useful answer, it needs to understand what your company actually needs. Without that context, the conversation can quickly become a list of services—SEO, social media, branding, paid advertising, content, or website development—without a clear connection to the business problem you are trying to solve.

That is where a Marketing Agency Brief becomes valuable.

A good brief is not a lengthy corporate document. It is a practical way to explain your business, objectives, audience, current situation, expectations, constraints, and definition of success before agencies prepare their proposals.

This is particularly important as businesses manage increasingly complex digital ecosystems. In Saudi Arabia, for example, 98% of establishments had internet access in 2024, while 63% reported using social media platforms. (General Authority for Statistics) The question is therefore rarely whether a company should market digitally; it is which activities deserve investment and why.

Below is a practical marketing agency brief template you can complete before approaching agencies.

Quick Takeaways

A Marketing Agency Brief should explain the business problem before the marketing tactics.
Define one primary objective rather than asking an agency to “do everything.”
Describe your audience based on real customers, needs, behaviors, and buying situations.
Separate must-have deliverables from nice-to-have ideas.
Give agencies a realistic budget range where possible.
Define KPIs and the source of truth before campaigns begin.
Name the decision-maker and approval process to avoid unnecessary delays.

1. Start With the Business Context

Before discussing marketing channels, give the agency enough information to understand the business.

Marketing Agency Brief Template: Company Overview

Company:
[Company name]

Website:
[Website URL]

Industry:
[Industry]

Location / Markets:
[Saudi Arabia / GCC / international markets]

Products or services:
[Brief description]

Primary source of revenue:
[What generates revenue for the business?]

Current business priority:
[Growth / market entry / repositioning / lead generation / customer retention / new product launch / etc.]

Why are you looking for an agency now?
[Explain what changed or what problem triggered the search.]

The final question is particularly important.

“Need better marketing” does not tell an agency much. “We are entering Riyadh and need to build awareness among enterprise decision-makers” provides a starting point for strategic thinking.

A useful brief gives the agency context rather than instructions.

That distinction matters because businesses sometimes approach agencies with the solution already decided: “We need Instagram,” “We need SEO,” or “We need Google Ads.”

You may be right. But you may also be describing a tactic before defining the underlying problem.

2. Define the Problem You Actually Want to Solve

Your agency brief should contain a section called The Business Problem.

Ask:

What is not working today, and why does it matter?

For example:

Our brand is not differentiated from competitors.
We receive website traffic but too few qualified enquiries.
Our sales team depends heavily on referrals.
We are launching a new product but have limited awareness.
Our current visual identity no longer reflects the business.
Marketing activity exists across multiple channels but lacks a unified direction.
We are expanding into a new market.

Try to describe the problem without prescribing the solution.

Instead of:

“We need a new social media strategy.”

Consider:

“Our social presence does not communicate our positioning consistently, and engagement has not translated into meaningful enquiries.”

The second version gives an agency room to investigate the underlying issue.

3. State One Primary Objective

A common agency brief mistake is listing ten objectives with equal importance.

Instead, identify the primary objective.

Your Objective

Our primary business objective is:
[Write one measurable objective.]

We want to achieve this by:
[Target date or timeframe]

Why this matters to the business:
[Explain the commercial importance.]

Secondary objectives:

[Secondary objective]
[Secondary objective]
[Secondary objective]

For example, a B2B company might define its primary objective as increasing qualified sales opportunities rather than simply increasing website traffic.

This distinction changes the agency’s strategic approach.

Marketing planning should connect business goals with audiences, channels, budgets, and measurement rather than treating channels as objectives by themselves. HubSpot similarly recommends defining marketing objectives before determining the rest of the marketing plan. (HubSpot Blog)

4. Describe Your Target Audience

“Everyone” is not a useful target audience.

Your Marketing Agency Brief should help the agency understand who actually matters commercially.

Target Audience Template

Primary audience:
[Who is most important?]

Location:
[City / country / region]

Age or business profile:
[Relevant demographic or firmographic information]

Job title / decision-maker:
[For B2B]

Main need or problem:
[What are they trying to solve?]

Buying motivation:
[Why would they choose your product or service?]

Main objections:
[Why might they hesitate?]

Where they discover brands like yours:
[Search / social media / referrals / events / marketplaces / etc.]

What do they currently think about your brand?
[If known]

For B2B companies, include information about the buying committee where possible. The person researching your company may not be the person approving the purchase.

For consumer brands, explain the buying situation rather than relying only on demographics.

Think about who the customer is, what triggers the purchase, what prevents the purchase, and what alternatives they consider.

5. Explain Your Positioning and Competitive Landscape

An agency should not have to discover your entire competitive environment from scratch.

Provide a starting point.

Include:

Main competitors:

[Competitor 1]
[Competitor 2]
[Competitor 3]

What they do well:
[Examples]

Where you believe they are weak:
[Examples]

What makes your company different:
[Your actual differentiators]

Brands you admire:
[Examples]

Brands or approaches you want to avoid:
[Examples]

This section is particularly useful for branding, creative, advertising, and content projects because references often communicate expectations more effectively than adjectives such as “modern,” “premium,” or “innovative.”

If possible, provide examples of what you like and what you dislike.

That gives an agency two boundaries rather than one.

6. Define the Scope and Deliverables

This is where your brief becomes practical.

Do not simply write:

“We need social media and digital marketing.”

Be specific about what you believe is required.

Scope Template

Services being considered:

[Brand strategy]
[Brand identity]
[SEO]
[Paid advertising]
[Social media]
[Content]
[Website]
[Email marketing]
[Marketing automation]
[Public relations]

Expected deliverables:

[Number / type of deliverable]
[Campaign]
[Website pages]
[Content assets]
[Reports]
[Strategy documents]

Must-have:
[What absolutely needs to be included]

Nice-to-have:
[What could be added if appropriate]

Out of scope:
[What the agency should not assume is included]

This last field is frequently overlooked.

An effective brief does not only define what you want. It also clarifies what you do not want.

7. Set Your Budget Range

You do not necessarily need to disclose an exact number.

However, giving agencies a realistic range can make proposals substantially more useful.

Budget Template

Estimated agency budget:
[Amount / range]

Advertising budget:
[Amount / range]

Production budget:
[Amount / range]

Software / technology budget:
[Amount / range]

Is the budget fixed or flexible?
[Fixed / flexible]

Keep agency fees, media spend, production, software, and other third-party costs separate where possible.

Budget should follow the objective and expected scope rather than becoming an arbitrary number attached to a service list. Marketing planning guidance from HubSpot also treats budget allocation as a core component of planning alongside objectives, audience, channels, and measurement. (HubSpot Blog)

8. Establish Your KPIs Before the Proposal

One of the most useful sections of a marketing agency brief is also one of the most commonly neglected: how will success be measured?

Do not stop at:

“We want more awareness.”

Instead, define what evidence would demonstrate progress.

KPI Template

Primary KPI:
[Example: qualified leads]

Secondary KPIs:
[Example: conversion rate, cost per qualified lead, organic visibility]

Current baseline:
[Current performance]

Target:
[Desired performance]

Measurement period:
[Monthly / quarterly / campaign period]

Source of truth:
[CRM / GA4 / Google Search Console / sales system / platform data]

This is important because different channels can produce very different metrics.

A social campaign may generate reach and engagement. SEO may generate organic visibility and qualified traffic. Paid search may generate leads. A branding project may need different indicators entirely.

Think with Google has similarly emphasized establishing measurement foundations and connecting marketing metrics to business objectives rather than measuring activity in isolation. (Google)

9. Include Your Existing Marketing Assets

An agency should know what already exists before proposing what needs to be created.

Assets Checklist

Website
Brand guidelines
Logo files
Photography
Video
Social media accounts
Advertising accounts
Analytics
CRM
Customer databases
Previous campaigns
Existing content
Research
Sales materials
Previous agency reports

Also explain what is currently working.

If you have a blog post that consistently generates leads, a campaign that produced strong results, or a landing page that converts particularly well, tell the agency.

Do not make the agency rediscover valuable information that already exists inside your company.

10. Explain the Timeline and Internal Constraints

A good agency proposal needs to account for reality.

Timeline Template

Desired start date:
[Date]

Launch deadline:
[Date]

Important milestones:
[Dates]

Internal dependencies:
[Product launch / approvals / website development / legal review]

Known constraints:
[Budget / resources / technology / regulations / brand requirements]

If your company needs a campaign launched in three weeks, say so.

If the launch date is flexible, say that too.

The difference can significantly affect the agency’s recommended approach.

11. Identify the Decision-Makers

This may be one of the most important sections in the entire brief.

Approval Structure

Project owner:
[Name / role]

Final decision-maker:
[Name / role]

Contributors:
[Departments or stakeholders]

Legal / compliance reviewer:
[If applicable]

Expected approval time:
[Number of business days]

Who has final authority when opinions differ?
[Name / role]

A project can have an excellent strategy and strong creative work and still move slowly if nobody knows who can approve it.

Your agency brief should make the decision-making structure visible from the beginning.

12. List the Questions You Want the Agency to Answer

Do not make the agency proposal purely about “how much will this cost?”

Ask questions that reveal how the agency thinks.

Add These Questions to Your Brief

What do you believe our biggest marketing challenge is?
What would you prioritize first, and why?
Which information would you need before finalizing the strategy?
Which channels would you consider—and which would you avoid?
How would you measure success?
What would you expect from our internal team?
What assumptions are you making?
What would you recommend we not spend money on?
What would the first 90 days look like?
What would you need access to before starting?

These questions turn the hiring process from a simple quotation exercise into a strategic conversation.

13. The Complete Marketing Agency Brief Template

You can copy the following structure into a document and complete it before approaching agencies:

Marketing Agency Brief

1. Company

Company:
Website:
Industry:
Markets:
Products/services:

2. Business Context

What does the company do?
What problem does it solve?
Why are we looking for an agency now?

3. Business Problem

What is not working?
What opportunity are we trying to capture?

4. Primary Objective

What is the single most important outcome?
What is the target timeframe?

5. Target Audience

Who are we trying to reach?
Where are they located?
What do they need?
What motivates them?
What stops them from buying?

6. Positioning & Competition

Main competitors:
Our differentiators:
Competitor strengths:
Competitor weaknesses:
Brands we admire:
Brands/approaches to avoid:

7. Scope

Services required:
Must-have deliverables:
Nice-to-have deliverables:
Out-of-scope activities:

8. Budget

Agency:
Media:
Production:
Technology/software:

9. KPIs

Primary KPI:
Secondary KPIs:
Current baseline:
Target:
Data source:

10. Existing Assets

Website:
Brand guidelines:
Analytics:
CRM:
Content:
Advertising accounts:
Previous campaigns:

11. Timeline

Desired start:
Launch:
Key milestones:
Dependencies:

12. Decision-Makers

Project owner:
Final approver:
Other stakeholders:
Approval process:

13. Agency Questions

What would you prioritize?
What would you change?
What information is missing?
What would your first 90 days look like?

Conclusion: A Better Agency Brief Creates a Better Hiring Conversation

A Marketing Agency Brief is not designed to tell an agency exactly what strategy to use.

Its purpose is to make the business situation clear enough that different agencies can respond to the same challenge intelligently.

That distinction is important when comparing proposals. If one agency recommends SEO, another recommends paid media, and another recommends repositioning the brand, you need enough context to understand why each recommendation was made.

The strongest brief therefore starts with the business problem, defines the audience, establishes the desired outcome, explains the current situation, sets realistic constraints, and identifies how success will be measured.

It should also leave room for the agency to challenge your assumptions.

After all, if you already knew exactly which channels, messages, campaigns, and deliverables would solve the problem, you would not necessarily need an agency—you would need a production team.

Use the template above as a starting point, then ask each prospective agency to respond to the same brief. That gives your internal team a clearer basis for comparing strategic thinking, proposed scope, measurement approach, communication expectations, and commercial requirements before signing an agreement.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Marketing Agency Brief?

A Marketing Agency Brief is a document that explains a company’s business context, marketing problem, objectives, target audience, scope, budget, KPIs, timeline, and expectations to prospective marketing agencies.

What should a marketing agency brief include?

A useful brief should include the business problem, primary objective, target audience, competitive landscape, required services, budget range, success metrics, existing assets, timeline, constraints, and decision-makers.

How long should a Marketing Agency Brief be?

For most companies, one to three pages is enough for an initial agency brief. The goal is clarity rather than length. A short document containing specific information is generally more useful than a long document filled with generic descriptions.

Should I include my budget in an agency brief?

Including a budget range can help agencies develop proposals that are realistic for your requirements. Where possible, separate agency fees from advertising, production, software, and other external costs.

Should a company choose the marketing strategy before hiring an agency?

Not necessarily. It is useful to communicate your objectives and current assumptions, but leaving room for the agency to recommend or challenge the appropriate channels can lead to a more strategically informed proposal. A strong brief explains the problem to solve, rather than dictating every part of the solution.

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The Agency Brief Template Every Company Should Use Before Hiring