Stuck with your research brief? Many marketers struggle with research briefings, especially if they don’t have access to insights experts within their organisation. If this is the case, you are not alone. The good news is that even if you don’t do a lot of market research, you can still write a good brief if you follow a few tips. Let me give you some ideas to get you started.
Do you have to write a briefing?
Well, yes and no. Let me explain.
The part that should happen is that by the time the agency starts working on your project, all parts need to be 100% clear about what it will be like. And you need to be sure that this piece of research is what you need to make decisions.
The part I don’t always see as necessary is the written document that outlines every detail of the research project. Marketing as a discipline has grown enormously in recent years and marketers are now expected to be experts in a myriad of topics, half of which didn’t even exist 5 years ago! So market research is just another one of them, and not all marketers are involved in scoping research projects on a regular basis. This is why I see the creation of the brief as more of a collaborative exercise, where the research agency guides you to gather all the information needed to define and ensure the success of the project.
Involving your research agency earlier comes with important benefits.
- Identify missing needs. Research agencies are used to working with different clients on similar challenges and can help you, not only to find the answers, but also to identify the right questions to ask. They may have carried out projects that have led to a new set of information needs and can help you identify them earlier. This way you can include them in the scope of the project at the beginning and get all the answers in one step.
- Formulate hypotheses. A very important part of any research project is to formulate the hypotheses you want to test. Getting more people involved, especially if they have a research background, will help to identify new ones, refine them to be more actionable, and why not, discard the ones that may lead you astray.
- Propose alternative methodologies. Definitely something where the agency should be expert is in suggesting methodological alternatives. They can identify all the options, with the pros and cons, so you can make a choice with the full picture.
- Engage and align stakeholders. In the most strategic projects, some stakeholders may need to be taken along for the ride. They may be in different departments or in different countries, but they should all be involved if you want them on board when you move to activation. Engaging them earlier is then the right thing to do, and using the agency usually helps in creating alignment and managing expectations when they go beyond the scope of the project.
All of these situations illustrate how having the agency work with you, even before the brief, can help you make a bigger impact. And because they are part of the process, they can provide you with a summary of requirements that you can tweak as much as you like until you are confident that it is exactly what you need.
Creating your brief
Despite all the benefits of involving an agency at an early stage, there will be occasions when you know exactly what you want. If this is the case, there are a few things your agency will need to know. Whether you write them down in a brief or discuss them in a meeting is up to you, but you will need to be ready to answer some questions when you contact your agency.
Business goals
“If I had only one hour to save the world, I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution”. This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, perfectly illustrates the importance of thinking carefully about the business problem you are trying to solve. Ask yourself: “Why is this research ultimately needed? “What do I want to do with the findings? “What decisions will we make and how will this help our business? If you can imagine the actions you will take with the research and the impact it will have on your business, you have the most important part of your brief. Everything else will follow.
Please include as much detail as possible. Information about any recent events, strategic changes or challenges that have prompted the need for the research may not seem important for the insight experts to know, but it can actually help them better understand your needs and come up with an even more effective research proposal for you.
Research objectives
Now that we know the business objectives, it is time to go one level down and specify the topics you want the research to cover. Let’s imagine you’re thinking of a usage and attitudes survey for your category. Here you list what you want to know: shopping habits, usage habits, brand repertoire, profiles, usage cases and whatever else you want to find out.
If you have any hypotheses to test, this is the time to share them with the agency. They will make sure they give you a clear answer to them. And if you have previous surveys with information you want to update, please share the details as well.
Research design
This part of the briefing describes what you want the project to look like. Here you can detail anything you think is a must, and give broader guidance on areas where you are open to recommendations.
- Target audience. Any information about demographics, habits or attitudes will help the agency define the sample. For example, you may want to target women over 50. You may want to target category buyers, or people who are considering a particular brand for future purchases. Please do not forget to mention the geographical scope.
- Methodology. It is always important to indicate if you have a preferred methodology – such as focus groups or surveys – and if you are flexible to allow the agency to advise on this. In some cases you may want to replicate studies that have been done in the past, so you need consistency and the agency will need to stick to the plan. However, if this is not the case, I strongly recommend that you leave room for the agency to come up with alternative methodologies. Market research is a rich discipline and is evolving rapidly. Even if you are a research expert, there may be new techniques that you are not aware of.
- Deliverables. Agencies usually provide you with reports, data files and tables. But to avoid misunderstandings, please make sure you specify which deliverables you want and which you don’t, so that the agency doesn’t charge you for them. In particular, please indicate whether you want the results to be presented in person, as this may involve travel costs.
Practical information
You may wish to add some other points that you would like the agency to consider.
- Budget. Some agencies ask about any budget restrictions. This helps them to propose a research plan that is in line with your financial expectations. However, we recognise that it can be difficult for a marketing team to anticipate how much the research they envisage would cost. Skip this information if you are not sure.
- Timeline. Do not hesitate to mention any deadlines to the agency so that you receive your results in time to make a decision.
- Confidentiality and data protection. Specify any data security, privacy and confidentiality requirements, and mention if an NDA will be required before the project begins.
Including all these elements in your communication will help the agency know exactly what to observe to meet your needs.
We love problems
In my experience, although business objectives are the most important part of any research brief, this is also where most marketing teams get stuck. The good news is that we love to get involved.
At Origin Insights, we like to say that we fall in love with the problem, not the solution. This is because we don’t offer off-the-shelf products. We create bespoke solutions to best meet your needs. So when a customer comes to us with a project, our first question is ‘why’. Why do you need to know this? What is the problem you want to solve? Spending the right amount of time with you, thinking together in terms of business objectives, allows us to come back with the best approach to solve your real needs and achieve your business goals.
Stuck with your research brief? Don’t be. Give me a call and we’ll help.
Mar Serrán
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