Tip #1: Provide a written brief
Giving your agency a thorough, written brief is invaluable as it provides a "north star" for them to compare their creative output against. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and allows your agency to create high-quality content that meets your expectations.
When it comes to briefing, it's important to strike the right balance of providing enough detail upfront without overwhelming the team with technical information. Attachments and appendices can be used to provide additional information that more scientific agency team members, such as medical writers, can delve into in detail.
Giving your agency a thorough, written brief is invaluable as it provides a "north star" for them to compare their creative output against. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and allows your agency to create high-quality content that meets your expectations.
When it comes to briefing, it's important to strike the right balance of providing enough detail upfront without overwhelming the team with technical information. Attachments and appendices can be used to provide additional information that more scientific agency team members, such as medical writers, can delve into in detail.
Tip #2: Ensure all the basics are covered
When briefing your agency to produce social content, your brief should ideally include:
When briefing your agency to produce social content, your brief should ideally include:
- Your campaign objectives. One good way of sharing this is the Objective Pyramid from the "Social Media Strategy & Planning" course as this shows how social is playing a role with your other channels.
- Your target audience, including any personas you may have developed
- Any previous research conducted, including audience research, market research and any social listening
- Any mandatories and no-go areas
- Any required or desired calls to action (CTAs)
- Available assets and owned properties (such as a website or existing Facebook pages) that can be leveraged
- The performance of any previous social campaigns and any lessons learned
- If you have one, your media plan, including the required channels and assets (in cases where your content agency is different to your media planning agency for social). Here you may be providing an approved media plan, or asking your agency to recommend posts and formats to meet your objectives and engage your target audience.
- Key dates, including approval timelines for MLR review, and budget parameters
Tip #3: Agree compliance parameters upfront
If it's the first time the agency have worked with your organisation, it's important to take them through all the medical and regulatory processes that they will need to follow. This is a critical step if the agency have not worked with a pharma company before as they may otherwise not be expecting the level of medical, legal and regulatory rigour and approval steps required.
If it's the first time the agency have worked with your organisation, it's important to take them through all the medical and regulatory processes that they will need to follow. This is a critical step if the agency have not worked with a pharma company before as they may otherwise not be expecting the level of medical, legal and regulatory rigour and approval steps required.
Tip #4: Discuss the level of risk your team will accept
When discussing a campaign with an agency then it's important to also communicate the level of risk you are willing to accommodate. For example, would you like the agency to push the boundaries with new format types, copy and images or would you prefer they stay within the bounds of tried and tested approved materials? This will help your agency in knowing how far to "think outside the box" and spend their time wisely.
When discussing a campaign with an agency then it's important to also communicate the level of risk you are willing to accommodate. For example, would you like the agency to push the boundaries with new format types, copy and images or would you prefer they stay within the bounds of tried and tested approved materials? This will help your agency in knowing how far to "think outside the box" and spend their time wisely.
Tip #5: Agree the rounds of changes
Where possible then agree the likely number of rounds of changes with your agency up front during the briefing process. This might include an offline review round where you and the brand team review the content, then 2-3 formal rounds through your content approvals system.
Consolidating feedback from your team to try and limit rounds of feedback will be more cost efficient for your agency and will help ensure you are not hit with a change request for extra rounds of changes.
Where possible then agree the likely number of rounds of changes with your agency up front during the briefing process. This might include an offline review round where you and the brand team review the content, then 2-3 formal rounds through your content approvals system.
Consolidating feedback from your team to try and limit rounds of feedback will be more cost efficient for your agency and will help ensure you are not hit with a change request for extra rounds of changes.
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