The Content Brief

Some of you who only write content, and may be thinking a lot of this research is overkill for the typical content assignment. And you’re not wrong. While your writing will be much stronger if you go through as much of the 4:20+ Research Method as possible, we’ve included a Content Brief that is a little more concise and includes room for those elements that content assignments often require that sales copy assignments don’t—like keywords and information about internal linking.

We recommend you either copy the Google doc version to your own google drive, or download and print the PDF version of this doc to take notes as you start this assignment.

You may want to add to, or edit these questions to reflect your niche, your customer, and the work you do. As with the other research docs we’ve provided, this is just a starting point, but it’s a solid starting point. 

At the top of the brief there is space for the important data related to your content project: title tag, H1 tag, keywords to include, the URL where the content will live, the meta description, word count, and some space to add notes about your target reader. Obviously you can use the Prospect Research Doc to learn more about your reader.

Much of this information will be provided by your client. If they don’t, you may be able to help them with it—just be sure to charge for the work you do.

The brief also includes space to include notes about the goal for this project and the search intent of the reader. Most content is discovered through organic search, so it’s important to know what your reader is looking—so you can provide it.

Next there is space for the important questions readers need to have answered. The reader’s primary goal may be enough, but there may be additional, related questions you can answer.

As with all content, this is an opportunity for your client to stand out so we ask, Does the client have a point of view on this topic? When you sit down to write, it may be helpful to know if there’s an enemy you are fighting here or if there’s a political or philosophical point the client wants to make.

The next question is what is the next step the reader should take after reading your content? This should be obvious to them as they read.

We’ve also included space for notes on suggested headlines, subheads, and hooks, in case your client has ideas for you. There is also space to include notes on style, format, tone. And if your client has a brand or voice guide, you should get a copy of it and follow it as you write for them.

We’ve also included space for you to make note of any links you need to add to your content, as well as any graphics or images that you need to include or provide.

Pretty simple, but also comprehensive enough to cover most content assignments. Coupled with the 4 research docs, this information will help you stand out as a great researcher.

That’s it for the research documents. In the next module, we’ll talk about the 20 ways you can go about collecting all the information you need to put in these documents.

See you there.