How to write a brand brief you can actually use.

Start with the buyer, not the logo

Name a person who already pays, or who would pay if the offer were clearer. 'Everyone with a business' is not a buyer. 'The owner of one Calgary shop who still keys the same product into the website and the till' is a buyer.

If you cannot picture the last three people who paid you, you are not ready for a brand campaign. You are ready for conversations.

Write the problem in their words

Use the sentence a customer actually said. If you only have your own phrasing, mark the brief as unproven and go get the sentence. Ads written from the inside of the company sound like ads. Ads written from the buyer's complaint sound like help.

Proof before promise

Proof is a number you can defend, a named type of customer, or a thing they walk away with. It is not 'passionate', 'innovative', or 'results-driven'. If the proof box is empty, leave it empty. Inventing a result is how brands get expensive apologies.

• A count: shops, projects, years, or cities you really serve.
• A before-and-after the buyer would recognize.
• A constraint you respect: pricing, timing, or what you refuse to do.

One message, three places

Put the same message in the homepage hero, one ad, and the first line of a sales email. If you need a different story for each, the offer is not finished.

When the page exists, run it through the message match checker on BrandMatchGrowth. When the business around it is the question, use the growth readiness score.