A practical guide to setting clear goals, avoiding costly revisions and giving your production team the direction they need to create video content with purpose
With 91% of businesses now using video in their marketing, creating content with a clear purpose matters more than ever.
Turning an initial idea into an effective video, however, can feel daunting. But a video production brief doesn’t need to be lengthy or overly formal, and it isn’t a script. It’s simply a shared understanding of what your video needs to achieve.
BRICKOVEN regularly helps businesses turn ideas into purposeful video plans, so get in touch if you’d like support with your brief.
Here’s what a useful video production brief should include.
Define Your Objective
First, decide what you need your video to achieve. What do you want your viewers to think, feel or do after watching it?
Possible objectives include:
- Encourage prospective customers to get in touch
- Generate more qualified sales enquiries
- Explain a complex product or service clearly
- Help potential recruits understand your workplace culture
- Increase engagement on social media
- Build confidence in your brand.
Narrowing your brief to one clear objective keeps the message focused and informs every part of the creative process, from the story and filming style to the final call to action. Try to capture it in one sentence.
Know Your Target Audience
Next, get clear on who you’re speaking to. Are they existing customers, prospective clients, potential recruits, staff, investors or the general public? Consider what they already know, what matters to them, and where they’re likely to watch your content.
It’s also useful to identify any hesitation your video needs to overcome. Are potential clients unsure whether your service is right for them? Do candidates need a clearer picture of your workplace culture?
The better you understand your audience and their concerns, the easier it is to create a video that feels relevant, reassuring and worth watching.
Focus on One Key Message
Don’t make the mistake of trying to cram every service, product feature, team member and company value into a single video. The result can feel busy, unfocused and easy to forget.
Instead, decide on the single, most important thing you want viewers to remember. Do you make a complex process straightforward? Does your team bring genuine expertise to a particular challenge? Is your workplace a rewarding place to build a career?
If you have supporting messages, ensure they reinforce the central idea, rather than compete with it. BRICKOVEN can help turn complex ideas into clear, purposeful video content that connects with the right people.
Plan Your Distribution Channels
Where will viewers watch the finished content?
A homepage, LinkedIn post, YouTube channel, paid advert, event screen and email campaign all have different requirements. Clarifying your intended platforms early helps your video production team recommend the right length, format and deliverables.
For instance, you may need a main horizontal film for your website, shorter cut-downs for paid campaigns, vertical clips for social media, and subtitled versions for viewers watching without sound.
Planning this before filming is far more effective than producing one video, then trying to make it work everywhere afterwards. It also helps you get more value from every shoot.
Be Clear About Practicalities
Your brief should include the realities that will shape production:
- Desired deadline, including any fixed campaign, event or launch date
- Available budget range or investment level
- Location access, contributors and your internal approval process
- Brand guidelines, existing footage, and relevant examples
- Non-negotiables, such as including certain products, staff members or compliance messaging.
Sharing these details early gives your production team the information they need to recommend the right approach, avoid any surprises later, and make the most of your available budget.
Agree How You Will Measure Success
Finally, decide how you will know whether the video has done its job.
Views can be useful, but they’re not always the most meaningful measure. Depending on your goal, success may mean more qualified enquiries, longer watch time, stronger engagement, completed applications, event registrations, or better sales conversations.
It also helps to agree who will provide feedback before production begins. A focused review process keeps the project moving and helps ensure the finished video remains true to the original brief.
Ready to Shape Your Video Idea?
A strong video brief gives everyone a shared starting point, while still leaving room for creative ideas to develop. You don’t need to have every idea finalised before getting in touch – BRICKOVEN can help turn your goals, audience insight and early ideas into a clear plan for purposeful video content.
Ready to get started? Contact the BRICKOVEN team to discuss your next video project.
