If you hire an agency and you're thinking 'well, they're the experts — they'll figure it out,' you're wrong. The experts only work as well as the information you give them. Bad brief = bad campaign, no matter the agency.
The 12-Section Brief Template
1. Your Business Basics
- Legal name, business address, primary service area
- Number of crews / capacity you can handle
- Years in business, licenses, certifications, insurance
- Owner's name + face (critical for UGC-style creative)
2. Your Offer
- What specific service(s) you want to promote (not 'everything')
- Your pricing (or pricing range if you don't publish prices)
- Your unique differentiator vs. competitors (be specific, not 'we care more')
- Warranties, guarantees, satisfaction terms
3. Your Customer
- Age range + income level of your typical customer
- How they typically find you today (referrals, Google, etc.)
- 3 real past customers with permission to reference
- What they've told you they liked / disliked
4. Your Sales Process
- Who responds to new leads (you, team member, answering service)
- How fast (realistically — not 'we're fast', but 'usually within 2 hours on weekdays')
- How a typical sale closes (phone, in-home estimate, email)
- Average time from lead to booked job
5. Your History
- Any prior ad campaigns — platform, spend, results
- Old landing pages or ads you've kept (share screenshots)
- What worked, what didn't, what you'd try differently
6. Your Budget
- Monthly ad spend (separate from agency fees)
- Maximum comfortable cost per lead
- Minimum acceptable ROAS before you'd cut
7. Your Goals (Specific)
- Number of leads per month you want
- Revenue target by month 3 / month 6
- Any specific expansion goals (new service area, new service line)
8. Your Competitors
- 3–5 competitors by name in your service area
- What each one does well and poorly
- Any competitor ads you've seen (screenshots help)
9. Your Creative Assets
- Existing video footage (job-site walkthroughs, testimonials)
- Logo, brand colors, fonts you use
- Before/after photos
- Owner comfort level with appearing on camera
10. Your Tech Stack
- CRM you use (or none)
- Website platform + who manages it
- Who owns the existing ad account(s)
- Email marketing platform
11. Your Constraints
- Anything you absolutely won't do (price guarantees, specific claims)
- Services you can't handle right now (capacity constraints)
- Geographic limits (don't want leads from this county, that type of neighborhood, etc.)
12. Your Communication Preferences
- How often you want updates (weekly call, monthly call, async video)
- How you want to receive reports (email, Slack, dashboard)
- Response time expectations (within 24 hours? Same-day?)
Fill this out once, share it with every new agency conversation. You'll save weeks of discovery calls and get better initial campaign drafts because the agency isn't guessing.
Things You Should NOT Do
- Don't promise exclusivity (agencies need to know you're shopping)
- Don't share competitor agency proposals (violates confidentiality)
- Don't pressure them to work before signing
- Don't expect creative magic from a 15-minute call
Red Flags in Agency Response
Once you've shared the brief, watch how they respond. Good agencies:
- Ask clarifying questions (the brief never covers everything)
- Push back on unrealistic goals politely
- Share examples of what's worked for similar businesses
- Give you a realistic timeline (not 'leads tomorrow')
Bad agencies skip the questions, agree to everything, and launch inside a week without showing you creative concepts first. That's a sign they'll take your money and run generic campaigns until you fire them.