Why the brief matters more than the budget
When a campaign goes wrong, the cause is often traced back to the first conversation. The marketer assumed the goal was awareness when the owner wanted bookings. Nobody mentioned the launch date. The ads went to a page that was about to be redesigned. None of those are skill problems. They're briefing problems, and they're cheap to prevent.
A brief also makes proposals comparable. If you send the same page to three marketers, you can line up their answers side by side. If you describe the job differently on each call, you're comparing three different jobs.
The seven questions
Hiring a marketer · Dubai
A one-page brief
Goal
What should change, and by when? "40 booked consultations a month by March" beats "more awareness".
Audience
Who exactly? Age, area, language, what they care about, where they spend time online.
Offer
What are you selling, at what price, and why should someone choose you over the alternative?
Budget
Your fee budget and your ad budget, listed separately.
Timeline
Hard dates, such as a launch, an event or Ramadan, and anything that can't move.
Assets
What already exists: logo, brand guide, photos, videos, website access.
Constraints
Approvals, legal rules for your industry, words you never use, competitors to avoid naming.
A note on the goal
The goal is the line people find hardest, because it forces a decision. If you genuinely don't know what number is realistic, write the outcome you want and say you need help setting the target. "More enquiries from Dubai Marina residents for our physiotherapy clinic, target to be agreed" is still far more useful than "grow the brand".
Vague versus useful
Side by side
Same brief, two versions
Vague
- We want to go viral
- Target everyone in the UAE
- Budget is flexible
- Make it look premium
Useful
- We want 30 demo bookings from clinics in Dubai
- Clinic owners and practice managers, English-speaking
- AED X for the fee, AED Y per month for ads
- Like our brand guide: navy, white, lots of space
A worked example
Here's how a short brief might read for a fictional café opening a second branch. It's not long, but a marketer could start planning from it the same day.
Hiring a marketer · Dubai
Example brief: a café opening a second branch
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Goal | Fill weekday breakfast at the new branch within two months of opening |
| Audience | Office workers and residents within walking distance, English and Arabic speakers |
| Offer | Breakfast set and specialty coffee, faster than the hotel cafés nearby |
| Budget | A fixed fee for setup, a separate monthly ad budget we set |
| Timeline | Opening date fixed. Ramadan falls in month two, so hours change |
| Assets | Logo, menu, photos from the first branch, Instagram account |
| Constraints | Owner approves all posts within 24 hours. No discount-led ads |
Things people forget
- Industry rules. Healthcare, real estate and finance have advertising rules in Dubai. Mention any approvals you need. See marketing a clinic under the DHA standards and real estate marketing in Dubai.
- Who approves. Name one person who signs off, and how fast they can do it.
- What worked before. Past campaigns, good or bad, save weeks of guessing.
- Where leads go. WhatsApp, email, a CRM? The marketer needs to know where the funnel ends, and who replies.
- Language. Say whether you need Arabic, English or both, and who will check the Arabic. More in bilingual content in Arabic and English.
Briefs for different kinds of work
The seven questions work for almost anything, but each type of project needs one or two extra details.
- Website: the pages you need, examples of sites you like and why, and who will update content after launch. See website design in Dubai.
- Paid ads: the landing page, how enquiries are tracked today and any past ad account data.
- Social media: how often you can supply raw photos and video, and who replies to comments and messages.
- Pitch deck: the audience (investors, buyers, partners), the decision you want them to make and the date you present. See pitch deck design.
Tip
Write the brief, then read it as if you'd never heard of your business. If you can't tell what success looks like, neither can your marketer.
What happens after you send it
A good marketer will come back with questions. That's a good sign, not a delay. Expect them to challenge the goal if it looks unrealistic, ask for access to past data and suggest what to leave out. Once you agree, the brief becomes the reference for monthly reviews: are we still working towards the goal on page one? If you're about to send a brief out, these questions to ask before hiring are worth reading alongside it.