---
name: campaign-brief
description: >
  Write a marketing campaign brief. Use when the user says "write a campaign brief",
  "campaign brief for [campaign]", "brief this campaign", "I need a brief before we
  start", "marketing brief", "brief for the team", "what's the brief", "let's brief
  out this campaign", or wants to align stakeholders on campaign goals, audience,
  message, and success metrics before execution starts.
---

## Overview

Based on **"Lean Analytics"** by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz. The core principle: you cannot optimize what you do not measure, and the biggest mistake in marketing is running campaigns without a single defined metric. Lean Analytics introduces the "One Metric That Matters" (OMTM) - the single number that reflects whether a campaign worked. This brief structure forces the team to agree on the metric before spending a dollar.

## Workflow

### Step 1: Write the campaign header

```
Campaign Name: [descriptive name, not a codename]
Owner: [name]
Status: Draft | In Review | Approved | Live | Complete
Launch Date: [date]
End Date: [date]
Budget: $[amount]
```

### Step 2: State the business objective (1 sentence)

What business outcome does this campaign drive? Connect directly to a company or team OKR. Be specific.

Bad: "Increase brand awareness."
Good: "Generate 200 qualified demo requests from mid-market SaaS companies in Q3."

If you cannot write a specific business objective, do not run the campaign.

### Step 3: Define the One Metric That Matters (OMTM)

Lean Analytics: pick one metric. Not three. The OMTM is the number that determines whether this campaign worked. All other metrics are secondary or diagnostic.

```
OMTM: [metric name]
Current baseline: [current value]
Target: [target value by end date]
Measurement method: [tool or process - e.g., "UTM-tagged links tracked in [analytics tool]"]
```

Define 2-3 secondary metrics you will monitor but not optimize against:
- [secondary metric 1]
- [secondary metric 2]

### Step 4: Define the target audience

Be specific enough that someone who has never met your customer could find them.

- Who they are: [role, company type, size, geography if relevant]
- What they are trying to do right now: [the job or trigger]
- What they believe today: [the assumption your campaign will shift]
- Where they spend attention: [channels they actually use]

### Step 5: Write the campaign message

One primary message. Campaigns that try to communicate multiple ideas communicate none.

```
Core message: [one sentence - what you want the audience to believe or do after seeing this]
Proof point: [the single most credible piece of evidence for that message]
Call to action: [exactly what you want them to do next]
```

### Step 6: Define the channel plan and timeline

List channels in priority order. For each:

| Channel | Format | Volume / Frequency | Owner | Launch Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [channel] | [ad / email / post / etc.] | [e.g., 3 posts/week] | [name] | [date] |

Keep the channel list short. Lean Analytics: spreading budget across too many channels means no channel gets enough signal to optimize. Start with 2-3 max.

## Anti-Patterns

**1. Multiple primary metrics**
Bad: "We are measuring impressions, CTR, signups, and NPS."
Good: "OMTM is demo requests. Everything else is diagnostic."

**2. Vague objective not tied to a business outcome**
Bad: "Drive awareness and engagement for [your brand]."
Good: "Generate 150 trial signups from [target audience] in 6 weeks."

**3. No baseline**
Bad: Setting a target without knowing where you start.
Good: "Current: 40 demo requests/month. Target: 80 demo requests/month by [date]."

**4. Too many channels at launch**
Bad: Running on 6 channels simultaneously with a $10,000 budget.
Good: Concentrate budget on 2-3 channels, prove signal, then expand.

## Quality Checklist

- [ ] Business objective is specific, measurable, and tied to an OKR or company goal
- [ ] OMTM is a single metric - not a list
- [ ] Baseline value for OMTM is documented
- [ ] Target value has a date attached
- [ ] Measurement method specifies exactly how the metric will be tracked
- [ ] Target audience described specifically enough to find them in the real world
- [ ] Core message is one sentence
- [ ] Channel plan has no more than 3 channels at launch
- [ ] Each channel has a named owner and launch date