Month one, everybody is excited. The agency has a kick-off deck, the business owner has high hopes, and the WhatsApp group is full of thumbs-up emojis.
Month three, the reports start arriving. Lots of activity. Posts published, ads running, impressions climbing. Enquiries roughly where they were.
Month six, the business feels robbed and the agency feels misunderstood. The strange part is that both of them are right. The agency delivered exactly what was written down. What was written down was the problem.
Most failed marketing engagements in Nigeria were decided at the briefing stage, before anyone did any work. A vague brief attracts vague proposals. Vague proposals get compared on price, because there’s nothing else to compare. The cheapest vague proposal wins, and six months later here we are.
So here are three tools to stop it. A brief template that forces the right information onto one document. A scoring rubric that compares proposals on something other than price. And a contract checklist covering the terms that matter when things go wrong. They work whether you hire us, another agency or a freelancer. We’d rather compete for well-briefed work than win badly briefed work.
The Brief
A good brief runs two to four pages. Any shorter and agencies are guessing. Any longer and the important parts get buried. Fill in every section, and if you can’t answer one, say so plainly. “We don’t know our current conversion rate” is useful information. A blank tells the agency nothing.
Briefing an agency is a bit like wishing on the monkey’s paw in W. W. Jacobs’s old story. You get exactly what you asked for, and if you asked for “more engagement”, that’s what arrives.
Marketing brief
1. About the business. What you sell, to whom, at what price range, and how you make money. Two paragraphs. Save the corporate profile for the bank.
2. The problem, written as a business problem. “Enquiries have fallen 30% over two quarters and we don’t know why” gives an agency something to solve. “We need Instagram content” gives them an order to fill. Proposing the solution is their job.
3. What success looks like, in numbers. The metric you care about, its current value, and roughly where it needs to get to. If you have no numbers, say so, because building measurement may be part of the work.
4. Your customers. Who buys, why they buy, what nearly stops them, and who they compare you with. Use real customer words where you can.
5. What’s been tried. Channels, agencies and campaigns from the last two years, what they cost and what happened. Include the failures. They save everyone money.
6. Current assets and access. Website, ad accounts, CRM, email list, social profiles, and who owns each login. Flag anything still held by a previous agency.
7. Budget. A real range, split into media spend and fees if you can. Hide it and you’ll get proposals designed for somebody else’s budget.
8. Timeline. When you need to start, any fixed dates such as launches or seasons, and over what period you’ll judge results.
9. Constraints. Regulatory limits, brand rules, approval processes, internal capacity, and anything the agency must not do.
10. Decision process. Who decides, how proposals will be judged, and when.
11. What you want in the proposal. The ten questions below, answered directly.
12. Point of contact. One named person who can answer questions while agencies prepare their proposals.
Ten questions every proposal must answer
- What do you think the actual problem is, based on this brief? What else would you need to know?
- What would you do first, and why in that order?
- What metric will you commit to, from what baseline, by what date, and what happens if you miss it?
- What will you not do, and what should we not spend on yet?
- Who specifically will work on our account, and how much of their time?
- How will you report, how often, and from which source of truth?
- Show us a comparable piece of work, with real numbers, and tell us what went wrong on it.
- Who owns the accounts, data and assets you create, during and after the engagement?
- What exactly is included in the fee, and what costs extra?
- How does the engagement end if it isn’t working?
Question 3 filters harder than the other nine combined. An agency that’s confident it can produce an outcome will commit to one in writing. An agency selling activity will explain, at length, why marketing can’t be measured that precisely. The written goal template shows what a good answer looks like.
Leave these out
- The solution. “We need a new website” rules out the possibility that the website is fine and the follow-up is broken. Describe the problem and let the proposals argue about the fix.
- Competitor envy. “Make us look like Company X” asks an agency to copy a strategy whose results you can’t see.
- Free spec work. Asking for campaign concepts during the pitch rewards whoever has the most spare time. The concepts are also made without the understanding real work needs, so they tell you very little.
The Scoring Rubric
Have everyone score each proposal alone before you discuss them together, so the loudest voice in the room doesn’t decide for everybody. Score each criterion from 0 to 5, multiply by its weight, and add up a total out of 100.
| Criterion | Weight | What a 5 looks like | What a 0 looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis | ×4 | Restates your problem more precisely than you did and asks sharp questions | Generic capabilities deck, with your problem barely mentioned |
| Written commitment | ×4 | Metric, baseline, target, deadline and consequence, in writing | “Increased awareness and engagement” |
| Sequencing | ×3 | Clear order of work with reasons, including what to delay | Everything at once, all channels immediately |
| Evidence | ×3 | Comparable work with real numbers, including a candid failure | Logos, awards and unverifiable percentages |
| Ownership terms | ×2 | You own every account, asset and dataset from day one | Agency holds accounts, or ownership is unclear |
| Team clarity | ×2 | Named people, stated time allocation | “Our experienced team” |
| Reporting | ×1 | Defined metrics, source of truth, and cadence | “Monthly reports” with no detail |
| Commercial clarity | ×1 | Every cost listed and exit terms stated | Vague inclusions, hidden extras, long lock-in |
The weights are deliberate. Diagnosis and written commitment carry the most because they predict outcomes. Commercial clarity carries the least, because comparing prices only means something once you know the proposals are buying the same thing. A cheaper proposal that scores 40 costs more than a pricier one that scores 80.
Red flags that end the conversation
- Guaranteed rankings, guaranteed follower numbers, or guaranteed results with no baseline measured.
- Ad accounts, domains or analytics set up in the agency’s name rather than yours.
- Case studies with percentages but no absolute numbers, periods or client names.
- Reluctance to name who will actually do the work.
- Long minimum terms with no performance exit.
- Pressure to sign quickly, or discounts that expire in days.
The Contract Checklist
These clauses decide what happens when an engagement goes badly, which is exactly when you’ll need them. This list tells you what to look for. Have a legal adviser review the final contract.
| Clause | What you want |
|---|---|
| Account ownership | All ad accounts, analytics, domains, email lists and social profiles registered to your business, with the agency given access rather than ownership |
| Asset ownership | You own creative, copy, code and content produced for you once paid for |
| Data | Your customer data remains yours, handled in line with the NDPA, returned or deleted at the end of the engagement |
| Performance terms | The written goal attached as a schedule, with the agreed consequence |
| Scope | Deliverables listed specifically, with a process for agreeing changes |
| Media spend | Paid directly by you to the platforms, or passed through at cost with any markup stated |
| Reporting | Frequency, metrics and source of truth defined |
| Termination | Reasonable notice, plus an exit if performance terms are missed |
| Handover | Full transfer of access, files and documentation within a stated period |
If You Read Only One Clause
Make it account ownership. If the agency owns your ad accounts, you lose your campaign history, audiences and learning when you leave. Switching becomes so expensive that you stay with an agency that isn’t working. Everything else on this list can be renegotiated later. Ownership usually can’t.
Yes, We’re an Agency
We benefit when businesses brief agencies well, and we’re publishing this anyway, because every criterion in the rubric is one we’re happy to be scored on. If an agency you’re considering scores badly on it, including us, the rubric is doing its job. For the wider decision, read the guide to choosing an agency and the comparison of agency versus in-house.
Before you write the brief, it helps to know which part of your marketing is actually failing. The free 2-minute diagnostic scores your four walls and names the weakest one, which makes section 2 of the brief much easier to write.
P.S. If you spend ₦1M or more a month on marketing, you also qualify for a free 30-minute Leak Check. Treat it as a free first draft of your brief.
These templates are free to use and adapt. The contract checklist is general information about common commercial terms. It isn’t legal advice, so have a qualified legal adviser review any agreement before you sign.
This article covers one part of a bigger system. Our guide to digital marketing in Nigeria shows how the four walls fit together, and the order to build them in.
