Mastering Content Briefs with AI: Faster, Easier, Better [+Template and Examples]

Blog Post Copywriting Brief Template

Using templates for content briefs is highly recommended. Starting from zero for each new content piece is inefficient – especially when crafting a thorough content brief is already quite an involved process.

This is the template for a brief that I regularly utilize in my work. Feel free to make a copy and adapt it for your own use.

Target audience and buyer personas

A content brief must pinpoint the target audience with specifics such as age, gender, location, and income. Crafting buyer personas or ideal customer profiles (ICPs) from real data is crucial. These brief notes on the audience's nature (tech-savvy or not) should be prominently placed at the start of the content brief for easy reference. You can talk about its mission, vision, or unique selling points. This is also helpful in writing CTAs.

Focus on providing insights that guide the writer's tone and depth, such as:

• The audience's familiarity with the subject. Is the content aimed at novices needing essential guidance or professionals seeking sophisticated insights?
  
• The reader's professional capacity. Does the target audience include technical specialists like software engineers or independent entrepreneurs? 
  

If leading articles (top search results) are beginner-oriented, it might be wise for your content to cater to that same entry-level.

Keyword Research for Content Brief

When crafting SEO content, ensure your title aligns with the core purpose of your chosen keyword. This means it should directly address the searcher's needs, be a guide, a compilation of resources, or a collection of templates.

To gauge the intent behind your keywords, a swift Google search can be revealing. However, for insights into how this intent varies across different countries and to avoid personalized skewing results, use the Keyword Clustering feature in Serpstat. This should be done after gathering your primary seed keywords.

1.Move all the relevant keywords gathered in different reports, from URL analysis (analyzing competitors) to Search suggestions, into the Batch analysis to get the newest volume info:

Keyword research for content brief, Serpstat

Then, run a clustering process (it might take up to a few hours, depending on the keywords quantity. Please, be patient :)).

Batch analysis, Serpstat

2.Detect the most important clusters by intent and use these keywords for <H1><H6> titles and SEO tags.

The keyword research reports usually provide three crucial metrics: search volume (the higher, the better), Keyword Difficulty (KD), with lower scores being more accessible to rank for, and search intent, which determines whether searchers are looking for information or product options. For increasing organic traffic, focus on keywords with high volume, low KD, and an informational intent.

Structure of the Article

A content brief should clearly outline the article's structure to guide copywriters effectively. Here's a condensed guide:

• Offer explicit, adaptable instructions for the article's framework, suitable for various industry standards.
  
• Segment the main body into subheadings representing a key point or argument.
  
• Under each subheading, specify the content and any crucial or unique details to include.
  
• Enhance the brief with examples and preferred writing styles for clarity.
  
• Assist your writer in understanding your product's relevance to the topic by explaining where it fits into the context and suggesting notable features to highlight.
  

Remember, a detailed and precise brief simplifies the writing process, ensuring the final content aligns with your vision.

Including a list of keywords that should be incorporated into headers and subheadings is good practice. This ensures that the content is structured in a reader-friendly way and optimized for search engines, enhancing the article's discoverability.

Source: Zenbrief

A List of Suggested Internal and External Links

In some cases, internal links can point to subtopics that need further explanation or discussion on a separate page. External links, on the other hand, can be used to provide additional context, reference authoritative sources, or offer complementary perspectives. Both types of links enhance the user experience by offering a more comprehensive understanding of the topic and improving the credibility of your content. 

Text Formatting Rules

For editors aiming to enhance their content marketing briefs, incorporating specific rules can significantly improve the clarity and impact of the final piece. Here's a snapshot of these valuable guidelines:

These rules not only streamline the writing briefs but also optimize content for both readers and search engines.

Using GPT-4 to Create a Content Brief

AI still has significant strides to make before it can independently manage creative and strategic undertakings without human guidance, such as authoring content briefs. Tools like GPTChat, however, can be beneficial, simplifying and speeding up many aspects of content brief writing. With tools like Serpstat now integrated into ChatGPT, keyword and topic research can also be accomplished within the platform. In addition, chat functionality makes this analysis much more accessible to people without a research background. 

Serpstat SEO plugin brainstorming keyword ideas

To сraft a content brief using AI, it's crucial to consider these strategic factors:

1.Clearly define your pivot point. Every content piece needs to have a specific and relevant objective. While crafting briefs might be enjoyable, focusing on the end goal is crucial. This becomes even more significant when incorporating AI tools into the creation process, as it ensures that the technology is being used to meet your targeted aims effectively.

2.Create the draft outline. ChatGPT can provide a solid draft for a blog post outline, yet I wouldn’t rely on it for a complete article as it often defaults to a basic essay structure.

GPT-4 offers more creativity but still retains an AI-like tone.

The best idea for the table of contents is to keep the human touch and make the analysis of the competitive site’s structure at the Top of SERP. It’s also possible using Serpstat functionality: 

3.Input the context. Then, proceed with these goals to furnish the AI instrument with pertinent information and background. Use the GPT's features for inputting and maintaining details about your intended audience.

Well-crafted contextual prompt by Philippe De Ridder

4.Guiding with clear examples. Due to advancements in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Understanding (NLU), sophisticated AI tools can learn and mimic a brand's unique writing style. They can apply this learned tone of voice to generate an intro passage for copywriters. However, this learning's effectiveness greatly depends on the quality and clarity of the information fed into the AI. Therefore, you must supply well-defined examples and directives in your prompts to guide the AI accurately. 

AI can structure your brief by recommending optimal keyword placement, suggesting meta tags, and even forecasting your content's effectiveness. But there are also non-obvious use-cases. One of my latest discoveries can be helpful for a creative brief generator:

AI-driven YouTube transcription can guide the copywriter for the content based on the webinar or product video: 

Then you can then ask GPTChat to transform the text into a readable format or summarize it:

Prompting to transform the transcription of the video

The improved text to add to the ready-made content brief as a reference 

By understanding the types of queries that lead users to your site, AI can help tailor your content to meet those needs directly. This increases the likelihood of higher engagement and conversion rates.

AI-generated SEO content brief templates streamline the process, allowing you to focus on crafting content that resonates with your audience while adhering to SEO best practices. However, using these tools for content briefs should be approached as ethically and responsibly as using any other resource. AI content brief can enhance productivity but has limitations that require human oversight to ensure content coherence. Furthermore, ChatGPT tends to hallucinate, so verify everything before hitting publish. AI should be seen as a starting point for initial ideas, which then should be built upon with personal insights. Using AI effectively also involves focusing on the audience and integrating relevant information into the content creation. 

Conclusion: The Future of Content Briefs

Сontent brief is the foundation upon which successful content is built. When crafted carefully, it's a strategic tool that can lead your content through the competitive digital landscape to achieve the visibility and engagement it deserves.

A good content brief should be simple. It needs to cover the essential information required by the author without drowning them in SEO jargon or stripping away their freedom to write in the way they deem best.

Leveraging AI for content briefs offers numerous advantages, making it a savvy choice for streamlining your workflow. However, to fully capitalize on these perks, understanding how to collaborate with artificial intelligence effectively is essential.

FAQ