Most influencer campaigns fall apart in the brief, not on the call or in the contract. The contract gets the relationship right. The brief gets the content right. Mess up the brief and you end up with technically-compliant deliverables that don't sell anything.
This is a guide for the marketer who has booked a creator, has a deadline, and needs to send a working brief by tomorrow morning. There's a copy-paste template at the bottom. First, what to put in it and what to leave out.
What an Influencer Brief Is
A brief is the working document a creator opens while they're filming. Not the contract. Not the pitch deck. The thing they have on a second monitor when they hit record.
That framing matters because it changes what belongs inside. A creator filming a Reel does not need your Q3 brand strategy. They need to know what to say, what to show, what to avoid, and where to send the file. Anything else is taking up working memory.
Treat it like the recipe card, not the cookbook. Recipe cards work because they assume the cook already knows how to cook.
The Seven Sections a Working Brief Needs
A standard structure works for most campaigns. Seven sections, in this order:
- The campaign in one sentence
- Brand context (the minimum)
- Deliverables and dates
- The hook and the message
- What to avoid
- Logistics (tags, codes, disclosures, file delivery)
- How to reach you and how you'll respond
Each section earns its place by answering a specific question the creator will have at a specific moment. Skip a section and they will guess. Their guess will not match yours.
1. The Campaign in One Sentence
Open the brief with one sentence that tells the creator what this campaign is and what success looks like. Not a paragraph. One sentence.
"We're launching our new sleep gummies and want to drive trial through honest reviews from creators who already talk about sleep."
That sentence does four jobs at once. It names the product. It names the goal. It tells the creator what kind of content fits. And it implicitly tells them what kind of content does not fit. A creator reading that knows immediately whether their idea will land.
If you cannot write the campaign in one sentence, the brief is not the problem. The campaign is. Stop and fix that first.
2. Brand Context (the Minimum)
Five bullet points, no more. Most brands write a page here and the creator skims none of it.
- What you make
- Who buys it
- Why it exists (in plain language)
- The two or three things you are known for
- One or two things you are not (we are not a luxury brand, we are not science-y)
The "what you are not" line is the one most brands skip and the one creators thank you for. It saves them from making the wrong kind of joke or the wrong kind of comparison.
If you have a one-page brand sheet or a press kit, link to it. Don't paste it.
3. Deliverables and Dates
Be specific to the point of feeling rude. Vague deliverables produce vague content.
Bad:
"1 Instagram post and some Stories"
Good:
"1 Instagram Reel (vertical, 30-60 seconds), posted between May 12 and May 19. 3 Story frames the same week with the swipe-up link. Final draft for review by May 9, posted version live by May 19, link sent to brief@brand.com within 24 hours of going live."
Three things to specify in this section:
- Format. Reel, Story, static post, TikTok, YouTube short. Specify resolution and length if it matters.
- Window. A date range, not a single date. Creators have lives.
- Approval flow. Whether you need to see a draft, by when, and what counts as approval. If the answer is "no draft, just post," say so. Many brands forget.
If you don't have a review process, write "no review, please post when ready." That sentence prevents three back-and-forth emails.
4. The Hook and the Message
Most brands overwork this section. Two lines is enough, not two paragraphs.
The hook is the first three seconds: what should the creator be doing or saying when the camera turns on? Give one or two examples of hooks that worked for you, then say "or whatever feels natural to you."
The message is the one thing the viewer should walk away knowing. Pick one. Not three.
Hook: open with you struggling to fall asleep, or any moment that shows the problem the gummies solve.
Message: these helped you fall asleep faster without grogginess in the morning. That's it. Don't list ingredients, don't compare to other brands, don't mention the price.
Notice the message line ends with what not to mention. That is the part that protects you. A creator who does not know what to leave out will include everything.
5. What to Avoid
A standalone "do not" list is one of the highest-value sections in the brief, and most brands skip it. This is where you list:
- Words and phrases that get the post taken down or fail platform policy (medical claims for supplements, financial guarantees for fintech, "cure" or "treat" for anything health adjacent)
- Comparisons you don't want made (specific competitor names, "miracle" framing, before/after if your category is sensitive about it)
- Visual elements that conflict with brand or platform rules (logos of competitors in shot, copyrighted music, anything that looks like medical advice)
- Off-brand tones (we don't do snark, we don't do scarcity)
Three to seven bullets. Plain English. No legal language. Your contract handles legal. The brief handles tone and content.
If you have FTC concerns specific to your category, link to your existing FTC influencer marketing guidelines doc and call out the one or two rules that bite hardest in your industry.
6. Logistics: Tags, Codes, Disclosures, File Delivery
The most boring section is the one creators screenshot. Make it skimmable.
- Tags: @yourbrand on Instagram, @yourbrand on TikTok. Both spelled out exactly. Do not assume.
- Hashtags: if you require any, list them. If they're optional, say so.
- Disclosure: required language for sponsored content (#ad at the top of the caption is the FTC-safe default). Spell it out.
- Discount code or link: the exact code and the exact URL. If the code is unique to that creator, generate it before you send the brief, not after.
- File delivery: where to send the final asset and in what format if you need a raw file as well as the live post.
If you want help thinking about how to structure unique discount codes per creator, the math on what to pay for what kind of post is in our influencer pricing guide.
7. How to Reach You and How You'll Respond
End the brief with one line: a single contact and a response window.
"Reply to brief@brand.com. Sarah will respond within one business day."
Not "the team," not "your account manager," not a Slack channel they don't have access to. One human, one inbox, one timeframe. If something goes wrong on a Friday afternoon, the creator needs to know whether to wait or post.
A Worked Example
Below, the seven sections filled in for a fictional supplement brand running a TikTok campaign with a mid-tier creator.
Campaign: We're launching Drift, our new magnesium sleep gummies, and want to drive trial through honest reviews from creators who already talk about sleep, stress, or wellness routines.
Brand context:
- We make supplements. Right now we sell magnesium sleep gummies, an electrolyte mix, and a focus blend.
- Buyers are women 25-40 who are tired and have tried half a dozen other "wellness" trends.
- We exist because most sleep aids leave you groggy or stop working after a week.
- We're known for: clean ingredient lists, honest copy, no "miracle" claims.
- We are not a luxury brand and we are not science-influencer-y. Plain English only.
Deliverables:
- 1 TikTok video, 30-60 seconds, vertical
- Posted between May 12 and May 19, 2026
- Draft sent to brief@drift.com by May 9
- Live link sent to brief@drift.com within 24 hours of posting
Hook and message:
- Hook: open with a moment that shows you trying to fall asleep, or your evening wind-down, or whatever feels natural to your usual style.
- Message: the gummies helped you fall asleep faster without grogginess. One thing. That's it.
What to avoid:
- No medical claims (don't say "cures insomnia," "fixes anxiety," "treats" anything)
- No before/after framing
- No competitor names
- No mentions of price or promo math ("only $2 a night" etc.)
- We don't do snark or scarcity ("running out fast" is not us)
Logistics:
- Tag: @driftgummies
- Hashtag: #ad must appear at the top of the caption, before any other copy
- Discount code: SARAH15 (15% off, your audience only)
- Link: drift.com/sarah
- Send raw .mp4 to brief@drift.com after posting
Contact:
- Reply to brief@drift.com. Maya will respond within one business day, Mon-Fri.
That brief is one page. A creator can read it in 90 seconds and start filming.
What to Leave Out
This is where most briefs get it wrong, and where the difference between a 7-figure influencer program and a stalled one shows up.
Leave out anything in the contract. Payment terms, exclusivity, usage rights, kill fees. These belong in the agreement you both signed, not in the working document. If they show up in both places and disagree, you have a legal problem. (If you don't have an agreement yet, our guide to writing an influencer contract covers the essentials.)
Leave out the script. Word-for-word scripts produce content that sounds like word-for-word scripts. The creator's audience can hear it. If you absolutely need certain phrases used verbatim (legally required disclaimers, regulated language), put them in a "must include exactly" callout and mark them clearly. Everything else is direction, not dialogue.
Leave out moodboards over five images. Pick the two or three that are closest to what you want and explain in one line what you like about each. Twenty reference videos is not a brief, it's a homework assignment.
Leave out KPIs the creator can't influence. Telling a creator your goal is "improve CAC by 12%" is meaningless to them. Translate that into something the creator can act on: "drive saves and shares" or "drive code redemptions." Give them one north-star action, not your whole funnel.
Leave out internal jargon. "Top of funnel," "MQL," "blended ROAS." None of this means anything to a creator, and inserting it makes you look like you don't understand the medium. Plain English wins.
How to Handle Pushback (and What It Tells You)
Send the brief. The creator pushes back. What they push back on tells you whether the campaign will work.
If they push back on the hook or the format, that's good. They know their audience. Listen and adjust. The reason you hired them is because they know what their viewers will sit through.
If they push back on the must-not-say list, ask why specifically. Sometimes there's a real friction (the platform algorithm punishes a phrasing you're requiring, for example). Sometimes they want freedom to say something off-brand. The first is a brief problem; the second is a fit problem.
If they push back on the deliverables themselves. "I'd rather do a Story than a Reel." "I want to post in three weeks not next week." You are negotiating after signing the deal. Either renegotiate the contract or hold the line on the original terms. Don't let the brief become the place you accidentally re-do the deal.
If they go silent for a week, that is a different kind of red flag. Our breakdown of why influencer outreach gets ignored covers the fix. Briefs that go unread usually have one of the same three problems as outreach that goes unanswered: too long, too vague, or too transactional.
The Copy-Paste Brief Template
A clean template you can paste into a Google Doc, a Notion page, or an email. Fill in the blanks. Aim for one page when filled in.
[Brand] x [Creator]: [Campaign Name] Brief
Campaign in one sentence:
[What this campaign is and what success looks like.]
Brand context (max 5 bullets):
- What we make:
- Who buys it:
- Why we exist:
- We are known for:
- We are not:
Deliverables:
- Format:
- Posting window:
- Draft due (if applicable):
- Final link/file due:
Hook:
[One or two example hooks, then "or whatever feels natural."]
Message:
[The one thing the viewer should walk away knowing.]
What to avoid:
- [Word/phrase to avoid 1]
- [Word/phrase to avoid 2]
- [Visual or framing to avoid]
- [Off-brand tone]
Logistics:
- Tag:
- Required hashtag(s):
- Disclosure language:
- Discount code:
- Link:
- File delivery:
Contact:
[Name, email, response time.]
Print it, screenshot it, paste it. It's yours.
A Few Rules That Travel Across Campaigns
A handful of rules hold up across categories, creator sizes, and platforms. If you only remember a few things from this guide, remember these.
One page is the goal. If the brief is two pages, cut. If it's three, you have written a strategy document, not a brief.
The brief is for the creator, not for your boss. If you wrote a section to make your VP feel good about the campaign, delete it. The creator does not care.
The brief is updated, not archived. After the campaign runs, write down what the creator pushed back on, what they asked twice, and what they ignored. That feedback is your next brief. Brands that improve their briefs over six campaigns end up with three-paragraph briefs that out-perform anyone else's three-page ones.
The brief travels with money. If you're paying a creator, they get a brief. If you're gifting, they get a gifting email: different document, different tone, lower ask. Don't conflate the two. Sending a paid brief to a gifted creator looks transactional. Sending a gifting email to a paid creator looks unprofessional.
The brief is the cheapest place to fix problems. A bad brief leads to bad content leads to a bad campaign leads to a bad relationship. A well-written brief takes 20 minutes and saves you from all four. Of all the documents in an influencer program, this one has the highest leverage per word.
Where to Go Next
If you're putting together your first end-to-end program, the brief is one of about five documents you'll need. The others, in order of when you'll write them:
- How to find influencers for your brand for sourcing
- How much to pay influencers for pricing
- How to write an influencer contract for the agreement
- This guide for the brief
- How to detect fake followers for vetting before you even get this far
Together those five cover the working life of a campaign from "we should try this" to "the post is live." The brief is the one creators read on set. That's why it's worth getting right.
