What should I put in a Research Brief? You might start with this list of 10 items #1. The Business Situation What's the specific business Opportunity? What's the context? Are we talking about category size? Category segments? Brand players? What is the competition doing? What are the trends in the category? What''s going on in the category next door? eg if you're doing research on Streaming Video, what's happening in Movie Theatre productions these days? #2. Your Research Objectives preferably in priority order! #3. Hypotheses: They should be specific, relevant & testable! #4. What's your Target Audiences' sample qualifiers? What specific criteria do they need to meet to be able to participate in this study? Is there an Age parameter? a Gender parameter? An Amount Of Brand used per year? eg Do they have to have a drivers licence to participate in this Automobile survey? That kind of thing. #5. Timing Milestones. When is the information needed? #6. Budget Sometimes in a Research Brief, we include a very specific dollar figure budget Sometimes we let the agency quote Be sure to indicate whether any budget includes items such as travel, research incentives software and any other contingencies #7. A NonDisclosure Agreement, or "NDA" #8. Source Citation: where did you get the information that's included in the Brief? in case a Research Agency wants to find more information along those same lines #9. Your Contact Information: If they're going to quote a Research project, they SHOULD be able to reach you! #10. Secondary Information: This can be information previously gathered in-house, done through external agencies, or secondary data. Be sure to secure that information with an NDA! So that's ten elements. That's enough, isn't it? If you REALLY want your Research Brief to be a truly excellent brief, I suggest you follow some advice that I received from a ConAgra Executive. His suggestion was that we picture success in a very specific way and make sure ANY research delivers on providing the fuel for your colleagues to achieve that success Let me give you an example: You're in a time machine.... hovering over the Marketing VP making a decision with the Ad Agency President 6 months from now How is THAT decision better achieved due to the research that you have done? You tilt over in your Time Machine to a Sales Account Manager pitching her next big client How is her effort better facilitated? How is she able to better respond to questions from that really savvy Category Manager? when they're looking at YOUR information! Move over to a Human Resource Manager; They're developing a (recruiting and) training video about all the reasons why you should want to work for their company How is that training video more compelling because of the research insights that you found? so Picture Success in a VERY specific way then consider "How can my research facilitate the success of my organization & colleagues down the line?" for example... I was once commissioned to do a study about Warehouse Shopper habits (Costco buyers etc) While I could have just surveyed Warehouse shoppers about their attitudes towards this category and their purchase behaviour in (just) this category I had an opportunity to find out, at the beginning of the survey, where ELSE they shopped the same category, and how often The interesting result was, at the conclusion of the study, we were not ONLY able to talk to the Warehouse Buyers (Category Managers) with far more intelligence about their shoppers We were able to tell them about customers... who may be teetering on the edge of moving away from the Warehouse Channel & shop somewhere else That's powerful information! So... picture success carefully- it can be a REALLY helpful addition to a Research Brief so THOSE are the 10 key elements to include in a Research Brief ...and one that'll make it even better Remember: If you don't have very specific, constructive & workable elements in your Research Brief, chances are ...you're tying the hands of the Research Agency from doing the very best work they COULD do ...to help you achieve YOUR best success! as always "Like", "Subscribe", Follow me on 'the twitters ( @strategysteven ) or watch my other videos (and-or please leave any Comments below! )