A campaign brief is the document that prevents your digital PR campaign from drifting into unfocused outreach. Every campaign that earns coverage in the Guardian, BBC, Telegraph, or specialist trade press started with a brief that forced clarity on the objective, the story, and the audience. Here is what to include and how to structure it.
Section 1: Objective (One Sentence)
State the single objective in one sentence. If you cannot, the campaign is not ready.
Good examples:
- "Earn 15+ links from UK national and tier-1 trade outlets to support our mortgage comparison landing page ahead of the Bank of England rate decision in March."
- "Generate awareness of our ESG reporting tool among FT and City AM readers, measured by coverage mentions and demo requests."
- "Earn 8+ referring domains with DA50+ to our UK salary data hub."
Bad examples:
- "Raise brand awareness" (unmeasurable)
- "Get as much coverage as possible" (no targeting)
- "Support SEO" (too vague — which page, which keywords?)
The objective determines everything else: which journalists you target, what assets you build, and how you measure success. Without it, the team defaults to volume-based outreach, which burns journalist relationships for minimal return.
Section 2: Target Audience and Outlet Map
Name the specific outlets and journalists. A brief that says "target national media" is useless.
Outlet Tiers for UK Digital PR
| Tier | Examples | What They Want | |---|---|---| | Tier 1 National | Guardian, Telegraph, BBC News, Times, Independent, Sky News | Exclusive data, strong visualisation, expert comment, genuine public interest | | Tier 1 Trade | PR Week, City AM, Insurance Journal, Citywire, The Drum, Campaign | Sector-specific data, trend analysis, named sources | | Tier 2 Regional/Specialist | Manchester Evening News, Yorkshire Post, Stylist, TechRadar | Local angles, consumer data broken down by region, practical advice | | Tier 3 Long-tail | Niche blogs, industry association sites, local business sites | How-to content, tools, calculators, niche data |
For each tier, name 5-10 specific journalists. Use Meltwater, Cision, or Roxhill to identify who has covered similar stories in the past 6 months. A brief without named journalists is a wish list, not a plan.
Section 3: The Story Angle
The angle is the single most important element of the brief. It must answer: why would a journalist at [named outlet] cover this today?
The Angle Test
Run your angle through these three filters:
1. Newsworthiness: Is there a data point, trend, or event that makes this timely? "UK household energy costs rose 12% in Q4 2025" is a hook. "Energy costs are important" is not. 2. Exclusivity or originality: Can you offer original data, an FOI analysis, or a proprietary survey? Journalists link to sources, not summaries. If your data can be found on the ONS website already, you do not have a story — you have a rehash. 3. Audience relevance: Does the story matter to the outlet's readers? A consumer finance angle works for the Guardian Money section. The same data framed as a B2B insight works for Citywire. Same data, different angle, different outlet.
Common Mistake: The Vanity Survey
A UK fintech ran a survey of 1,000 people asking "Do you worry about your finances?" — 78% said yes. They pitched it to every national journalist and got zero coverage. The finding was obvious, the methodology was unremarkable, and the sample told journalists nothing they did not already know. Compare with a campaign that FOI'd every UK council on debt collection referrals, mapped the data by region, and gave the BBC a genuine exclusive. That earned 40+ links.
Section 4: Assets Checklist
Before outreach begins, every asset must be complete and quality-checked. Delays kill campaigns — journalists work on 24-hour cycles, and if you cannot deliver a graphic within 2 hours of their request, you lose the placement.
Required Assets
- Data set: Cleaned, verified, with methodology statement. If it is survey-based, include sample size, date range, and provider (e.g., Censuswide, Savanta, Opinium — UK journalists know and trust these)
- Key findings document: One page, bullet points, with the top 5 findings ranked by newsworthiness. Include the "so what" for each finding
- Visualisations: 2-3 charts or maps. Use UK-standard formatting (GBP not USD, percentages not decimals, regions that match ONS boundaries). PNG format, at least 1200px wide, with your brand subtly credited
- Spokesperson: Named, with a pre-approved quote and availability for phone interviews within 2 hours. If your spokesperson is unavailable on launch day, postpone
- Landing page: A permanent URL on your domain hosting the full data set, methodology, and visualisations. This is what journalists link to. If it is a PDF or a gated download, you will lose links
- Press release / pitch email: Written after all other assets are complete, not before. The pitch should be 150 words maximum with the key finding in the subject line
Section 5: Timeline
A realistic UK digital PR campaign timeline:
| Week | Activity | |---|---| | Week 1-2 | Data collection and analysis, spokesperson alignment | | Week 3 | Asset production (visuals, landing page, copy) | | Week 4 (Mon-Tue) | Internal review and sign-off | | Week 4 (Wed) | Exclusive offered to tier 1 outlet (24-48 hour window) | | Week 4 (Thu-Fri) | Wider outreach to tier 1 and tier 2 | | Week 5 | Follow-ups, regional/trade angle pitches | | Week 6 | Measurement and reporting |
Do not compress this timeline below 4 weeks. Teams that try to go from data to outreach in 10 days produce sloppy work and damage journalist trust.
Section 6: Measurement
Define success metrics before the campaign launches. Agree them with the client or stakeholder in writing.
- Links earned: Count referring domains, not total links. Use Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to verify. Target depends on the campaign — 10-15 referring domains from DA40+ sites is strong for a UK-focused campaign
- Coverage quality: Score each placement: did it include a link? Was the brand mentioned? Was the key message present? Was it in the target outlet?
- Referral traffic: Track via UTM parameters or Google Analytics referral reports. Set up tracking before launch, not after
- Downstream impact: If the brief objective included lead generation or rankings improvement, track those over 60-90 days post-campaign
What Not to Measure
Do not report AVE (advertising value equivalent). It is discredited by AMEC, the CIPR, and every credible measurement body. Including it in your report signals to informed stakeholders that your measurement approach is not serious.