Campaign media planning guide
Make the brief useful before production begins.
A concrete brief makes photography, video, and content-planning proposals easier to compare. It also prevents avoidable confusion about deadlines, approvals, usage, and what the final delivery actually includes.
01 · Objective
Name the decision or action.
State what the media should help the audience understand, remember, decide, or do. “Create a video” is a deliverable; “introduce the candidate’s public-safety plan before the forum” is an objective.
02 · Audience
Identify who needs to see it.
Name the geographic, civic, donor, volunteer, press, or stakeholder audience and the channels where the work will appear. Avoid sensitive personal targeting information in an initial inquiry.
03 · Deliverables
List the actual files.
Specify the number of edited photographs or videos, approximate lengths, vertical or horizontal formats, caption needs, cutdowns, thumbnails, raw-footage expectations, and accessibility requirements.
04 · Dates
Map production, review, and launch.
Separate the event or shoot date from the first-review date, revision window, final-delivery date, and publication date. Note which deadlines are fixed by an election or public event.
05 · Approvals
Assign one accountable reviewer.
Identify who can approve the brief, locations, on-camera participants, claims, music, disclaimers, and final assets. Include any campaign, platform, or legal review requirements.
06 · Usage
Define where the work will run.
State whether assets are intended for organic social media, paid advertising, email, websites, broadcast, print, press distribution, or an archive—and for how long.
07 · Budget
Share a workable range.
A range makes it possible to align crew size, travel, equipment, production time, editing depth, revisions, and delivery speed. A proposal should confirm the final scope and price in writing.
A concise first-inquiry outline
- Objective
- What should this project help the campaign accomplish?
- Audience and channels
- Who is it for, and where will they see it?
- Deliverables
- What files, lengths, formats, and accessibility elements are required?
- Schedule
- What are the production, review, delivery, and launch dates?
- Approver and constraints
- Who decides, and what location, compliance, or brand rules apply?
- Budget range
- What range should the proposed scope fit?
Before sending private information
Use the first inquiry to describe the project, not to send voter files, donor records, passwords, unpublished opposition research, payment information, or another person’s sensitive data. Confirm a secure transfer method separately if confidential materials are genuinely required.