The number one reason SaaS videos disappoint isn't bad production. It's bad briefs.
A vague brief produces a generic video. An overly prescriptive brief kills creative opportunity. A brief that describes what the video should look like instead of what it should accomplish produces something pretty but useless.
Here's how to write a brief that leads to a video you're actually proud of.
What a brief is (and isn't)
A creative brief is a strategic document that defines what the video needs to accomplish. It is not a script. It is not a storyboard. It is not a shot list.
Your job is to define the destination. The production team's job is to figure out the route. The more clearly you define where you need to end up, the better route they'll find.
The essential sections
1. The objective (Required)
What is this video supposed to do? Not "what is it about" — what business outcome does it need to drive?
Good: "Drive 500 free trial signups in the first 30 days of the launch campaign."
Bad: "Create awareness for our new product."
Be specific. "Awareness" is not a measurable objective. Signups, demo requests, and pipeline generation are.
2. The audience (Required)
Who is watching this? Not your total addressable market — the specific person who will see this specific video in a specific context.
Good: "VP of Engineering at B2B SaaS companies (200-1000 employees) who are evaluating observability tools. They'll see this on LinkedIn or our homepage."
Bad: "SaaS professionals."
Include: their title, what they care about, what they've tried before, and where they'll encounter the video.
3. The single message (Required)
If the viewer remembers one thing after watching, what should it be? One sentence. Not three.
Good: "Our product finds production bugs in seconds that currently take engineering teams hours to diagnose."
Bad: "We offer a comprehensive observability platform with logging, monitoring, alerting, and distributed tracing capabilities."
If you can't get it to one sentence, you need to make two videos.
4. The proof points (Recommended)
What evidence supports your single message? These are the specific facts, metrics, or stories that make the message credible.
- Customer results ("Company X reduced incident response time by 73%")
- Product capabilities ("Real-time log analysis across 10,000+ services")
- Competitive advantages ("The only tool that integrates natively with...")
Don't list every feature. List the 2-3 proof points that most directly support the single message.
5. The constraints (Required)
Be upfront about limitations:
- Runtime: "Must be under 60 seconds for social distribution"
- Budget: "Total budget is $X"
- Timeline: "Need final delivery by [date]"
- Brand guidelines: Link to your brand book or attach relevant assets
- Approvals: "Final approval comes from [name/role]"
- Mandatories: "Must include the product logo and website URL"
6. References (Recommended)
Share examples of videos you admire — but explain why.
Good: "We like this video's pacing and the way it builds tension before the product reveal. The visual style is too minimal for us — we want something more dynamic."
Bad: "We want something like Apple's videos."
References are most useful when you explain what specifically you like (and don't like) about each one.
7. What this video is NOT (Optional but valuable)
Sometimes the most useful thing in a brief is clarity about what you don't want.
- "This is NOT a product demo. We have a separate video for that."
- "This should NOT feel corporate. Our audience is skeptical of polished marketing."
- "We do NOT want a talking head format."
Common brief mistakes
Over-scripting the video. If you've written the script, you don't need a production company — you need an animator. The best studios need creative freedom to find the best approach. Give them the strategy, not the script.
Designing by committee. A brief approved by twelve stakeholders says nothing. Keep the approval chain short: one decision-maker, one reviewer, done.
Describing the visuals instead of the feeling. "We want lots of blue and geometric shapes" is less useful than "we want the video to feel innovative and precise." The production team knows how to translate feelings into visuals — that's literally their job.
Forgetting distribution. A video designed for your homepage hero section has different requirements than one designed for TikTok ads. The brief should specify where the video will live before production begins.
The cheat version
If you don't have time for a full brief, answer these five questions and send them to your production partner:
- What should people do after watching this?
- Who specifically is watching?
- What's the one thing they should remember?
- Where will they see it?
- What does success look like in 30 days?
Five questions. One paragraph each. That's enough to start a productive creative conversation.
The brief isn't paperwork. It's the foundation of the entire project. Spend the time on it, and everything that follows gets better.
