Kickoff brief template for your new agency

A kickoff brief is one page covering the eight things only you can supply: your story, your proof, your news calendar, your targets, your goal, your no-fly list, your decision map, and your assets. Hand it over before the first call and a good agency pitches in week one. Without it, the first month goes to discovery, and at typical retainers of $5,000 to $15,000 a month, that is the most expensive month of the relationship. The cost outlasts that first month, too: poor onboarding and unclear goals rank among the top reasons client-agency relationships break down.

Every line below is something a reporter will eventually ask to verify, so write it down once at the start.

The brief: copy this and fill it in

1. The one-sentence story - what you do and why it matters, in a sentence a reporter would repeat without you in the room. If you can't write it yet, that is the kickoff's first job, not the agency's.

2. The proof - three to five checkable facts: revenue or growth rate, users or customers, funding raised, logos you can disclose, a documented outcome. Coverage runs on facts a reporter can verify. Flag what is on the record versus off.

3. The news calendar - every dated event in the next two quarters: launches, a funding announcement, a major hire, a report you are publishing, a conference. PR needs fuel, and this is the fuel. Mark which dates are firm and which are soft.

4. The targets - the real outlets and the buyer you want to reach (WSJ for credibility, TechCrunch for the launch, a vertical trade your customers actually read). Naming the reader is more useful than naming the logo.

5. The goal and the metric - what coverage is for (support a raise, build buyer trust, recruit, own a category) and the single number you will judge it by. One goal beats five.

6. The no-fly list - topics you won't discuss, competitors you won't name, claims legal won't clear, and any embargoed or sensitive context.

7. The decision map - who approves a pitch, who approves a quote, who is the day-to-day contact, and the turnaround you can commit to. Slow approvals on your side are the most common reason agency output stalls.

8. The assets - links to your boilerplate, logos, headshots, fact sheet, and past coverage. Note what exists and what they need to build.

What to demand back

The brief is half the contract. Within two weeks the agency should hand you the other half. Use this as your acceptance checklist:

• A media list built against your targets, not a generic blast.
• A first-quarter plan tied to your news calendar, naming which event gets which push.
• A messaging draft that takes your one-sentence story and sharpens it.
• A reporting cadence with the metric from section 5 written into it. The monthly PR reporting template page covers exactly what that report should contain.

If section 1 is still blank, fix that before you hand anything over: a sharp story is the one input an agency cannot supply for you.