A channel strategy brief template that forces the hard questions early

This template structures a channel strategy brief around five sections: the business constraint being addressed, the channel and budget recommendation, the success threshold and timeline, the risk notes, and the decision rule if the threshold isn't met.

The risk notes section is the one most templates skip and the one that matters most — a strategy that only states the upside sets up an unpleasant surprise the first time a channel underperforms for a reason that was actually foreseeable.

Use it as a working document during the strategy stage, not a retrospective write-up after decisions have already been made informally. Filling it in forces the same disciplined questions in the same order, every time.