When persuading a new client to do business with you, a powerful marketing proposal can be the difference maker in helping you WOW them.
A marketing proposal is a professional document used in marketing and business to convey important details about a project to key stakeholders or potential clients. HubSpot explains that, “The goal of the proposal is to receive the approval necessary to begin moving forward with the plan as outlined.”
A marketing proposal identifies a problem and solution, with your business being the client’s solution.
Marketing proposals are crucial because they help you establish the credibility needed to build trust with prospective clients, explain how your business is different from competitors, and communicate your products and services clearly.
In this post, we’ll explain how to write a killer marketing proposal and what big ticket items you should include in the proposal.
Information about the Client
According to David Zomaya, “While it is important for you to present your expertise and authority in the field, don’t sacrifice your focus on the client in the process. Do some research on your potential client. Use that information to frame your proposal.”
The more you know about the client’s values, strengths, and challenges, the more likely you will be able to capture their interest by demonstrating how your business can help them leverage strengths and overcome key challenges. Frame the proposal around the specific client, who they are and what they stand for, and you will appear more trustworthy to them, making it more likely that they will want to do business with you and accept the proposal.
Start out by naming your objectives for solving the client’s problem with the proposed project. Zomaya advises to “take a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) approach to defining your objectives in this section. Doing so will benefit you and the client by removing ambiguity and providing clear success metrics.”
Essentially, the objectives help you convey the path you plan to take to achieve goals and milestones for the project.
The information on the client is part of the introduction to the proposal to concisely reveal the ways in which your ideas will help the client by working together, answering the “what” of the project.
Scope of Work
The proposal should define what the client can expect if they accept the proposal and pay for your proposed project. This could include a social media content calendar, for example, if you’re a marketing agency.
In this section, you could also include the timeline your team envisions for a project and any milestones or goals you would like to achieve. Make a proposed timeline for set-up and beginning stages, ongoing work and tasks, and a schedule for milestones to be achieved.
Lastly, this would be where you spell out any marketing strategies\solutions you plan to implement during the project. Provide case studies, data, or testimonials and reviews to support your strategies to show the strategies are effective and how they’ve worked in the past. The more information you can demonstrate in the scope of work, the better.
In other words, the scope of work section of the proposal clearly describes and identifies the nitty gritty details and answers the “what” of the project.
Costs and Terms
Make sure to outline predicted costs and terms and provide details about work location, payment requirements, dealbreakers, etc. This will give them a good idea of the potential terms and agreements to expect on a legal contract if they agree to the proposal.
If you have a legal team, they can handle drafting a contract and the legalese details for you. Otherwise, there are plenty of boilerplate templates you can use for this to ensure you set yourself up to make a fair deal that benefits both parties.
It’s helpful to stick to a pricing strategy for how you charge clients to ensure you don’t sacrifice your business financial goals to close deals. While it can be tempting to put the most affordable rates possible on the proposal, you don’t want to set unrealistic expectations or negatively impact your revenue. The client will respect that you’re being upfront about the potential costs.
You can always renegotiate costs later on if both agree to add on additional features or hours to the project.
The costs and terms section explains the “how much” part of the project. These big ticket items are essential for your marketing proposal and help you appear professional and tactful, which is more persuasive to potential clients.
Significance of a Marketing Proposal
A marketing proposal can help you make connections with prospective clients. Connections help you close deals and get referrals since relationships and networking are crucial in business.
When doing research on and writing about prospective clients, you get to know your target audience better. You can utilize this information to position your brand and services as better or different than competitors, so your offerings stand out. Adjusting your marketing plan can help you elevate your business.
Developing your scope of work will stimulate creativity as you brainstorm strategies that can be implemented in multiple projects helping your business practice professionalism and stay organized, whether your team is working with a client or internally.
Additionally, nailing down marketing strategies for a proposal can lay the groundwork for a plan your business can replicate in the future with other clients.
The costs and terms help you stick to certain rates, a pricing strategy, and specific terms and expectations to follow ethical business practices and close deals that benefit you and the client.
Writing a killer marketing proposal can seem daunting at first, but can pay off in the long run by creating long term client relationships and driving your business forward.
