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Craft a stellar digital marketing proposal.

Before you can market a product or service, you need to market your marketing skills. Explore these tips and insights, and learn to write a winning proposal.

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A marketer sitting at a table creating a marketing proposal on their laptop

What is a marketing proposal?

A marketing proposal is a detailed plan that outlines potential advertising, marketing, and brand awareness efforts for a prospective client’s business. It’s drafted by a marketing agency or in-house marketers and addressed to stakeholders at the company. This written proposal should identify the scope of work, the marketing strategy, and the project goals.

A proposal can cover everything from social media marketing to traditional TV commercials to search engine optimization (SEO). You’ll need a marketing proposal when you pitch new work to both current and prospective clients. A good proposal is thorough and outlines the campaign’s specifics, what channels it will be distributed on, the timeline of the project, campaign pricing, and more. Keep in mind that a complete, well-written proposal can help you wow potential clients and earn you new business.

Start with a marketing proposal template

When do you use a marketing proposal?

A good marketing proposal helps convey your strategy and creative vision to a client. It brings them in on the plan, shows them you’ve thought through the details, and outlines specific benefits your marketing campaign can achieve for their business. It also sets expectations for all parties and provides metrics to measure success. A marketing proposal can be solicited and expected by your client, or unsolicited and more informal. You may need to craft different styles of proposals depending on your client, their industry, and the type of marketing you suggest.

A graphic of a marketing proposal on a tablet device

What to include in your marketing proposal.

Campaign briefing

As with a business proposal, you’ll need to include a cover page or executive summary in your marketing proposal. This section outlines the significant details of the marketing campaign. Start with a problem statement that identifies what you seek to solve with this campaign. Then highlight the objective and goals of the proposal. Ground your goals in the client’s problem or pain points to make sure they resonate with your stakeholders.

You should also specify the target audience for the campaign or who it is designed to reach. This is also the section to identify the primary brand message. What do you want to say about your brand or product, and why does the audience need to know?

Marketing Strategy

Next, briefly explain how you plan to take your campaign from a good idea to a successful marketing effort. Get more detailed in describing specific marketing tactics. How do you plan to reach your target audience? How will you convey the brand message, and what action will your customers take? If you’re in content marketing, you may write blog posts or craft a new website to ensure customers get the information they need. If you’re in digital marketing, think about the SEO campaigns you can create.

This section of the proposal should also include information related to campaign pricing and payment terms. If you plan to run TV spots or digital ads, consider how those costs factor into your budget. Lend credibility to your strategy outline with case studies and client testimonials to show how your previous marketing projects have succeeded.

Campaign metrics

Consider how you’ll measure the success of a campaign. Each client and campaign is different, and success will look different for everyone. They may want to increase their brand awareness, or they could just want a boost in sales. By identifying these expectations upfront, you reduce the risk of confusion or disappointment later.

If you’re in digital marketing, you can choose particular stats, like price per click (PPC) on digital ads. Alternately, you can rely on more concrete numbers, like the number of new sales or the increased revenue during a specific period. Whatever metrics you choose, show how you plan to track those numbers and share your findings with the client.

Be sure to estimate your results and give broad projections about what you expect to see. This can help manage expectations and set you and your campaign up for success.

Next steps

Outline what comes next for the campaign. Include the general timelines, the expected campaign deliverables, and what you and your marketing team will do next if the campaign is approved. After you’ve outlined these steps, include a space for a signature. If your proposal is approved and signed, you’re ready to hit the ground running.

A graphic of a marketing proposal on a mobile phone next to one on a laptop

Seal the deal with Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Make it easier for your customers or new clients to sign on the dotted line with e-sign. With digital documents, you can create and save marketing proposal templates to keep on hand. When you’ve got the perfect proposal drafted, you can easily edit, track, and change the document as needed. So if your client has edits to your marketing ideas, you don’t have to start from scratch. Then simply send documents for signature with a click, and start your marketing services as soon as possible.

Draft your marketing proposal with Adobe Acrobat Pro

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