In this guide, I’m going to show you how to create a compelling and impactful marketing proposal template in a short amount of time and maximize your close rate with it.

Kickoff

You can begin by qualifying your prospects.

It’s easy to fall for the mistake of chasing each lead that comes your way as you aim to expand your business. But remember all prospects are not created equal. And only after qualifying your potential lead, you’ll know whether it’s worth spending your time and energy on the process of proposal writing. But how do you do that?

By asking questions. Questions help you seek the right information from the client. Here is the list of the questions you can ask for lead qualification.

• How much they score in your ideal client profile?
• What kind of business are they running?
• How large is their organization?
• Do they match your ideal client geographical location?
• Which tools/services have they used in the past to solve the problem they are currently facing?
• What they need and what results they are expecting to get?
• How those results are going to affect their goals, their team, and their business?
• How do they make buying decisions?
• How many people are involved in their decision-making process?
• How does their typical buying process look like?
• How long do they usually take to buy any particular service/product?

Crucial parts of business proposals to make a winning deal for you

All marketing proposal templates should include certain details in order to be clear and effective. Even though the exact format of marketing proposals varies depending on the company and the project, the typical sections you should include in your proposal are these:

Front cover: You only get one chance to make a first impression and the cover page of your proposal is your only chance. A cover page of your marketing proposal should look neat and should be easy to read. An ideal marketing proposal template’s good cover page typically includes,

• Name of applying organization and logo
• Project title
• Date
• Contact Information (personal contact name, address, country, phone, email, website)
• Name of the client you are applying to

Introductory Letter: The introductory letter in the process of proposal writing sets the tone for the rest. The best practice of writing an impressive sales pitch is using your prospective client’s words to them. This means simply describe the problem they are facing. Your introductory letter should include,

• Intro paragraph
• Reason for the pitch
• Highlight the challenges they are facing
• Key benefits 

Statement of Work: It’s easy to fall for the mistake of giving too many details about the solution. The key here is revealing details only about your approach. However, the details should only be about the approach and not about the solution.

• The key here is to give a rough sketch of the method you will use for the execution.
• Include the list of the specific marketing services that are being offered without going into details.

Realistic Timeline: You must break down all the key steps and the timeline for your client in your proposal. Providing an accurate timeline with deliverables allows you to set the client’s expectations early.

• List of design activities to perform
• The dates on which the activities should be completed (start and end time)
• Expected duration required for each task

Interactive Pricing Table: Keep things short and to the point and use a pricing table with a range of options that let your prospect or customer edit the quantities, select the services that best fit their needs, and allow them to customize your solution.

• Standard package (includes all the services mentioned)
• Less expensive package (where a client can choose the services)
• Deluxe package (with extra services)

Why Work With Us: You can fill out this section of your business proposal template with the expertise you have, the awards you won, the big list of your happy clients.

• Name, faces, and credentials, background information of the people who will be working on the campaign
• Client benefits

Case Study/Testimonials: In this section, you can make your clients visualize themselves working with you by telling the past clients success stories with similar issues.

• Project goal
• Solution
• Result

Terms of Services: Keep the contract and your terms and conditions part of your business proposal template and get them signed together to avoid future conflict.

• Payment
• Warranty
• Termination 
• Agreement

Next Steps: It is where you need to explain in-depth what you want your client to do next to get things rolling. You can include something like,

• Sign the proposal (digitally with e-signature)
• The initial amount to be payable while signing the contract
• Schedule the next meeting call to discuss further steps.

Wrap Up

If you follow the process and the format above, you won’t face any challenges and you’ll find yourself writing a successful marketing proposal template, the one that pulls together all the required information concisely and helps the prospect to make an informed buying decision.