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Sneha J

May 25, 2021

List of Most Common Marketing Proposal Writing Errors

Marketing proposal writing errors

Common marketing proposal writing errors

Your marketing proposal is the formal presentation of your company, your marketing services, the clients you serve.

You can use a marketing proposal any time when you want to get a new client or if you have an existing client that wants a new set of marketing services from your company.

So, to ensure your business remains competitive and effective, you need to craft a marketing proposal that is well organized, concise, and contains all the relevant details the prospect needs.

Business owners normally ask for multiple proposals from multiple companies to decide which one is the best fit for their project needs.

Yet, we see many instances where sales professionals make common marketing proposal writing errors which cost the business tremendously.

Of course, you know how beneficial it is to tailor your marketing proposal template as per the needs of the prospective clients. However, sometimes, recognizing what not to do is equally important. Here are some of the top mistakes you must avoid when creating a marketing proposal.

 

Mistake #1 Boring, formal document

The reader needs videos, images, pie charts, graphs, and most importantly “Colors”. Your marketing proposal should stay in their minds because of the visuals you’ve used. Visuals are the first impression readers get of your brand. Visuals keep the reader engaged and urge them to continue reading.

Gone are the days wherein the proposals are sent using printed papers. Even the days of sending proposals in PDF, MS Word, PPT format are numbered. The technology has been such great enabled, it allows you to showcase your best work using videos, tables. Have a short video of a client testimonial – Why not include it in your proposal? Old PDF, MS Word will not allow you to display and run your video.

Fortunately, there is a way you can easily avoid these new-gen mistakes proposal writers make. A marketing proposal template- it allows you to customize your proposal and make it more interactive and more visual. That’s just one of many benefits of using a template for creating a marketing proposal. In fact, more than just making your proposal interactive, the right proposal management software overcomes several challenges associated with marketing proposal writing.

 

Mistake #2 Not asking enough questions

The cost of writing proposals for unqualified sales leads is bigger than merely wasting time. Higher sales outcomes are not often achieved by increasing conversion rates. Instead greater sales are sometimes accomplished by enhancing the upfront procedures like qualifying the sales leads that are coming into your company.

And if you start writing proposals as soon as you receive leads, certainly you are not working smart. There are many variations of qualifying leads – the intent of the prospect, size of the deal, timeline to buy your marketing services, decision-makers involved, cost-benefit involved, etc. You may feel overwhelmed if you try to answer all of these questions at once.  But hey, you have got to start somewhere, right?

As you continue to work on lead qualification, you can come up with a checklist, quick calculations, and related best practices, to refine the qualification process for prospective leads.

 

Mistake #3 Making common blunder of excluding a cover letter

You can’t be making this specific mistake proposal writers make. You have to think like a PRO, you have to make it easier for prospect/buyer to quickly shortlist you because you know that your marketing services are the best for their business problems. You have to write a proposal with an executive summary that summarises your understanding of the problem which the client is trying to address and you have the right solution (And you may have delivered recently to similar customers).

Not only it is the purchasing person/buyer but all the decision-makers, influencers, and other stakeholders will be looking for quicker ways to evaluate your entire proposal. If your proposal has the right executive summary, they will be happy to delve further.

 

Mistake #4 Not focusing on the customer’s fears

Your prospective clients do not care about your business your marketing services. I’m sorry but it’s true. All they care is about how it benefits them. Don’t take it personally but it’s just natural human behavior. And it would be a big mistake – if you are talking mainly about your company, your achievements, your success, your process throughout the proposal.

When you’re pitching your marketing services it is absolutely essential to highlight how your services will help your prospective client and not your business. You have to sing the tune that your prospect would like to hear. You should craft the marketing proposal template such that prospective clients will feel that you understand HIS BUSINESS, his problem/pain areas, the changes he would like to implement, the results he would like to see.

Keep that evaluation ready for your prospect. Let him know that you understand his business, processes, the problems very well, and how well you can help him overcome those problems, grow his business, etc.

 

Mistake #5 Not explaining who’ll do what 

Your team impression matters. Every prospect wants an easy buying experience and this section plays a very important role in that. So make your marketing proposal answers the following questions,

  • Who are the key players? Their experiences, educational backgrounds, and skills.
  • Do your key players have industry experience? If not what experience do they have that’s helpful for marketing?
  • What duties will each player perform? What authority and responsibilities are given to each player?

 

Mistake #6 Not taking full responsibility of proofreading

Do you know, if you are sending a proposal with typos, misalignment, grammar mistakes, you are preparing yourself to lose the deal?

Typos and proofing errors in your proposal highlight your lack of seriousness. Only an unprofessional proposal writer would be careless enough to do so. Clients might think that if you are not taking time to verify & address these simple mistakes then what are other shortcuts are might taking during the course of engagement/ marketing assignment?

Plan it out. Create an outline. Write the copy. Put it through proposal automation software, use Grammarly kind of proofing tools. Check for spelling errors, improper words, misalignments, formatting woos. Correct anything and everything which will not reflect well on your business.

 

Mistake #7 Sending proposals without CTA

After all the efforts you’ve put into crafting a beautiful marketing proposal template but if you miss out few small points in it then all the efforts will go in vain. Your beautifully crafted proposal should be easy to close.

 

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