What should a marketing proposal include?

A summary, audit findings, goals and KPIs, strategy by channel, monthly deliverables, reporting, timeline, pricing and terms, plus relevant case studies.

How do marketing agencies price proposals?

Most use monthly retainers based on deliverables or channels, often with a minimum term. Setup work and ad spend are usually listed separately.

Should I promise results in a marketing proposal?

Set targets and explain how you will measure them, but avoid guarantees you cannot control, such as exact sales numbers.

Should ad spend be included in the agency fee?

Keep them separate. Show your management fee and a recommended ad budget so the client sees both clearly.

Marketing Agency Proposal: Structure, Pricing, Examples

A marketing agency proposal should connect every activity you propose to a business goal the client cares about. Open with what your audit found, agree measurable goals and KPIs, set out a channel strategy, list monthly deliverables, explain reporting, and present retainer options with ad spend shown separately. Clients buy confidence that the money will turn into leads or sales, so make the link obvious.

Marketing is one of the most crowded proposal markets. Most agency proposals look the same: a capabilities deck with a price on the last page. Here is how to stand out.

Start with a mini audit

Before you write, spend an hour reviewing the client's marketing. Look at their website conversion points, search visibility, social accounts, ads (using public ad libraries where available), email capture and reviews. Three or four sharp findings do more than ten pages of agency credentials, because they prove you have already started thinking about their business.

Finding	Why it matters
No booking button above the fold on mobile	Most visitors arrive on phones and leave before scrolling
Instagram posting dropped from weekly to monthly	Reach and engagement fall when posting is irregular
No email capture on the website	Paid traffic leaves with no way to follow up
Google Business Profile missing services and photos	Weaker visibility in local search

Proposal structure

Executive summary: the goal, the gap, the plan and the investment.
Audit findings: what you saw and what it costs them.
Goals and KPIs: what success looks like in 90 days and 12 months.
Strategy by channel: why each channel, what you will do there.
Monthly deliverables: countable outputs.
Reporting: what they will see, how often.
Timeline: onboarding and the first 90 days.
Investment: retainer options plus recommended ad spend.
Case studies, terms and next steps.

Goals and KPIs

Turn vague wishes into numbers the client can track. "More brand awareness" is not a goal; "increase qualified enquiries from 30 to 50 a month" is.

Goal	KPI	Baseline	90-day target
More enquiries	Form and call leads per month	30	45
Lower acquisition cost	Cost per lead	$[x]	$[y]
Grow owned audience	Email subscribers	800	1,400

Be honest about what you control. You can control output and optimization; you cannot control whether the client's sales team follows up. Say so.

Strategy by channel

For each channel, write one paragraph: why it fits this client, what you will do, and how it ties to a KPI. Resist adding channels to make the proposal look bigger. Two channels done well beat five done badly.

Monthly deliverables

Deliverable	Per month
Social posts, written and designed	12
Short-form videos	4
Paid ad campaigns managed	2 platforms
Email campaigns	2
Performance report and call	1

Retainer pricing

	Foundation	Growth (recommended)	Scale
Channels managed	1	2	3
Content pieces per month	8	16	24
Paid ads management	No	Yes	Yes
Strategy call	Monthly	Fortnightly	Weekly
Monthly fee	$[fee]	$[fee]	$[fee]
Recommended ad spend	n/a	$[amount]	$[amount]

State the minimum term, the notice period and the setup fee if you charge one. Read retainer vs project pricing for how to structure terms.

Reporting

Tell the client exactly what they will receive: a monthly dashboard or PDF, the metrics in it, and a call to discuss next steps. Reporting is a common reason clients leave agencies, so making it concrete in the proposal is a selling point.

The first 90 days

Weeks 1 to 2: access, tracking setup, brand and audience workshop.
Weeks 3 to 4: content calendar, first campaigns live.
Weeks 5 to 8: test creative and audiences, optimize weekly.
Weeks 9 to 12: first quarterly review against KPIs, plan next quarter.

Example summary

Example

Northside Fitness wants 60 new members before the January rush. Its ads have stopped working: cost per lead has doubled since summer and enquiries go unanswered for hours.

We will rebuild the ad campaigns around a free-week offer, launch a landing page that books trials directly, and set up instant text and email follow-up so every lead hears back in five minutes. We are targeting 180 leads and 60 new members by January 15, with weekly reports. The Growth retainer is $[fee] a month on a three-month minimum, with a recommended ad budget of $[amount].

Common mistakes in agency proposals

Leading with awards and the agency team page.
Guaranteeing sales numbers you cannot control.
Bundling ad spend into the fee, which hides what you charge.
Proposing every channel because you offer them all.
No reporting detail, which leaves clients wondering what they will see.

When the proposal is out, use the sequence in proposal follow-up emails. For the full method behind every section, read how to write a business proposal.

Marketing Agency Proposal: Structure, Pricing and Examples