How to evaluate a marketing proposal in ten minutes

Aug 22
4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Introduction

Three proposals arrive. One is beautifully designed, one is a spreadsheet, one is four paragraphs in an email. All quote different amounts for work described in different terms.

Choosing between them on impression is the default and it is a poor method. There are half a dozen checks that produce a defensible answer, and none of them take long.

1. How to evaluate a marketing proposal: count the deliverables first

Before reading anything about strategy, find the list of things you will receive and count them.

If you cannot produce that count, that is the finding. A proposal without countable deliverables cannot be compared against another proposal, cannot be held to, and cannot be judged as delivered or not.

Write the count next to the price. This single step reorders most shortlists, because the impressive document frequently commits to less than the plain one.

2. Find the assumptions and the exclusions

Read for what is assumed and what is left out, which is where the real cost sits.

Common assumptions: that you will supply photography, that copy is provided, that the website can be modified, that your team will do the internal work, that ad budget is separate from fees.

Ad budget is the big one. A proposal quoting a monthly fee excluding media spend is a very different number from one including it, and both are presented the same way.

3. Check who will actually do the work

The people in the meeting are frequently not the people doing the work.

Ask directly, and expect it in writing: who will be working on this, how much of their time, and who supervises. A named person with stated involvement is a commitment; "our team" is not.

Also ask what happens if that person leaves. Small suppliers depend on individuals, which is fine as long as it is acknowledged rather than concealed.

4. Look for evidence they read your brief

A proposal is partly a work sample, and the clearest signal is specificity.

Does it reference your actual numbers, your actual market, the things you said you had already tried? Or could the middle section be sent to any business in any sector?

Templates are not automatically bad — a supplier with a repeatable process is often a good sign. But a template with no engagement with your situation predicts execution with no engagement either.

5. Compare on cost per outcome, not on headline price

Divide the total cost by the deliverables, then think about what each is worth to you.

The cheaper proposal is frequently more expensive per unit of work, and occasionally the reverse. Neither becomes visible without doing the arithmetic.

Then ask the harder question: what would this need to produce to pay for itself? If a customer is worth 2,000 and the engagement costs 20,000, you need ten additional customers. Stating that plainly tends to clarify whether the proposal is ambitious or unrealistic.

6. Check ownership and what remains at the end

The clause that determines whether you are buying an asset or renting activity.

Look for explicit statements that accounts, data, creative source files and documentation belong to you and transfer on completion. Its absence is not an oversight to fix later — ask about it before deciding.

Also ask what exists when the engagement ends. A proposal that produces a working system and trained staff is a different purchase from one that produces twelve months of activity.

7. Find the measurement and the review point

A proposal should say how it will be judged and when.

Look for named metrics, a baseline, and a review date. If those are absent, ask for them to be added — the willingness to be measured is one of the more reliable indicators available.

Be suspicious of proposals measuring only leading indicators like impressions and rankings, and of any that guarantee an outcome. Both are ways of avoiding the question.

8. Ask each supplier what they would not do

The final and most useful question, asked of everyone on the shortlist.

What in our brief do you think is wrong? What would you not spend money on? What is the cheapest thing we could do instead of this?

Suppliers willing to argue you out of spending money are demonstrating judgement you would otherwise have to buy at a much higher price. Those who agree with everything have told you what kind of engagement it will be.

Conclusion

Count the deliverables before reading the strategy, identify assumptions and exclusions — especially whether media spend is included — and confirm who will do the work by name.

Judge whether the proposal engages with your specific numbers, compare on cost per deliverable and on what it must produce to pay for itself, insist on ownership and handover terms, require a metric and a review date, and ask every supplier what they would advise you not to do.