Marketing proposal template

See a marketing proposal as a live page

Growth Marketing Partnership is a full example of the format: a 90-day marketing retainer proposal, sent as a web page the client can read, compare and accept. Fourteen sections, two monthly options, one recommended. It is an example proposal created to show the structure: Wrenfield Studio is a fictional agency, and no client relationship, result or testimonial is claimed.

• Opportunity and goals: good marketing is already happening, it just needs to work as one system. Four goals describe how the marketing will run, none of them promises a number.
• Recommendation: build the growth system before adding more activity, through four connected workstreams.
• Scope: growth strategy, campaigns, content and creative, and measurement, run as one plan.
• Operating model: a six-step process, a weekly rhythm and a plan for the first two weeks.
• Investment: Growth Core at $6,500 a month, or Growth Partner at $9,500 a month, recommended, with a 3-month initial commitment.

When you are ready to send your own, you can create a proposal with Pegasy.

What a marketing proposal needs to do

A marketing proposal is read by someone deciding whether to hand part of their growth to you for months. It has to take them from their situation to a decision, in this order.

1. Context: what already works, and what is not connected yet.
2. Priorities: the few goals the engagement is for.
3. Recommendation: how you advise running the work, and why.
4. Work: the workstreams and deliverables, with what is not included.
5. Operating rhythm: how the relationship runs each week and each month.
6. Investment: the options, the commitment and the billing.
7. Decision: what the client accepts, and what happens next.

Skip a step and the client fills the gap with assumptions, usually about scope or about results.

Example structure: the sections that help the buyer decide

The live example has fourteen sections. These are the ones that do the most work, and why.

• Project goals: four goals written as operating outcomes (one roadmap, more creative throughput, clearer measurement, a weekly rhythm), so the client can agree on them without a forecast.
• Our recommendation: one statement, build the growth system before adding more activity, then the four workstreams it implies.
• Scope of work: what each workstream produces, listed by deliverable.
• Key numbers: the size of the engagement at a glance, as planned delivery.
• Selected work: a short selection of relevant engagements, shown for the type of work rather than for their numbers.
• Tools: the stack the work runs on, and who owns each account.
• Process and project rhythm: the path from audit to scaling, and the weekly cadence that keeps it moving.
• The first two weeks: what happens right after acceptance, day by day.
• Investment, FAQ and next steps: two options, the questions clients ask, and a three-step close.

Scope and operating model for a marketing retainer

"Marketing services" is not a scope. A retainer needs workstreams with deliverables, and an operating model that ties them together. The example uses four workstreams.

• Growth strategy: a 90-day roadmap, campaign priorities, an audience and offer review, and channel planning.
• Campaigns: campaign concepts, launch planning, paid and organic coordination, and optimization recommendations.
• Content and creative: campaign messaging, creative briefs, content concepts and asset adaptation.
• Measurement: a KPI framework, channel reporting, a weekly review and experiment tracking.

Then say what is outside the fee. In the example, paid media budgets, photography, video production and website development are quoted separately. For the scope section itself, use the scope of work template.

Key numbers: delivery, not promises

A marketing proposal is tempted to promise growth. The example puts numbers on the work instead, which the agency controls.

• 90 days of initial engagement.
• 4 core workstreams.
• 12 weekly growth reviews.
• 3 priority acquisition channels.
• 24 initial campaign and creative concepts.
• 1 shared reporting system.

These are example delivery numbers for the recommended option, not business outcomes. Results depend on the client's market, offer and budget, and a proposal should not present them as certain.

Process and project rhythm: what is delivered, and how it runs

The process describes what happens over the engagement. The rhythm describes how the relationship operates each week. A retainer proposal needs both.

The process, in six steps

1. Audit and alignment: the offer, the audience, the channels and the current data.
2. Priorities: the highest-value opportunities for the first 90 days.
3. Campaign system: messaging, campaigns and creative briefs built around those priorities.
4. Launch: the first coordinated initiatives go into market.
5. Learn and optimize: performance and customer behavior reviewed every week.
6. Scale what works: more effort behind validated opportunities, less on low-value activity.

The weekly rhythm

• Monday: priorities and performance review, 45 minutes.
• Tuesday and Wednesday: production and campaign work, with updates written down.
• Thursday: launches and optimization.
• Friday: growth review and the decisions for next week, 30 minutes.
• Monthly: a strategy review with the client's decision-maker.

In the example, the client gives about 90 minutes a week. The first two weeks are planned day by day, and by day 10 the priorities are aligned and the first growth cycle is ready to launch.

Tools: context, not the proposal

A list of tools does not sell a retainer, but it answers practical questions: which accounts the client keeps, what is shared and what is included.

• Google Analytics 4: site and customer behavior, in the client's account.
• Google Ads and Meta Ads: campaigns managed by the agency, in the client's accounts.
• Klaviyo: email and SMS flows for lifecycle work.
• Looker Studio: one shared dashboard for the weekly reviews.
• Notion: roadmap, briefs and decisions in one place.

In the example, the ad platforms and Klaviyo stay in the client's name and are billed to them directly.

Pricing a marketing retainer with two options

Present two complete monthly options instead of a menu of services, mark the one you recommend, and state the commitment and what the fee excludes.

• Growth Core, $6,500 a month: growth strategy, campaign planning, content direction, weekly optimization, reporting and one primary acquisition channel.
• Growth Partner, $9,500 a month, recommended: everything in Growth Core, plus multi-channel coordination, higher creative throughput, lifecycle strategy, an expanded experiment roadmap and priority strategic support.
• Terms: a 3-month initial commitment, billed monthly. Any paid media budget is funded directly by the client and is separate from the agency fee.

These figures belong to a fictional agency and are used to show the structure. They are not market rates or a pricing recommendation.

What to include in your marketing proposal

• Client context: what works today, and what is disconnected.
• Goals: three or four, written as operating outcomes.
• Recommendation: one sentence, then the reasons.
• Scope: workstreams with their deliverables, and what is not included.
• Deliverables: counted wherever you can.
• Timeline and cadence: the first two weeks, the weekly rhythm, the monthly review.
• Tools: who owns each account.
• Measurement: what is reported, how often, and which decisions it feeds.
• Pricing: two options, one recommended, with the commitment.
• Terms: billing, media spend, scope changes and notice.
• Next steps: what the client accepts, and what happens after.

FAQ

Start with the structure, send it when you are ready

Use the structure above for your next marketing proposal. When you are ready to send it, build it in Pegasy as a live page your client can read, compare and accept. Creative work has its own guides too: the graphic design proposal template, the video production proposal template and the photography proposal template.