The short answer
Check that the proposal restates your goal, names the work in units, says who will do it, separates fees from ad spend and other costs, measures success against a stated starting point, and has a term and exit you can live with. If you can’t say what you’ll receive each month, you can’t hold anyone to it.
In this guide
A good proposal is a plan you could hold someone to. A weak one is a description of an agency’s services with your logo on the front. The difference usually isn’t obvious on a first read, so go through it with specific questions.
Does it understand your business?
The first pages should play back your situation: what you sell, who buys it, what you’re trying to change and what’s been tried. If you could swap your name for any other business and nothing would need rewriting, the proposal is a template.
Look for: a restated goal in your words, the constraints you mentioned, and questions they still need answering. A proposal that raises sensible questions is usually more trustworthy than one that has an answer for everything.
Is the work specific?
Scope should be written in units you can check.
| Vague | Specific |
|---|---|
| Ongoing optimisation | Weekly search-term review and monthly bid and budget changes, reported in writing |
| Content as required | Two 1,200-word guides a month, each with keyword research and one round of edits |
| Social media management | Twelve posts a month on two platforms, plus replies to comments within one working day |
| SEO improvements | A technical audit in month one, then fixes to the top ten issues, in priority order |
If the scope is vague, ask them to rewrite it in units before you compare prices. Otherwise the cheapest quote is simply the one that promised least.
Who will do the work?
The proposal should name the people, or at least their roles and experience, and say what share of the work they do. Ask whether anything is subcontracted — overseas production, freelance copywriters, white-label ad management — and who is accountable for it.
What will it cost in total?
Fees are only part of the cost. Build a full picture before comparing proposals:
- Fees — monthly, project or percentage of ad spend, and whether they rise
- Ad spend — the money that goes to Google, Meta or other platforms, which is almost never included in a management fee
- Production — photography, video, design, copywriting
- Tools and licences — software, stock images, call tracking, email platforms
- Set-up costs — tracking, landing pages, account restructures
- Tax — whether figures include VAT, GST, HST or sales tax, depending on where you are
Separate one-off costs from monthly ones. For typical fee structures and indicative UK prices, see what agencies charge.
How will success be measured?
The proposal should name the measures that matter to your business — enquiries, qualified leads, sales, cost per customer — plus a baseline taken before work starts, a target or expected direction, and how often you’ll hear about it.
Be cautious when every measure is something the agency controls entirely, such as posts published, impressions or rankings for chosen terms. They aren’t useless, but they aren’t results. What to measure in your marketing explains the difference.
Timescales should match the channel. Paid advertising produces useful data in weeks; SEO usually takes months. A proposal that promises fast SEO results is either optimistic or measuring something easy.
Term, notice and ownership
- Minimum term and notice. How long you’re committed, and how much notice you must give.
- Ownership. Your ad accounts, analytics, domain, website and creative should belong to your business. Check what you keep if you leave.
- Ad spend billing. Paying platforms directly keeps a clear record of what was spent. If spend is billed through the agency, ask for platform invoices.
- Price rises. When and by how much fees can change.
Warning signs
- Guaranteed rankings, leads or returns
- Scope described only in outcomes the agency can’t control, or only in activities with no link to outcomes
- A request for your passwords rather than access through each platform’s user management
- Ad accounts set up in the agency’s name, not yours
- Pressure to sign by a deadline
- No mention of who does the work
Comparing two or more proposals
Only compare proposals that answered the same brief. If they didn’t, send each agency the same marketing brief and ask them to re-quote. Then line them up on the same questions: scope in units, people, total cost, measures and exit. The most useful section of any proposal is often what it excludes — read that first.
What to do next
- Ask for the scope to be rewritten in units if it isn’t already.
- Build a total cost that includes ad spend, production, tools, set-up and tax.
- Confirm the baseline, the measures and the reporting rhythm in writing.
- Read the term, notice and ownership clauses before anything else is agreed.
Apply this to your business
Check your proposal
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