You know how this works. People realise you are in the provider field; they ask about your skills and what you do for a living. Maybe ask “How does it work?”
Maybe you do active outreach. You might pay to advertise your services. Eventually You get a few enquiries. Answer a few questions. Maybe take the time and effort to research the client, their website, and their competition and present this to the prospective client, hopeful of landing a contract.
Then… nothing. You do not hear from them again – or you are given a push back.
“It’s not the right time” or “We don’t have the budget at the moment”
These are not good answers, they probably hide an uncomfortable truth.
That truth is – They still need marketing – but they have decided you are not the right person for the job.
Ouch.
Where did you lose it? What went wrong?
Well, there is a good chance it was your proposal. What information you gave the potential client, how it was presented and what it offered.
Pitching your skills to any business of the SMB size or above, particularly a business with a eye on budget and their own ROI, you are going to need to present a professional pitch.
But what is a professional pitch? What information should it contain and how should it be laid out?
Below is a generic template pitch document for you to adapt, copy and re-use. Not all aspects will be applicable to each proposal that you send, so delete or add as appropriate. Set up a Word document (or whatever WP you use) with your logo neatly placed – probably in the top left or top right corner of each sheet.
Convert to a PDF – or if you really want to impress, print on high quality paper, and send via the post.
If you get this bit right you have rules out one of the main reasons you struggle to convert a good lead into a paying client.
Introduction
[Your Business Name] are delighted to have this opportunity to work with [Client Business Name] on the provision of a new website and digital platform. We believe that this work, and the associated digital marketing and design services, are a close fit with our business model. Aligned to our core digital skills, the [Your Business Name]client value philosophy and partnership approach make us the ideal choice to undertake this important work.
The core requirement of this project is to create a new and modern website for [Client Business Name] that is attractive, scalable, feature rich and both easy to use and administer.
In addition [Client Business Name] require the ability to undertake digital marketing activity on the new website that will drive up traffic levels and increase customer awareness, social media visibility and the take up of [Client Business Name] services.
Our understanding of your requirements
Through our initial conversations with [Client Business Name] we have drawn out the following as your key requirements at this stage:
- [Client Business Name] require a CMS platform that is easy to use where in-house staff can upload content, change aspects of the site elements, look and feel, and generally be in control of the website.
- The new website must be sympathetic to the existing [Client Business Name] identity and brand values. It must feel like a continuation of the brand to existing customers.
- The new website must use the latest developments in theming and functionality to increase accessibility and ensure an agreeable user experience across all main browsers displayed on any number of connected devices.
- If the current website is not responsive and it would therefore not be as accessible from devices with smaller screen sizes than sites viewed on traditional desktop computers. Not only does this have a negative impact on the user experience but non-responsive sites can incur a ranking penalty with major search engine providers such as Google. The new website’s underlying structure and code base will need to use the latest design techniques to ensure that there is no negative effect on search engine rank.
- The new site must be able to scale in line with the business as it develops and it must not prohibit the addition of new features and functions.
Why [Your Business Name]?
[Your Business Name] are a small, client focussed digital agency with over [Number] years experience in providing the complete range of services that [Client Business Name] require for this important project. Our key strengths relevant to this project are given below:
- Web and software developers with a proven track record of delivery across a range of technologies.
- Market leading SEO and traffic generating services with a team that has been in this market for [number] years.
- Team of graphical and interaction designers with many years’ experience across a multitude of industry sectors.
- Design and print specialists that have been producing high quality sales and marketing collateral since [year].
- Ability to integrate the design, web development and traffic building services into a single package – this lowers costs for [Client Business Name] and delivers a better solution.
• [Your Business Name] has a flexible partnership approach with open communication and regular progress reporting.
Our Approach to this Project
[Client Business Name] Website Design & Build
[Your Business Name]are proposing WordPress as the core web development and CMS platform for the new [Client Business Name] site build and delivery.
In addition, we will use the latest HTML5 and CSS3 technologies, which provide an up to date, accessible and optimised site. We will use a customised theme based on “Twitter Bootstrap” CSS framework, which is built specifically to handle the differences between full desktop and mobile site design with accessibility to deliver a tailored final site design which is fitting of the [Client Business Name] brand.
This framework works on a “mobile first” approach, which means even older browsers not capable of taking advantage of the latest technologies will still receive an accessible site, and mobile visitors will be provided an optimised layout for their device size.
Key Benefits of the WordPress platform for [Client Business Name]:
✔ A clean, modern, and professionally designed website, with a clear focus on interaction design to ensure a seamless and productive customer experience.
✔ Built upon the industry standard & cost-effective WordPress CMS system the new website will be easily manageable by [Client Business Name] staff and is supportable by multiple providers.
✔ Detailed analytics and reporting using the [Your Business Name] bespoke dashboard with full social media integration.
✔ Full multimedia compatibility to incorporate a wide range of [Client Business Name] content and social media feeds.
✔ WordPress is a very flexible system capable of incorporating a wide range of future [Client Business Name] requirements with minimal cost and development effort.
There are various stages to the design and build of the new [Client Business Name] corporate website. This section of the proposal outlines and explains these stages and links directly to our fees and charges section.
1. Client Brief
This document outlines the conclusions of our initial informal client brief. We already have a level of understanding on which to build, but will need to finalise the structure, features and other requirements with [Client Business Name] ahead of any design proposals being produced.
Outcome: Clear requirements to begin design work
2. Design Proposals
In this phase we will first produce new site mock-ups, options and potential designs of selected key pages. Our interaction and design approach is split into 2 phases:
• Low fidelity – agree outline designs and mock-ups with [Client Business Name].
• High fidelity – finalised design proposal with actual images and dimensions
The main weakness of the current site is the lack of mobile and small device support which negatively effects user experience and can alienate mobile users. The design mock-ups will be produced with both desktop and mobile devices in mind. The flow of content will be revised to work for both scenarios and the mock-ups will demonstrate how the site will look on both a desktop and a smaller device.
Outcome: Agreed design look and feel, site structure and functionality to begin new site build
3. Infrastructure & Hosting
The current [Client Business Name] website appears to be running on an Apache based shared hosting package with at least 160 other websites of various sizes.
We propose that the new [Client Business Name] website is hosted externally with us on a dedicated, clustered, and fully resilient infrastructure. The advantages of this approach are:
• Off site hosting to ensure business continuity in the event of an incident on [Client Business Name] premises.
• Hosted on state-of-the-art hardware in an enterprise class data centre, with fully redundant N+1 power supply providing up to 30 days up-time without mains power, full climate control, and FM-200 Gas fire suppression.
- Fully fire-walled and penetration-tested servers with separate connections through a fully redundant Tier 1 network connection from the European Internet backbone.
- RAID based solid-state storage with full daily on-site and off-site backups.
- Memory-Based caching to ensure fast response times for frequently accessed content.
- Additionally, Static content such as Images and Videos will be served off an international content delivery network (CDN).
- Load-Balanced over several servers, with the ability to scale as required.
- Automated monitoring and fail over between all load-balanced back-end servers.
- 99.98% guaranteed system up time, with SLA coverage.
OUTCOME: Solid, high performance and available [Client Business Name] website hosting platform.
4. New Site Build
Once the design has been agreed and the infrastructure has been commissioned the new site build can begin. A new WordPress instance will be deployed and configured for optimal performance on the new dedicated hosting platform.
The [Your Business Name]design and development teams will work closely to deliver the agreed look and feel for the new website, using a variety of technologies as appropriate. This includes the customisation of a WordPress theme for [Client Business Name] using CSS3 and HTML5 and plug-ins to contain the website functionality.
Outcome: First iteration of new website ready for content population
5. Content Population
The site will be populated by content supplied by [Client Business Name]. This content can be taken from the existing website and/or supplied to [Your Business Name]in a digital format.
Copywriting, image sourcing and photography can also be arranged as options if required.
Outcome: Fully populated new [Client Business Name] website
6. Change Phases
Whilst we will have made every effort in earlier stages to ensure that the new site meets all of [Client Business Name]’s requirements, in our experience there will be final design and content changes required before the site can be made live.
We have allowed for 3 days of [Your Business Name]development and design effort to agree and carry out these final changes to the new site and environment with [Client Business Name] before the new site is made live.
Outcome: Finalised [Client Business Name] website ready for launch
Go Live
When the new site is launched [Your Business Name] will finally cut across all of the links and technical re-directs from the old site, ensuring that the [Client Business Name] domain is fully integrated with the new environment.
We have allowed for a day of [Your Business Name]developer time to support go live and ensure that the whole process is seamless with no interruptions to [Client Business Name] customers.
Outcome: New [Client Business Name] website launched and visible to the public
CMS Training
Training for [Client Business Name] staff to use the new WordPress CMS, and be able to make changes to the website elements of will be essential. This is best done at [Your Business Name]but can be arranged at [Client Business Name] offices if required. [Your Business Name]will deliver the training for the [Client Business Name] team of up to 4 people and provide all course materials. [Your Business Name]will allocate a day to this task although training usually takes between 3-5 hours. The training will be hands on with the new site and associated CMS, with on-going support and help provided under the terms of the maintenance and support arrangement.
Outcome: [Client Business Name] team fully conversant with WordPress CMS and able to update and add both content and new pages to the site.
Maintenance and Support
The new [Client Business Name] website is automatically covered by the [Your Business Name] 3 month warranty period where any bugs or performance issues are rectified free of charge. Following this period we recommend that [Client Business Name] enter into a formal maintenance and support agreement. This complements the hosting package and we will ensure the smooth running of the system, deal with any issues not related to the hosting platform and perform technical updates to WordPress and related plugins.
The benefits of entering a support contract include:
- Regular updates to the WordPress system and plugins.
- Resolution of any technical issues with the system (outside of issues with the hosting platform)
- In the unlikely event of a major failure to the hosting platform, we will rebuild the system and restore the latest backup.
- Restoration of backups should they be requested.
- Maintenance and hosting of a [Your Business Name]issue tracking and source control system accessible by [Client Business Name].
[Your Business Name]offer 3 levels of support contract with varying response times to different levels of issue or incident with the [Client Business Name] website. Please see appendix 2 for full details.
Outcome: A formal maintenance and support agreement to ensure speedy rectification of any issues and new updates to the [Client Business Name] web platform.
Summary and Recommendation
We believe that a new website platform with WordPress at the core, and encompassing [Your Business Name]bespoke elements, gives [Client Business Name] the right balance between ease of use, mobile scalability and a modern, fresh look and feel for customers.
Combined with a dedicated and high-performance infrastructure and hosting approach, this will future proof the [Client Business Name] web presence for many years.
Traffic Building Services
[Client Business Name] Marketing Training and Support
To make the best use if the existing team at [Client Business Name], we propose an initial 2 day webs traffic building, social media and SEO training course which would be held at your offices. The training would be focussed on getting the best value from your existing in-house team and would include specific elements of on-site optimisation, social media marketing and community marketing.
Our Digital Marketing Director, Dr Paul Rone-Clarke, will deliver the training. He will be supported by Katie Blount from the [Your Business Name]Digital Marketing team.
Outcomes for [Client Business Name]:
• Raise the skill levels of your in-house team, for the benefit of this project and your other digital and social media marketing activity.
• Produce on the course a range of quality content for the new [Client Business Name] website build.
Content of the Training Course
On-Site Optimisation
Creating content in terms of written articles and images that provide the best possibility of both attracting higher search engine rankings and engaging site visits. This will draw customers towards the website calls to action where an improving percentage of them can be converted to paying clients.
Specifically, we would concentrate on how to source, format and present content with these specific goals in mind. All successful marketing, be it through social media, search engine optimisation or PPC relies on a solid content strategy to work effectively.
Social Media Marketing
Using the content created on the new [Client Business Name] site, in conjunction with other researched conversations from the internet, to write engaging posts on social media sites such as LinkedIn. Using techniques such as cross posting and targeted micro marketing to increase the profile of the conference facilities and to increase brand awareness of [Client Business Name] in general and the management training and conferencing facilities.
Community Marketing
Outside of your own website and social media presence, we will study the methods and tools used to research the communities on the wider internet where likely future clients can be found. These include a wide range of forums, blogs and authority sites owned and visited by potential clients. Once discovered, we will look at how to establish a positive brand presence on these sites in a cost and time effective manner.
The effect of this training on staff has been shown to dramatically increase their efficiency and given the confidence to take ownership of the online marketing/client acquisition process.
We would provide comprehensive training materials for the course and offer on-going support following delivery of the 2 day on site training. It is our experience that this support is essential as our clients put into practice what they have learnt.
This training would be carried out over two days with day one being primarily theoretical and the second day being more practical and hands on. Access to PC’s for each trainee and a working internet connection is required for the 2 days in question. [Your Business Name]require 2 weeks’ notice of your intention to go ahead with training.
Dedicated Traffic Building Service
Once the new [Client Business Name] website is live, there is a requirement for some dedicated traffic-building services. This aspect of proposal therefore links to the design work and new website build that will be optimised by [Your Business Name]for SEO purposes. It also requires the [Client Business Name] in-house team, working closely with the [Your Business Name]team, to produce content for the new web presence and undertake project activities as directed.
Dedicated traffic building contains the following elements:
- Pay per click (PPC)
- Comprehensive PPC management as and when required across appropriate and researched channels (Including but not limited to Google).
- Close PPC management is essential to the success of this project, both in terms of key word choice and price levels that are being paid.
- Outside of Google, other PPC providers (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, etc…) offer great value at the moment, in addition to better targeting of potential new business conferencing customers.
- Overall a wide-ranging PPC strategy is recommended, as part of a holistic traffic building strategy for the new [Client Business Name] web presence.
On-page optimisation
- The new [Client Business Name] web presence will require constant updating and tweaking to take account of emerging and changing customer behaviour.
- Content will in any event need to be regularly updated and specifically designed to rank in the major search engines.
- Imaging, content, and video media will require specific tagging, optimisation and cross marketing activity.
Social Media
- Social media set up on appropriate 3rd party sites
- Regular blog updates and social media management
- LinkedIn / Facebook / Twitter will be an important channel for [Client Business Name] – a good start has been made in this area, but it requires constant updating and promotion.
Organic Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Initial keyword analysis selecting the most effective long and short phrases and words.
- A thorough management training and business conferencing market analysis to understand the size and composition of the market the project is targeting.
- Competition research and analysis to establish how and where key competitors are targeting their digital marketing effort.
- Brand building and client acquisition through engagement and involvement with appropriate community of interest forums and blogs.
- Dedicated safe effective Search engine optimisation to increase search engine visibility.
Throughout the traffic building work, and linked to the Digital Marketing ROI model, [Your Business Name]will closely communicate and engage with [Client Business Name]. We will agree key metrics and performance measures for this aspect of our work, and regularly report on progress against them. This will include monthly reporting and a formal review of the approach at 3 and 6 months with senior [Client Business Name] staff. This open, regular communication and flexibility of approach is crucial to the success of this work.
[Your Business Name] is also able to offer complete traffic building service, including content creation and copy-writing, should you choose to outsource completely.
The Digital Marketing ROI Model
We believe that a robust Digital Marketing ROI Model is crucial to the success of this work. Too often on projects of this nature costs and activities are not clearly tied into business returns. This leads to costs running out of control and senior stakeholders having no measurable business and financial benefits.
Every digital £ spent by [Client Business Name] on marketing and promotion must be linked to a £ of increased business revenue. In our experience a return of 3 to 1 is achievable in the medium term once aspects of the project have achieved traction. The ROI model needs to be established at the start of the digital marketing work and be constantly updated.
The 3 aspects of the model are:
1. Website traffic levels – A [Your Business Name] focus
2. Lead generation – A joint responsibility
3. Sales conversions – An [Client Business Name] focus
There are clear metrics associated with each of these ROI model areas. We propose to baseline all of these measures (website traffic levels, social media profile metrics, current level of leads, sales revenues and bookings etc.), and build them into the model. In this way the business revenue benefits of the project can be tracked, and importantly activities can be reviewed and improved.
The overall measure of success for this work is the increase in [Client Business Name] turnover and revenue. Building this Digital Marketing ROI model enables the joint team to maintain a clear focus on the key measures that drive this outcome.
Summary and Recommendation
Training first, link to package of support, whole lot flow from GN design of site…..
Graphic Design and Printing Services
[Your Business Name]has many years of experience as a graphical design and print agency, produced sales and marketing collateral of all types and formats across many industry sectors. The advantage of using us for this work for [Client Business Name] is a clear consistency of branding and promotion across all channels of customer interaction.
This section of the proposal gives [Client Business Name] an idea of the services that we offer in this area and some budgetary prices for our key services and products. We would be happy to quote for any work on a specific basis as various jobs and requirements emerge.
Traditional Design & Artwork
- Branding/logo – [Price]
- Brochure artwork – [Price] per page
- Printing (small selection)
- A5 leaflet 1000 copies – [Price]
- DL 6 page – 1000 – [Price]
- A5 8 page – 1000 – [Price]
- A4 8 page – 1000 – [Price]
- Cross Media Campaigns
- Email Marketing
- Direct Mail
- Variable Print
- Photography
- Product – [Price]
- Location – [Price] per half day
- Exhibitions
- Pull up banners artwork and output – [Price]
- Posters – eg. A0 – [Price]
- Signage, Bannerstands, foamex boards
- Promotional Merchandising – Corporate gifts
- Mugs, pens, pads etc Costs will be determined by quanity
- and material
- Event Material
- Folders
- Calendars
- Door hangers
- Signage
Interior or exterior on any material or surface. Eg vans and
buildings, window graphics, digital signage etc.
Our Fees and Charges
This proposal contains our fees and charges for the 3 main aspects of this work. The tables deal with each of these aspects in turn and outline the elements of our proposed work, the days of [Your Business Name] input required, the fees per project stage and the outcomes/deliverables for [Client Business Name].
Due to the strategically important nature of [Client Business Name] as an important potential new client, [Your Business Name]are prepared to undertake various aspects of this work free of charge. These elements are indicted as FOC in the table.
We have shown our fees and charges on an itemised basis to allow [Client Business Name] to tailor our input to best suit your emerging requirements. Should you wish us to quote for any further activity in relation to this project we would be happy to do so.
The [Your Business Name] day rate of [Price] is inclusive of all expenses incurred during the course of our work, but exclusive of United Kingdom VAT, which will be charged at the prevailing rate.
NB: It must be noted that the website build work and Salesforce integration are indicative only at this stage, they represent our best estimate at this point. Once final [Client Business Name] requirements are known, these days of effort and subsequent costs may increase or decrease. We will lock down these costs following the completion of the design phase.
Contingent Fees based on results
At [Your Business Name]we believe in the digital marketing services that we offer driving up revenue for our clients, and have the results to prove it. To this end, and tied into the Digital Marketing ROI model, we are prepared to put elements of our on-going traffic building services fees at risk of delivering agreed results. This would need to be agreed up front with [Client Business Name] and be acceptable to both parties.
For example, if [Client Business Name] were to contract [Your Business Name]for a medium or high level of on-going traffic building support, we would put 25% of our monthly fee at risk against delivering mutually agreed increases in traffic to the new [Client Business Name] website.
Website Design & Build
The table below contains our fees and charges for the various elements of the website design and build work:
ACTIVITY DAYS RATE (£) COST (£)
- Website Design & Build
- Client Brief
- Design Proposals
- Infrastructure & Hosting
- (per annum)
- New Site Build
- Content Population
- (based on 80 pages from supplied content)
- Salesforce Integration
- Change Phases
Go Live
- Maintenance & Support – Level 1 (per annum)
- Maintenance & Support – Level 2 (per annum)
- Maintenance & Support – Level 3 (per annum)
Traffic Building Services
The table below contains our fees and charges for the various aspects of our client dedicated traffic building and SEO work:
ACTIVITY DAYS RATE (£) COST (£)
Full [Client Business Name] site audit to establish extent of spam backlink building
Remedial work
to disavow spam links
[Client Business Name] Bespoke
Traffic Building Training
- Traffic Building Support – Low Level (35 hours a month)
- Traffic Building Support – Medium Level (55 hours a month)
- Traffic Building Support – High Level (75 hours a month)
Graphic Design & Print
The table below contains indicative costs for our graphic design print services. Precise quotes will be given for specific [Client Business Name] jobs and requirements in this area:
ACTIVITY DAYS RATE (£) COST (£)
- Website Design & Build
- Client Brief
- Design Proposals
- Infrastructure & Hosting
- New Site Build
- Content Population
- Salesforce Integration
- Change Phases
- Go Live
- Maintenance & Support
We look forward to discussing this proposal at your convenience.