Marketing proposal template: structure and pricing

A marketing proposal template needs ten sections in the order a client reads them: cover, situation, goal, plan, channels and deliverables, what is not included, proof, price, terms and the next step. The hard part is the price, because marketing work is usually sold in three shapes at once: a monthly retainer, a one-off campaign and a bank of hours. This guide lays out each, with a filled-in B2B sample and a template to copy.

What changes in a marketing proposal

The skeleton is the one every client proposal shares; the industry guide on what each trade changes in a proposal sets it out and compares marketing with nine other kinds of work. What makes a digital marketing proposal different is that the client is buying something that never quite ends.

So a marketing agency proposal has to answer four questions that a website proposal can leave alone:

1. What do we get each month? Counted: articles, posts, emails, campaigns managed, reports.
2. What happens once, and what keeps running? A launch campaign or a set-up is one-off; content and ads management repeat.
3. Whose money goes to the platforms? Ad budgets, tools and licences are not your fee, and the client must see that.
4. How is success judged, and when can we stop? The measures you report, the minimum term and the notice period.

The ten sections, in the order the client reads them

I start a marketing proposal with the client's situation, never with a page about the agency. Your history can wait until the proof section.

For proof, pick cases for the problem in front of you. Attaching the same set of past work to every proposal is a mistake: a B2B software client reads past a fashion brand's Instagram results and wonders what else you copied. A fuller checklist per section is in the agency proposal checklist.

Three ways to price marketing work

Clients compare marketing offers per month, so the retainer carries the proposal. Anything else gets its own line.

The retainer itself is where the term, rollover and notice rules live; the guide to writing a retainer proposal covers those six terms in depth.

Three levels, with the premium one in

I never decide for a client that the top level is out of their reach. The premium retainer goes into the proposal, and the client chooses whether to take it. Build the middle level first, mark it as recommended, and make each step up add something the client can count. Why three tiers beat one price is covered in the guide to tiered options.

What the market charges, with care

Survey figures come mostly from US and European agencies and are in dollars: a sense check, not a price list. Credo's survey of digital marketing providers reports that about half of agencies set a retainer minimum of $2,000 a month or less. SE Ranking's 2023 survey of marketing and SEO agencies gives a median monthly retainer of $1,200. Both are self-reported; your own costs decide your price.

Ad spend, tools and the costs after launch

Keep ad budgets out of your fee and say so in the scope: the client pays the platforms directly, and your proposal names a suggested monthly budget separately. If you charge a fee linked to spend, write the formula down and say which spend it applies to.

I also put every cost that keeps running after the launch into the proposal itself: the monthly retainer that follows a campaign, paid tools, licences and the budget for ads. A client who first hears of them after go-live feels misled.

Finally, the rate for anything outside the proposal. I write the hourly rate for extra work into the terms, because the requests will come and the client should know their price in advance.

A sample marketing agency proposal, filled in

Below is a labelled sample for a fictional client. Larkspur Marketing and Corvel Fleet Software do not exist, and every amount is an example to replace with your own. All amounts are excluding VAT.

Example

Cover. Corvel Fleet Software: more qualified demo requests from fleet managers. Marketing proposal for Priya Nair, head of growth. Prepared by Larkspur Marketing, 27 October 2026.

Situation. Corvel sells maintenance-planning software to companies with 50 to 500 vehicles. Demo requests come almost only from trade fairs, so the sales team is busy in spring and quiet in autumn. A new reporting module launches in February 2027, and nobody outside the current customers knows it is coming.

Goal. Forty qualified demo requests a month from search, LinkedIn and email by June 2027, up from twelve today, measured in Corvel's own CRM.

Plan. 1) A launch campaign for the reporting module in January and February. 2) A monthly content and LinkedIn programme from January. 3) A monthly report and call, with a review of the level every quarter.

Retainer, per month.

Each month (excl. VAT)	Essentials	Growth (recommended)	Full funnel
Strategy, monthly report and call	€400	€600	€800
Content: articles, case studies, newsletters	€1,200	€2,100	€3,200
LinkedIn ads management	€800	€1,200	€1,600
Total per month	€2,400	€3,900	€5,600

What each level includes. Essentials: two articles and one newsletter a month, one LinkedIn campaign. Growth: three articles, one customer case study and two newsletters a month, two LinkedIn campaigns with monthly ad tests. Full funnel: four articles, two case studies, four newsletters, three LinkedIn campaigns, plus a quarterly webinar.

Launch campaign, one-off.

Launch of the reporting module	Amount (excl. VAT)
Messaging workshop and campaign plan	€1,800
Landing page: copy and design, two review rounds	€2,400
Ad creative: twelve variants for LinkedIn	€1,600
Launch email sequence: four emails	€1,200
Total	€7,000

Hour bundle. Twenty hours at €110 for small requests outside the retainer, such as a sales one-pager or a trade-fair banner: €2,200, valid for six months from signing. The rate is below the extra-work rate because the hours are paid in advance.

Not included. Ad spend: Corvel pays LinkedIn directly; we suggest a budget of €3,000 a month for Growth. Paid tools and licences are bought and paid for by Corvel. Also excluded: photography and video shoots, translation, website development beyond the landing page.

[Proof: two B2B software cases that match this problem go here.]

The first three months with Growth.

Item	Type	Amount (excl. VAT)
Launch campaign	One-off	€7,000
Growth retainer, three months at €3,900	Monthly	€11,700
Hour bundle, twenty hours at €110	One-off	€2,200
Total for the first three months		€20,900

Terms. Minimum term of three months from 1 January 2027, then month to month with one month's notice from either side. Work outside the retainer and the bundle: €125 an hour, agreed by email before it starts. The campaign is invoiced half on signing and half at launch; the retainer is invoiced in advance each month; the bundle on signing. Invoices are due within 14 days, with VAT added at the rate that applies.

Next step. Choose a level and sign by 20 November 2026, and we hold the messaging workshop in the second week of December. This proposal is valid until that date.

The sample keeps three totals apart: a monthly retainer the client can budget for, a one-off campaign with its own scope, and an hour bundle with an end date. Ad spend sits outside all three, so the client sees the full outlay without mistaking it for your fee.

A marketing proposal template to copy

Copy this skeleton and fill the brackets. Write the situation last, once you know what you are offering.

Template

Cover: [Client]: [the outcome they want, in a few words]. Marketing proposal for [name, role]. Prepared by [your agency], [date].

Situation: [What the client told you, in their words.] [What it costs them today.] [Why it matters now: a launch, a season, a target.]

Goal: [Measure] from [today's figure] to [target] by [date], measured in [their system].

Plan: 1) [Phase and month]. 2) [Phase and month]. 3) [Reporting and review rhythm].

Retainer levels, per month (excl. VAT): [Level 1]: [deliverables with counts], [fee]. [Level 2, recommended]: [deliverables with counts], [fee]. [Level 3]: [deliverables with counts], [fee].

One-off campaign: [Campaign name]: [asset with count], [asset with count], [review rounds], total [amount] excl. VAT.

Hour bundle: [number] hours at [rate] for [kind of request], [total], valid until [date or period].

Not included: Ad spend, paid directly by [client] to [platforms]; suggested budget [amount] a month. Also excluded: [tools], [shoots], [translation], [anything else clients assume].

Proof: [Case matching this client's problem: the problem, what you did, the result and its period.] [Second matching case.] [One line on who you are.]

Terms: Minimum term [number] months from [date], then [notice] notice from either side. Extra work: [hourly rate] excl. VAT, agreed in writing before it starts. Invoicing: [campaign schedule], retainer in advance each month, bundle on signing, due within [number] days, VAT added at the rate that applies.

Next step: Choose a level and sign by [date]. Valid until [date].

Mistakes that cost marketing agencies the deal

• Hiding the campaign in the retainer. The fee looks inflated in month one.
• "Management" without a count. "Social media management" gives the client nothing to check; "twelve posts and one campaign a month" does.
• Ad spend in the total. Your quote then looks dearer than one that left it out.
• A thin offer. I want the client to feel nothing is missing from what they get, and an in-scope list beside a not-included list is what makes that feeling hold.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice. For your situation, ask a lawyer or accountant.

How Propozit helps

In Propozit's price list, the three shapes from this guide are product types you set up once: a subscription for the retainer, a fixed-price project for the campaign, and an hour bundle or an hourly rate for the rest. In the deck, the client picks a retainer level and ticks options, the totals update as they choose, and one-off and monthly amounts stay apart: see how options and live totals work in a deck.

You can add deals, such as a lower monthly fee for a longer term, set VAT per proposal, and state your extra-work rate. A retainer engagement template keeps your default products, texts and cases for every new marketing proposal; Propozit for marketing agencies shows the set-up. The client signs in the deck, drawn or typed, and both sides get a signed PDF.

Propozit is in early access and free to start.