Template · 9 min read
Marketing proposal template
A free marketing proposal template in ten sections, for freelance marketers, fractional CMOs and small agencies. It opens with the client’s own numbers, sets goals they agree with, and keeps your fee apart from their ad spend. Copy the skeleton, read what each section is for, and use the AI prompt to build the proposal as a page you can send as one tracked link.
The template
The ten-section marketing proposal template
MARKETING PROPOSAL [Client name] · [Engagement name] · Prepared by [your name / agency] · [date] 1. SUMMARY [One paragraph: where they are, where they want to be, the plan in one sentence, the monthly fee and the start date.] 2. WHERE YOU ARE TODAY [What a short audit found, with numbers: traffic sources, conversion rate, cost per lead, what is working, what is not. Their data, not a pitch.] 3. GOALS AND KPIs Goal KPI Baseline Target (90 days) [More qualified leads] [SQLs per month] [x] [y] [Lower acquisition cost] [Cost per lead] [x] [y] 4. STRATEGY [The two or three channels you will focus on and why these, given the audit. What you will deliberately not do yet, and why.] 5. DELIVERABLES AND CADENCE Monthly: [x blog posts, y emails, z ad creatives, landing page tests] Ongoing: [campaign management, reporting, a monthly call] 6. FIRST 90 DAYS Month 1 [Tracking fixed, quick wins, first campaigns live] Month 2 [Test, cut what fails, double what works] Month 3 [Scale the winners, review KPIs together] 7. REPORTING [What the client sees, how often, and one live link they can check any time instead of a PDF that is out of date on arrival.] 8. INVESTMENT Management fee: [price]/month, [minimum term] Recommended ad spend: [range]/month, paid by [client] directly to platforms One-off setup: [price] (tracking, accounts, landing pages) 9. TERMS [Minimum term, notice period, who owns accounts and creative, payment terms] 10. NEXT STEP [Approve this page or reply "go"; we send the agreement; kickoff call on [date].]
What each of the ten sections is for
- Summary. Where they are, where they want to be, the plan in a sentence, the fee and the start date. The founder forwards this paragraph to their co-founder; write it for that.
- Where you are today. What a short audit found, with numbers: traffic by source, conversion rate, cost per lead, the campaign that works and the one that wastes money. Their data is more persuasive than your credentials.
- Goals and KPIs. Two or three goals, each with a KPI, today’s baseline and a 90-day target. Agreeing the measure up front is what keeps the month-four conversation about results instead of activity.
- Strategy. The channels you will focus on and why, given the audit, and what you will not do yet. Saying no to a channel shows judgment; a plan that does everything shows none.
- Deliverables and cadence. What the client gets each month in countable units. It answers “what am I paying for” before anyone asks.
- First 90 days. Month by month: fix tracking and ship quick wins, test, then scale what worked. It shows the client when to expect what, and protects you from week-two results pressure.
- Reporting. What they will see and how often. One live report link that you update beats a monthly PDF; see the live client report.
- Investment. Your management fee, the recommended ad spend and any setup fee, as separate lines. Clients compare fees across proposals; mixing in media spend makes yours look larger than it is.
- Terms. Minimum term, notice, payment, and who owns the ad accounts and creative. Account ownership is the clause clients care about most when an engagement ends.
- Next step. One action and a date. Approve, agreement, kickoff call.
Example
The KPI table on the first screen
A fictional example: a freelance marketer’s proposal to Alder Coffee Co., built from the template above and published as a page on the marketer’s own domain.
The summary, the KPI table and the fee sit on the first screen; ad spend is shown on its own line. When the client asks to start with one channel instead of two, the page is updated at the same link.
Open a live example proposal to see a fictional growth proposal as a real page.
Turn your audit into the proposal with AI
Paste your audit numbers and the plan, and the prompt lays out all ten sections with the KPI table and a clean pricing block. It also tells the AI never to invent benchmarks or promise results, which is the mistake AI-written marketing proposals make most.
Copy, fill in the brackets with your audit and pricing, and paste into Claude or ChatGPT:
You are producing a marketing proposal as a single, self-contained HTML file. CONTEXT (replace everything in brackets): - Client: [client name, what they sell, to whom] - Prepared by: [your name / agency] - Audit findings with numbers: [paste them, one per line] - Goals and KPIs: [goal: KPI: baseline: target, one per line] - Strategy: [channels and why] - Deliverables per month: [list] - First 90 days: [month by month] - Reporting: [what, how often] - Fee: [monthly fee, minimum term, setup fee] - Recommended ad spend: [range, who pays] - Terms: [notice, ownership, payment] - Brand: [primary hex color] + [logo URL, or "text wordmark"] REQUIREMENTS: - Sections in this order: Summary · Where you are today · Goals and KPIs · Strategy · Deliverables and cadence · First 90 days · Reporting · Investment · Terms · Next step. - Open with a one-paragraph summary that names the goal, the plan and the monthly fee. - Show goals and KPIs as a table with baseline and target columns. - In Investment, show the management fee and the ad spend as two clearly separate items. - Keep every number exactly as I gave it. If a number is missing, write a clearly marked [TBD]. Never invent benchmarks, results, case studies, testimonials or client logos, and never promise a guaranteed outcome. - Self-contained HTML: inline CSS, no external scripts or fonts, readable on a phone, printable. - Tone: direct and specific. Short sentences, no marketing jargon.
- 1 Paste the prompt (with your details filled in) into Claude or ChatGPT. You get a finished, self-contained HTML document. Review it, correct anything, and iterate until it's right.
- 2 Publish it as a tracked link: with the Pagelive connector in Claude, say "publish this page" and the link comes back in chat. Next cycle, "update it" replaces the content at the same URL. Or upload the HTML file at app.pagelive.io.
Sending it
Send the plan as one link
The same link later carries the plan and then the monthly report, so the client keeps one bookmark for the whole engagement. While it is still a proposal, Solo and Team send you an email when it is opened, with reading time, and Solo can serve it from your agency’s domain. New readers the next morning often mean it was passed on to the people who sign.
An open says the page reached someone, not that they agreed with the strategy. Use it to time the call, and keep your e-sign tool for the agreement itself.
Frequently asked
A summary, the client’s current situation with the numbers you found, goals and the KPIs that measure them, the strategy and why those channels, deliverables and cadence, a first-90-days plan, how you will report, the investment with ad spend kept separate from your fee, terms, and one next step.
Do a short audit first, even an hour of it. Lead with what you found, set goals the client agrees are the right ones, then show the plan that reaches them and what it costs. A proposal that opens with your services list reads like every other agency’s; one that opens with their numbers reads like you already started.
Show it, but separately from your fee. Clients compare your fee with other proposals; mixing in media spend makes yours look larger and hides what they pay you for. State a recommended monthly ad budget, who pays the platforms, and whether your fee depends on spend.
As long as a decision needs and no longer. The summary, goals and investment should be readable in five minutes; audit detail and channel plans can follow for whoever wants to check the work.
Promise the work and the measurement, not a guaranteed result. Agree two or three KPIs tied to the goal (qualified leads, cost per lead, trial signups, revenue from a channel), state the current baseline, and say when you will review them together.
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Send the plan. See it reach the people who sign.
Lead with their numbers, keep your fee apart from ad spend, and send it as one tracked link. Free for 2 public pages.