In the era of consistent digitalization across the globe, more and more companies are starting to embrace the potential of Digital Marketing. In respond, Marketing professionals are quickly adapting to the demand, offering monthly freelance services in multiple areas, such as Social Media, PPC, SEO and others. Today, we will see a step-by-step guide to making a killer Marketing pitch so you can win more Marketing projects!
So, without further ado, let’s go!
1. Selecting the right template for your Marketing pitch
Of course, the first step to preparing our freelance Marketing pitch is selecting the right template. They say that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. And this remain absolutely true in this case as well!
After all, humans are very visual creatures.
There are multiple formats in which you can present your proposal, including word documents and even email templates. However, I firmly believe in the power of presentations. The main reason why is because Digital Marketing in itself is very visual, and a good image or illustration can say so much more than just text.
So, now that I have cleared out my position on that, we should select an outstanding template. PowerPoint is always a good option, and there are hundreds of free and paid templates that can do the job. Nonetheless, the majority can be a little outdated.
For this reason, I usually go with Canva (affiliate link):
Canva is 100% free, and I love their presentation templates for multiple reasons:
- They are highly and super easily customizable;
- You can add animations and download the template as video;
- Their presentations are beautiful and modern;
- And there is something for everyone;
Additionally, you can add brand kit colours for faster personalization.
2. Introductory slides
The next step of our Marketing pitch is to make a powerful first impression with your introduction. This means:
- Changing the background and key elements with the brand colours of the company for which you are making the proposal. For this step, you can visit their website, take a screenshot, and upload the screenshot to an image colour picker. This way, you can get the exact colour codes to match the company’s website.
- Always include the company’s logo, not only in the introductory slide, but also across other key slides of your presentation.
- And of course, do not forget to mention who is the creator of the presentation (aka, you!)
To give you an example, here is how my introductory slide looks like if I would to make a presentation for my own website:
As you can see, it includes the name and logo of my website, my brand colours (red and dark blue), and my name.
Presenting yourself
The next slide of your Marketing pitch should be a very brief and concise introduction of yourself and/or your business, if there is one. And of course, the key aspects that you consider relevant for the project. But don’t forget, only include what could be relevant, not your whole CV. Nobody has time to read that!
Some relevant information can include:
- Years of experience that you have in the Marketing industry, and in the specific field of your project. For example, if you are making a Social media presentation, focus on your experience in social media in particular.
- Previous projects – if this is not your first project, it might be a good idea to mention the companies that you have been working for. Especially if the projects are similar to the one that you are pitching for.
- Sector – if you have experience in the particular sector that you are applying for, it is a great time to include it. Knowing their sector and its peculiarities is very important for companies.
- Relevant achievements – do you have any relevant achievements from your previous projects? You can include this information here. Make sure that you are able to provide a proof in case the company requests it.
An exemplary slide can look something like that:
Of course, this is only an example of how I would do it. Feel free to make any changes that don’t apply to your case. If this is your first Marketing freelance project and you don’t have any experience, don’t worry either.
In these cases, you can include relevant details from your educational background, and why you think you are a good fit for the project despite the lack of experience. For example, what are your soft and hard skills, is this sector / topic a very passionate one for you. Or what do you think makes you stand out from the crowd as a Marketing specialist.
Just remember to be brief, concise, and relevant. Your audience only needs to see the key points, not your whole curriculum!
3. Objectives
The next step of our Marketing pitch is to include a slide with the objectives that you aim to achieve with your proposal. What are the goals of the company? Why are they hiring you for this project?
Obviously, at this point, the goals should be clear for both sides. However, it is very important to summarize them to make sure that both you and the organization are as aligned as possible. If the objectives are only left to assumptions, you risk encountering various issues later down the road.
So, an objective slide for a 360° Marketing project could look something like that:
Just as in our previous steps, the key takeaways are:
- Set clear and transparent goals for your Marketing project;
- Make sure that they are measurable and achievable;
- An even better approach is to establish SMART goals (more here);
- Make sure that they are aligned with the company’s vision;
For example, let’s say that you found a PPC project on a freelancer website. If the company is looking for someone to increase the Return on Investment on their Google campaigns in terms of leads, don’t drift away to other things like increasing brand awareness. Yes, this might be one of the “side effects”, but it is not the main goal.
This slide will show how clearly you have understood the project’s requirements. So, although it is a very brief slide with just a couple of points, make sure to take all the time necessary to do it well.
4. Buyer Persona (optional)
Now, this step is completely optional, but I love doing it. And I highly recommend you to do it too! It requires the creation of a buyer persona. Or, in another words, a semi-fictional representation of the company’s ideal customer.
There are multiple reasons why I love including this information in my Marketing proposals:
- It shows that I have a good understanding of who the customer is;
- By doing so, I can find out where he “lives” on the Internet.
- And the company gets impressed with the amount of detail & effort.
You can use Hubspot’s Make a Buyer Persona tool, which is completely free to use. What I like to do is create the profile, and then take screenshots of the elements that I want to include in my presentation. The best part is, Hubspot even allows you to change your colour scheme so you can adapt it to the company’s brand colours as well!
In this section of my Marketing pitch, I usually include two slides, so I can add the relevant details in an easy to process way:
While the first one covers elements such as the possible industries in which our ideal customer might be working in, the second one is dedicated to his possible job titles:
The reason why I always include the second slide is because it gives me an idea of where the customer could be found on the Internet. For example, if the company’s target audience are executives, the chances are that they are more reachable on LinkedIn than Instagram.
For the whole presentation, make sure that you study your company enough. You need to show them that you have spent all the time necessary to deliver a goal-achieving project. If you don’t spend enough time, it will be obvious across the whole presentation.
And of course, particularly the Buyer persona section is one in which you definitely need to know your company. And understand their target customers.
5. The core of your Marketing pitch
And now, we have reached the core of our Marketing pitch. Of course, this section will be quite different for everyone as companies and sectors are different. However, the core of your proposal should be capable of answering questions such as:
- What is the strategy that you plan to undertake in order to achieve the goals of the company? In a slide or two, outline your plan with enough details, but without going into too much detail either. After all, you will only use this as a guide for when the moment to present comes.
- What key performance indicators are you going to use to measure these goals? Depending on the Marketing niche that you will work on, the metrics will vary, so make sure to outline those that are relevant for this company and sector.
- Are there any tools that you consider relevant to include? For example, installing tools such as Google Analytics if the company hasn’t done so yet.
- And of course, I think that a great way to show your dedication to the company is to make actual examples. Let’s say that you are developing a project for LinkedIn campaigns. In this case, you can create a sample of how a banner could look like for this particular company:
Or, if you are creating a Marketing pitch for a Social media project, you can create samples of different social publications, and how they would look like depending on the channel. It is up to you, and Canva is always an amazing ally in making beautiful designs for any occasion.
(And no, I am not sponsored by Canva, I just love their tool so much I can shout it from the rooftop).
To sum it up, the core of your Marketing proposal should show that:
- You have done a great job getting to know the company;
- You have a detailed strategic plan on achieving their goals;
- And of course, that you can prove that with good examples.
It should make the company feel like you know what you are talking about. So, make sure to put enough attention and effort in this section!
Additionally, if your Marketing project is campaign-related, you can go even further by giving a recommended campaign budget. Of course, unless the company has already specified this information in the project requirements.
However, in many cases, small companies that haven’t done any advertising yet don’t know how much to spend on a single channel.
6. Proposal
Our Marketing pitch continues with a very important section. And that is, how much you will charge for the project. Of course, in some cases, companies will offer a fixed monthly, weekly or hourly rate that you either accept or not.
However, for many freelancer projects, you are the one setting the price that you are willing to work for. Before offering your price, make sure that you compare it with the current market rates to ensure that you aren’t unaligned.
Also, think of the company’s expectations, and the time they expect you to work on the project. Dedicate a specific slide for the proposal. Depending on how detailed the core of your Marketing pitch was, you can either include more details on what is included with the price, or simply state the price:
In my case, I was just finishing some summarized slides on what was included in the project, so I didn’t want to repeat myself. However, if you aren’t sure that it is clear enough, you can always include some bullet points in the Proposal slide.
This way, you will be as clear and transparent as possible with the company, and there will be no place for misunderstandings.
7. Contact slide
And last but not least, I highly recommend that you include a last, finishing slide with your contact information. After all, you don’t know who is going to read your Marketing pitch after you’ve presented to the people that you are more familiar with.
So, a contact slide will ensure that no matter who sees your presentation, they will be able to get in touch with you without any issue.
Make sure that you include all the necessary data that you consider relevant. For example, if you have a business with a physical location, you can also include your address. In my case, I haven’t included it because I don’t have an organization neither a physical location. Just a girl and her blog. 🙂
As a finishing touch, you can end your Marketing pitch with a slide that says “Thank you”. It takes no time to make one, but will always make a good impression! After all, the team has taken the time to listen to your presentation.
And that was all from me for today, folks! I hope that you liked my tips on how to make great Marketing proposals, and that you are leaving this article with some good takeaways. If I had to highlight only one tip, it is to study your company as much as possible, and make a personalized presentation that show your expertise and knowledge of the organization.
As always, thank you for taking the time to read my article, and I hope to see you in the next one!
