In short: Most marketing RFPs select for the best proposal writer, not the best partner. A good RFP describes the real situation and outcome, asks for approach and evidence rather than free work, and weights category experience and fee incentives over polish. Better still: a short brief, a few conversations and a paid first engagement.
Key points
- State the outcome as a business result over a time frame, not as a list of services.
- Do not ask candidates for free strategy, media plans or creative concepts.
- Weight relevant category experience heavily, especially in restricted categories.
- Check references by asking what went wrong and how the firm handled it.
- The shorter process takes about three weeks and ends in a paid, scoped diagnostic that is easy to walk away from.
A request for proposals, RFP, is a formal process for selecting a vendor: the company describes what it needs, several candidates respond with proposals, and the company chooses. For marketing partners it is common at larger companies and increasingly at smaller ones that want to appear disciplined.
Most marketing RFPs select for the firm best at writing proposals. That is a different skill from the one being bought.
What an RFP should contain
The situation. What the company does, for whom, where it is commercially, and what has been tried. Including the uncomfortable parts: the rejected ad accounts, the channel that stopped working, the budget that was cut. Candidates who know the real situation propose real things.
The outcome sought. Stated as a business result over a time frame, not as a list of services. "Reduce cost per funded account by a third within two quarters" invites strategy. "Provide paid social management" invites a rate card.
The constraints. Budget range, timeline, category restrictions, compliance requirements, internal resources, and what the company will not do.
What is asked of respondents. Specific, limited, and answerable in a few pages: how they would approach the outcome, who would do the work, relevant experience in this category, how they are paid, and what they would need from the company.
How the decision will be made. Criteria, weights, timeline, and who decides.
What to leave out
Requests for free strategy. An RFP that asks candidates to produce a full plan, a media plan, or a creative concept is asking for unpaid work, and the firms that comply are recovering the cost from other clients or will recover it from you. The good ones increasingly decline. Ask for approach and evidence, not for the deliverable.
Long questionnaires about company history, insurance, and diversity policies before shortlisting. Collect those from the finalists.
How to evaluate responses
Weight relevant category experience heavily, particularly for restricted categories, where a firm that has never had an account rejected will learn on your budget. Read the fee structure for the incentive it creates. Look for what the response declines to do; a firm that says "we would not recommend X for you" has thought about you. Discount polish. Check references by asking what went wrong and how the firm handled it. And meet the people who would actually do the work, not the people who sold it.
A shorter process that works better
For most companies below enterprise scale, a full RFP is more process than the decision needs. The alternative: a two-page brief covering situation, outcome, constraints, and budget range, sent to three to five candidates identified by reference and by evidence of category experience. A forty-five-minute conversation with each. A short written approach from the two or three that were credible, no free deliverables. Then a paid, scoped first engagement, a diagnostic with a defined end and a written output, with the preferred candidate, priced so that walking away is easy.
That process takes three weeks rather than a quarter, produces evidence rather than proposals, and selects for the firm that does the work rather than the firm that describes it.
The one rule
Never award a significant engagement on the strength of a document. Award a small one, and let the work make the case for the next.
lowob takeaway: An RFP should describe the real situation and the outcome sought, ask for approach and evidence rather than free work, and weight category experience and fee incentives over polish. Better still: a short brief, a few conversations, and a paid first step.
Common questions
What should a marketing RFP include?
The real situation including what failed, the outcome sought as a business result, constraints, a short and specific set of questions for respondents, and how the decision will be made.
Should an RFP ask agencies for a free strategy or creative concept?
No. That is unpaid work; firms that comply recover the cost elsewhere, and good ones increasingly decline. Ask for approach and evidence instead.
Is there a faster alternative to a full marketing RFP?
Send a two-page brief to three to five candidates, hold a 45-minute conversation with each, get a short written approach from the credible ones, then start a paid, scoped diagnostic with the preferred one.
How do I evaluate agency proposals?
Weight category experience, read the fee structure for its incentive, note what the firm declines to do, discount polish, and meet the people who would actually do the work.