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Whether you want to launch a new brand strategy, improve your existing campaigns, or integrate advanced marketing automation, one of the best ways to find the right digital marketing partner is through a Digital Marketing Request for Proposal (RFP).
An effective RFP helps you attract agencies with proven expertise, evaluate their recommendations, and select the best team based on your marketing goals, timeline, and budget.
What Is a Digital Marketing RFP?
A Digital Marketing RFP is a formal invitation for agencies to submit proposals that outline how they would plan, execute, and optimize your marketing initiatives. It helps you communicate your business challenges, performance goals, and resource needs — enabling agencies like Codedesign to deliver tailored strategies and transparent pricing.
Types of Digital Marketing RFPs
- Full-Service Marketing RFP: For companies seeking complete support across multiple channels — SEO, paid media, social, analytics, and automation.
- Performance Marketing RFP: For brands focused on measurable lead generation, eCommerce ROAS, and conversion improvement.
- Brand & Content Marketing RFP: For organizations looking to build recognition, authority, and engagement through storytelling, video, and content strategy.
- SEO & Analytics RFP: For teams needing technical improvements, tracking setup, dashboards, and long-term visibility growth.
How to Write a Digital Marketing RFP [Sample]
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Include Your Company Background
Provide an overview of your business, industry, and target audience. Mention your current marketing setup and what differentiates your brand. -
Create a Project Brief
Define the marketing challenges prompting this RFP — e.g., underperforming ad campaigns, stagnant organic growth, or fragmented analytics. -
List Your Project Goals
Examples:- Improve qualified lead volume by 30%.
- Increase organic traffic in key European markets.
- Optimize ad spend through smarter attribution and automated bidding.
- Lift website conversion rate from 1.2% to 2%.
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Define Your Project Scope
Outline which services you need from an agency like Codedesign:- Paid search and social account setup and management
- SEO optimization and technical audits
- Content marketing and link acquisition
- Marketing automation or CRM implementation
- A/B testing and CRO
- Reporting and analytics dashboards
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Detail Tools, Integrations, and Platforms
Mention any systems in place (e.g., HubSpot, GA4, Shopify, Salesforce, Meta Ads, Google Ads, or LinkedIn) and any you’d like the agency to work with. -
Provide Budget and Timeline
- Example: “Our budget for digital marketing management is €60,000 over 6 months, excluding ad spend.”
- Include project launch month and expected partnership duration.
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Define Submission Requirements
Ask for:- Agency overview & team structure
- Portfolio examples or case studies (preferably industry-related)
- Proposed strategy outline and deliverables
- Estimated timeline and cost structure
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Include Evaluation Criteria
Clarify how you’ll evaluate submissions — e.g., creativity, data-driven approach, past results, transparency, and alignment with your KPIs.
Benefits of Issuing a Digital Marketing RFP
- Transparency: Agencies can assess your marketing maturity and propose aligned strategies.
- Efficiency: Prequalified agencies spend less time guessing and more time crafting actionable strategies.
- Comparability: Standardized responses make it easy to compare proposals objectively.
- Performance Focus: The best RFPs lead to measurable outcomes — not vague “traffic growth,” but true marketing ROI.
How a Digital Marketing RFP Shapes Your Growth
A well-structured RFP allows your selected agency to plan scalable marketing strategies around business objectives, ensuring cohesion across channels — paid, organic, and automation.
In turn, you’ll receive proposals that clearly define cost-per-acquisition, campaign timelines, and expected ROI.
Best Practices from Codedesign
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Keep It Clear and Strategic
Avoid overcomplicated intros. Focus on KPIs, business goals, and data transparency. -
State a Budget Range
Agencies can tailor their recommendations more accurately when you share a clear range for services and media spend. -
Prioritize Measurable Goals
Replace general aspirations like “increase visibility” with specific performance-based objectives — conversion rate, CAC, engagement rate. -
Ask Insightful Questions
- “Based on our current setup, what channels would you prioritize for ROI in the first 90 days?”
- “How do you approach reporting across SEO, paid, and automation?”
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Be Transparent About Pain Points
Whether it’s low lead quality or high CPA, clarity helps agencies identify root causes and deliver better solutions. -
Include All Key Details
- Contact info, proposal submission deadline, project kickoff date
- Evaluation criteria (strategy quality, past performance, reporting capabilities)
Send Us Your Digital Marketing RFP
Codedesign helps brands scale through measurable marketing strategies combining data, creativity, and automation.
Whether launching a new digital strategy, improving campaign performance, or building a global presence, we’ll design a solution that drives real business impact.
Looking for an industry-leading digital agency? Speak with our experts.
Digital Marketing RFP Best Practices From Our Experts
At Codedesign, we regularly review digital marketing RFPs to assess whether our agency is the right strategic partner for a project. After managing hundreds of multi-channel campaigns across industries, our experts know what it takes to build a clear, actionable, and results-driven RFP that helps clients find the right digital partner.
1. Keep It Simple & Direct
An RFP should clearly outline the challenge, objectives, and measurable outcomes — not multiple pages of company history. The strongest briefs are concise, transparent, and goal-oriented.
Example:
Do: “We want to identify growth opportunities across search, social, and paid media to increase qualified leads by 25% in Q1.”
Don’t: “We just need better marketing.”
2. Include a Realistic Budget
Transparency builds better partnerships. Stating an approximate budget helps agencies scope resources, propose the right strategy, and avoid misalignment.
Example:
Do: “Our marketing budget is €60,000 for six months, including strategy, creative, media, and reporting.”
Don’t: “Please send your best price.”
A clear budget allows agencies to outline deliverables that fit — or recommend scalable phased approaches if needed.
3. Define Your Growth Goals & Scope
Your RFP should communicate what success looks like across channels: brand visibility, lead generation, sales, or retention.
Example:
Do: “Our goal is to increase eCommerce sales by 15% through performance marketing, SEO optimization, and conversion-focused UX.”
Don’t: “We need marketing that performs better.”
Stating a defined scope — whether PPC, SEO, social, or full-funnel campaigns — helps agencies align teams and timelines effectively.
4. Ask the Right Strategic Questions
Strong RFPs go beyond “Can you do this?” Ask about process, experience, and optimization methods. Limit questions to around 10 and prioritize strategic ones.
Examples:
- “How do you integrate data and AI tools into your campaign optimization?”
- “Can you share a case study where you improved ROAS in a competitive vertical?”
- “How do you align creative with conversion-focused targeting strategies?”
These reveal how agencies think — not just what they do.
5. Highlight Pain Points & Marketing Challenges
Be transparent about performance struggles. Whether it’s low ROI on paid campaigns or inconsistent messaging, clarity helps agencies identify solutions.
Example:
Do: “Our paid campaigns generate traffic, but conversion rates remain low despite active testing.”
Don’t: “Our ads aren’t working.”
6. Include Essential Details
Provide all necessary information to streamline proposal responses:
- Contact details and point of communication
- Budget range and campaign duration
- RFP and proposal deadlines
- Evaluation criteria — e.g., experience, approach, reporting
- Expected launch or start date
Example:
“Please send proposals in PDF format by DD/MM/YYYY. Campaign kickoff is planned for DD/MM/YYYY. Proposals will be evaluated based on experience, methodology, innovation in approach, and projected performance metrics.”
A clear and well-structured RFP helps you attract agencies that truly understand your goals — and form the foundation of a partnership that drives measurable results across every marketing channel.
Looking for an industry-leading digital agency? Speak with our experts.
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