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Editorial

An RFP template for hiring a marketing agency

Most RFPs are a list of requirements that any competent agency can copy-paste into. Here's the structure that actually filters.
By Josh Nelson, Editor-in-Chief7 min read

Most RFPs read like procurement documents written by a junior person who's never bought an agency before. "Describe your approach to SEO. Describe your approach to paid search. List your clients." Every agency has pre-written paragraphs for these. The responses are interchangeable and tell you nothing.

A functional RFP does three things:

  1. Makes the agency do real work before they respond. Generic questions get generic answers.
  2. Includes specifics about your business so the response has to be tailored.
  3. Asks about trade-offs — not just capabilities.

Below is a template you can copy, with the thinking behind each section.

Section 1: Context (you write this)

This is the piece most RFPs skip. Don't. Include:

  • Revenue band (e.g., "$3.5M in 2025, on track for $5M in 2026"). You don't have to be precise, but a range matters.
  • Service mix (e.g., "70% residential service calls, 20% install work, 10% commercial"). Agencies will recommend different programs based on this.
  • Service-area footprint (metros, ZIPs, or states).
  • Current marketing spend by channel — rough percentages are fine.
  • Current lead volume and approximate cost per booked job if you have it. "We don't track this" is also a valid answer and tells the agency where to start.
  • The specific business constraint. Are you short on leads, or short on close rate? Short on capacity, or short on demand? The answer changes the recommended program materially.

This section should be 3/4 of a page. Not pretty. Just factual.

Section 2: What you're asking the agency to do

Be explicit. Don't say "we need marketing services." Say:

"We're looking for an agency to manage Google Ads, Local Services Ads, Google Business Profile, local SEO, and monthly reporting with CRM integration to ServiceTitan. Not in scope: creative production beyond landing-page design, email marketing, paid social, PR."

If you're not sure what's in and out of scope, say that too:

"We think the above is the right scope but would welcome feedback. If you'd recommend adding or removing a channel based on our business, explain why."

This invites the specialist to push back on your scope — which is what you want.

Section 3: Questions that filter

Skip generic capability questions. Ask these instead:

  1. "Of your current clients, how many are in our specific vertical and revenue band? Name 3 as references." Answers under 5 vertical-specific clients is a flag. Refusal to name references without permission is fine; refusal to have a conversation about named references ever is not.

  2. "What's your average cost per booked job / signed case / new patient for clients in our vertical? Give us a range, not a single number, and explain what drives the variance." Specialists answer specifically. Generalists deflect.

  3. "Describe how you'd allocate our first 90 days of budget across channels, assuming [X] total monthly spend. Be specific enough that we could audit the plan at day 90." This forces real thinking. Non-specialists send you a generic phased plan.

  4. "What would you cut first if we had to reduce spend by 30% in month 4?" Reveals how they think about marginal channels.

  5. "Which two channels do you expect NOT to work well for our business, and why?" Generalists struggle with this. Specialists have opinions immediately.

  6. "Who specifically will work on our account? Name them, their tenure in your firm, and their experience with our vertical." "Senior strategist plus pod" isn't an answer.

  7. "What's your policy on account ownership? Will Google Ads, LSA, GBP, and website be in our name?" There's only one right answer.

  8. "Describe a client engagement that ended. Why did it end, and how did the transition go?" Agencies that have never lost a client are either lying or unreflective. Agencies that can describe a clean offboarding tell you something useful.

Section 4: Commercial terms

State your constraints up front:

  • Budget range for the retainer (not an exact number — a range: "$5K–$8K per month").
  • Budget range for media spend (separate).
  • Required contract flexibility (e.g., "Month-to-month after a 90-day ramp" or "12-month OK if quarterly KPI reviews with exit clauses").
  • Ownership requirements (e.g., "All accounts and assets in our name, non-negotiable").

If these are dealbreakers, say so: "If you can't meet these commercial terms, please decline rather than submitting a proposal that doesn't."

Section 5: Response format (set it)

Short is better. Cap the response at 5 pages plus an appendix. This forces the agency to pick what matters rather than carpet-bombing you with boilerplate.

Required structure:

  1. One-page executive summary of the proposed program.
  2. Answers to your filter questions (1–2 paragraphs each).
  3. 90-day allocation plan with monthly budget breakdown.
  4. Team + engagement structure (who, what cadence, what escalation path).
  5. Commercial terms confirmation (or counter-proposal).
  6. Appendix: case studies, references, legal.

Section 6: Timeline

Give them 2–3 weeks. More than that and the responses get diluted. Less and only their templated answers come back.

Specify when you'll interview shortlisted agencies (usually 2–3) and when you'll decide. A real timeline signals seriousness.

What this RFP filters out

  • Generalists can't answer Section 3 specifically.
  • Agencies hiding from their roster won't name 3 vertical-specific references.
  • Agencies with lock-in business models will balk at Section 4's ownership requirements.
  • Agencies that hate real work won't do the 90-day allocation plan.

What you'll get back: fewer responses, dramatically higher quality. That's the entire goal of the exercise.