reading a social media proposal.
proposals are designed to look impressive. knowing what to actually read turns a sales document into a clear comparison.
read past the deliverables list to scope, ownership, reporting and what's excluded. the gaps and the fine print tell you more than the headline package.
agency proposals are sales documents — polished to impress and often built to be hard to compare. but underneath the design, the same few things determine whether it's a good deal. once you know where to look, you can cut through the gloss and compare offers properly.
— 01look at scope, not adjectives
strip away the buzzwords and find the concrete scope: how many posts, what type, how many platforms, how much video, how much management. "premium content strategy" means nothing until it's quantified. the real offer is in the specifics.
— 02check ownership and reporting
who owns the accounts, content and data? how often and how will they report? these protect you, and proposals that gloss over them often hope you won't ask. clarity on ownership and accountability is non-negotiable.
— 03find what's missing
read for the exclusions and assumptions — is ad spend included? are revisions limited? what costs extra? the gap between what's promised and what's actually covered is where surprises live. compare proposals on what they leave out as much as what they put in.