Most marketing requests for proposal fail in the same way. The brief says something like "we want to increase brand awareness and leads through SEO, paid media and social", gives no budget, and asks for a proposal in ten days. The agencies that respond either guess, pad their quotes to cover the unknowns, or decline. The ones best suited to the work are often the ones who decline, because they have enough clients to be choosy.
A good RFP does the opposite. It tells agencies what problem you are solving, what success looks like, what you can spend and how you will decide. That lets strong agencies self-select in, weak fits self-select out, and the proposals you receive become comparable rather than a pile of apples, oranges and glossy decks.
This guide walks through when an RFP is worth the effort, what to put in each section, how to score responses, the questions that reveal how an agency really works, and how to run the process fairly so you keep good agencies willing to bid next time.
When a formal RFP is worth it, and when a conversation is better
An RFP is a structured way to compare several providers against the same brief. Semrush summarises its purpose well:
“RFPs make the process of finding and selecting contractors clearer and easier from the outset.”
— Semrush, RFP Template: How to Write a Request for Proposal
It is not always the right tool. Writing a good RFP takes time, and so does answering one. If the engagement is small, the process can cost more than the difference between the bids.
| Situation | Better approach | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Public body or regulated organisation with procurement rules | Formal RFP (often required) | Transparency and audit trail are mandatory |
| Large, multi-channel retainer or a contract over a year | Formal RFP | The stakes justify the effort on both sides |
| Replacing an underperforming agency on a defined scope | Short RFP to three to five agencies | Comparable proposals on a known problem |
| Small project, such as a one-off audit | Request for quotation or direct conversations | A two-page brief is enough |
| You do not yet know what you need | Request for information (RFI) or paid discovery first | You cannot ask for prices on an undefined scope |
If you are still deciding whether to hire an agency at all, our comparison of in-house versus agency SEO is a useful first read.
Writing the background and goals section agencies will read twice
The background section is where most RFPs are thinnest, and it is the section agencies care about most. They need enough context to judge fit and propose a sensible approach. Include:
- Who you are: what you sell, to whom, in which markets, and your rough size (revenue band or headcount).
- Where you are now: current channels, rough performance, existing tools and who does what in-house.
- Why now: the trigger for the RFP, such as a launch, a drop in leads, a new market, or an agency contract ending.
- What has been tried: previous agencies or campaigns and what did or did not work. Agencies learn more from this than from anything else.
- Constraints: brand guidelines, approval layers, regulatory limits, technology restrictions.
Goals should be specific and measurable, and they should be business goals, not activity. "Publish four blog posts a month" is a deliverable. "Grow qualified demo requests from organic search from 40 to 70 a month within 12 months" is a goal an agency can design a plan around.
Turning vague ambitions into measurable goals
| Vague goal | Measurable version | Data you should share |
|---|---|---|
| Increase brand awareness | Grow branded search volume by a set percentage year on year | Current branded search trend |
| Get more leads | Increase qualified leads (defined by your sales team) from X to Y per month | Current volumes, definition of qualified, lead-to-customer rate |
| Improve SEO | Grow non-branded organic sessions to key commercial pages from X to Y | Search Console export, list of priority pages |
| Lower ad costs | Reduce cost per acquisition from X to Y while holding volume | Read-only access to ad accounts or a 12-month summary |
Our guides to SEO KPIs and PPC KPIs help you pick metrics that reflect business results rather than vanity numbers.
Scope, budget and timelines without the guesswork
Scope describes what you need the agency to do, at the level of outcomes and responsibilities rather than a task list. Be clear about what stays in-house. For example: "We will write all copy. We need the agency to run strategy, technical SEO, link acquisition and reporting."
Why you should publish a budget range
Many companies hide the budget, hoping agencies will compete on price. In practice this produces proposals that cannot be compared: one agency proposes a lean plan at a low fee, another a comprehensive plan at five times the cost. Semrush makes the point directly that contractors "need to know what budget you’re working with in order to determine if they are wasting their time".
“Contractors need to know what budget you’re working with in order to determine if they are wasting their time”
— Semrush, RFP Template: How to Write a Request for Proposal
Give a range, state whether it includes media spend, and say whether it is monthly or for the whole project. If you genuinely do not know, ask agencies to propose options at two or three price points. For realistic ranges by service, see our guides to SEO pricing, content marketing costs and link building costs, and set the overall envelope with our marketing budget guide.
A realistic RFP timeline
Ten days is rarely enough for a thoughtful response. A timeline like this gives agencies time to do proper research while keeping momentum:
- Week 0: RFP issued to a shortlist of three to six agencies, with intent-to-respond deadline in five working days.
- Week 1: Written questions deadline. Answers shared with all bidders at once.
- Week 3: Proposals due.
- Week 4: Internal scoring; two or three agencies invited to present.
- Week 5: Presentations and reference calls.
- Week 6: Decision, contract and feedback to unsuccessful bidders.
- Weeks 7 to 8: Onboarding and access handover.
Evaluation criteria and a weighted scoring sheet
Publish your evaluation criteria in the RFP. It helps agencies focus their responses on what matters to you, and it protects you from choosing on presentation charisma alone. Score each proposal independently before discussing as a group.
| Criterion | Example weight | What a strong response shows |
|---|---|---|
| Understanding of the problem | 20% | Restates your situation accurately and identifies issues you had not mentioned |
| Proposed approach and priorities | 25% | A clear first 90 days, sequencing and trade-offs, not a menu of every service |
| Relevant experience | 15% | Comparable clients or problems, with verifiable outcomes |
| Team and seniority | 15% | Named people who will do the work, and their time allocation |
| Measurement and reporting | 10% | How progress will be tracked against your goals, and how often |
| Commercials and value | 15% | Clear pricing, what is included, contract terms, notice period |
Use a 1 to 5 scale per criterion, multiply by the weight and add up. Have at least two people score independently. Large gaps between scorers usually reveal an unclear criterion that needs discussing.
Questions that reveal how an agency actually works
Generic questions get generic answers. Ask questions that force agencies to show their thinking:
- Based on what you can see publicly, what are the three biggest opportunities and the biggest risk for us?
- What would you deliberately not do in the first three months, and why?
- Who exactly will work on our account, how many hours a month, and what other clients do they handle?
- Describe a client where results were disappointing. What happened and what did you change?
- How do you report, and what would a monthly report for us look like? Please include an anonymised example.
- Who owns the accounts, data, content and links created during the engagement?
- What do you need from us, in hours per month, to make this work?
- What are the notice period and exit terms, and how is handover handled?
The ownership question matters more than many buyers realise. Ad accounts, analytics properties and tag manager containers should be created under your organisation, with the agency given access. Our guide to choosing an SEO agency lists red flags to watch for in answers.
Running the selection process fairly
A fair process gets better proposals now and keeps good agencies willing to respond to your future RFPs. Agencies talk to each other, and a reputation for unpaid "idea harvesting" travels.
- Limit the shortlist. Three to six agencies is enough. Sending an RFP to 20 agencies tells the best ones their odds are poor.
- Share answers to questions with everyone. If one agency asks something useful, all bidders should get the answer.
- Do not ask for free strategy. Asking for approach is fair; asking for a full keyword strategy or creative concepts without payment is not. If you want speculative work, pay for it.
- Declare conflicts. If the incumbent agency is bidding, say so.
- Give feedback. A short note to unsuccessful bidders explaining the deciding factors costs little and builds goodwill.
Reference calls that tell you something
Ask the agency for two references whose situation resembles yours. Ask the references what went wrong and how it was handled, how quickly the team responded, and whether the people pitched were the people who did the work. Those answers are more useful than a satisfaction score.
The attachments pack that makes proposals accurate
The more agencies can see, the less they have to guess, and guesses are where padding creeps into quotes. Prepare a short attachments pack, shared under a simple non-disclosure agreement if needed:
- A 12-month export of Search Console performance and analytics channel data, or screenshots if you prefer not to share raw files.
- A summary of paid media spend and results by channel for the last year.
- A list of your current tools and platforms. Our guide to a small-business martech stack shows the categories to cover.
- Your lead definitions and the lead-to-customer conversion rate, ideally from your CRM.
- Any recent findings on why deals are won or lost. A short win-loss analysis tells agencies more about positioning than any brand deck.
- An organisation chart of who will work with the agency, who approves work, and how long approvals typically take.
That last point is often overlooked. If every blog post needs sign-off from legal and two directors, the agency needs to plan for it, and you need to budget for it. Mapping these handoffs is a core part of marketing operations, and doing it before the RFP prevents a common source of friction in the first three months.
A worked example: a manufacturer's SEO and PPC RFP
This is a hypothetical example. A UK industrial equipment manufacturer with £15 million turnover wants to grow enquiries from the web. Its first draft RFP asked for "a full digital marketing proposal" with no budget. Three of six agencies declined; the three proposals ranged from £2,000 to £14,000 a month and could not be compared.
The rewritten RFP included:
- Background: 70% of sales from distributors, 30% direct; website generates about 25 qualified enquiries a month, mainly from branded search.
- Goal: 50 qualified direct enquiries a month within 12 months, with "qualified" defined by the sales team.
- Scope: SEO strategy and technical work, paid search management, monthly reporting. Copywriting stays in-house.
- Budget: £5,000 to £7,000 a month in fees, plus £6,000 a month in ad spend, for an initial 12-month term with a three-month notice period.
- Criteria and weights published as in the scoring table above.
Five of six agencies responded, all within the range, each proposing a different balance between SEO and PPC. The buyer could now compare approaches rather than prices, and chose the agency whose first 90 days focused on fixing tracking and the product category pages before scaling ad spend.
For a sense of what good proposals contain, see our guide to writing an SEO proposal, and use SEO roadmap prioritisation to judge whether the sequencing in each response makes sense.
Questions buyers ask about marketing RFPs
How long should a marketing RFP be?
Long enough to cover background, goals, scope, budget, timeline, criteria and questions, which usually means four to ten pages. Length is less important than specificity; a short RFP with real data beats a long one full of boilerplate.
Should I include my budget in an RFP?
Yes, as a range. Without it, agencies guess and you receive proposals at very different scales that cannot be compared. State whether the range includes media spend and whether it is monthly or total.
How many agencies should receive the RFP?
Three to six is typical. Fewer may not give you a real choice; more reduces each agency’s chance of winning and can discourage the strongest from responding.
Is it fair to ask agencies for a strategy in their proposal?
Asking for their approach and priorities is fair. Asking for detailed deliverables such as full keyword plans or creative campaigns without payment is not, and experienced agencies may decline.
What is the difference between an RFP, RFI and RFQ?
An RFI gathers information when you are still defining needs. An RFQ asks for prices on a clearly defined scope. An RFP asks for a proposed approach and price for a problem you have defined in outcome terms.
Sending your marketing RFP this month
Start with the background and goals sections, using real numbers. Add a budget range, a realistic timeline and your scoring weights, then pick three to six agencies that have solved problems like yours. Keep the process transparent and give feedback at the end.
If My SEO Experts is on your shortlist, we are happy to respond to well-scoped RFPs for SEO and PPC management. You can also request a custom quote or send us your brief directly.
Further reading on marketing rfp
- First-Party Data Strategy: Collect and Use Customer Data Legally
- How Much Is Your Website Worth? Valuation Methods
- Website Pop-Ups That Convert Without Annoying Visitors
