Hey there, what's up.
I'm Latasha James.
And this is social media management for beginners.
Today.
I am showing you a real life proposal that I actually sent to someone, and
I'm gonna make it a little better.
Spoiler alert.
It was a rejected proposal, but I just sent the, an accepted proposal
that went really, really well and was a really big contract for me.
So I'm gonna actually use what I learned from this proposal.
And apply it to a proposal that I sent out several years ago.
Okay.
So just to give you a little bit of context, I sent over this initial
field proposal after a discovery call.
So I had already met with a client and got an understanding of what
he was really looking to do of what some of his goals were, what
some accounts were that he liked.
And from there, I then crafted a proposal based off of our conversation.
So just to give you a little idea of how it all fits together, I
have anonymized some of this.
To protect his company name and all of that stuff, but
this is what it looked like.
I had a picture of him.
He was kind of a personal brand.
Like you could think Gary V you know, that kind of thing.
He wanted to make a name for himself in the kind of career coaching world.
And so I put a picture of him.
I think these colors are his actual brand colors.
So I went ahead and used those to personalize the proposal.
And that's the front page.
So on the next page, I just have an objective here.
We want to cultivate an inspiring, empowering community for those looking
to take charge of their careers, establish the brand as a destination
for content and reach target audience through social media engagement, content
creation, and relationship building.
So real quick, I said a whole lot of words there and used some of my
biggest, most impressive sounding words, but I didn't really say anything.
Simplification is not a weakness.
It is a strength.
So sometimes when we go into proposals or we go into boardrooms,
we feel like we have to like.
Say all the fanciest things, but really you can just say like, we're looking
to become a leader in this space.
We're gonna do it.
The really cool content I'll show you.
Of course, the revised version in a minute, but that's my first comment.
Okay.
So it looks like I listed out a bunch of different services
that I was gonna provide him.
So channel setup provide recommendation for social channel platforms that
align with the brand optimize existing social channels with
photos, profile sections and bios.
Set up and launch desired channels that have not yet been created
and identify channel KPIs and report on progress each month.
So this is fine.
I think those are all things.
Those are all important, but honestly, all of these things should really be included
in a social media management package.
In most cases.
I mean, we should definitely be measuring KPIs.
We should be optimizing the social channels.
Like I don't really know.
That that is all super necessary to list out as if it's like we're doing
them this huge favor or something.
I don't know.
Then we talk about channel strategy.
We just have some stock photos here.
Identify target audience, create content, pillars, develop brand tone, voice
content, calendar, and establish posting.
Frequency, I guess that's okay.
I think maybe if he is brand new and doesn't have any of
these things, then perhaps this would be an additional package.
In addition to just normal social media management.
Sometimes we get kind of thrown into doing some of that brand work just because they
don't have any of that stuff developed.
So I, it is good that I listed it out here as a separate service, if
that was indeed the case, if he had no brand ID and things like that.
Content creation schedule social posts, according to content strategy and
schedule, create videos and images for social assist with podcast cut downs, wave
forms, and guest artwork provide feedback and suggestions to greater team based on
online conversations and industry trends.
So here's the part that I really kind of have an issue with assist with podcast,
cut downs, talk to the team who even is the team, you know, there it's.
Loose.
And I could definitely see one the potential client getting confused and,
and not really having like a tangible deliverable that he's understanding he's
getting from me, which spoiler alert.
He said no, or just ghosted me.
So like, that's probably what happened, but if he would've said yes and
wanted to work with me, I could also see that getting very much abused.
So assist with podcast.
Cutdowns give me a number, like give me a strategy there.
How am I.
Saying, am I doing the full production of these cut downs?
Am I identifying timestamps that an editor should cut down, write in
consulting hours for that then, you know, why is it just this loose?
Like, I'll give you ideas sometimes.
Maybe it's either, I will give you a monthly report or a monthly, you know,
strategy recommendation, or a monthly strategy call, something like that.
Like be specific.
Both for you.
And for them, community management, monitor, social inboxes, respond
inquiries, engage with influencers, cultivate community, and assist
with coordinating online and offline events as needed.
So this one is okay until that last bullet point, same thing there, like what is
assisting with online and offline events?
Am I gonna be traveling to these events?
I think this person maybe lived in New York city, like was I planning
to go there and do event management?
That's a completely different service that is not social media management.
So that last point definitely should be fleshed out, but the rest looks okay.
And then that's it.
Thank you for comments or questions.
Here's my email address.
All right.
So that was pretty mediocre.
Let me know when the comments, would you say yes to that proposal?
Cuz I honestly wouldn't and I wrote the thing.
So let's go over to the new proposal that I wrote.
And the first thing I wanna say about.
Updated proposal is that I would actually be presenting this proposal to them.
Just like, I'm about to share it with you.
I recently started presenting my proposals over video, just recording,
like a quick screen share just like this and sending over to the client.
And I just feel like it makes them closer to you.
You know, it's just much more engaging to listen to.
You can kind of.
Explain some of those areas where maybe they are a little bit vague, you can
sort of explain it in your own voice.
It's more fun to read.
And it's so easy for a client to get a proposal and see a number like scroll all
the way to end look at the number and be like, Ooh, that's higher than we imagined.
That's more than we, you know, initially wanted.
Let's just say no, but taking that 10, 15 minutes to actually sort of
develop a relationship with you, listen to you really increases your odds.
So here we go.
First of all, I simplified it.
I added my branding in here.
I just, this is just aesthetic, you know, look and feel stuff doesn't
really matter quite as much, but I think it looks a little bit more
polished than that initial hello page.
And we kind of didn't need that like creepy PNG cutout of the guy's face.
I, I, I don't think that was really.
Sorry.
So on the first page here, I have our primary goal listed.
So I really just recycled what was already said.
We wanna cultivate an inspiring, empowering community for those looking
to take charge of their careers.
We're going to establish the brand as a destination for content, through engaging
social media posts and ultimately increase sales of brands, courses, and events.
So that was the big thing that was missing from the first version is I
didn't really talk about what impact.
You know, destination for content was gonna have on the business.
That's all good and great.
If we're just like generating engagement and being the talk of the town, but how
are we gonna actually make this guy money?
So that part should be made very.
Apparent very clear what the tie two revenue is, what the
ultimate business goal is.
And putting it up front really is going to help your clients see, or your prospective
clients see that you mean business.
You're not just here to make pretty pictures.
You wanna help increase their bottom line.
Of course, we know that social alone can't do that.
Right.
We need.
The web team to be doing what they need to be doing.
We need product team to be doing what they're doing as well, but we can
definitely do what we can do and control what we can control on the social team
to hopefully, you know, send people to the website and make those sales come in.
Okay.
So.
Here's a proposed strategy or a channel strategy, instead of
just kind of saying, I'm gonna help you decide on your strategy.
I'm gonna identify channels that you should be on blah, blah, blah.
I just went ahead and did it in the proposal.
Now, of course, a social media strategy and anyone who's taken the social media
management toolbox or the social media management accelerator course that I run.
You know, that a strategy document is more than just this one page.
But this is just kind of like a bite size version of the full
strategy that I will create for him.
So I'm letting him know, Hey, we're gonna focus on LinkedIn because it's a
career focused content platform and we already have an existing audience there.
So let's continue leveraging that audience.
We're also gonna wanna keep top of mind for the existing audience
that we already have on Instagram.
And then TikTok is a new up and coming platform and it's super easy to repurpose
content that we're creating for the podcast for Instagram reels for even
short form, LinkedIn onto TikTok.
So let's throw that in there because we're also targeting people new
into the workforce, gen Z, who is.
On TikTok a lot.
So again, I'm just giving him a taste of the full strategy that I
would be delivering him, instead of just saying, like, we're
gonna think about the channels.
Like tell me which channels.
I think sometimes we get afraid that people are just gonna take our proposal
and go implement everything themselves.
And it's like, honestly, when that happens, A lot of times, they end
up coming back telling someone which social channels they are supposed
to be on is not a full strategy.
And they're not gonna get the same results as they would if they
were actually working with you.
And two, like that's a lot of work looking at those three platforms right here.
I mean, that's a lot of work and there's a reason that they reached out to you.
So operate from that abundance mindset.
Scarcity mindset of, oh, they're gonna steal my ideas
and go implement without me.
So then I gave just a quick sample of a content strategy.
We're gonna take this existing weekly podcast and blow it out into
three short form pieces of content.
You know, one medium-ish piece of content for LinkedIn or, or whatever.
And I just used my own content as an example, of course, if you had
a client that was very similar to the one that you're proposing.
To which I guess mine pretty much is again, he was kind of like a career
coach, you know, in a personal brand.
So this does definitely work showing, you know, how I transition
the long form to the short form.
And then I'm also.
Adding in that we're gonna do two weekly trending reels and tos and LinkedIn
updates as well, just to make sure that it's just not all repurposed content.
I think something else I could probably do here could also add some results
here for either one of these pages.
You know, I mean, you do see the view count for the YouTube video, but if
I could show the number of TikTok views or comments that this got.
Or maybe the number of website clicks that came over from any of these
posts or just any type of data here would be really helpful to, just
to kind of sweeten the deal and show, like, I know how to do this.
I, I wanna do it for you.
I also add in here some brand inspiration, just a couple of, sort of.
Thought leaders or content creators that I thought were doing a really good job
of this sort of repurposed podcast idea.
I may make this a little bit more detailed and prettier.
If I was actually presenting this to a client, maybe giving a few more
examples, maybe showing some examples of like some trending content.
Cause I mentioned that, um, but sometimes that can be hard for
people to conceptualize, but overall, like just show a little
mood board, give them a taste show.
Don't just tell, give them a taste of what they're gonna get.
And then.
Here I talk about what will measure.
So again, remember how on that?
Earlier presentation.
I was like, yeah, we're gonna choose KPIs.
Like, okay, what are they like, don't just tell me, you're
gonna think about the KPIs.
Show me what the KPIs are.
So I said that our primary goals are engagement and conversion driven.
We're also adding a timeline in here as you can see.
So for months, one to three, we'll be primarily focused on driving engagement
to our content, measuring reach impressions and total engagements.
So there.
Three metrics right there that we can pay attention to, and that they know
they're gonna be getting a report on.
And hopefully all of those numbers will be going up.
That's reach impressions and engagements.
And then I said from months three and beyond we'll measure goal completions
meaning event, and course sales, as well as overall clicks to our website.
So again, two more KPIs.
That we're letting them know we can measure.
And as I'm presenting this to him, I would be explaining to him why
we're gonna focus on engagement first and then conversion second.
And again, anyone who's taken the accelerator kind of has gotten an
understanding of why I say this.
It takes time to be able to start selling to people.
You don't just walk into somebody's house and start trying to sell them things.
You.
Build a relationship first and strengthen your relationship
with your existing audience.
So I'd be explaining that to him on the presentation or on the call as well of
why it's kind of, um, built out that way.
And sometimes people get scared about this.
They're like, well, I just wanna explain to them that they're gonna make a bunch
of money from social media on day one.
And sure.
You're probably gonna see things go.
Pretty quickly if you're doing your job, but I would rather under promise over
deliver and really set the expectation.
You don't want your client to be working with you for two weeks and
be like, why am I not getting a ton of sales from Instagram yet?
So set the stage, explain to them the importance of
building that foundation first.
So that nobody's disappointed and they're not like out shopping for a
new social media manager the next day.
Then I just kind of hyped myself up a little bit.
Why me?
So I shared a testimonial from one of my past clients, and then I also explained
some places that my work has been seen on.
Now.
I wouldn't necessarily put that kind of a.
Thing and a picture like that for every single client.
The reason I chose this for this client is because from what I
remember of our conversation, press was really important to him.
And like I said, he kind of wanted us to be that like Gary V.
Motivational, like get on stages like that kind of guy.
So I wanted to explain to him that I not only have been featured in
those publications, but I also have relationships with reporters at those
publications and, you know, just kind of hype up that side of me a little bit.
So he can, again, See himself in that position.
And then I go into the deliverables.
So I had like three different slides of deliverables.
I just feel like that was a lot that detailed breakdown could probably
be included in the contract when we go ahead to sign off on things.
Just so we have that legally binding document.
That explains what exactly they're paying for.
But for this proposal, I'm just really gonna explain, Hey, I'm gonna manage
your content calendar and schedule.
Three posts per week per platform.
I'm gonna do full production of three video snippets from
each podcast license to use.
So that's something I always like to include in the proposal, if I'm gonna
be doing work for hire, which means I'm gonna be creating content and
they get to keep it, they get to reuse it, post it on any other platforms,
do what they wanna do with it.
That can be a huge value add.
So I always like to call that out.
It also includes 90 minutes of strategy and meeting time each month,
as well as a hundred dollars in.
Spend.
So again, instead of just saying like, oh, I can give you some ideas.
Sometimes I'm actually gonna slot it in and say, Hey, you
get 90 minutes of strategy time.
If you want it.
And then I also added the investment on the next page.
So I just made this number up, but I would say maybe this package would be $2,500
per month with a six month contract.
I always like to call that out.
So nobody's surprised I usually try to sign clients for three
to six months at a time.
And then something else I always like to add into my proposals and my.
Is an out of scope rate.
So I gave you that total investment, but Hey, if you want help with like onsite
events or email management or any of the other things that I know how to do.
We can do that at an additional hourly rate.
So I like to add that in there pending my availability, just for
those situations that do come up.
This has really helped with scope creep.
I have a video about that, that I'll share.
And then I just added in some next steps.
Hey, here's what I'll need to get started.
I'll need a signed contract.
I'll need a completed onboarding form.
And a first month's deposit, then we'll get your onboarding call scheduled
so we can handle passwords and, you know, get all the information
that we need from one another.
And when I send this proposal over, what I would do is I would probably
load it up into honey book, which is my client management system of choice.
I would load this up into their.
Queue up the first invoice and contract so that they, if they're ready to
get started, they can just sign it and take care of that right away.
So we can just keep the project moving along.
Remember, you wanna make this as easy and seamless for your clients as possible.
So just send as much at once as you can.
That makes sense, you know, without being overwhelming,
but make it flow really nicely.
It should be super easy and seamless.
All right.
I hope this episode was helpful if it was be sure to subscribe, I'm gonna
be back on Friday with a new episode.
And I thank you so much for watching hope this was helpful and
I'll talk to you in the next one.
Bye.