HELP - Doing a free initial proposal, but how do you not give too much away?

[Overseasmom100]

So may have some work with someone who has asked me to go away and look at their social media and some back with some suggestions.

As Ive spent 3 hours already on it I suddenly realised that if I detail everything that I would improve on with suggestions they could literally go away and do themselves!

How do you do a proposal but not give too much away without it looking sparse/lazy?

Good question.
You have to say how you can make a difference
How you can help with eg profiles
Quick wins and long term strategy
Look for other proposals on line and find how they do it
Good luck.

I try and think menu rather than recipe.
What would you do( big pic) and what result.

Ive gone back and given 1-2 examples per area...to entice them but not give all away!

Website homepage there's a few areas I would re-work and abit of housekeeping for instance your contact details, they're hidden making it really hard for customers to communicate with you

Never done this before... a proposal but just suddenly thought Im detailing everything they need to pay me to do!!

Whenever I am asked to do something new for work, I look for templates and blogs/articles talking about it. That usually gives me a great jumping off point. Good luck.

Im reviewing the website and social media even the set up and can see lots and lots of things that need changing and what nedds to be done going forward but cant just say that...so hard. Ive stopped for today and will re look at it tomorrow I think.

Ive also got to put a price on any work going forward but without detailing what I think needs to be done, bit hard.

Ahh still agonising over this - looked at the templates and they are all whistles and bells I'd rather be up front and say right you need to do this that and the other I can help by charging x amount per month etc!!!!

You need to keep it high level and you almost need to forget the research and put your head back a step. So it goes:

Proposal to review website and social media

You told me: insert the problem you're trying to solve

Proposed solution:

Review website to:

• assess numbers of visitors, from which sources
• review SEO to make sure it's working harder for you
• review customer journey on your website. What are your goals for potential customers on the website (ie buy, sign up for something) and what are the barriers
• general sense check of website good practice.

Then you do a sort of round up paragraph saying something like: after a first-stage review of your website, I'm confident that there are lots of simple improvements we can make to solve problem. I recommend developing a strategy of review, test and refine. As well as fixing common problems (for example, your contact details are currently hidden on page x, which makes it hard for clients to contact you) I will also look more deeply at your site to make sure it's working harder for you - this bit you then make more specific to solve the problem statement above. We'll then measure this by - then you insert your measurement criteria.

Does that help? Also if they could be arsed fixing it themselves they would so I wouldn't necessarily worry about that aspect of it.

Yes this is helpful and Ive given the odd couple of examples that I know they would never think about...and hopefully makes them think they need me!!!

They have a blog and collect emails from a 'join our mailing list' but do nothing with them...have never cimmunicated to over 200 people on the list.

Ive suggested regular communication otherwise what's the point. Im happy to write these every month but how do I price this?

Work out your ideal schedule of comms, work out how long it would take to write that and manage the sending of, x your hourly rate? Don't forget to put time in for reviewing results and tweaking, people often end up doing the review for free and you shouldn't.

Do you have anything to show them your work already?

So this initial basic overview/communication is free...Is it right to say for stage 2 I can go into more indepth/full detail of everything I suggest but there would be a charge for my time to do this...(as if they walk away Im paid for the work to date)

Stage 2 - full detail as to what I'd do exactly ... and will detail charges to implement up to client to look at areas they want to progress

So you need to offer it as a menu of services you provide but not detail what you will do task by task. To be honest, I am already charging at this point. You need to work out your hourly rate and agree with them how many you are signed up for.

thanks again for advice once I have this one in the bag, going forward sure it will be easier! Just hard to know what to charge as some areas will be monthly- but I suppose once I do one for the month up to them if they want me to do anymore

@LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett have DM you ref your advice

Who is your contact in the business? I'd be surprised if they want an incredibly granular plan of every step. If they understand this they would be doing it themself. Focus on what the tasks will achieve.