How to evaluate a branding or marketing proposal

You have created a solid brief and received three proposals. At first glance, the scope looks similar. The prices are not. Where do you start?

Most people start with the number. That is understandable. But price alone tells you very little about what you are actually comparing. Let's start with an example:

You have approached agencies because you are looking for a new brand identity. Agency A presents you a great price, or a shinier apple, for what appears to be the same identity Agency B proposes. What you don't realise is that Agency B is offering you a complete brand identity system, including logo variations, colour palette, typography and brand guidelines, while Agency A is delivering a logo shown in a few visual examples. 

This is just one example of what can differ between two proposals that look the same on paper. The following questions help you look at the fuller picture.

• Does the proposal reflect your actual challenge? A good supplier listens before they write. Their proposal should reference your specific situation, your goals, and what you are trying to achieve. If it reads like something that could have been sent to anyone, it probably was. The quality of the questions asked before submitting tells you a great deal about the thinking you can expect once the work begins.

  
  

• Is the scope clearly defined? Deliverables, rounds of feedback, what is included and what falls outside the project: these details are easy to gloss over when comparing proposals. Two quotes can look similar on the surface while describing very different scopes of work. Read each proposal carefully against what you actually asked for.

  
  

• What is their level of expertise? According to bestselling author Malcolm Gladwell, it takes at least 10,000 hours of practice, plus talent, to achieve mastery. When hiring a supplier, you want to work with people experienced enough to take your business forward. Senior talent works independently, follows a proven methodology, and tends to deliver on time and on budget, giving you the space to focus on your business.

  
  

• Do they have relevant experience in your sector? Industry experience is worth asking about, but it is not the only thing that matters. A supplier who has worked in your sector understands the landscape and can hit the ground running. One who has not can sometimes bring a perspective that those inside the industry have stopped seeing. Ask whether they can show you work at a comparable level of complexity, and speak honestly about what those projects achieved.

  
  

• How do they work? Understanding a supplier's process gives you a sense of how decisions get made, how flexible they are, and what happens when a direction needs to change. If you are working with an agency, it is also worth asking who will actually be working on your project. The person presenting is not always the person delivering.

  
  

• Are their promises realistic? Some suppliers lead with ambitious guarantees: a specific number of leads, a guaranteed position in search results, a set uplift in sales. Ask whether they can back those up with proof from previous clients. A supplier who is honest about what they can and cannot do is worth more than one who tells you what you want to hear. Results in branding and marketing depend on many factors, not all of which are in the supplier's hands.

  
  

• Does it feel like the right partnership? You are putting an important project in the hands of an external partner. Before you commit, check whether their way of working, their values, and their culture align with your own. You will be sharing things about your business that are not yet decided, not yet public, and sometimes not yet fully formed. A non-disclosure agreement may be part of the conversation, and either party can initiate it, but trust comes before the paperwork.

  
  

Choosing the wrong partner can mean a brand or campaign that goes out and makes the wrong impression. In the past, I have been brought in to fix branding that went wrong. By that point, the damage had already translated into lost sales, missed opportunities and in some cases, reputation damage. The cost of starting over is higher than most people anticipate, in budget, in time, and in effort.

To conclude, price is one part of the decision, but the scope, the experience, the process and the fit are worth the extra time and attention. If you work in a business with multiple stakeholders, involve the final decision maker early in the process so everyone is aligned when the decision is made.