Many businesses that are new to offering social media services or are just getting started with a social media business aren’t sure how to create a proposal to manage social media.

A great proposal is key to winning contracts and getting off to a strong start for your business. I’ve seen tons of social media proposals and have both helped agencies and social media businesses create proposals as well as worked with clients to assess proposals.

There are a few things that you need to consider when you are creating a social media proposal:

• What the client wants: Make sure that you include what they asked for specifically and try to echo their language as much as possible. Don’t use a totally canned template – customize to show that you understand them.
• Include what they want, but give them options: I’ve done this for a long time, and many proposals that I see include 1 option, which means that the client can say yes or no. Also, many clients don’t know what they want, so they ask for the wrong things. Give them what they want, but also include recommendations that show that you know your stuff and can guide them. Options also shows that you are flexible.
• Clearly outline the scope of the project: An amateur social media proposal won’t be specific about the deliverables. Include specifics – how often you will post, number of ads, number of custom images, cover photo changes, etc. Since you will be creating a contract you want to make sure that you are setting clear expectations.

How to create the proposal:

This can be tricky, since each proposal will be different. My recommendation when creating a proposal is:

• Make it a stand alone document: You may not be speaking to the decision-maker initially and many decisions are made by teams. Make sure that your proposal is comprehensive and can be forwarded along.
• Spend time/effort on a good template: Creating a template that you can reuse will save you TONS of time.
• ABSY Always Be Selling Yourself: Use your proposal to reiterate your qualifications. Many people want to know that they can trust you – include trust builders in your proposal.

Note: Launchest includes both proposals and templates that you can edit and use to create proposals that get clients.

 

You’ve created a social media business and maybe you already have some clients…. but growth is on your mind – you want more clients.

Great – hunger & growth are excellent characteristics of entrepreneurs.

But how do you find clients? More importantly, how do you find QUALITY clients who will pay you $$$ and appreciate the value that you bring to the table.

Hiring a social media management company isn’t right for every business. While Launchest has a full client sales and prospecting guide, I wanted to share some tips here.

• Find businesses that already do marketing – it is almost impossible to convince a business to spend money on any kind of marketing when they don’t already do marketing. They’d have to create a new budget and are likely to agonize over every penny. Find businesses that already spend on marketing – then you are simply looking for a reallocation of $$ vs. new $$.
• Find businesses that already make money (or at least have money) – A business that isn’t successful isn’t a good target. Not only are they unlikely to have $$ – they may pay you late or not at all if times get tight. Look for established businesses that are already profitable. Often times small local businesses aren’t making enough money to invest even $500 a month in something like social media.
• Look for businesses niches that you understand or have a background in – If you want to be successful, target businesses that you understand or have some background in. For example, if I want to target restaurants, it helps if I understand the industry and their challenges – it will be easier to sell to them.

Finding clients is only the first step – be sure that you have great marketing materials and a strong pitch and proposal.

Cheers to your success!!!

YES, YES, YES!!!

A part-time business is a great way to start. Going all-in on a business without first testing the waters and gaining experience can be risky. When I left a high-paying corporate job to work for a start-up I didn’t just make the move one day. I worked for the StartUp evenings and weekends before making the switch.

Here is why starting part-time is a good idea:

It gives you experience:

Starting out part-time gives you experience and a good base prior to making the leap to a full-time business owner. It also allows you to establish yourself, without relying on your business to be your sole source of income. This can reduce the pressure and stress of getting started.

You’ll have confidence that people will pay you:

Many people want to start a social media business because people ask them about social media, or because they see an opportunity. What they don’t know is whether or not people will PAY THEM to do social media. I can tell you now, plenty of people will pay you to run social media, but you may need time to find the right kinds of clients who have budgets.

It can be managed part time:

Managing a few social media accounts for small businesses doesn’t have to be a full-time job. If you can carve out time to consistently commit to your clients, you’ll be able to manage a few clients in addition to a full-time job. Just make sure that you have the time consistently set aside.

You can make extra cash:

A part-time social media business is a great way to make some extra $$ in addition to your regular income. If you are thinking you’d like to be a social media entrepreneur, this extra income can build you a base that you can use as seed money for your business.